Sivan & Todd

I’m so excited to share Sivan and Todd’s wedding. The couple love The Beatles and the sixties and seventies, so naturally their wedding day took on a decidedly retro style and being musicians? There was plenty of song to go along with their plans!

Sivan and Todd tell their story. “It was an autumn day in early May 2005. Todd had just returned to Australia after living in the UK and backpacking around South America and Asia for 2 and a half years. After a spontaneous road trip from Cairns to Melbourne with his brother Steve , Todd decided to stay on in Melbourne. While sitting in Steve’s kitchen in Coburg on a Saturday morning he saw an ad in the paper for a scouthall sharehouse and got very excited when he realised that the scouthall was less than 500m away. He wandered over and moved in a few days later. After finding housemate, Peter, the house needed one more housemate, preferably a girl. We interviewed a string of weirdos, and generally unsuitable people. Then, one Autumn day Sivan arrived for a house interview wearing blue pants and a little yellow sailor top with buttons. She had never lived out of home before, and this was her first ever house interview. ”

Photography today is by Lilli Waters and Laura Mcguire of I Got You Babe (Lilli happened to be one of the bridesmaids!). Their vintage style of photography captured the day beautifully.

Many of the outfits for the day were handmade by Jason Chalmers (0404 280 075) Sivan recalls “The dress, all the bridesmaids dresses and suits were made by our friend and professional costumer Jason Chalmers. Everyone looked amazing!”

Lilli’s second shooter Laura ended up styling not only the bride’s hair, but the bridesmaids! The flowers were styled by the bride.

Sivan and Todd chose to hold their wedding at winery Killara Estate. Sivan explains”Killara Estate were so good to us. It was the perfect venue as the weather was shocking, but the huge glass window wall meant that we could overlook the beautiful vineyard without being outside! The food and wine there is delish as well! ”

Sivan walked down the aisle to ‘Something’ by The Beatles .

Of their photographer, Sivan recalls “The photographer, Lilli Waters is one of our best friends, she was actually part of our bridal party as well, so she had an assistant on the day Laura McGuire. They were both amazing! They helped the bride and all the bridesmaids with hair and make-up, and the photographs are just beautiful. The day was a-glow with love and Lilli truly captured the essence of the day.”

Sivan remembers,  “The main DIY detail of the day is that we made each others rings. We did a make a ring in a day course at the CAE in Melbourne, so although our rings aren’t perfect, they have meaning and truly represent our love for each other… It was very much a DIY wedding with so many of the details made by us or friends and family…from the paper flowers on the table, to the cake to the invites.”

The couple had two celebrants, Sivan remembers “Ralph Roath was our legal celebrant and our best friend Peter was our ‘illegal’ celebrant – we all worked together beforehand to make the ceremony really personal.”

Sivan and Todd asked their friends to contribute to the ceremony. Sivan explains “Being musicians ourselves, a lot of our friends are musical, so we asked a bunch of them to get together and learn ‘love love love’ by the beatles to sing during the signing. Apparently it sounded beautiful in rehearsal, but on the day all of our friends were so emotional that it came out all wrong…the look on everyone’s faces was priceless and it made us laugh so much. One of our favourite memories of the day! Such a beautiful cacophony!”

The couple’s Kombi Shirley was the transport for the day.

Sivan says “We are touring musicians (The April Maze) so a lot of the year we live in our Kombi van ‘Shirley’. We found these Kombi tealight holders and used them as table decorations.”

The guests got into the retro spirit, Sivan remarks, “We are very much into 60’s and 70’s fashion, and Todd is known for his moustache. So on the invite we requested the guests to grow moustaches for the day and for the girls to wear flowers in their hair. Everyone got into the spirit of the day!”

Sivan’s mother made the wedding cake.

Cisco Caesar, the newlywed’s friends, were hired for the reception. For the first dance, the couple chose their favourite song from the band to dance to- called “Been A While“.

Congratulations Sivan & Todd! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Lilli Waters and Laura Mcguire of I Got You Babe for sharing today’s wedding with us!