Celestial Winter Wedding at the State Library of Victoria

Sun and moon, blue and green, silver and gold. Sav and Ash’s wedding had its own celestial language. It began long before they walked into the Reading Room at the State Library of Victoria, when lockdown kept these two newly acquainted souls apart, and love letters and care packages bridged the distance. Years later, their celebration brought that same sense of story to life: embroidered suits, black-clad guests, old books, tarot-inspired details and medieval-style circlets. Sav and Ash weren’t interested in following a wedding rulebook – they were busy writing their own. With Jerome Cole and his team capturing the night, the result is equal parts gothic fairytale, celestial celebration and an incredible party.

Melbourne’s infamous lockdowns didn’t stop Sav and Ash from getting to know each other after meeting online. Whether it was playing games together or watching movies over a call, or when they kept it old school and sent each other love letters and care packages. “We did that for about three months before the lockdown lifted and we could finally meet in person. We’ve been pretty much attached at the hip ever since,” Sav shared.

For the final piece of their puzzle, Sav arranged an escape room with a very special prize waiting for Ash. “We have done escape rooms together since our first date, so for our 3rd anniversary, I arranged an escape room for the final puzzle instead of being the key out, to be my proposal speech and the ring box. It took Ash so by surprise; the only thing he said initially was “Oh, you son of a bitch”, and then, thankfully, he said yes. I had hints and pre-knowledge of many of the puzzles just in case we didn’t get through in time!”

From the moment Sav and Ash started thinking about their suits, they knew one thing for sure: they were going to wear embroidered, complementary suits. “We dress all in black basically all the time, so for our wedding we decided to let the guests wear black in our honour, and we’d bring the colour,” Sav shared.

“I had a blue suit with silver accents and moon embroidery, and Ash had a green suit with gold accents and sun embroidery. We got matching boots in those colours to match, since we never wear dress shoes normally! Reigner, the designer, helped bring my sketches of the suits to life, tailored them to our preferences (You’ll never catch Ash in a high-waisted pant or me without), and even designed matching ties to go with.”

Even though they had an evening ceremony, Sav and Ash still had to get up early so everyone and everything was ready in time. All this really meant was that they got to spend even more time with their favourite people! “Everything was just so easy on the day. It was a long day; we had an evening, indoor, winter wedding specifically because we’re spooky and hate the sunshine, but we still had to be up at 7 to get everyone through hair, makeup, getting to the venue, the photo tour, everything. And it all just happened; there was no friction. It was just us all having fun together, tired but elated. I loved our circlets; it felt like it elevated us to this fairytale, ye olde prince type of vibe,” Sav explained.

“And we never got blisters because I made us pre-wear blister bandaids. Lil old school goth trick!”

Instead of having two separate wedding parties, Sav and Ash combined all of their favourite people into one big party. “We chose a suit for them that was accessible in price, had a range of sizes, could be tailored for all genders and was a colour between the two of ours. The Petrol Formosa suit from Connor and Axl and Co was perfect for this, and of the 8 members of the wedding party, it looked great on every single person! We accentuated it with a gift to everyone – matching collar chain pins with a sun and a moon, from FortuitusArt on Etsy!”

If there was any advice Sav wants to share with couples planning their own wedding currently, it would be this: “If you’re with the right person, a wedding won’t change anything except how you do your taxes. You will know easily when it’s right to get married cause that person already feels like your home and the whole world to you. Both the fire beneath you and the comfort of a warm bed after a long day. You’ll want to start eating better to make sure you can spend as much time on this earth with your beloved. They should feel like the sun, moon, and all the stars in the sky. If you already have that, the wedding is just the place you get to shout it from the rooftops.”

The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne’s CBD was the only venue Sav and Ash even remotely considered for their wedding. “We are a relatively quiet couple with a house overflowing with books, and a love of older style architecture and art. The State Library had it all and was exceptionally helpful and generous with their time. It provided the perfect place to say our vows, in a way that was so deeply ‘Us’. A little spooky, a little serious, steeped in history, and with plenty of quiet corners to nip off to for a breath,” Sav explained.

Ash and Sav had already seen Jermone in action at their sister’s wedding, and they knew immediately that this was who they wanted to capture their own celebration. “It is so hard to make us feel comfortable posing in front of a camera, but the energy Jerome and his team brings is unparalleled. We knew we wanted some fun weird shots, and he was on the ball with everything. We couldn’t have picked anyone better,” Sav shared.

“All of our vendors were fantastic. We purposefully sought out queer-friendly vendors for everything, so we knew we were in good hands.”

Both Ash and Sav walked down the sides of the desks in the Reading Room towards the middle podium. As they walked, a harp rendition of Yiruma’s “River Flows in You” was performed live by their harpist, Deon Entwisle.

