Victorian Marriage Registry · Old Treasury Building
The Victorian Marriage Registry sits inside the Old Treasury Building on Spring Street, and it is one of the loveliest rooms in Melbourne to marry in. The ceremony runs about fifteen minutes. I photograph all of it, and everything either side.
“A registry ceremony lasts about fifteen minutes. People hear that and assume there is not much to photograph. It is the opposite. Fifteen minutes with nothing padded out is the densest part of any wedding I shoot.”
The Victorian Marriage Registry sits inside the Old Treasury Building on Spring Street. Tall windows, working shutters, a fireplace, and light that falls soft across the whole room by mid morning. You are not getting married in an office. You are getting married in one of the oldest and loveliest rooms in the city.
There is no rehearsal, no second run at the vows, no photographer asking you to walk back down the aisle for another frame. Whatever happens, happens once. That is why I shoot the ceremony quietly and continuously rather than hunting for set pieces.
The walk up Spring Street, the wait with your people, the signing, the noise on the steps afterwards, wherever you go for lunch. Book the ceremony alone and you keep about a tenth of the day. Most couples want the rest of it.
How the morning runs
Every day is a little different, but this is the shape most Old Treasury mornings take, and the shape I plan coverage around.
You arrive, your people arrive, and there is fifteen or twenty minutes of standing around being nervous and delighted. This is quietly the best part of the day for photographs, and almost nobody books enough time for it. Spring Street, the Parliament steps and the colonnade are all within a two minute walk.
Antique chairs, a fireplace, your celebrant reading through the folder one more time. Family greeting each other. A flower girl doing laps. I stay out of the way here and let it play.
Vows, rings, the signing of the register at the leather topped desk, and the certificate in your hands. I shoot from a fixed distance without moving around the room, so nothing about my presence changes the way it feels.
The loudest minute of a quiet wedding. A close crowd on the steps of the Old Treasury makes more noise than a ballroom, and it is over in about ninety seconds.
Twenty relaxed minutes nearby, then I follow you to lunch. Yum cha, a long table at your favourite restaurant, a pub with your parents. The photographs of the meal afterwards are the ones couples tell me they look at most.
Everything above came from a single four hour booking.
See the full day, start to finish
Worth knowing
I photograph the day. You book the ceremony directly with the registry, and it is worth doing early because Saturday slots go first.
Ceremonies at the Victorian Marriage Registry are booked through Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, and you will need to lodge a Notice of Intended Marriage at least one calendar month before the date. Weekday mornings are quieter, cheaper and, for photographs, better lit than late afternoons. If you are still choosing between times, tell me what you are considering and I will tell you honestly which one will look better. Ask me about your date
Good to know
Yes. Photography is allowed during the ceremony and I have shot in that room many times. I stay at a fixed distance and do not move around during the vows, which keeps the ceremony feeling like yours rather than a production.
Enough for the people who matter. The room seats a small group comfortably and the registry will confirm the current number when you book. Every registry wedding I have photographed has felt full rather than sparse.
The ceremony is fifteen minutes. The day is not. The walk up Spring Street, the wait with your people, the exit onto the steps and the meal afterwards are all part of it, and that is where most of your gallery comes from.
Yes, and almost everyone does. Parliament House is a two minute walk from the registry and the colonnade there is one of the best places to photograph in the city, particularly on a grey Melbourne day.
Keep reading
The Victorian Marriage Registry at the Old Treasury Building, photographed from the walk up to the lunch after.
Where to actually get married around Melbourne, with light, permits and drive times sorted out.
Backyard ceremonies, restaurant takeovers and winery lunches for twenty to fifty guests.
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