Christina + Malik by Jess Onesto - Together Journal

From there, we knew that oysters at the Opera House, a ceremony in a city beach cove and dinner at our favourite below-deck candlelit restaurant were our ideal Sydney day and became our ideal wedding day.

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

Malik and I met because we both worked in VFX, but our lives really connected after discovering we both harboured a long list of passions outside of our full-time jobs. I’m a wedding photographer and freediving instructor, having competed on the USA Team and beyond. I grew up spending much of my time in caramel-by-the-sea in California, and the ocean has always been a big part of my life since I was very small. I grew up with a creative spirit and with stories of my mom’s scuba diving adventures, which really formed my spirit into who I am today. Malik is Sri Lankan by heritage but was born in Jamaica and moved to Sydney with his family when he was around 12, so he also really couldn’t avoid the water becoming a huge part of his soul, as well as his love of music. He is an amazing guitarist. It was only natural that when we came together, we ended up fueling each other’s love of life.

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

Malik was the first person I met after a 2-week long hotel quarantine when in Sydney for ILM’s VFX crew on “Thor Love and Thunder” in November 2020. Malik was the Motion Capture Supervisor, and I was the Producer on the crew. When we met on those first few work phone video chats we thought each other pretty serious. My feedback on Malik’s interview was that “he doesn’t seem like he’d be much fun, but he clearly is the best for the job.” Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen any real-life humans for 2 weeks of my quarantine, but the afternoon when I was released and met Malik and our friend coworker for lunch, our impressions of each other switched up pretty quickly. Malik played Sydney Tour Guide for the next 2 weeks and, in return, got a 1:1 freediving course from me one of the first weekends. From there, we ended up spending most of our time together, both at work and otherwise, often heading to the ocean for a dive if we got out early or on weekends at the beach.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

We planned to enjoy our time and go our separate ways at the end of our project in Sydney, which was fine with both of us. I don’t think either of us wanted a long distance relationship, and with the state of the world, it was unclear logistically how we could ever be in the same country again. But further along, towards the end of my work permit, it became clear that it would be silly to give this up. So without really even having that “relationship talk” we started looking into the logistics. Fortunately, Malik had a job offer in Los Angeles, which is where we met and moved in together a few months later.

With Malik “that feeling” felt very different than I had thought it would. It wasn’t the nervous buzz of new love or the whirlwind ride that love can often be. Instead, it was a chemical merging, a feeling of home and comfort and trust and just easy fun that marked our relationship from very early on. Swimming in the ocean together, I’d think, “Wow, how cool is it that I met someone who I can dive with?” And then turning on Disney movies, it felt like, “Wow, no way I met a hunky man who likes Little Mermaid.” But it was after we moved to LA together when Malik demanded to adopt our now two rascal kittens, Hades and Hermes that for me, I realized this was it. It wasn’t just moving across the world and “we’ll see”, or moving in together and “we’ll see.” It was starting a little family and meant looking down the road in 15+ years with those kitties and imagining ourselves together.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

What was important to Malik and me on our wedding day was family and the ocean. Early on, as Malik’s dad was in his second battle with cancer, we realized we needed to have the wedding in Malik’s hometown in Sydney and that we wanted to do it sooner rather than later. We still wanted the day to be a part of us, from our attire to the flow of the day. As a wedding photographer myself, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful weddings, but I’ve also seen a lot of the expected formula, so we started instead with our love of the city. If we had one day to spend in Sydney with our families, what would it look like? From there, we knew that oysters at the Opera House, a ceremony in a city beach cove and dinner at our favourite below-deck candlelit restaurant were our ideal Sydney day and became our ideal wedding day.

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).

Malik and I had always planned on getting married on the beach, which Sydney is full of. The whole city lives on the ocean, so design-wise, all you have to do is look around. We specifically chose Delwood Beach for our ceremony spot because of its aesthetic—it’s a snorkel-worthy nook of shore where you can see the city peeking around the corner but also feel like you’re in your own world. I wanted to make sure anything we brought onto the beach would complement the natural rock and sand. We opted for beachy white and wicker chairs plus florals that would match the wild but add a note of intentional design to the spot—almost like seaweed had washed in. Vicki from Martin Place Florist really delivered on that look and we were absolutely speechless when we saw the ceremony spot come into view. I never expected the florals to have such an impact, but it really made the beach ours. Her florals were so gorgeous we made our families carry those huge arrangements back on the ferry and through the Sydney Metro so that we could have them at Esteban, where our wedding dinner was to take place.

