Jake and Stephen: A Luxe Love

Jake and Stephen’s romance began with a chance meeting through a mutual friend, sparking an instant connection that led to a dream proposal in Greece. Their wedding day celebrated in Perth, Australia, was a testament to their enduring love, marked by understated luxury and shared with their closest friends and family.

Photographer Ryan Murphy Studio | Location Perth, AUS

“Marriage is about two people who refuse to give up on each other. Marriage is promising to always choose another person, no matter the peril, the distance, no matter the argument....”

How and when did you meet?

Jake and Stephen: We actually met through a mutual friend

Tell us a little about that first time you met…

Stephen: Jake and Eve were drinking on a Sunday and were moving to their next location but before they arrived Eve had to pop into my work and pick up a few things before her first shift that week. So they went to the restaurant and Jake sat at the bar and Eve had a meeting with me. 

After 10 or 15 minutes, a glass of champagne arrives for Jake " I didn't order this" he said to the bar staff, so I came over looking cool calm and collected and told Jake that it was an apology for keeping Eve from him for so long. Jake being an apprentice at the time was never one to turn down a free drink. I then walked back to Eve and said ok so you can have the job if I can have that guy’s number. Safe to say she got the job.

What was the first thing you noticed about each other?

Stephen: I thought Jake was very handsome, a little shy, but I was very interested.

Jake: I was intimidated but intrigued by his level of confidence and impressed with his chivalry, plus he had a nice ass.

Tell us about the standout moments in your relationship…

Jake and Stephen: Bringing our son (Chester/Pug) into the world in 2016. Buying our first house together in 2017, and now waiting for our second house to be ready in a few months. Our Greece trip where Stephen proposed was pretty amazing and opening our hair salon in 2021 was also a huge highlight.

Have you ever faced any issues of non-acceptance?

Jake and Stephen: Not so much non-acceptance but when contacting vendors, 8/10 times of filling out wedding forms it was almost always “BRIDES NAME, GROOMS NAME”.

One vendor in particular, after previously mentioned we are a same-sex couple, sent us their form to fill out and it read “BRIDES NAME, GROOMS NAME” “FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE” “BRIDES CONTACT” “BRIDES PREFERENCES”.

So, we emailed asking for a same-sex form as neither of us wanted to fill in the space of BRIDE as neither of us identifies as a Bride... 

to which they replied, “It’s a Word document so you can just change it on your end.”

As a company that is in the industry, there are small things like this that can be changed to make everyone feel more included, and not to mention we are paying you thousands of dollars to hire you... 

Sweetie, if you want our business, you do it...”

What does marriage mean to you?

Jake and Stephen: Marriage is about two people who refuse to give up on each other. Marriage is promising to always choose another person, no matter the peril, the distance, no matter the argument. You choose to love them with all that you have to give, which is hard at times and it’s work, but it comes with the most beautiful of outcomes. You get the honour and privilege of being someone else’s someone. You now have a person who loves you just as much and just as hard as you do them. Marriage is choosing with all your heart and having that reciprocated.

Who proposed, and how?

Jake: Stephen did, on a surprise holiday to Greece, it happened in Santorini in October 2017.

We had four weeks off over my birthday in October, I had no idea about anything that was happening over the four weeks and Stephen made out like we weren't doing anything, however on the first night of our holidays I finished work on a Saturday and thought we had a Moet white party to get to, so I'm rushing home knowing that we're gonna be late to this white party. All excited I get home and Stephen is not ready, he's in the kitchen and he says welcome home, do you want a glass of champagne? I start to see red because we're gonna be even later to the party and I hate being late to anything. So I'm getting upset that he's not ready and Stephen keeps insisting that we have a glass of champagne, so I sit down and have a glass of champagne and Stephen says, "We're actually not going to the white party" (internally I see red). He says you've actually got an hour and a half to pack we're going on holiday. I was too stunned to speak. "Take you're champagne with you and pack, pack light and pack for summer, I won't tell you where we're going until we get to the airport".

So I'm frantically getting ready a car picks us up and takes us to the airport. We get to the airport and Stephen starts walking down the priority lane and speaks to the girl at the front desk and then ushers me down, I'm so embarrassed because I'm thinking he's just cut the massive line at the airport and everyone is already judging us. She takes our passports next thing I hear "Mr Gray Mr Hollow flying first class to Athens," Stephen has the biggest smirk on his face because he knows I'm trying to play it cool that we fly first class all the time.

