We are a couple of lovebirds from Melbourne who had to overcome a hell of a lot to make it to our special day! And what a beautiful wedding it was if we do say so ourselves.
Rose and I began dating after meeting at work over four years ago after bonding in the office over terrible Tinder dates with men (we both now identify as bisexual, but at the time, Rose thought she was very much straight!). I invited Rose to a weekend away at a festival with some friends, as I had a spare last-minute ticket. After a fair few beers and a lot of dancing, we got cozy on the couch back at our cabin after the festival, and one thing led to another!
We both fell for each other pretty quickly. Before we knew it, Rose was announcing me as her (first ever!) girlfriend. We were (and still are) so in love, but I knew during that first year that Rose was struggling a little with wrapping her head around her sexual identity and how her love life wasn’t going the way she’d planned. She felt societal/social pressure to find a man, marry, and settle down with kids straight away.
Her love for me and her first relationship/romantic experience with a woman caught her off guard initially as everything happened so quickly. After a year together, we briefly split up but couldn’t stay away from each other. We were apart for ten weeks but spoke on the phone every single day. We found our way back to each other, and our relationship was stronger than it had ever been.
From then it was a roller coaster of moving in together, getting engaged, having an incredible engagement party, adopting a puppy, planning a wedding for 2020, painfully having to postpone to 2021. And finally making it to our big day on 6th March this year. As newlyweds, we couldn’t be happier and can’t help but relive our wedding every day. It was the most perfect celebration filled with live music, dancing, donuts, wines, puppies, laughter, and joy.
We feel so lucky to have finally made it and to have celebrated our love with 100 of our nearest and dearest people (including 20 LGBTQI+ fam!). Our parents made beautiful speeches about how grateful they are that marriage equality had been achieved in Australia to make our wedding possible.
We are so excited that we can now call each other “wife.” We still pinch ourselves when we think about how lucky we are to have found each other. To have gotten to a place in life where we are happy and content with ourselves as individuals and our relationship as a couple.
Personally, I cannot believe my luck and am so incredibly grateful to have Rose in my life; our love story was against the odds, and I’m proud of where we are today.
Photography by Gold & Grit
Catering & Venue Epicurean at Emu Bottom Homestead
Celebrant Sweet Wonderful You
Cinematographer Rose’s Cousin Grace Yeshe
Decorative Elements Simmons Linen Hire
Entertainment The Velvet Archers
Florist Mary Norma Botanicals
Gown Boutique Eternal Bridal
Gown Designer Steph of By Kinsman
Hair Liz Gallagher, Rhea Vine Artistry, Tyla Miller
Makeup One Eleven Makeup, Samantha Jade Artistry
Printer Dinkums Print & Design
Rings Steve Pallas Bespoke Jewellery
Shoes Bared Footwear, Jo Mercer
Stationery Love Carli
