Kate & Tom by Briars Atlas

The real wedding of Kate and Tom in Palm Springs, CA as featured in Issue 17 …

Kate: Although Tom and I both work as photographers and artists, we’re very different people, but we inspire each other creatively and are each other’s biggest supporters.

We’ve built a beautiful life and travel the world together for our art projects, currently for about four months each year. We met in Melbourne in 2010, at a publicity party in a warehouse where everyone was given coveralls and cans of paint to throw around and became a weird mix of pink and blue. Tom was photographing the event and we caught each other’s eye.

Tom proposed in 2015 at The Lautner hotel in Palm Springs. He popped the question in the swimming pool, which, given it was 45°C outside, was more like a hot tub. He’d been planning to propose a month later, but was worried about keeping the ring safe and a secret while we were travelling, and in the end he couldn’t wait. We got married in Palm Springs, which is a bit of a second home, as we both have photographic series there and have visited more than a dozen times. Over the years, we’ve made many friends there, and we invited our immediate family and around 20 friends to fly over to join us. We had the ceremony at one friend’s house, the reception at another, and an after party at a third house. We’d been telling our friends and family about Palm Springs for years, so it was really special to finally be able to share it with everyone and for our worlds to collide.

I bought my Pnina Tornai dress in New York a couple of weeks after the engagement, with the help of a stylist friend. Tom’s suit was tailored by Oscar Hunt, but the initial buttons seemed a bit bland for Palm Springs, so he spruced it up with some buttons from royal button makers, Benson & Clegg. Some of the highlights from our day include being driven to the wedding in a 1957 Thunderbird, a car that appears in one of Tom’s best-known photographs; our flower girl spontaneously grabbing my hand and giving me away; dancing under the lemon tree; and wandering around the reception together feeling like we were on a film set.

Being married means making a loving commitment to ourselves, each other, and the world we create. We got a second puppy soon after getting married, which was exciting, and we’ve travelled a lot, but nothing else has really changed, except the strengthening of our commitment.

Photography: Briars Atlas | Bride’s dress: Pnina Tornai | Groom’s suit: Oscar Hunt | Ceremony & Reception venues: Friends’ homes, Palm Springs | Groom’s shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bride’s shoes: Dries van Noten | Hair: A friend of the bride | Ceremony music: A friend | Bride’s fragrance: Le Labo Lys 41 | Groom’s fragrance: Byredo Eleventh Hour | Celebrant: A friend  | Bride’s earrings: Christie Nicolaides | Planning, hire, catering & beverages: F/10 Catering & Events | Styling: The couple | Flora: The bride | Rings: Cushla Whiting