We spent four nights in Athens, three in Santorini, two in Paros and two in Mykonos. Keep in mind, our first night in Athens I went through his suitcase while he was in the shower to see if there was a ring and couldn't find anything so I just thought to myself this is one bougie holiday and I was very okay with that.

On our last day in Santorini, we had a stunning five-course degustation breakfast, three hours worth of body treatments, and after enjoyed our private pool looking over the bay of Santorini. The hardest decision that day was whether we were going to enjoy the vintage Krug or Dom rosé. Relaxing in the pool, Stephen mentioned that he's made reservations at a fine-dining seafood restaurant.

We get to the top of the cliff and an elevator takes us down what feels like halfway through the cliff and it opens up into a marble tunnel, we walk through and the marbel tunnel opens up into the most beautiful bar overlooking Santorini, I look around and there's no one there, so I start to freak out thinking if no one is here the food must be shit, so I say to Stephen, we can't eat here having a mini meltdown but he continues to assure me that we're eating here and it's fine.

Little did I know he had hired the entire restaurant for just the two of us. We sit down have a cocktail and admire the sunset as there was every colour imaginable in the sky. When our table was ready we walked down 50,000 stairs to a private balcony suspended off the cliff set up with an arbour and tea lights everywhere, I thought to myself this is incredible, the waitress explained the menu and said she should be back in about half an hour without first course, so Stephen and I decided to take some touristy photos of the sunset while it was amazing.

I'm running around trying to adjust the tea lights to give optimal and best lighting for photos, took a couple, hated them, rearranged the lighting and tried again, I leant forward to set the timer on the camera and as I turned to my left to look at Stephen, he was down on one knee.

When did you get married?

October 8th, 2022.

Jake and Stephen’s story continues below ↓

What was the main influence behind your wedding day?

Jake and Stephen: Wanting to celebrate a day of understated luxury with our closest friends and family.

What was the most important thing to you surrounding your wedding? 

Jake and Stephen: That we both remained present in the moment so it didn't fly by.

Where did you find the bulk of your inspiration?

Jake and Stephen: For aesthetics, it was Theodore's Instagram, Florals It was Perth florists on Instagram, and editorial collections on Pinterest. However, we left florals with our florist as we couldn't really picture the end result and wanted to trust the creatives we hired. Outfits for Jake were mainly Instagram and a vision he had in his head, it was a heavy oversized/street/90s/Saint Laurent influence whereas Stephen wanted something sharp, striking and classic white tie.

How did you choose your suppliers? 

Jake and Stephen: Stephen works in Hospitality, and Jake in the wedding and hair industry, so it was safe to say we have both done our fair share of weddings and worked with enough people in the industry to know who we wanted and who would help elevate the vibe on the day. We also wanted the best of the best.

What was the most difficult thing about planning your wedding?

Jake and Stephen: Trying to manage the guest list, keeping it small and intimate.

Where did you spend your honeymoon?

Jake and Stephen: We Did Europe - Paris, Reims, Positano, Roma, Tuscany, Lake Como and Milan.

Any advice for other couples planning their day and finding it difficult to navigate the journey?

Jake: Divide and conquer! We were lucky in that we split our responsibilities straight down the middle, I handled everything creative and Stephen everything hospitality. It was a perfect divide (also make sure one of you are on top of the emails as I tend to get a little forgetful about replying). If you are taking on the brunt by yourself, I can't stress enough GET A WEDDING PLANNER. You will not regret it I swear, I work with so many couples getting married and they get so overwhelmed by the process it becomes a chore and they just wish the day away. 

Jake and Stephen’s Team

Photographer Ryan Murphy Studio

Venue Como the Treasury

Flowers Fete Floral

Suits Khirzad Offical

Makeup Holly Mudge Makeup Artist, Connor Adams

Hair Mackenzie Thayward, Mc Hairstylist

Celebrant The Salty Celebrant

Rings Rohan Jewellers

Stationery Felicitations Invites

Furniture Event Artillery

Lion Dance Hong Luck Kung Fu Association

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