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

Lucky for me, Malik is a sea spirit too, so when I told him I planned to “be a mermaid” for our wedding day, he was on board. I have been collecting ocean-forward wedding inspiration on Instagram for a long time, partially for my business at Christina Molina. It seems silly, but being able to look back at a slew of saved posts that visually inspire you is very much part of the fun of wedding planning. It’s curating an artistic experience. It’s about pulling together the mood of the day and bringing together what you and your partner love. It’s not about replicating design or even feeling the need to go all out in every aspect. But you will discover things that really strike you and make you feel excited. My advice would be that even if some inspiration seems unachievable at first, sometimes all you have to do is a little investigation and creative thinking. Case in point about my dress story (below).

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

One of the first and most exciting parts of the wedding planning process for me was finding my wedding dress. As a wedding photographer and freediver from the US Team, the challenge was to find a dress where I could really embrace unique bridal fashion and my love for the ocean—whether that was in natural fabric textures, pearl embellishments or design. I came across the collection called “Siren Song” by Kim Kassas, and my mermaid heart stopped. I landed on the dress called “Adoris,” which features natural shells and pearls sewn into the bodice with incredible pleated satin sashes draping down from flared hips. The sea in a gown.

I ended up emailing the atelier directly about the dress since I couldn’t find that shell-embellished gown anywhere in the US. The Kim Kassas atelier replied to me directly to let me know that this VIP dress was one of a kind, made only for the “Siren Song” collection, but if it fits, they’d be willing to sell me the runway sample dress. They shipped it to Jaxon James Couture Bridal, one of their retailers in Los Angeles, where my mom flew down for the try-on moment. The gown fit like a dream and was even more beautiful in person, speaking with a breezy jingle from the dangling pearls when I moved.

My modern Kim Kassas masterpiece was complimented with an heirloom veil and pearl necklace, which brought that bit of tradition to the bridal look. The full ensemble came together a few weeks before the wedding when my mother finished hand-sewing the cathedral-length veil trimmed with lace from her own wedding dress from the 80s. With my mother’s pearls running across my collarbone and down my back, the look spoke to Malik’s birthplace in Jamaica, my professional freediving career and, combined with the veil, really honoured the moment when we joined hands with our families in the sand and said our vows.

What was 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?).

Of course, as a wedding photographer, photography was extremely important to me and to my husband, who is a creative as well. I knew the aesthetic I was going for, but I was also very selective when looking at local photographers who definitely have more of a moody and editorial vibe that is very “Sydney” but not quite my own. The additional challenge that we had to deal with here was the date moving around and needing to budget for a separate California celebration as well. I think this is where I’m extremely lucky to have such amazing colleagues in the industry. I had been hesitant to tap into this initially because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get someone to fly so far and because the wedding in my mind was going to be quite small without all the bells and whistles I know many photographers and planners love to work with, myself included! To my husband’s credit, Malik had asked me several times if we should reach out to Jess Onesto, who he knew since we were all living in LA at the time.

I had been shooting with Jess since the start of my career, so when I finally bashfully called her up to see if she would want to join us in Sydney, it was a pretty emotional moment. Not only was she willing to fly across the world to shoot this day with us, but she also had a wedding scheduled a few days after (hello, jetlag hero) and was there for us in a way I don’t think anyone else could have. The biggest hope for my photography was to be able to “let go” of the creative vision on the day and just enjoy it. Jess gave us that and more.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

No wedding is without its hiccups, and our memorable moment was definitely my dad missing the ferry to the Ceremony. We met our guests at the Sydney Opera Bar for drinks and oysters to kick off the day. The ferry terminals are just down the sidewalk along the water, a perfect little group walk away. My dad took my grandpa to get a head start on the stroll to the ferry. Only when we left 5 minutes later and arrived at the Ferry terminal were they nowhere to be found. My dad had turned off his international cell service so we had no way of knowing if they just got lost at the terminals or boarded a completely different boat. Our ferry called “all aboard” to push off, and Malik’s best man jumped off to begin a rescue mission. While I can’t say I was a very “chill bride” at this moment, we got a text about 10 minutes later from Mal’s best friend: a hilarious selfie of him, my dad and grandpa, happy as clams and ready to catch the next ferry to our ceremony location. All was well, and it’s probably our favourite “candid” snap from the whole day—making the wedding all the more memorable with a good story.