At this Melbourne wedding, the couple chose to forgo tradition for fashion shows and football

“The thought of walking down an aisle that isn’t a runway is not for me.”

Here at Fashion Journal, we make no secret of our love of weddings. We’re suckers for a bit of romance and have a soft spot for weddings that do things differently, whether it’s a Las Vegas elopement, a tropical getaway or a Town Hall celebration.

Although Melbourne-based model Annika Nielsen and her now-husband, Jack Devitt, met through a dating app, the pair remained friends for two years before they eventually started dating. “We thought, ‘What are we doing?’ and decided to dive in,” Annika tells me. Three months after taking the plunge, they ended up buying a house together and a month after that, they bought their first dog, Frank.

For more content like this, tap through to our Life section.

When it came time for their engagement, Jack surprised Annika after a Cirque du Soleil show by taking her to the top of the Arts Centre. “I said, ‘You better not be doing what I think you’re doing because I don’t have my nails done,'” she remembers. As it turns out, he did ask the question, to which she said yes.

Planning the wedding was a similarly relaxed affair, and Annika and Jack tuned into their intuition rather than any prescribed rules. “In the beginning, I did the typical venue search, floral quotes, theme and colour scheme planning, and as blunt as it is, I quickly realised I didn’t care.” Instead, they discussed what was most important to them, like having their mums and dogs there, and planned the day around that.

The celebration itself was spread over two days, beginning on Friday morning at the Arts Centre followed by a lunch. Then, the couple spent the evening apart, Jack at the football and Annika at a runway for PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival. The next day, they celebrated with a larger reception at Pepe’s, an Italian restaurant in the city, where Annika managed to pull a Cinderella, ducking out to the Fashion Festival for photos, before rejoining the wedding party shortly after.

Fashion Journal: Can you walk me through how you and Jack met, and how you two got engaged?

Annika: A flick of the thumb to the right on our phone screen was the initial spark. We met at the end of 2019, and through a wild turn of events, found ourselves in isolation during the 2020 lockdowns. At the time, we were both working in construction, so we’d go to Bunnings and build things in his backyard. We were just friends for almost two years before we thought, “What are we doing?” and decided to dive in. Three months later, we bought a house together and a month after that, we got our first dog, Frank.

A little while later, Jack booked tickets for us to see Cirque du Soleil and told me his friend started a pop-up espresso martini bar in the city that we could go to afterwards. I needed no convincing. We saw the show, Ubered into the city and started walking up to the top of the Arts Centre (the best view of Melbourne and my favourite spot). It became quite clear there was no bar there and I said, “You better not be doing what I think you’re doing because I don’t have my nails done”. He asked the question, and I said yes.

My rings are also my grandma’s, which she received from my grandpa in the 1940s. I realised he didn’t ask with a box and had my priceless family heirloom just flopping around in his pocket for the entire evening. We also eventually realised he’d left his phone in the Uber. It was far from a perfect proposal but exceptionally fitting if you know Jack.

How did you approach wedding planning? Did you take your time or was it spontaneous?

Jack was the one who didn’t want to have a long engagement, but all of my family is still in the United States, so I knew we would have some logistical issues. In the beginning, I did the typical venue search, floral quotes, theme and colour scheme planning, and as blunt as it is, I quickly realised I didn’t care.

We sat down and discussed our top three things that were important for us. We decided we wanted ease, for both our mums to be at the ceremony, and to have our dogs, Frank and Stacey, there as well. Once we had that, we started patching together what the day would look like. We knew budget was also important – I’d rather pay for myself to have five espresso martinis on the coast of Italy than for some random plus-one of a co-worker.

I have beautiful friends who offered to help on the day, from setting up our favours to taking content of the ceremony, so those things came easily. Jack’s cousin runs Pampas Palms and made a stunning dried floral display for us as well.

We saw that you spread the wedding out over two days. Talk me through this, what did you do for your ceremony?

The thought of walking down an aisle that isn’t a runway is not for me. We also wanted to include our dogs in the process somehow, and we knew they wouldn’t be allowed at the reception venue. The plan was to invite our nearest and dearest (about 15 people) to the registry office and go out for lunch afterwards.

However, if you haven’t noticed by now, we aren’t that great at planning, so when we went to book, the Registry was booked out for months (even on Mondays). Luckily, I met a celebrant who was gorgeous and happened to be free on the Friday morning. We planned to have everyone meet in front of the Arts Centre and walk up to the grassy patch at the top, which is where Jack proposed.

