We are so lucky to live in Australia on so many levels. One of those is that we aren’t encumbered with restrictive marriage laws; we have the ability to marry where, when and how we wish. And, given this freedom, couples are often looking for ideas that can be reflective of their personalities and their relationship and come up with some fabulous ideas for their big day.

And, the pic below is a case in point. It’s what is known as a spiral aisle and it’s my most fave way to create a unique ceremony. This one was created in Fremantle by the awesome event management team, Known Associate Events. What’s so cool about this aisle design is the intimacy created as one partner glides by all the guests as she or he walks to their beloved, and then the two of them walk out as a married couple, again walking past everyone who by now is probably screaming and hollering and throwing rose petals! During the ceremony the guests will feel like they are part of the whole shebang and the layout totally encourages guest participation! What a brilliant concept and I can’t wait for one of my couples to do this! C’mon guys, pretty please!

Recently I’ve asked my couples if they’d like a surprise on the day about who’s reading their vows first and so some elect to use the ancient tried and true method of ‘rock, paper, scissors’! Guests love it and it’s working a treat.

Good, you’re first lol. Photo courtesy of @rawpixel via @unsplash. — Good, you’re first lol. *Photo courtesy of @rawpixel via @unsplash.*

Now I know throwing rose petals isn’t that unique, but, having an entire Rose Petal Station setup is! Check out this divine Pinterest image and for all those DIY couples, this is certainly do-able! Perhaps you could add in lavender and rosemary. Start scouring op-shops right now for furniture and picture frames! This is all about re-use, re-cycle and re-purpose; tick eco-friendly!

And, don’t forget Rose Petal Throwing 101, toss the petals high in the air and shower our couple with love as they walk down the aisle. This allows the photographers plenty of time to capture the petals as they fall.

And speaking of ecofetti, check out what one of my brides created for her wedding at Jack Rabbit Vineyard. Her parents and bride-tribe spent many hours hole-punching hearts out of eucalypt leaves and then mixing it with lavender flowers! So pretty and very environmentally conscious. And if that wasn’t gorgeous enough, the paper cones had the music she walked down the aisle to. It’s all in the detail!

Gemma’s ecofetti: eucalypt hearts mixed with lavender wrapped in the music she walked the aisle!

My next fave for creating your unique ceremony is the move to different seating. This would probably be more for your micro-wedding but even with a larger wedding, I find more and more that chairs are often left unoccupied as people elect to stand. I’m forever calling guests to take a seat. But, if they were this comfortable, perhaps they’d jump right on in. I couldn’t resist them, could you? And those colours in the pics would look stunning!

Harvester Moon on The Bellarine is one funky venue and the multi-coloured odds and sods used for chairs really add to the cool vibe at this DIY wedding space.

Bernie and Beaks celebrating at Harvester Moon

And finally, rituals, or mini-ceremonies. They haven’t been that popular with my couples over the years and I think that might be because couples don’t want a long, boring ceremony and are worried about including something that will drag it out. Hell, everyone just wants to get to the bar, right? But recently there seems to be a movement towards including something that will make their ceremony unique and reflective of them. One couple I’m marrying in the next few weeks are a couple of old soaks, not really lol, but they’re including a Wine Box Ritual where they have purchased a beautiful box that will hold a very nice bottle of wine. After they have read their vows they will place the written vows in the box and ‘seal’ it. They will then keep that box until either their first anniversary or until they have a really big, really serious, goddam awful argument, at which time, they will open the box, grab some glasses, open the wine and re-read their vows to remember the promises made to each other on that very special day.

Note the vows tucked in on the left side of the bottle. Not sure about the bread roll?

As a final note on the Wine Box Ritual, once opened they can replace the wine and reseal the box and wait until their next anniversary or, god forbid, the next argument where they get to open it again. Happy days! Could be an expensive ritual!

And my second ritual is a twist on the Unity Ceremony. This is where a couple have a blank canvas and choose two paint colours which they pour and blend over the canvas as their unique creation.

This needs quite a bit of careful preparation and implementation!

And so you have it, some different and very unique ideas for creating your personalised ceremony. Let me know if you’ve got any interesting ideas you’d like to kick about for your ceremony or if you’ve come up with any you’ve already used. It’s all up for discussion and I love trying something new :)