Khanh + Mick by Benjamin Sowry

The Japanese and Vietnamese touches.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We’re Khanh and Mick. We live in Bondi and spend a disproportionate amount of our time around food, with our dog Oli, going to live gigs, crafting things and plotting where to travel next when we’re not frolicking around the world.   Khanh has worked across marketing and hospitality, from scaling tech start-ups to staging at Margaret and cheffing at Japanese restaurants. She’s now building Table Garni, a foodscaping studio exploring food as sculpture. She’s always been inclined towards details that make people linger a little longer around the table.

Mick’s a former child motocross racer turned sparky, then Product Designer across a string of tech start-ups and now travel photographer. He has an eye for documenting people and raw moments.

Together, we love to host our friends and family, travel, good music and long meals that inevitably turn into late nights playing card games and breaking out the increasingly ridiculous collection of headwear we’ve collected along the way. 

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

A decade ago, we met at Sydney International Airport. Khanh was working the closing shift at Surf Dive ’n’ Ski, while Mick was heading to Japan for his annual boys’ snowboarding trip.

Mick’s friend Gerry spotted a GoPro in the store and locked in on it. Mick made a beeline for the camera, and Khanh ended up selling it to him, along with a bonus gift with purchase: a receipt with her number scribbled on it, after he sheepishly asked for it.

Mick kept that receipt for years, wedged inside his passport.

Khanh remembers Mick’s nerves being endearing. Mick remembers Khanh’s magnetic, warm vibe.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

The Japanese and Vietnamese touches. We spend an obscene amount of time in Japan, and Khanh’s heritage is Vietnamese, so they inevitably found their way into the wedding. We wanted references rather than a literal interpretation: restraint, beautiful materials, considered details and a sense of wabi-sabi.

Jessie from Ruby and James understood that instinctively. The florals were botanical, using moss, lotus (Vietnam’s national flower) juxtaposed with sculptures from exotic fruit like organically stacked lychees and scattered custard apples that made it slightly wild rather than overly arranged. We were also conscious of not trying to disguise the venue. The concrete, steel and incredible scale of Machine Hall were already doing a lot of the work.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

Our advice would be to Venn diagram what matters to you as a couple and spend your energy there. There are an infinite number of decisions you can make about a wedding, and most of them are completely inconsequential.

We cared deeply about the food, music, lighting, photography and how the room felt. The rest could take care of itself.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

We were incredibly lucky with our vendors, but the standout quality for us was that they understood the feeling we were trying to create rather than simply executing a brief. We fell in love with each and every one of them. Ben Sowry our photographer, Nat from Auburn Hour our videographer, Jessie on the overall styling and Narito the tuna carver all brought something of themselves to the day while understanding the bigger picture.

We wanted the wedding to feel generous, atmospheric and a little unexpected, rather than overly polished, and the people we worked with really helped make that happen.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

We wanted the outfits to feel like us rather than costumes we happened to be wearing for a wedding. Khanh opted for a two-piece Kyha set with a 5m chiffon scarf that trailed behind, acting as a train that could be scooped up in the nook of her elbow. Her second look was a Self Portrait dress, with a mandarin collar and matching Vietnamese khăn đón – a 30cm wide headpiece. To tie into the sculptural styling, she wore a pair of trailing pearl earrings by Completedworks.  

While the assignment was black tie, there was a lot of thought in the details, but nothing we wanted to feel overly precious about. By the end of the night, the clothes had lived a proper life; Mick’s cream tuxedo jacket, in particular, had become something of a forensics mystery.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Both are deliberately understated and timeless, which felt right for us. We’ve always been drawn to things that don’t need to shout. Khanh’s engagement ring is a classic Tiffany ring and wedding ring a yellow gold and Platinum band, while Mick wears a simple platinum Cartier band.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Food was always going to be a big one for us. Khanh grew up going to endless Asian weddings in South West Sydney, where the traditional Chinese wedding banquet meant scallops, XO lobster noodles and jellyfish salad. We wanted to keep that tradition, but bring it into the very different setting of an industrial venue. We also went slightly rogue with a 30kg tuna, carved live and turned into crispy tuna rice, tataki and sashimi canapés.  

Photography was equally important, particularly because Mick is a photographer himself. He notices things most people don’t, so having someone who could capture the atmosphere and all the little moments mattered enormously.  

And then there was the room. Machine Hall already had so much character that we didn’t want to fight it. We were happy to spend more on lighting, sound and production to make the architecture feel even more dramatic, rather than trying to cover it up.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

Being serenaded by Owl Eyes singing Crave You was a bit of a crescendo moment. There was something surreal about standing there with our favourite people while one of our favourite songs was being performed live. It was one of those moments where we thought, surely we are in a simulation.   

We also love our casual pared-back Vietnamese tea ceremony with our parents, tucked into the middle of the night in the stairwell rather than making the whole day about tradition. It felt like a small, meaningful pause in the middle of a party and a chance for us to debrief.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

Our friends Fran and Manny made us a custom vinyl with songs from the wedding day. We still spin it on the reg, which feels like a pretty good metaphor for marriage.

Continuing to share the things we love with each other, whether it’s the very last bite of something yum, a song we’ve heard to death or the excitement of finding ourselves somewhere completely foreign together.

After a decade together, marriage isn’t really about becoming different people. It’s about continuing to build a life around collecting the songs, meals, places, stories, ridiculous hats and all things that make us happy.