Raenee Sydney and James Marto’s wedding was as much a love letter to mushrooms as it was to the bride’s heritage—and the couple’s collection of Y/Project and Jean Paul Gaultier. Wedding photographer: Joe Brennan
Before Raenee Sydney and James Marto considered the topic of flowers for their wedding, they thought about fungi. It was only natural, really, given that James was the owner of Comfyshrooms, a ceramics label specialising in mushroom-shaped incense burners. On top of that, Raenee adds, mushrooms aligned with the couple’s primary goal for the ceremony: “to make it easy for guests to lose themselves.” A soft trip, if you will. “Marto hung some printed fabric artworks he had made for an upcoming project, a digital collage of photography presenting the process of cultivating mushrooms, from forage to harvest,” the bride, a model and fellow ceramicist, tells Vogue of the initial stages of the planning process. “This set the tone for the fungi, and the floristry, in terms of colour and texture.” How then, did Raenee and James execute their vision—something the bride describes to us as a “mycelial love portal”? Original hopes of exchanging vows beneath a geodesic dome fell through— “logistically unattainable”—but the pair found an alternative in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, where they’d shared some special moments. “We loved the bare glass structure of the Palm House, which is really the second best thing to a geodome!” Raenee and James then worked with the florists at FoMS to source live mycelium blocks with oyster mushrooms, which would be incorporated into the floral arrangements, and lit the inside of Palm House purple with lights and moving lasers. A wishing well took the form of a papier-mâché psilocybin mushroom, in which guests deposited words and notes of thanks throughout the night. Purple, in the end, was the shade of the night. “I always knew that I didn’t want to wear a white dress, and after some thought, lilac seemed like the perfect fit,” says Raenee. “The dress I wore was made by Marto’s mom, Jenny. After some planning, we settled on something off-shoulder, with a bit of drama from the tulle train and veil. It really became a collaborative piece between us, which felt really special.” Raenee’s velvet reception dress, meanwhile, belonged to her own mother, who had worn it to her brother’s wedding when she was younger. It was purple for the groom too, who spotted his trompe l’œil, body-print suit on the Jean Paul Gaultier x Y/Project runway late last year. “The collection was released just months before the wedding, which was perfect timing!” says Raenee. James’s mother also created the long-sleeved mock neck shirt for him to layer under his suit—along with those seen on the groomsmen—well, “shroomsmen”, the bride quips. As for the mushrooms? “[They] were taken home by friends on the night and cooked up during the week.” That’s the best way to leave a wedding, isn’t it, with your heart and stomach full. Below, look inside Raenee and James’s psychedelic purple wedding. Sign up to the Vogue newsletter
“We both have conflicting stories,” Raenee says laughingly of how they first met. “Marto believes it was at the PAM store, however I believe that it was at a pub further down the track.”
“We were down in Tasmania doing a hike,” the bride shares of the proposal. “On the second day, when we reached the summit of Mt. Jerusalem, we were quite puffed and discussing how the view looked like a simulation. With our legs dangling off a rocky crag, Marto asked the big question—with a croak in his voice and ring in his hand attached to a carabiner! The engagement ring was designed by Marto and my friend Steph, who is a jeweller.”