A Timelessly Elegant Wedding in Melbourne, Victoria

Nonny and Mark attended the same high school back in Western Australia but didn’t speak much to each other at that time. Nonny was a little shy and Mark was two years older. “Once Mark graduated we started dating, I was 17 and he was 19. I remember all of our friends being shocked to find out we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I think my greatest blessing is finding my person so early in life. We have been together through the many seasons of life and 14 years later we are still each other’s favorite.” The lovely couple exchanged vows in a beautiful ceremony captured by Mervè Togan.

Get inspired by the chic details of their walk down the aisle, also featured in the latest issue of Black Bride Magazine!

Bride: Nonny Steffanie Naitanui, 31, Model 

Groom: Mark Asila Naitanui, 33, Plumber and Gas Fitter 

Photography By : Mervè Togan 

Place of Residence: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Wedding Date: December 7, 2023 

Wedding Location: Stones of the Yarra Valley, Victoria 

Wedding Theme/Motif/Inspiration: For our wedding, Mark and I decided to get the help of a wedding stylist to bring our vision to life. We really liked classic white weddings with a timeless romantic feel. That was our overall theme. We created a mood board and the beautiful Laura from Weddings Of Desire did the rest. I wanted our wedding to feel timeless and I’m really happy with what Laura put together.

Honeymoon Destination: We haven’t even planned our honeymoon yet. We did say we would go sometime in 2024 and we want to go to Egypt, but the world is our oyster so who knows where we will end up. 

Briefly tell us about your wedding experience and how the both of you felt on your big day. 

We stayed together the night before and both woke up so excited and ready for the day. It really felt like a dream come true. We have been dreaming about our wedding day for so long and to finally be able to make it official in front of our nearest and dearest felt magical. It was truly a joyful and emotional day and I’m so happy with every single detail. I know Mark and I were both a little nervous for things like our after dinner speech and our vows but all that went away when we were in the moment. My veil had “Worth the Wait” embroidered on it and it definitely was worth all those years of waiting. 

Wedding song, explain choice for song: 

Picking a song was so hard. We didn’t have a song we always knew would be our dedicated first dance song. We ended up going with “Back at One” by Brian McKnight because we both remembered the song as young kids and it was a classic for both of us. 

Congratulations to the happy couple! We wish them a lifetime of wedded bliss.

Walking down the aisle this year? Get inspired by more gorgeous bridal inspiration and wedding planning tips, order your copy of Black Bride Magazine.