Terrie & Jon: An Adelaide Registry Office Wedding

Terrie and Jon wanted their wedding to be easy: no speeches, no cake cutting, no bouquet toss, just a ceremony with the people they love and a few lovely memories to keep. When we asked what feeling they hoped to find in their photographs in twenty years, they gave us one word: joy.

They married at the registry office on Chesser Street in Adelaide on a dry, overcast afternoon in late August 2026, and we spent the whole afternoon on foot with them: through the city to the registry, back again with their family and friends, and into Treasury 1860 for espresso martinis, cupcakes and a marquee in the courtyard.

Terrie and Jon walking along a city footpath past a white building with arched windows, their guests following behind

Setting off on foot

We met Terrie and Jon at Treasury 1860 at two o'clock, and a few minutes later everyone came out through an arched doorway under a lantern and onto the footpath, Terrie and Jon in front and their guests behind them, past a white building with arched windows. The registry is about ten minutes away on foot, but we took our time, with plenty of stops. Terrie wore a pale pink tea-length dress with a wide off-the-shoulder collar, a belt and a full skirt, pearls at her neck and pearl pins in her curled hair, and white pointed heels with bows. Jon wore a black suit with a white rose buttonhole.

Black and white photo of Terrie and Jon holding hands in front of sandstone Gothic arches, the wind in her hair

Sandstone and Gothic arches

The first stop was a sandstone church with an arcade of carved columns and pointed Gothic arches, and the soft grey light suited it perfectly. Terrie smiled up at Jon against the rough sandstone wall, and the two of them walked hand in hand down the arcade, between the columns. They kissed under one of the pointed arches, and then Jon twirled Terrie so her full pink skirt swung out around her. In black and white the arches look severe and grand; in colour the stone is warm against the pink of her dress.

Terrie smiling at Jon in front of a rough sandstone wall

Terrie and Jon walking hand in hand under a sandstone arcade of Gothic arches and carved columns

Jon kissing Terrie under a pointed sandstone arch, her bouquet of pale pink and white roses in her hand

Jon twirling Terrie under sandstone Gothic arches

Terrie and Jon crossing the road in front of a bright red heritage building

Through the city

From the church we walked on through the city, past red brick and white stone, and crossed the road in front of a bright red heritage building. Everyone waited at the lights on the kerb, and then we walked down a street between tall buildings. A lot of the frames from this part of the day happened between stops, because the walk itself was part of the wedding. Nobody was in a hurry, and the stops came wherever the light or the stone looked good.

Terrie and Jon standing at the kerb beside a set of traffic lights on a city street

Terrie and Jon walking down a city street between tall buildings

Close up of Terrie holding her bouquet of white and pale pink roses against her pink dress

Laneways and red brick

The last stretch ran through the laneways. Under a pergola hung with greenery, Terrie laughed while Jon smiled at her, and they stood facing each other under the vines. Her bouquet was white and pale pink roses with a little greenery and trailing ribbons, soft against the pink of her dress. Jon took a turn on his own against a red brick wall, and then the two of them walked away from us down a laneway between red brick buildings, towards the glass canopy and the registry door.

Jon smiling at Terrie as she laughs over her bouquet in a city laneway

Terrie and Jon facing each other in a laneway under hanging greenery

Jon in his black suit with a white rose buttonhole, standing against a red brick wall

Terrie and Jon walking away down a narrow laneway between red brick buildings

The marriage room

Inside, Jon greeted guests in the foyer while Terrie waited with two friends, and then everyone took their seats in the marriage room. It is small and warm: timber-panelled walls, a coffered white ceiling, rows of timber chairs with an aisle down the middle, and a curtained alcove at the front with a long timber table. A tall glass vase of pink tropical flowers, big green leaves and white flowers stood on the table beside a red leather signing folder. Three guests were laughing in their seats while they waited, and the rings sat in their open boxes on the table.

Three guests laughing together in the timber chairs as they wait for the ceremony

Black and white photo of two wedding rings in open ring boxes on the signing table

Jon and Terrie exchanging rings at the long table, a tall vase of flowers beside them

The vows

Terrie and Jon walked in together, arm in arm, for their 2.45 pm ceremony, and stood at the front of the room facing each other, holding hands. The celebrant, in a light grey suit, read from his folder beside them. Jon couldn't stop smiling at Terrie, and the guests in their floral dresses were smiling just as much. Terrie dabbed away a tear during the vows, then laughed, and the rings went on at the long table. Afterwards the two of them held on to each other in a long hug, Terrie laughing over Jon's shoulder, and Jon took her face in his hands for the kiss.

