Morgan & Mike

For Morgan and Mike, it was always going to be a wedding that was “colourful, chilled out and fun.” Determined to make things as easy as possible, the pair consciously decided to plan their day as they had lived their life – as a mutual decision and together.

There was an amazing embroidered purple wedding gown (just the ticket for The Colour Issue) a sequin jacket and a night of utter fun with all of their family and friends. This was a wedding that was truly a celebration of sparkly chill. The pair invited Gill Juergens Photography along to capture the magic.
This conscious planning and decision making completely falls into line with how these two got engaged, shared here in the words of Morgan & Mike themselves.  “We want our entire relationship to be built on equality and partnership. Getting engaged is a big life decision, therefore we treated it like any other big life decision, we made the decision together when the time was right. We booked a long weekend away at Mike’s family’s beach house in Torquay and proposed to each other. Mike got down on one knee and gave Morgan a simple, classic ring with a ‘morganite’ stone, then Morgan got down on one knee and gave Mike a watch.”

  

Every decision, right down to the vendors, was made consciously with the couple’s values in mind, explains Morgan. “We wanted to support as many up-and-coming local businesses as possible – particularly female-run local businesses. A friend of a friend NBMU Artistry did the girls beautiful makeup, and our amazing friend Miranda Hetherington did my hair.”

Let’s talk about Morgan’s amazing gown – which she found at  ASOS. “I had decided a long time ago I wanted to wear something colourful and skip the traditional white. After many hours of looking online, I decided on a lilac dress with floral embroidery from ASOS. To keep warm, I wore a sparkly pink jacket from Little Party Dress with ‘M&M’ and the date on the back. I also ended up with a second outfit which included a shimmery jumpsuit and a tulle cape with colourful polka dots. This outfit was much more comfortable for dancing! I am known for my extravagant earrings and wore custom ‘M&M’ earrings made by Haus of Dizzy.”

Floral arrangements of Australian natives were styled by  Tomfool Flowers. “Flowers was one thing we knew nothing about before planning the wedding. We knew we wanted simple Australian natives but didn’t know where to start. Before we knew it, the wedding was around the corner and Morgan’s mum came across the beautiful Tomfool Flowers at a shop in Clifton Hill just in time.” Morgan handmade macrame style wraps for the bouquets herself.

In keeping with the connected feeling of the day, the couple chose to wed at Community Church of St Mark. They explain “Morgan grew up attending the church with her family and loved the sense of community it brings. We knew the big church space with some additional decorations, including the wedding arch and fairy lights, would suit the theme we were going for.”

The couple walked in together. “We decided we wanted to meet at the centre of the church, both of us entering from the side doors. We walked in independently after our families and the bridal party entered. We walked into “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen.”

Although they were married in a church, Morgan and Mike chose Erica The Celebrant to bring what they wanted to their ceremony, sharing “We wanted our ceremony to be ‘us’. This included personal stories and a lot of laughs. Morgan’s bridesmaid Grace shared the ‘couples story’ before Erica the Celebrant completed the formalities. A blessing was shared which was created by Morgan’s mum, a mash-up of various readings of love and friendship, and a poem by Rupi Kaur. Rather than confetti, we had our guests blow bubbles as we walked out of the church.

Erica the Celebrant was lovely to work with and made the formalities a breeze. She was in the emergency room the morning of our rehearsal and she insisted that we still go full steam ahead – now that’s commitment!”

The highlight of the day? A  total surprise! “The most amazing part of the entire day was the surprise choir that Morgan’s mum organised at the ceremony singing All You Need is Love by the Beatles. Love style! The entire day was something out of a romcom.”

“We think we planned our wedding at a time where unique/non-traditional weddings are becoming more common. People are focusing on love and doing their own thing rather than adhering to traditions. This made it super fun and we enjoyed the majority of the process. Taking bits and pieces of other people’s ideas mixed with our own made it a really special day.”

Morgan and Mike opted for a rather private first dance, explaining “We had our first dance at the rotunda at Darling Gardens with just our bridal party there whilst we were taking photos. We decided that we preferred something more intimate for such a special moment. We danced to “Your Song” by Elton John.”

Of their photographer, Morgan & Mike couldn’t have been more thrilled. “Gill is fantastic and we cannot speak highly enough of her. We were keen for a candid style capturing our natural smiles and laughter and Gill was all over it! She also included an engagement photo shoot as a part of her package which was a great chance to get to know her better and a great way for us to get comfortable in front of the camera.”

And with that casual, chilled out vibe in mind, the pair chose Little Henri for their reception, sharing  “After we first got engaged, we searched “easy Melbourne weddings” on Google and Little Henri popped up. We knew it was the right place for us! We had been to Little Henri on many occasions for brunch and loved the space. The inviting indoor area, the undercover courtyard covered in greenery. Not to mention, the gorgeous white mural on the outside wall would be perfect for photos with our colourful outfits.”

  

Guests received small jars of m&ms put together by the couple as wedding favours.

The reception was all about celebration. “Our reception was just ridiculously awesome! Drinks were flowing, heartfelt speeches were shared by family and friends and the dance floor went off. As we had our first dance at the park earlier in the day, we played the shoe game after speeches which w fun.

The space at Little Henri was perfect because it allowed some people to party inside and others to have a quieter time outside.”

 

“The main priority for us was to have fun” tell the newlyweds. “For us, this meant having a colourful, stress-free day that represented us. We loved having all our family and friends (and dog!) there to celebrate with us. Every detail of the day was carefully chosen by us because the little details were the things that made it so ‘us’.”

 

And to round out the story? This fabulous film of the day captured by Michael Foord. The vows, the singalong, oh I love it!

A big congratulations to you both Morgan and Mike! Thank you for taking the time to share your day with us. Thanks also to Gill Juergens Photography for today’s imagery!