Last year Gemma and Callan reached out to me from Queensland to help them plan an magical elopement to be held on the 1st day of Spring at the top of Mount Donna Buang, just outside Warburton, with both their mamas as their witnesses. They had come across a magical misty COVID era elopement that I had performed up there captured by the team at Emotions and Maths and thought to give it a shot. We proceeded to meet via zoom and get the ball rolling on their elopement plans.

A week out from their ceremony weather reports were predicting one last cold snap, which meant that there’d be more snow at the top of the mountain. Upon learning of the snowy conditions Gemma and Callan made the call to pivot their mountain top ceremony to instead take place within nearby Warburton Cement Creek Redwood forest. I was more than happy to go along with the change of scenery. I had previously visited the Redwood forest with my family, and had instantly thought to myself that this would be such a powerful and witchy site to perform ceremony.

Just when I thought my wish of hitching a couple within the magical redwoods was coming true, I receive a late night email from Gemma and Callan saying that they’ve just landed in Melbourne and realised that they have left their IDs behind… That was Saturday night and they were to be hitched on Monday. I had to regrettably explain that unfortunately I would need to sight their original ID documents before I could proceed with the ceremony, otherwise we would have to perform a commitment ceremony instead.

I spoke to an anxious Callan Sunday morning as they were trying to figure out the logistics of getting their documents couriered down, and whether it’ll get here in time. I had suggested that they might need to invite an extra guest to their ceremony. A couple of hours later I heard back from Callan with some welcome good news. Callan’s mum Jen was planning to stay on for a mini holiday in Melbourne and she was to be joined by her partner Steve. So old mate Steve was up to the task of changing his flight and getting in a day earlier in order to hand deliver the precious documents we needed for the our ceremony. Alls well that ends well!

On that cloudy 1st day of Spring I made the drive out to Warburton and met with our mini elopement crew up at their Airbnb to finalise their legal marriage paperwork. I was able to thank Steve for coming through and saving the day, he reckons he’s going to write a book about it one day, what a legend. We then drove out to the Redwood forest along with our photographer Eric from Emotions and Maths.

Nothing can prepare you for the sheer impact of stepping inside the towering mass of perfectly spaced redwoods. The atmosphere is moody and dramatic, there’s a sense of quiet magic about when you’re walking between the endless columns of trees, for the beauty of nature has been carefully curated by human hands through the intentional planting of each redwood.

Gemma and Callan chose to have their ceremony take place at one of the impressive stick nest sculptures that were constructed by previous visitors to the forest. Getting hitched in a nest in the redwoods, it doesn’t get more freaking magical than that! The three of us stood in ceremony, looking like the holy trinity of love magic as I told their story. Their ceremony ended with a very fitting quote ‘The evening trees moan as if they knew, at night I always dream of you.’

Celebrant: Celebrant Jam
Photographer: Emotions and Maths
HMU: The Distinctive Dame