We rocked up about 30 minutes before everyone was to meet, and the entire area was boarded up for construction and you couldn’t get through at all. We just said, “Oh, well,” and walked across the street until we found a bit of land by the river and set up there. We all reconvened at Holmes Hall (our favourite local) for lunch afterwards in a really lovely and chill setting.

What came next? Where did you have your reception?

On Friday evening, Jack took my family to the footy and I went to PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival with my friends. It really seemed like any other random Friday!

Saturday, however, was a bit more hectic in terms of planning and timelines, but luckily, we were staying in the hotel next door to the venue. I’d visited Pepe’s (our reception venue) for a friend’s birthday, and loved the vibe and food. I suggested it to Jack and we booked it in. We had about 50 people there, including six people who flew over from the States.

It also fell on the same day as Fashion Festival’s Closing Night runway. How did you manage to attend both?

Going to the Closing Night on Saturday was important to me, so I made sure to put it in my schedule for the evening. My friends and I had 35 minutes to rush over, take photos, and rush back to Pepe’s, and we did it with a minute to spare! We were lucky that it was only a four-minute drive to the Exhibition Centre.

Where was your wedding dress from, and what was the process of sourcing it like?

My dress was from Georgia Hardinge, a designer based in the UK. I’d admired her pieces for years, but could never justify investing in one as a regular event dress. In the same spirit as the rest of the wedding, I remember sitting on my couch talking to a friend on a random day and I said, “Hmm, I think I’m going to buy my wedding dress right now,” so I did.

I also knew I didn’t want a normal white wedding dress. I went to a few appointments and tried on about 15 and I did fall in love with some, but I think I always knew I wasn’t going to be the blushing bride in white standing at the altar. Instead, I was the bronzed bride in blue, running to Fashion Fest! The dress didn’t fit perfectly, so I asked my friend who owns Less Common clothing if she could take a look at it and tweak some things, which she did and it fits perfectly!

My jewellery was from Cleopatra’s Bling and Casa Capri, and my shoes were from Alias Mae.

What about Jack’s outfit?

Bless him, he isn’t used to getting clothes made specifically for him, so he was nervous to go get a custom suit. He went to Men’s Suit Warehouse with a friend and they just had a nice day picking a suit. We didn’t have a colour scheme or fabrics to choose from, so he just picked what he liked! Then, the boys from Otaa sent over some dress shirts and a tie that completed his look.

Did you do your own hair and makeup, or did you hire someone?

I wish I were talented enough to do my own beauty. I ended up getting my hair done both days at Almayne Salon. Friday’s brief was easy: loose curls. I did my makeup sitting in the chair with a curling iron above my head.

Saturday was a bit more in-depth! Back to Almayne I went, this time for a proper up-do, because I didn’t want to deal with being hot with my hair down. Tush Artistry did both mine and my mum’s makeup and he absolutely knocked it out of the park! We did a pretty typical bridal glam, but dragged it up a bit from the usual ‘clean’ look.

What did you do for food and entertainment? Did you have a cake?

The food was all from Pepe’s! We just did cheese boards with roaming canapes and pizzas, so there was something that everyone could enjoy! The only real thing I cared about was making sure my gluten-free friends could still eat as much as possible. We had a small cake, but only for pictures, as two of our canapes were tiramisu and cheesecake. Our final gift for everyone was custom bonbons from my friend Small Dream Sweets. Liam makes the most insane flavour combos, so everyone got to pick a couple to take home.

How did you capture your wedding day? Was there a certain vibe you were going for?

Molly Burmeister is an absolute rockstar! She did both days for us and sent us a sneak peek of Friday morning by Friday afternoon.

For Friday, it was pretty cut and copy family pictures, special moments of the ceremony and the dogs. Saturday was a bit more collaborative! Molly does all of my photos for Fashion Week, so I thought it would be fun to do a ‘Street Style’ theme, including outfit details, fun angles and in-between moments. Most of my best friends are creators, so it was special to give them photos of themselves to use.

Did you have any other fun or unique quirks about your wedding?

For our wedding favours, I wanted to make sure people got something they would actually use. We spent the last two years drying herbs from our garden to blend them with salt and put them in jars for everyone.

Looking back, what was the best part of your day?

Obviously, it was beautiful seeing our two families come together, especially the ones who were visiting Australia for the first time. But the best part was that we got the main family pictures out of the way on the Friday morning, so we could just relax and enjoy the party on Saturday!

Keep up with Annika here.