Sharmaine & David’s Luminare Wedding
What does marriage mean to you?
When I asked David and Sharmaine what marriage meant to them, they recited a quote that struck a real chord with them. It read, “love is a friendship set on fire – a combination of everyday life and magic bundled into one. Love has the unique ability to transform the webs and pillars of everyday life into silk and gold. It is more than a feeling or emotion, concept or theory; it is a being.”
After all the traditional Chinese customs in the morning, I was waiting with David on the rooftop deck at Luminare, when admitted that he was very much looking forward to seeing Sharmaine make her way down the aisle. I’m pretty certain that she most definitely exceeded his expectations as she stepped into the sunshine, absolutely exquisite in Anna Campbell.
First Meeting
David and Sharmaine first met at University about 8 years ago. David recalled his first impressions of Sharmaine as being that she was very small, but very pretty! Sharmaine admitted that she loves the fact that David is tall enough to reach all the things that she can’t!
True love
All jokes aside, David & Sharmaine also share an incredible connection and found themselves wanting to share all the important moments in their lives quite early in their relationship, eventually leading to David’s amazing mid-air proposal.
Sharmaine said that she loves how well she & David understand one another and that he is so open minded, with the endearing quality of being both patient and impatient all at the same time.
David said that Sharmaine is caring and compassionate and absolutely beautiful, inside and out. He also loves that she supports him 100% in any decision he makes, always offering encouragement in any endeavour he decides to embark on.
Wedding Symbolism
Incorporating a hand fasting ritual to provide a visual representation of their commitment, Sharmaine & David’s hands were bound with silver & white ribbons to represent purity, peace, creativity & inspiration, before they shared their first kiss as husband & wife to the absolute joy of all their family & friends.
Photo credit
These exquisite images by Jonathan Ong captured every ounce of this couples’ outer AND inner beauty and the absolute pure love they both radiated & elicited. What an absolute pleasure it was to declare them husband & wife! xx
Sharmaine & David | 27.12.2014
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Ceremony & Reception Location: Luminare
Styling & Florals: Tori Allen Events
Bridal Gown: Anna Campbell
Photography: Jonathan Ong
Videography: The White Tree
Ceremony Music: The White Tree
Seryn & Stuart’s Emu Bottom Homestead Wedding
After a hilarious proposal with a Cheezle ring during a camping trip, Seryn and Stuart chose to become husband + wife at at the beautiful Emu Bottom Homestead.
When Seryn’s busy life saw her give internet dating a try a few years ago, she was hoping to find someone who was down to earth and who possessed good manners. When Stuart was first introduced to Seryn’s smiling face, he thought there was a chance she could be a little too high maintenance due to her love of “cocktails and horses”, but he thought her to be so very pretty, that he decided to take a chance.
Their smiles on the big day proved that chance was well worth it!
Flanked by four gorgeous flower girls as their only bridal party, Seryn & Stuart’s parents made a promise to love & support their children throughout their lives together as husband & wife before the the loved up pair vowed to “respect you, laugh with you, cry with you and love you faithfully through the good times and bad”.
A Holding Hands ritual and three sensational readings by members of Seryn & Stuart’s families ensured that the ceremony was romantic, personal and highly entertaining, before their first kiss as husband & wife almost raised the roof (with the groom’s head already practically touching it!)
Many thanks to Kim Selby Photography for these beautiful images of Seryn & Stuart’s perfect day xx
Seryn & Stuart | 21.03.2014
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Venue: Emu Bottom Homestead
Photography: Kim Selby Photography
Stef & Todd’s NGV Wedding
Stef & Todd married within the incredibly stylish Grollo Equiset gardens at the National Gallery of Victoria on a perfect Spring day.
We were off to a terrific start when, before Stef had even arrived, her mother handed out traditional Panama hats for all the guests to wear during the ceremony – a gift from a Colombian relative who was unable to attend. Everyone was more than happy to oblige and they certainly created a festive feel! I have to say it was a sight to behold from where Todd & I were standing – looking out into a see of smiling, happy faces, all wearing white hats!
All attention soon turned to the bride’s brother as he guided the couple’s adorable fur baby (and ring bearer), Sambucca, down the winding path, along with the equally adorable 2 year old flowergirl, who didn’t even bat an eyelid when she lost one shoe along the way – a true professional!
