There is nothing in Australia's marriage legislation that says there must be a white dress, a photo of a cake being cut and a father "giving" his daughter away.
As more and more Australian couples decide that a traditional wedding may not be their preferred option, a growing number of couples are making up their own rules, like those preparing for pop-up weddings in Perth in June.
Pop-up weddings are the brain child of Brisbane-based marriage celebrant Josh Withers, who despite being in the industry for some time, only realised how constraining the generic idea of a wedding could be when he and his now-wife began planning their wedding 18 months ago.
"The idea is really simple - for some people, getting married is a little prohibitive," Mr Withers said.
The five couples who have so far pre-registered to get married in pop-up weddings in Perth on June 2 will have a ceremony which runs for about five or 10 minutes before having professional photographs taken with a number of boho-chic style backdrops.
Each couple is scheduled to be married and photographed in hour-slots at Chapel Farm, a venue with a rural setting in Middle Swan, before they walk away after 60 minutes as husband and wife.
Couples will need to factor in the cost of a dress or any other items that they want to make the day special but the cost of getting married and photographed at the pop-up weddings is just under $1000.
Mr Withers said about six per cent of people who planned a wedding last year did not have one; while some may have headed to the registry, others stated finances and social burdens as reasons they didn't go through with planned weddings.
Depending on which bridal survey the figures come from, the average Australian wedding costs anything from $27,000 to $54,000.
"And in reality the registry is pretty bland; it's really not quite as romantic as you'd hope," Mr Withers said.
"I thought maybe you could have more of a fun, glamorous day than the registry but make more of a day of it."
The only rule that needs to be followed is that couples sign up a month in advance to meet legal requirements.
Mr Withers said couples should not feel bound by the traditional idea of weddings and should instead do what they are comfortable with and what made them happy.
Perth will host the second pop-up wedding day held by the Pop-Up Wedding team, the first was held in Brisbane earlier this year.
Curtin University cultural studies expert Jon Stratton said while the idea of simplifying weddings was often tempting for people, most couples were drawn to tradition.
He said pop-up weddings were not likely to become more than a "niche" part of the bridal industry.
"I think people on the whole, like traditional weddings," Professor Stratton said.
"They like that sense of ritual and everything that goes along with it, the speeches, the white dress and that formality of a wedding that gives it gravitas, a very specific ritual that acknowledges to the world that you are married.
"Some say, 'why should we spend $30,000 on a wedding when it could be a deposit for a house', but it's all about romance, what they had wanted since they were young and most end up going for the traditional wedding anyway."
