Some weddings start with an aisle. Amelia and Bryson’s started with death. They got married at Amelia’s grandparents’ house, a family home built in 1900 and kept exactly as it is. “It was so important for me to keep everything at my grandparents house, as it’s my favourite place in the world”, Amelia told us.

Their theme was ‘death, but they didn’t want it to feel macabre or gothic. A giant coffin held gifts. ‘Til death do we part’ motifs appeared throughout the day. Cleaned and scavenged bones were worked into the styling, a nod to their shared love of oddities. “We wanted the day to be a true reflection of us, all of our weird interests displayed in one day,” Amelia continued. ” We also incorporated our love of tattoos. I am a a tattoo artist, and so we wanted that to be a big part of our day. We had an on-site tattoo artist doing
flash based on us, and had temporary tattoos for those who didn’t feel inclined.”

They also incorporated their love of punk, metal, and goth music by utilising lots of lyrics from their favourite bands, a handcrafted playlist, and an electric guitar guestbook. If they’d had more to spend, they would ahve loved a live punk band!

Their officiant AJ, who is also their tattoo artist, designed their names as a death metal logo. The couple turned it into handmade pins and set up a merch table, handing them out like band badges.

“We walked down the aisle to the black metal song Amor by Këkht Aräkh”, explained Amelia. “Our officiant wore robes in reference to our favourite black metal band Batushka, and carried and sword (because why not?!).” Their vows were handwritten and kept secret until the ceremony. “Instead of being a reflection of our past relationship we made sure they were cohesive promises we planned to make and keep with one another.”

Amelia wore a Selkie dress with a custom cathedral-style chainmail belt, creepers, floral details and embroidered shoes. Bryson wore a handmade leather biker jacket, studded, patched and embroidered by hand, finished with Demonia creepers. The looks felt lived-in and personal, not styled for anyone else’s approval.

Décor, food and drink stayed close to home. The cake came from a local bakery, flowers from a local florist, and catering was handled by Amelia’s brother. The meal was smoked meats and an oversized charcuterie board. There was an open bar, plus a silver platter stacked with their favourite cigarettes.

The hardest part of planning? Not caving to other people’s expectations. “We are already an openly alternative couple with decently Mormon families, and feel the need to tone it down to make others comfortable sometimes,” Amelia admitted. “It was so important for me to remember that this truly needed to be a reflection of us, and not to worry what other people think. It all worked out in the end, even if my mum was worried about me getting tattoo ink on my dress before the ceremony! I definitely worried about judgement initially before realising this was actually my chance to be wholeheartedly selfish.”

Their biggest expense was the tattoo artist. “He was willing to give us quite the industry/friend discount but I wanted to make it worth his while to show how much it meant to us that he was willing to help us with something like this.” Almost everything else was handmade or supported by their community. They came in under budget and paid for the wedding themselves, with a total spend of around $10k.

Looking back, the couple credits the planning process with bringing them closer. “We didn’t have one single argument in the year leading up to the wedding. It was always just a fun and creative endeavour for the both of us.”