Preceding the bride was cuteness #3, in the form of the 4 year old page boy with a sign reading “This is your last chance to run uncle Todd!”
When the stunning bride finally came into view, wearing a figure hugging Jane Hill Bridal gown, there was an immediate murmur of excitement amongst the guests. But no one was more appreciative of the bride’s appearance than the handsome groom!
After a hilarious (yet seriously touching!) “giving away” by the bride’s father, and a reading in Spanish by two of the couple’s close friends, Stef promised to hold Todd close and make him laugh for as long as she lived, while Todd declared that Stef would “always be the best part of my day”.
We concluded the ceremony with a sensational spoken rendition of Adam Sandler’s “I Wanna Grow Old With You” from ‘The Wedding Singer’, before an extremely passionate first kiss as husband & wife, followed by an adorable high five from Sambucca!
With stunning flowers by Flowers Vasette and styling by the bride herself, along with Steph and her team at Peter Rowland Catering, everything about this wedding was stylish, elegant, fun and simply beautiful.
I hope you enjoy these sensational photos by the ridiculously talented Lauren at LJM Photography.
Stef & Todd | 16.11.2013
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Venue: National Gallery of Victoria
Photography: LJM Photography
Bridal Gown: Jane Hill
Catering/Styling:Peter Rowland
Florals:Flowers Vasette
Jade & Josh’s Zonzo Estate Wedding
The Meeting
When they were both only 16 years old, Josh would walk Jade to the train station after school every day, where Jade would miss the first train on purpose, just so they would have an extra 15 minutes together before the next one arrived.
Nearly 10 years later, in a beautiful Zonzo Estate wedding, the high school sweethearts finally became husband and wife.
The Event
There were tears of joy a plenty as Jade declared that “never have I experienced happiness like what I experience when I am with you”, before Josh vowed to “always try as hard as I can for the rest of our lives to make you feel as special, as happy and as loved as you make me feel every single day”.
After sharing their first kiss as husband & wife to rapturous cheers & applause, family members then placed letters they had written to Jade & Josh into a box with a bottle of wine for the couple to enjoy on their 5th wedding anniversary, before the newlyweds added their own special words to the time capsule before taking each other’s hand and joining their guests in celebration as a married couple for the first time.
The Photography team
Jade & Josh’s perfect day was captured by the lovely and extremely talented, Kim Cartmell at Hello Kimbo Photography and the superstar duo from Humdrum Films
Check out the video by the talented team at Humdrum Films
Jade & Josh | 10th May 2014
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Venue: Zonzo | Train Trak Wines
Photography: Kim Cartmell @ Hello Kimbo Photography
Videography: Humdrum Films
Ceremony Music: Downtime Jazz Band
Flowers: Flowers of Yarra Glen
Peta & Shane’s Melbourne Town Hall Wedding
“This is the hottest day EVER” exclaimed Peta as she made her way toward the Portico Room entrance where her Melbourne Town Hall wedding was about to commence. She appeared like a breath of fresh air when she stepped out onto the balcony however, pausing for a moment as guests rose from their seats, and then gracefully making her way down the aisle to her overjoyed groom.
The ceremony commenced with the acknowledgement of the couple’s families, thanking them for their love and support and receiving the blessing of both Peta & Shane’s parents.
An incredibly romantic poem followed, that the groom had penned himself for the day, and was recited absolutely perfectly by one of Peta’s lovely bridesmaids.
After sharing a few laughs over their slightly awkward first date nine years earlier, Peta promised Shane that she would “always encourage, inspire and support you to live the life we both dream of living”.
Shane declared to Peta that she was “the most beautiful, loving and caring person I have ever known”, before the couple took part in a Holding Hands ritual, symbolically bringing their two hearts together.
They shared their first kiss as husband & wife to ecstatic cheers and applause from family & friends before heading out into the sunshine for photos in around the city.
And these stunning images, taken by the talented team at Lens to Life Photography, really do prove that a happy bride is the most beautiful x
Watch the highlights movie by Moon + Back Co
Peta & Shane | 8th February 2014
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Venue: Melbourne Town Hall
Photography: Lens to Life Photography
Videography: Moon & Back Co
Bridal Hair & Make up: Kendal Deckert
Hoa & David’s Melbourne Museum Wedding
The Event
Hoa & David decided on a Melbourne Museum wedding to celebrate their love and they did it spectacular style!
