Inviting just a handful of their favourite people to join them on the destination day, Beck and Nyssa made a four-day celebration out of tying the knot. The stunning, rugged coastline of Tasmania’s Bruny Island set the scene for a spiritual celebration, family filled and beautifully personal.

With a wedding date (and time!) exactly ten years since their first date (down to the ceremony beginning at the time of their first date), every single moment of this day was carefully considered. “The style was modern romantic, with a theme of the intimate connection between us and our nearest and dearest, and the elements” explains Beck. “The atmosphere was breath-taking thanks to the scenery and Indigenous smoking ceremony.” With an all-star cast of vendors (including photographer Rosie Hastie) tell me you don’t want to escape to Bruny Island with us.

The couple met in 2012 when Beck was seeking a piano teacher. It just so happened that Nyssa was the only one available and there was something about each other, that felt, as Beck puts it “like home”. (It’s a story in and of itself, and it’s told beautifully over here). With that instant connection, it took only a month before marriage was on the cards, remembers Beck “Nyssa proposed to me by text message a month after we started dating. It was kind of a joke, but not. 18 months later, I returned the proposal with a brand new Maton Mini guitar. Each of us said yes, of course, and we went on to have a commitment ceremony in 2016 because it wasn’t legal to marry in Australia.”

Beck worked with designer Jennifer Gifford on a beautiful lace gown. She tells “I fell in love with Jen’s designs and wanted to give my body the gift of having something custom-made. I chose Jen’s Celine dress, which we then altered slightly with a fuller underlay and buttons on the sleeves and back. Working with Jen was such a wonderful experience. I didn’t just get a dress for my wedding, but a friend, too. Jen put so much time and care into the creation of my dress and my relationship with my dress.”

Nyssa wore a custom-made white suit from Wil Valor“. It was the first time she’d ever had something custom made and she loved the process, and loved, even more, the result! The end product was a flawless white suit.”

The couple chose beautiful windswept Cloudy bay for their ceremony spot. Floral backdrops and furniture pieces surrounded by black and white photos of the couple’s late grandparents.

Beck and Nyssa walked down the aisle with their son to a song written by Beck and composed & sung by Nyssa called “Perfect Minute”.

The rumpled day folds in upon itself
As the sun says goodnight to the moon
Our conversation sits on the breeze
Vanilla candles burn honey-sweet
Love wraps us like parentheses
In our warm, warm cocoon

In this perfect minute
I want for nothing more in the world
As long as you are in it
As long as you are by my side
I’ll ask nothing more of time
Than this perfect minute

You hold my dreams gently in your hands
And you tame the shadows in my mind
With you anything seems possible
Together we’re unstoppable
Something better seems improbable
When our paths are aligned

In this perfect minute
I want for nothing more in the world
As long as you are in it
As long as you are by my side
I’ll ask nothing more of time
Than this perfect minute

You are my future, forever and now
We are this moment, a lifetime we vow
You are my future, forever and now
We are this moment, a lifetime we vow

In this perfect minute
I want for nothing more in the world
As long as you are in it
As long as you are by my side
I’ll ask nothing more of time
Than this perfect minute”

“Because of Tasmania’s (especially Bruny Island) traumatic history for indigenous people, we were non-negotiable in getting permission to marry on the land. Merren, our celebrant, connected us with Jason Smith, a Palawa man and his offsider, Danny and they performed the most powerful ceremony at the start . After we walked down the aisle, we were met by Jason and Danny and our guests. Jason and Danny had a fire in the centre and asked Nyssa and I to sit on their traditional animal skins that they had draped over chairs.

They then did a welcome to country. Following this, each guest was given leaves to place in the fire. They then walked through the smoke to cleanse their energy. Nyssa and I did this last so that we were then covered in everyone’s energy. Jason and Danny performed a ceremony with our leaves connecting us to the elements: water (the ocean we looked down upon), air (smoke), fire, and earth (we touched the earth with our leaves). They then gave us formal permission to marry on the land. It was one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had and our guests and vendors all felt the same.”

My favourite part about Beck’s memories of the day? This – “The magic is in the meaning. Your day is about your love, not the wedding being perfectly instagrammable. I remember most that it was a celebration of our story and our love and everything else faded away so that what was left was just us.”

The ceremony was led by Cinta Celebrate Love – Merren Wilkinson. Says Beck, “It had a very spiritual feel thanks to her ceremony and the smoking ceremony. We wanted it to be a celebration of our love for each other and the love between our nearest and dearest and it really was. My best friend’s daughter did a reading that combined her favourite Taylor Swift lyrics and Bennett held our rings and handed them to us.”

“Bennett was scared he might drop the rings and nearly had a meltdown when he actually did drop one of them (in the sand!), but it was Nanny and Poppy to the rescue who quickly found the ring and averted any tantrums!”

“Because our wedding was so small and centred around the destination, it was essentially four days of connection with our people. The whole four days were spectacular because of this, but if I had to choose a favourite detail of the wedding day itself, it would definitely the smoking ceremony, but also being able to speak our love out loud again. There’s something so affirming about recommitting to each other in front of loved ones. I also loved the sheer beauty of the day (landscape and styling, down to the flavours of the food) and how it was so relaxed yet meaningful.”

The couple adored photographer Rosie. “Our photographer Rosie Hastie worked in conjunction with our videographer, Brooke (they/them) and they went above and beyond to take us to various cool locations. It was like hanging out with friends.”

With such an intimate guest list, all the wedding celebrations were able to be held onsite at the couple’s accommodation Bruny Island Coastal Retreats “All our guests stayed in Bruny Island Coastal Retreat venues. We stayed in Cloudy Bay Beach House with our son, Bennett, and our 12 guests shared Cloudy Bay Villa and Cloudy Bay Retreat. The venues are stunning … one of our guests said he felt like he needed an Instagram following to justify staying in such beautiful lodgings! The manager of the accommodation, Ben, bent over backwards to make sure we and our guests had a great stay.”

The couple handed over the planning of their day to  Dear Leone. “Our planner and stylist, Gee, was phenomenal in her organisation and eye for detail. We both are busy creatives in our day-to-day lives, so I loved being able to hand over the wedding planning to Gee. She was more than happy for me to say ‘whatever you think works best’ and was able to design something beyond our wildest imagination with the leeway we gave her.”

“Our flowers were created by Gyp Darling with creative direction from our wedding planner and stylist, Gee from Dear Leone. Nyssa had a bouquet of maroon orchids, and my bouquet was soft romantics whites and greens. There was a floor arbour at our ceremony and the most beautiful table flowers at our reception.

Congratulations Beck and Nyssa! Sharing your stories was such a beautiful honour. Thank you both and thank you to Rosie Hastie and Jennifer Gifford for sharing today’s beauty with us.