The ceremony itself was a big celebration of Ash and Sav’s love for each other. They’re generally private people, but in honour of their celestial wedding, they wanted to step out of their comfort zones and share that love, with the help of their celebrant Tom. “Discussing the private aspect of our feelings with all the people there who loved us was daunting, but really worth it. Honestly, standing up on the podium, looking out at everyone dressed in black (the dress code was black with silver or gold accents), we really felt like we were at a funeral – and we loved it! It was exactly the kind of solemn vibe we were going for,” Sav shared.

“There were no readings, but we had a shared tea ceremony from an obsidian goblet Ash’s parents had hauled all around Europe on one of their trips over there. The closest to a reading we had was in Sav’s Vows, and it was in reference to a short animation we both love: “In my world, the sun rises twice” by Anna-Laura Art.”

This is the moment Ash remembers most: sharing his vows and looking down at all the loved ones who gathered to witness them is something they will never forget. “Being up on the podium with Sav, absolutely vibrating from nerves, being able to tell him how much I love him and that I want to be with him for the rest of my life,” they shared.

Bringing this wedding to life wasn’t a two-person job; Sav and Ash had help from their entire wedding party and families to make sure every detail matched what they’d dreamed of. “We desperately wanted a wedding that felt like us. There are many times to go with the flow and be flexible; your wedding day is not one of them. The whole family and wedding party were pitching in pre-wedding to make sure we were able to have the details we wanted – from helping us source old books for the tables, to helping us choose suit colours for literally hours on end, to staying up on long calls discussing the difference between a tiara and a crown and a circlet,” Sav explained.

“Everything was planned to bring people into our world just for a night, and we think we did pretty well with it.”

The five things that made Sav and Ash’s winter wedding so magical (aside from the celestial touches!) included:

“1. Having time in between the big times to just sit with Ash and our wedding party and relax and laugh and feel a bit ridiculous. There was never any point of the day without laughter.

2. Our wedding rings are non-traditional but also extremely traditional! We ordered Fede rings, replicas of an artifact found in Novae in Bulgaria. Fede rings originated in Rome, slightly predating the Claddagh ring. They show two hands clasped, often with symbols of mutual understanding/faith. Ours have our wedding dates inscribed inside with ‘Til Death’ as well. We also have a spare, in case one of us loses it.

3. Seeing just how many people came together for us. It’s pretty special to remember you’re part of a whole community, and seeing them come together is unlike anything else.

4. Getting to do it all together! We are like a pair of stray bonded cats; we hate being separated.

5. I am very fussy about music, so getting to meticulously plan our playlist and curate the vibes was very special. At one point, 3 Savage Garden songs played in a row!

And a bonus detail: a few days after the wedding, we went and got each other’s embroidery tattooed. For me, this was pretty easy; I have a lot of tattoos. For Ash, it was his first (and likely only) tattoo. We wanted to get each other’s (I got the sun, they got the moon) so we could always look at it to think of the other one. Our lovely tattoo artist, Taurus Teej, did it (who was also a guest at the wedding!)”

Sav had a very special vision about the styling and design of their winter wedding, considering he’s an event manager by day; that’s no surprise! “I designed most of the signage, seating plans, invites, even the tags on the bags. I approached each vendor with a full design deck complete with inspiration, sketches, designs, playlists – the whole thing,” he shared.

“I even spent work meetings rounding the corners of each save the date because I didn’t like the straight-cut corners that had come from the printers. I also made all our own bookmarks, a take on a lovers tarot card with some of my vows on it, and we rounded the corners in meetings, punched holes, and attached tassels. My work was very accommodating, at least! Our favour bags ended up as an assembly line, with two of the wedding party packing bags of our favourite teas, chocolates, charms, the aforementioned bookmarks, a tarot card randomly pulled for each guest, and candles. It took forever, but it was so sweet at the end!”

Any tradition that didn’t fit into Sav and Ash’s day was immediately done away with, and what was left over was perfectly theirs. “We wanted to do it all our way. In fact, we specifically did not go with traditions we felt were strange – we wanted to get ready together because we do everything together, so we didn’t have a first look,” Sav shared.

“We wanted speeches to be short but meaningful, so we asked our wedding party to work together to deliver one big speech. We wanted our parents to feel involved together, so we got them to give a speech as one unit, all 3 together. We wanted our families to mingle, so we sat them together. There was no “Ash side” or “Sav side” – just good friends, and we tried to make the people we thought would get along sit with each other! New friendships were forged that night, which we find very special.”

Initially, Ash wasn’t a big fan of a first dance, but Sav was determined to include one traditional element in the reception; he just wanted to add one more thing that pushed them out of their comfort zones. If not today, then when! They danced to Joe Hisaishi’s “Merry-Go-Round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle. It was exciting, so we took dance lessons for about 3 months before with Jo at First Dance Melbourne. To have gone from no dance skills since high school to a waltz, spin, full choreographed routine was wild – we ended up sore and stomping on toes a lot (mostly Ash), somehow swapping who was leading frequently, but we looked forward to every lesson,” Sav explained.

“It was hard not to feel embarrassed, but on the night we were in full swing, and it was such a highlight of the night to me. And afterwards, we could finally have champagne cause we were terrified beforehand because of how much spinning was involved!”