After all the traditional Chinese customs were celebrated in the morning, Hoa made her way down the aisle of the Melbourne Museum North Terrace to Pachelbel’s Canon in a stunning Karen Willis Holmes gown, ensuring the groom’s attendants were kept very busy handing out the tissues!!
With Hoa finally by David’s side, we all took a moment, or 10, to allow for the groom to compose himself and for his family to stop laughing at how emotional he had become!
The laughter started again as I shared the story of Hoa & David’s earlier days together, before the lovebirds recited their personally written vows.
Through emotion charged tears, Hoa declared that David enriched her life and that “I am who I am today because of you”, while David announced “I feel like everything in my life has led me to you”.
And to top it all off, David literally swept Hoa off her feet to carry her back down the aisle – “she’s finally mine” he called – SO sweet!!!
The Photography
A huge thanks to Alvin + his team from Doux Wedding Corp for allowing me to publish their gorgeous images!
Hoa & David | 9th November 2013
Celebrant: Meriki Comito
Venue: Melbourne Museum
Photography: Doux Wedding Corp
Dress: Karen Willis Holmes
Suits: M.J.Bale
Flowers: Flower Jar
Ceremony Music: Lilium Strings
A Marriage Celebrant in Melbourne
Welcome to my blog!
I have to admit that I was initially quite adverse to the idea of blogging, mainly because I naively didn’t think anyone actually read them, and wasn’t sure I’d even have the time to post on a regular basis even if they did, but I have since discovered that the world of blogging is a LOT bigger than I had initially assumed and therefore decided I needed to be a part of it all.
So here I am.
I am a fully authorised marriage celebrant in Melbourne and believe without a doubt, that I have the best job in the world.
I have always loved weddings and still, in a bottom draw with tons of other random memorabilia from my childhood, have a diary full of wedding ideas, pictures of bridal gowns cut from my mums magazines, photos of the “type” of husband I thought I would marry one day and a bunch of those games I used to play with my friends to find out the name of the man I would marry one day – you know, the one where you take the first letter of your favourite colour and the 2nd letter of the suburb where you would like to live…?
Here’s a more tech savvy predictor quiz for you…. DO THE QUIZ
ANYWAY, when I finally became engaged over 15 years ago, I put a lot of effort and planning into our special day, carrying out 99.9% of the organising myself. I didn’t have internet access at home and whilst I did try to sneak in some online searching into work each day, I pretty much spent every weekend driving around from shop to shop to source suppliers. And I had an absolute ball.
18 months later, I finally married my amazing husband during one of the best days of our life and then, whilst on our honeymoon, I took to my banana lounge, cocktail in hand and pondered how I could ever re live that most incredible day. “I could become a wedding planner! Of course! I could do all the planning for other couples! Perfect!” And then I fell pregnant with our first child.
Lucky enough to be able to take on my new role as a permanent stay at home mum, thoughts of work took a backseat while I raised my son, realising very quickly that I would most likely never be able to commit to the amount of time it required to be a wedding planner!
So while planning weddings was now off my list of possible future career paths, I knew I still wanted to work in the wedding industry and was keeping my options open, when, whilst pregnant with my second son, I was browsing the HeraldSun classifieds when I came across an ad asking me if I would like to become a marriage celebrant.
“Yes! Yes I think I would!
But it took me another couple of years of raising child number two, until I finally completed my course and received the Attorney Generals’ tick of approval to become a registered marriage celebrant.
That was four years ago, and apart from now having THREE children (we have a beautiful princess now too!), I conduct about 60 ceremonies a year and couldn’t be happier.
Every ceremony is an absolute joy to be a part of and I absolutely LOVE the diversity of the couples I meet and the ceremonies I help them to create. The life of a celebrant is pretty special.
And so, via this blog, I look forward to sharing my experiences as a celebrant with you, including all the laughter, tears, style, romance, and most importantly love, that I am so very privileged to be a part of.
And hopefully, somewhere along the way, I will provide some insight, some inspiration or just some simple browsing enjoyment for any of you who choose to join me on this magical journey.
In Life & Love always ~
Meriki x
Photos courtesy of Ninnie Photography, Tiny Sparrows Photography, LJM Photography, Doux Wedding Corp