Terrie and Jon walking into the ceremony room at the registry office, arm in arm

The ceremony room at the registry office, family and friends watching as Terrie and Jon stand at the front

Jon smiling at Terrie during the ceremony, seen over her shoulder and the pearl pins in her hair

Guests in floral dresses smiling as they watch the ceremony from their seats

Terrie and Jon facing each other during their ceremony in the timber-lined registry room

Terrie dabbing away a tear with a tissue as the celebrant reads beside her and Jon

Terrie and Jon hugging after their vows in the registry room

Black and white photo of Terrie laughing as she hugs Jon tight after the vows

Jon holding Terrie’s face as they kiss after the vows

Signed, and out to applause

They signed at the long table, grinning their way through it, and then their two witnesses, a young man in a pale blue shirt and a young woman in black, took their turns. Terrie and Jon held their certificate up for the room, and then walked back down the aisle together while their guests clapped. From the moment they walked in to the moment they walked out took less than twenty minutes, which is how a registry ceremony goes.

Terrie and Jon smiling at the table as they sign the register

A young man in a pale blue shirt smiling as he signs as a witness at the registry table

Terrie and Jon walking back down the aisle hand in hand as their guests clap

Terrie twirling her pink dress in the laneway outside the registry as Jon watches

The laneway with family and friends

Family photographs came first, on the green sofa in the foyer, with their adult children and their partners, Terrie's sister and their two best friends. Then everyone went outside into the red brick laneway. Jon laughed with Terrie against the brick, Terrie twirled her skirt while Jon watched, and the whole group gathered under the glass canopy and cheered with their arms in the air. Terrie put her head together with a friend in a dark floral dress, and against the red brick wall she and three friends kicked up their heels for the camera.

Jon laughing with Terrie against a red brick wall, her bouquet held between them

Terrie, Jon and their family and friends cheering with their arms in the air in the laneway outside the registry

Terrie and a friend in a dark floral dress leaning their heads together in front of a red brick wall

Terrie and her friends kicking up their heels in front of a red brick wall after the ceremony

The long way back

At about a quarter past three we all walked back together through the laneway and the streets, across a zebra crossing and past cafe umbrellas, the guests strolling along beside Terrie and Jon. We stopped at the sandstone church again on the way for a few more portraits: Terrie on her own between two sandstone columns with a heavy timber door behind her, the two of them side by side beside the Gothic arches, and Jon taking her hand under an arch.

Black and white photo of Terrie, Jon and their guests crossing a city street

Terrie holding her bouquet between two sandstone columns, a heavy timber church door behind her

Jon taking Terrie’s hand under a sandstone arch as she smiles down at him

Terrie smiling at Jon with her hand at her chin in the bar at Treasury 1860

The front bar

Back at Treasury 1860 we went straight to the front bar, which Jon had especially asked for. Terrie leaned on the bar with her hand at her chin, smiling at Jon, and they raised a glass together. Espresso martinis arrived, and the two of them settled into a booth by the window under a lamp, Jon laughing over a pair of them. He rested his head on the shoulder of a young woman in black while they both laughed, and around the small tables their guests were working through espresso martinis of their own.

Jon laughing with Terrie over two espresso martinis at a table by the window

Terrie and Jon sitting close in a booth at Treasury 1860 beside a glowing lamp

Jon resting his head on the shoulder of a young woman in black as they laugh together in a booth

Guests laughing around a small table with espresso martinis

The courtyard

Out in the courtyard there is a fountain, a koi pond, clipped hedges, birch trees and benches, with the sandstone building all around. Terrie and two friends wrapped each other in a big hug by the fountain. Then, at about four o'clock, near the end of the afternoon, we took Terrie and Jon for a last few portraits there: Terrie laughing as Jon leaned in, the two of them walking hand in hand through the courtyard, and a black and white frame of them side by side with the fountain behind.

Terrie and Jon walking hand in hand through a green courtyard beside a sandstone building

Black and white photo of Jon and Terrie smiling side by side in the courtyard, the fountain behind them

Pink and chocolate cupcakes on a clear stand

Under the marquee

The celebration itself was under a clear marquee in the courtyard, with guests standing around high tables and platters of cheese and charcuterie. A chalkboard on an easel read "Congrats to Terrie & Jon", and the pink and chocolate cupcakes sat on a clear stand. There were plenty more hugs, Terrie cheek to cheek with a friend among them, and the afternoon settled into exactly the kind of celebration they had planned. We also shot some 35mm film on a half-frame camera under the marquee, and a pair of frames from it, the two of them raising espresso martinis and the crowd around them, closes the gallery.