Raymond and Juliana had a Manly Yacht Club wedding, with a small ceremony overlooking Manly Cove, before popping next door for an informal reception at the Manly Skiff Sailing Club. After Sydney’s long dry spell, a little rain the night before made for a crystal clear day, albeit with a strong breeze. That made for some fun with the veil, especially while we were doing a few formal portraits when the wind did its thing and wrapped the two of them together.

Their wedding was another excellent reminder of the beauty and simplicity of intimate weddings. Yet despite the small size, it was internationally represented with the group having connections to Albania, Turkey, the US, Ireland, and Melbourne. They’d met at a Sydney pub thirteen years ago. Juliana already had three children, and they’ve added to that with another two boys. Raymond had his nephew and nephew’s fiancee as guests. They represented the Irish connection.

Juliana moved with her Aunt to Australia from Albania, via Turkey, in the nineties. Having not seen much of her mother and brother for years, she took delight in having them attend from the US. Her Aunt, who really is her second mother, and her brother were their official witnesses. Her brother walked her down the short aisle. With the way the Yacht Club is set up for these weddings, it made sense to take advantage of a window to shoot that short walk.

After the ceremony we did some family photographs down on the wharf, then sent the family in to be seated in the Skiff Club, Raymond and Juliana spent a few more minutes being photographed together. How many ways are there to do a wedding day? Add one more that I hadn’t done before. They’d pre-booked a space in the Skiff Sailing Club, sat all around a single long table, ate and drank what they wanted, and did the ordering themselves, fetching things for each other. It wasn’t removed from the other patrons at the club, yet without cross-interference we took a few family photographs, And all in, between ceremony, photographs and reception, the distances were contained.

We get used to things being highly orchestrated on wedding days. The informality lost nothing. Nothing was rushed or forced. The clock watching was thrown away. It remained, at heart, what a wedding often is, a family celebration where conversation, laughter, watching the children play, and toasting love create the memories.

Close to the end, a tiara was produced from a bag as a nod to an older tradition, which Juliana wore for a little while.

What are your traditions for your wedding? Or, are you planning on breaking with tradition? This wedding did both.