Jack + Morgan - Cactus Country

Being at the helm of MFPC Weddings, it would have been off-brand for Jack and Morgan to have a celebration that was anything but extraordinary. ⁠

Tying the knot at the largest cactus field in the southern hemisphere, rebranding an entire motel and having McDonald's custom wrap and deliver 250 cheeseburgers with their own branding were just some of the ways they made their "Palm Springs meets the Met Gala" themed wedding memorable.⁠

How did you and Jack meet? Jack and I met through mutual friends, and with the proposition of a “Friends With benefits” situation, it didn’t end well haha. A casual “should we make out in the bathroom and see if it’s a vibe?” landed me walking down the aisle a few years later.

Wedding venue: Jack and I went down to Koonoomoo to set up an activation on The Big Strawberry about a year ago. We had very loosely looked at venues around Sydney but none of them seemed very us.

We had booked to stay at this motel to do the site visit. We both fell in love with the motel, and so when we went back down for the actual event a few months later, we decided to stay there again. My client, who was also down there, met us at the only pub in town for dinner and Jack and I harped on about how cute this motel was that we were staying in. My client went on to say, “Oh, the place I’m staying in is a dump”. Turns out, after trying a few of the shots on the extensive shot list at the pub, we all walked home to what was the same place.

A sore head in the morning, we woke up and went for a drive. I had a snooze and when I woke up, I looked at Jack and said “where are we?“ He looked at me point blank and said “I have no f**king idea”. We walked through this cactus garden and looked at each other and said “we have to get married here”.

There was a section that provided a natural framing, no need for an arbour, with the backdrop nothing but an endless field of cacti, before long we had run through what would become the aisle, seating, as well as immediately settling on the theme. Black tie. Because why not? Everyone loves to be fancy, even in the middle of nowhere.

As it’s about 30 minutes from any real town, Jack and I conjured up ideas of how to get our extensive guest list to the middle of nowhere. We thought, “we need a motel”. We need our own motel. There we welcomed the idea to Janet, the Manager of the motel we were staying at. She was excited at the prospect but maybe a little unsure of how elaborate this would become.

The venue itself was extremely welcoming and open to what we had planned, even if they had never had something of this scale before. They had seen a wedding before but as it’s not really close to anywhere of note, they tended to be an elopement, not a full scale production.

Wedding vibe: Palm Springs meets the Met Gala at the biggest cactus field in the Southern Hemisphere.

The wedding began three days prior at an Australian motor inn, which Jack and I completely re-branded to become the 70’s style Palm Springs motel of our dreams. We booked the entire place for our 150 guests for a week, custom built light boxes and redid all the signage throughout to become Moo & Gerry’s Motel (Jack’s nickname is Gerry and mine is Moo).

Every room was fitted out with custom coasters, matchbooks, toiletry packs, custom door hangers, brochures, pink branded water bottles, IV packs, branded shots, custom branded motel slippers, custom body wash, toothpaste, custom notepads as well as each room adorned with a giant poster sized paparazzi framed photo of Jack and I hanging above each bed.

None of our guests actually knew the location of the ceremony. We sent out our invites on custom made room keys that gave details of the motel, and guests were told they needed to be at the motel at 1:30pm on Saturday with no idea as to where we were actually going.

As the motel was in a town called Tocumwal on the NSW/VIC boarder, Jack and I had three 57 seater busses rebranded as ‘Tocumwal Love Charters’ est. 22.03.2025, with the love heart branding on it that would carry on through the entire ceremony and reception.

Once the buses arrived, we pre-recorded an announcement which played through the bus speakers on each bus telling guests to check under their seat pockets for champagne. The buses took our black tie wedding party to Cactus Country down through a back entrance which saw them walking directly into four acres of cacti. The wedding party stayed back at the motel for a first and intimate look, and arrived shortly after.

We followed up the wedding day with a Slim Aarons Poolside Recovery back at the Moo & Gerry Motel. At 10am we put on coffee and croissants, once again, all of the little plates had our branding on them as well as the coffee cups. We had brought in 30 yellow and white striped pool towels, 20 yellow and white striped sun beds, 10 yellow umbrellas, pineapples with cherries and cheese, prawn cocktails, mini sausage rolls and egg and lettuce baguettes for everyone.

We had DJ decks set up by the pool and it honestly turned into the best day. Champagne flowed all day and so did many laughs in some pretty great poolside outfits.

We hired waitstaff and I custom made them outfits, they had white polos with MOTEL STAFF on the back with the Moo & Gerry Logo on the front tucked into little navy tennis shorts also with the logo, long white socks and branded visors. I think these were actually my favourite outfits of the weekend.

Best thing you did? We made a custom announcement that played on our buses that asked everyone to check under their seats for hidden champagne.

We also wrote love letters to each other from the perspective of the ‘morning of' and thanked all of our vendors, family etc. in the way of reading love letters out loud which was a really intimate and beautiful way of doing a speech.

Also my mum and I made my dress together, it was a really special moment for us.

Best wedding planning resources? I'm in weddings and events so I'm surrounded by it and my wedding was less of a wedding structure but more of an event, however, there's a few really great Instagram pages that I followed. Wedshed (of course), Wedvibes and also, just designing moments with your partner to add in some little details.

The WedChat by Wedshed genuinely played a monumental part in planning, chatting with a community of vendors and brides really helps.

Hit (or near) miss: Hit was definitely having McDonald's rewrap 250 cheeseburgers in our branding.

Hit was my bridesmaids dresses - I didn't actually get to see them together until the day. Thankfully it worked.

Miss was probably drinking too much champs the night before.

If we had our time again… (anything you’d change in retrospect?) All of my bridesmaids and I wore these plastic heels with fluff on them and they looked so good and fun, but by the time we were getting photos, everyone’s feet were sore and I feel like we didn't get as many locations in for the photos as I would have liked.

Rapid Fire Questions

Splurge:

Rebranding a motel.

Wedding save:

Surprisingly, the dress.

First look?

Absolutely and we loved it.

Best thing you ate or drank?

Cheeseburgers.

Aisle song?

“Love”, by Lana Del Ray.

Party starter track?

“Best Friend”, by Sofi Tucker.

Ceremony or reception?

Ceremony.

On or over budget?

On budget.

Honeymoon destination?

Hotel in Sydney.

CREDITS: Photos Pat Stevenson and Jake Terrey // Videography Lucas Wilkinson // Celebrant Victoria Pearson // Venue Cactus Country and The Moo & Gerry Motel // Catering McDonalds and Cactus Country // Cake Morgan Ferguson Cakes // Planning, styling, stationery and coordination MFPC Weddings // // Furniture and marquee hire Morgan Ferguson Production Co. // Photobooth 360 Photo Booth by MFPC Weddings // Rings Serpent Cove Jewellery // Groom and groomsmen suits P. Johnson // Ties Tom Ford // Bridal gown custom made (skirt) and Diane Lewis Couture (top) // Bridesmaid dresses Rachel Gilbert, Rebecca Vallance and Badgley Mischka // Accessories Acahua and vintage Celine // Transport The Woods Busline (rebranded as Tocumwal Love Charters) // Music “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (performed by my dad and Pearl Herbert) // Sound gear and production Dane Boulton // DJ Danny Clayton.