BUNYA MOUNTAIN DREAMS … •☾• … ELOPEMENT
… •☾• …
Give us mountains any day, especially when it’s the Bunya Mountains. At the end of January, Doruk and I drove into the mountains to spend a few nights in the most beautiful cottage with our love Ann Taylor from Ceremona Weddings, organised for us by our beautiful couple who were looking after everything. We had all come out from Brisbane and gathered in the mountains to celebrate the incredible love between Sarah & Ersan and help make it official - Ann as their celebrant {and so much more} and us as their Visual Poets to photograph their memories. With Ersan’s Turkish-American background, it was extra special for him to have Doruk there to stand in as his brother for the day.
Bunya Mountain Elopement. Westcliff Lookout. Wedding Celebrant Ann Taylor from Ceremona Weddings
Knowing how much thought and research Ann had invested into her ceremony for Sarah & Ersan, I asked Ann to share the story of these two and their celebrations in her own words. We are so grateful to be able to share her beautiful words on our journal with you and we hope you enjoy reading.
Let’s hear it from Ann.
Ann Taylor from Ceremona Weddings
Sarah & Ersan’s Bunya Mountain Elopement
Being asked to handcraft Sarah and Ersan’s elopement ceremony was a celebrant’s dream come true. My love for all things ritual and intimate ceremonies that are heartfelt and meaningful was so completely aligned with the type of ceremony Sarah and Ersan wanted.
Best of all, they wanted an unscripted ceremony, so I was given full permission to fully tap into my intuition and say what felt right in the moment.
By choosing to have their wedding at the Bunya Mountains, Sarah and Ersan took their closest friends and family on a true elopement adventure. They wanted to have a relaxed, genuine elopement ceremony and really wanted their guests to feel how special the occasion was.
They also wanted everyone to feel the sacredness of the ancient Bunya forest.
Nature is so important to Sarah and Ersan as a couple, particularly the magic of the forest, so it was never a question where they would hold their elopement. The Bunyas is the perfect spot for a summer elopement - it is always a few degrees cooler in the mountains, the air is 100% fresher and there is a constant beautiful breeze.
Bridal Blessing Ceremony for Sarah by Ann Taylor from Ceremona Weddings
One of my favourite parts of their day was creating a bridal blessing ritual for Sarah and her girls while they were getting ready. There is something incredibly cozy about being in a Bunya Mountains cottage - even in the middle of January. The floor to ceiling windows in the living room of the cottage made it feel like we were sitting in the treetops. As Sarah and her girls gathered around for the blessing, they had the opportunity to just stop and be in the moment on a very busy morning.
We began with a grounding meditation, accompanied by the sound of my singing bowl. Sarah told me later that this quiet moment really calmed her nerves and helped slow down time on a day where it can speed by all too fast. We also drew oracle card guidance for Sarah and gave all of the women present an opportunity to say what they wished for her on her wedding day and beyond in marriage. It was so emotional and so important for Sarah to hear these words from her mum, sisters and friends.
By choosing to carve out time for this ritual, Sarah gave every one of us the gift of feeling centred and connected on her special day.
The experience of hiking out to the lookout where we held Sarah and Ersan’s ceremony was particularly magical. It felt significant to have everyone cross the threshold of going into the forest before the ceremony. It was a journey to get to the exact spot where Sarah and Ersan got engaged and we all knew that we were making that journey to witness something sacred. I hiked in with all the boys and we waited with Ersan for Sarah, her parents and all the girls to arrive.
Seeing Sarah walk down the forest trail, barefoot in her gorgeous vintage 70s wedding dress and with flowers in her hair was such a beautiful moment. Ersan’s face said it all - so much pride, respect and adoration for her.
We began the ceremony by honouring the traditional custodians of the land and acknowledging that ceremonies and gatherings had been taking place on that land for millenia.
The Bunyas are incredibly culturally significant for First Nations Australians - people travelled long distances for the Bunya nut harvest gatherings and the mountains form part of the larger creation spiritual song line which connects Wollumbin, the Glass House Mountains, The Main Range Mountains and Mt Barney.
It is not hard to see and feel the sacredness of the Bunyas’ ancient forest.
I love that we were able to honour Sarah and Ersan’s deep reverence for nature in the ceremony itself. The magnetism of the forest and the power of the place influenced so many aspects of the ceremony. My favourite part was the hand-fasting ritual, which was a nod to Sarah’s Celtic roots and symbolised the binding together of Sarah and Ersan’s souls for this lifetime and many more to come.
Sarah & Ersan’s handmade hand-fasting cord
After I bound their hands with the hand-fasting cord that they had made themselves, I performed “The Asking” where they got to say “I Do” to each other. It wasn’t just any Asking though. I created it using lyrics from a song by their favourite band, Wintersun.
This was a total surprise for both of them, and seeing the looks on their faces as these words spoke directly to their hearts was so powerful:
“Do you, Ersan, take Sarah to be your wife,
To be bound together in this life,
And all future lives to come?
Will you wander with her through time,
Exploring endless dimensions together?
Will you walk in the coldest winds for her,
Through the deserts of sand and snow?
Will you live in total harmony of perfection with her,
Fall in the sea of stars beside her,
Shining together, for all of eternity?”
This felt so important to include in the ceremony because Sarah and Ersan first met in person at a Wintersun concert in Helsinki, where they immediately bonded, both recognising a sense of home in the other.
Their relationship stood the test of time and distance and when the global pandemic started, Ersan moved to Australia from the US with an afternoon’s notice to be with his soulmate.
I felt so lucky to be the celebrant entrusted to craft a ceremony that was worthy of the love that these two share for each other. They are two of the most creative, deep, thoughtful and honourable people I’ve come across. The connection they share extends beyond space and time - they so clearly belong together and know in the depths of their being that they have always and will always be together. Their bond is such a beautiful thing to witness and the lengths that they have gone to in order to finally be in the same place are inspirational.
Sarah and Ersan made their wedding an authentic expression of who they are as a couple. It was totally focused on the love that they share and their deep connection to nature.
The ceremony invoked emotion that was palpable, raw and real. This is a testament to the depth of feeling they have for one another and also for the natural world, music, art and creativity. It was an honour to be a part of the experience that they curated for themselves and their closest loved ones. They had the courage to ditch traditions that didn’t feel right and to create a wedding that represented them as people. Their elopement reflected the essence of who they are, what they believe in and all the ways that their souls are connected - it could not have been more perfect!
~ Ann Taylor
CEREMONA WEDDINGS
Keep scrolling to look through Sarah & Ersan’s Visual Poem
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