Brittany & Stella – High School Sweethearts who Married After 12 Years Together

High school sweethearts, Brittany and Stella, married after 12 years together in Perth surrounded by their loved ones in one epic celebration.

Who are Brittany and Stella?

We started dating relatively young, so we got to grow up and support each other through all life’s adventures. At 21, we traveled Europe together, which ignited our love for travel, museums, and a life together.

We have three monochromed cats who we love like crazy.

Stella is a metalcore drummer, and Brittany will always be in the mosh pit of every show. We have binge-watched Rupauls Drag Race too many times and seek out murder documentaries on Netflix. Coffee in bed together is what we look forward to most on our days off, and random car parties while driving always make the trip more enjoyable. Headbanging is a must! We really balance each other out, and the limit does not exist with our love.

We’ve been together for almost thirteen years and met in high school. The year we started dating (2008), Stella gave Brittany a rose she picked for Valentine’s Day, and we started dating the following week. Brittany still has that rose.

Tell us about the proposal.

Stella proposed on our tenth anniversary while we were holidaying in Fiji.

We had previously talked about our 10-year milestone as an engagement year but decided there should be no expectations. Brittany had high hopes, but Stella tried to steer her away, not to ruin the surprise.

On the day of our anniversary, we enjoyed a spa day at the resort and planned dinner. After getting ready and waiting to head to the restaurant, Brittany was out on the deck of our room overlooking the ocean when Stella suspiciously set up the Go Pro she had used to film our holiday and got down on her knees. It was intimate and perfect and definitely caught Brittany off guard. The ring was everything Brittany ever wanted too.

How did you tackle changing your last name as same-sex couple?

We both wanted to have the same last name once married but felt uncomfortable taking each other’s maiden names. We wanted something completely different and more us. We started listing all the names we liked for weeks, to the point where we were just saying nouns to each other. One day out shopping, we walked through the book aisles and started reading the authors’ names of various books. When we said Archer, it was like a lightbulb moment. We didn’t lock it in or tell our families our name choice until one week before the wedding, and everyone else found out when we were announced married at the wedding.

What was the inspiration behind the vibe of your wedding?

The vibe of our wedding was lowkey and chill to keep the formalities to a minimum. We didn’t want too traditional a wedding, and we wanted to celebrate our love with a party. Design elements could be described as rustic, many thanks to the venue. We knew we wanted our wedding outside, mostly for the scenic views. We wanted a cocktail-style wedding too, so people felt comfortable mingling and so there wasn’t anyone set way the evening would pan out.

Tell us about those dresses.

Brittany had a hard time finding her perfect outfit; Stella, on the other hand, found her dress at her second bridal store. We thought it might have been the other way round as Brittany was always looking up wedding dresses, but this could have been the reason for the difficult time. In the end, we both found dresses that we both loved and felt comfortable in. Neither one of us saw the others dress until the ceremony.

Okay, wedding day details. Tell us all about your wedding day.

We wanted to wake up together the morning of our wedding so that we could start the day together. We had coffee in bed like we always do and then exchanged a few gifts. Mid-morning, we went our separate ways for bridal prep. Brittany was at home where her bridal party joined her, Stella at her sister’s house with her bridal party. Both parties did great at calming our nerves and getting us excited for the day.

When Brittany arrived at the venue first, her nerves came in hard, and she couldn’t wait for the ceremony to begin. As she walked down the aisle, all she could do was look for Stella. Palms were sweaty, knees weak, and arms were heavy. We had chills that were multiplying! (Brittany and Stella’s opening vows, respectively). The ceremony felt like our own little bubble, yes all our loved ones were there looking at us, but it was like we were the only ones in the orchard.

After the ceremony, we went straight to capturing the bridal and immediate family photos. This was great because we didn’t have our entire guest congratulating us to the point it’s a blur, and we could stop and take in that we just got married.

Following the photos and a short food break, our bridal party then entered the reception onto the dance floor. As we entered with everyone cheering, we went straight into our first dance. We then proceeded with our thank you speech and requested everyone eat, drink and have a gay old time. After this, we hit the photo booth! This is when we greeted and thanked our guests personally and made sure we had a photo with all of them. It was a lot of fun, with many photobombs and a fun keepsake for the guest.

Speeches were just as painful as everyone imagines, but the words expressed nothing but love, with many dad jokes thrown in. The father-daughter dance was something Brittany held quite dearly and was a great way to invite everyone else to the dance floor.

The rest of the night, we mingled, ate, drank, tore up the dance floor with the fabulous drag queen Feminem and took every chance in the photo booth.

As the night slowly wrapped up, we had a tour bus take our guest out of the hills and closer to phone reception. The party kept going for many of our guests on the bus and many more came to the realization of just how much cider they had drunk.

As our classic car drove us to Crown Towers for the night, we couldn’t help but wonder what a fantastic night we had and looked forward to our married life.

What are your favorite moments?

We had told our celebrant that we quote movies, TV shows, and songs on the regular. One of our favourites is Rupauls Drag Race, and could she drop a few quotes in. She did amazingly, but our favourite and least expecting quote was just before we said our vows. She whispered to just us, “good luck, and don’t fuck it up.”

We both made sure to put our regular quotes into our vows and were very excited to share them with each other. Our vows started with songs, and many of our guests complimented us on making them laugh with all the hidden gems.

We are punk and metal music fans and wanted some of our favourites to play on the night. The one that got everyone going, and gave Brittany whiplash the next morning from headbanging, was All The Small Things by Blink 182. Our guest also loved the string version of I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At the Disco whilst waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Do you have a standout vendor?

Peggy Saas & Elena, photographers. Amber from Honey Media, videographer. All three ladies made us feel comfortable and made us laugh- all while doing a kick-ass job capturing the important moments.

Tell us about the traditions you incorporated into the day?

Both our dads walked us down the aisle. This was a big thing for Brittany and was such a great moment with her dad. We decided to ditch the middle aisle, and both walk down either side of our guests simultaneously. Also, we both had siblings in our bridal party. Brittany had her brothers, and Stella had her sister and niece. We couldn’t forget the mums, of course; they were both our witnesses for the signing of the certificate.

Anything you are glad you did? Or wish you didn’t do?

Getting a videographer!!! Were a little doubtful if it would be worth it, but then we found Amber from Honey Media and she just blew us away with our film. Her work was so beautiful and fit right into the vibe we wanted for our intimate day.