Joann and Sean got married on the sand on a Saturday evening in July, and the whole thing — ceremony, family pictures, portraits, dinner, dancing — was finished by half past eight.
I want to say that out loud, because a Melbourne Beach micro wedding tends to get heard as less wedding. Theirs wasn’t less. It was shorter.
What a Melbourne Beach micro wedding actually looks like
Sixteen minutes
The ceremony started at 6:01 and was over at 6:17. I know because I have the timestamps.
They were married under a driftwood arch at the edge of the dry sand, white and blue flowers worked through it, a short row of white chairs behind them and sea oats in front. [Who walked her down] brought Joann in. Their guests stood in a loose line along the sand rather than sitting — which, if you’re planning one of these, is worth knowing: at this size people stand up anyway, and the pictures are better for it. You get faces instead of the backs of heads.
Sixteen minutes. I have photographed ceremonies three times that long where less was said.
Then nobody left
This is the part a two-person elopement doesn’t get, and the reason I keep telling couples not to assume small means alone. The moment it was over there were people to hug, and people to be photographed with. We did family pictures on the sand while everyone was still in that first ten minutes of relief, and then I took Joann and Sean off down the beach for half an hour while the light went soft and the rest of the party started walking back to the house.
The part with Elvis
Dinner was at beautiful air b&b in Melbourne Beach, a place with a pool and a great living room. Fuego and Salt laid out the food. People ate standing up and nobody seemed to mind.
And then Elvis arrived.
White jumpsuit, red sunglasses, a stack of scarves he handed out as he went. He worked the room for [how long], and at some point — I did not see it coming and I was glad I had a camera up — he climbed onto the coffee table. Half the guests are in those frames with a red scarf round their neck and their mouths open.
I have photographed a lot of receptions. This is the only one where the entertainment ended up above furniture level, and it is now one of my favorite sets of pictures.
They cut the cake. People danced in the kitchen. I made my last frame at 8:18, right around sunset, and drove home.
What made it work
Here’s the thing I’d actually like you to take from this.
Joann and Sean hired a planner. Julie Miner Events ran the whole evening — the setup on the beach, the vendors, the timing, the handoff from sand to house. And you can see it in every picture, because in three and a half hours neither Joann nor Sean is ever holding a phone, checking a list, or looking for someone.
I say this to every couple and most of them think it doesn’t apply at their size. It applies most at their size. A small wedding has exactly as many moving parts as a big one — a vendor who needs letting in, a chair count, someone who has to tell Elvis when to start — and at a small wedding there is no one standing around to absorb them. So they land on the couple. Unless somebody else is holding them.
If it is genuinely just the two of you and an officiant at sunrise, skip it. The moment there are guests, a setup, food, or a second location, hire someone. It shows. People who aren’t running their own wedding look different in photographs.
If you’re planning something like this
I’m in Melbourne Beach and I’ve been photographing weddings on this coast since 2011, from two people on the sand to evenings like this one. If you want the short version of what it costs and what’s included, that’s on my elopements and intimate ceremonies page. If you’d rather just tell me what you’re thinking then get in touch!
