Where I'd get married in Melbourne if I wanted the city itself to be the venue

Melbourne doesn't hand out subtlety, so why would its weddings be any different. Skip the blank marquee and let the city supply the drama, because half these venues do the styling for you before a single florist shows up.

Start west at The Substation in Newport, a heritage 1915 electrical substation restored by volunteers into a raw brick, high ceilinged blank canvas. It has that gritty, artistic energy that makes a marquee wedding look like it tried too hard, plus a leafy courtyard for the inevitable golden hour photos.

If you want Richmond's warehouse energy without losing the garden feel, Butler Lane hides a secret courtyard behind a nondescript laneway entrance, complete with a living green wall and festoon lighting, before opening into a polished concrete reception space with beamed ceilings.

For a proper skyline moment, Naked in the Sky sits five floors above Naked for Satan on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. The rooftop looks straight over the CBD skyline and out to the Dandenongs, and yes, you can absolutely say your vows with a Basque tapas menu on standby for the reception.

Prefer water to concrete. The Harbour Room at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron in St Kilda gives you a private rooftop ceremony terrace over Port Phillip Bay, about as close as Melbourne gets to a coastal wedding without leaving the tram network.

And if it's the CBD's own history you're after, Alfred Place tucks into one of the city's historic laneways with soaring Art Deco ceilings, proof that Melbourne's alleyways were made for more than coffee and street art.

None of these need much dressing up. That's rather the point. When the venue already looks like a moodboard, your budget can go towards the parts of the day people actually remember, the food, the band, the open bar that runs a bit longer than planned.

Book early though. Melbourne's best backdrops get snapped up a year or more out, and nobody wants to plan a wedding around whoever's left free in June.

Sugar Honey is the social media and advertising agency behind What's The Buzz, and wedding advertising across the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Melbourne is one of the things we do best. Get in touch at info@sugarhoney.com.au.