
Full skirts, full sleeves, full tables festooned in fabric and sculptural florals casting shadows in candlelight. There is embroidery and costuming. And there is colour, in high saturation, an exploration of how reds or purples or blues might speak to one's love story. There is the elaborately-iced cake as objet d'art, the fan or parasol or brooch as considered accessory, the veil worn not as afterthought but as the central point. And threaded through all of it, a reminder that theatricality and rawness are not opposites. The most striking bridal images have always held both. In fact, that there is an authencity to be found here. A true individualism.

In fact, it is this idea of the return of the individual that interests us most. After all, no two love stories are the same. So how do we wade through the barage of sameness proliferated by Internet culture to dig out something real and raw and arresting and true? Is it a turn to the archives? Finding answers in ornate vintage or the visions of past designers who were creating in a pre-social-media world. Or is it simply reminding ourselves to take the time to turn inward? Relying on some simple introspection to tell us who we are intrinsically and how exactly we want to show that to the world.

However you may choose to celebrate your marriage, may this month's moodboard at least act as a reminder of the beauty to be found broadening your horizons, in resisting the first reference that comes up, the obvious choice, the well-worn path. The images that stop us are never the ones that played it safe. They are the ones in which someone made a decision that was entirely their own, and then committed unapologetically.

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The Long Game
Meeting as teenagers and falling in love against the odds, this couple carried an almost-20-year history into their blissful Hunter Valley celebration.

Les Temps de l’Amour
Intimacy and history collided in this impressive Côte d’Azur wedding, set in a Mediterranean heatwave and ending in a party that lasted until sunrise.

The Real Thing
A relationship grounded in balance and humour, this couple married in a countryside wedding that reflected their deep connection and shared outlook.
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Paradise Found
Barefoot by the beach, the bride wearing Vera Wang — this fun, irreverent Whitsundays wedding was a masterclass in relaxed glamour.
