Angela & Tori

Photographer on Hermitage Hunter Valley lesbian two bride Mrs & Mrs wedding Dancing With Her magazine

Words by Angela

Tori and I met almost four years ago, and from the moment that we met, I knew that my life was going to change forever. I didn’t know how or where it would go, but I knew. We quickly bonded over our love for the ocean, cups of tea, and all things sunshine.

In December 2016, both Tori and I took turns proposing to one another. They were unique, special, and we both wanted the other person to be able to experience the immense love and sentimentality that goes into a proposal.

I surprised Tori, whisking her away for a weekend in the Hunter Valley, which holds a significant place in both our hearts as we’ve made so many happy memories there. We had a day full of pampering and fun and eventually came back to our accommodation. The cottage was filled with all things magic – fairy lights, candles and flowers everywhere and a huge sign reading ‘will you marry me?’

Tori proposed to me, not long after, at the very beach her and I shared our first kiss. A teepee, a book about our love story, and a romantic picnic all led to a resounding yes to the proposal.

Our wedding took place just over a year later at a property in Wollombi, called Redleaf. We wanted our wedding to be an intimate affair with a guest list of only thirty people. Like a fancy but relaxed dinner party, with good food, good entertainment, and good company.

We didn’t want to follow the norms and traditions of a wedding day. I mean, it is a woman marrying another woman, so it’s not all that traditional to start off with. So we decided not to sleep separately and even spent the whole morning of our big day together.

We planned every single detail of our day, from the pens we used to sign our marriage certificate, the chairs we sat on, and even the glasses we used. Bringing our vision to life with our day’s styling was spectacular and wouldn’t have been possible without the lovely Emily from Your Wedding Ceremony.

We are both strong feminist women, and we didn’t want to be given away at our wedding as we are not a possession of any kind. Still, we also wanted to include our family in our day, so we decided to walk ourselves halfway down our garden aisle and have each of our parents walk us the other half.

Throughout the ceremony and reception, the sun was shining, although it had been forecasted to rain. We had the heavenly sounds of the fantastic singer, Kim Sheehy, to have her sing our song as we walked down the aisle. It was one of the best decisions we made for our special day.

Going on this adventure called life together has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Being able to marry the woman of my dreams, legally, in Australia, in our home country, I feel so lucky and so fortunate to have been able to do so.

Our advice would be to focus on you and your partner only. No day will ever be perfect or run exactly as planned, but if you just celebrate the love you have for one another, nothing else really matters.