We are Kristy and Gabbie. Kristy is a qualified veterinary nurse, now a college lecturer for animal care, and Gabbie is a special educational needs teacher.
We live in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, with our cat, Lockie. We love to cook and travel. The places we have traveled to have influenced and inspired us as cooks. We love being in nature and exploring. Kristy loves to garden and has transformed our garden; she has grand plans for it.
Gabbie loves to read and learn, and she spends many hours listening to podcasts and reading books. Together we love to cycle, eat out, go to the theatre, see live music, watch films and spend time with family and friends.
We have been together for seven years and met on Tinder and had a long-distance relationship for the first year of being together, where we only saw each other at weekends. We were 21 and 20 when we met and supported each other through many milestones; graduating from university, many new jobs, complete career changes, and family illness. We have celebrated many milestones together as a couple; our first home, travel, live abroad, get engaged, and get our first fur baby.
Tell us about your two proposals.
Kristy proposed to Gabbie in May 2018 in Ubud, Bali. Kristy had booked the most beautiful villa for us, The Alena Resort, under the premise that our traveling was coming to an end and we deserved to treat ourselves. She had done all the groundwork and checked they were okay with a same-sex proposal in the resort. They were more than happy to accommodate, and after our engagement, every staff member we encountered offered congratulations and well wishes.
Once we arrived at the resort, we got ready and went into town for some drinks. Little did Gabbie know, this was just a ploy so the villa could be decorated. We had some drinks, and Balinese starters, then went back to the resort. As we entered our villa, a staff member frightened the life out of Gabbie as he snuck out of the room, having just finished decorating.
Upon arrival in the villa, it was decorated exquisitely, and it is a memory for life. At this point, Gabbie knew something was going on but had not yet twigged ‘proposal’. So we sat down and had a lovely three-course Balinese meal; it was to die for.
At the end of the meal, Kristy brought an envelope out to Gabbie, and when she opened it, she found a custom-made book of messages about our relationship, the very last page was the words ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Kristy presented a ring box, and Gabbie immediately said ‘Yes’ followed by ‘Is this real life?’ We had both decided we would not get down on one knee as it wasn’t really our style.
We spent the rest of the evening celebrating and let our family and friends know the next day. For the rest of our stay, we went white water rafting, had a day at the spa, went on a hike through the rice terraces, and enjoyed our beautiful villa.
Gabbie proposed to Kristy in March 2019 in Port Douglas, Australia. The destination for Kristy’s proposal is something I put a lot of thought into. I had carried around her engagement ring for nine months of traveling and still not found the perfect place. We were then settling in Melbourne, Australia, on a working holiday visa. I had planned to propose various destinations in Australia, but something always went wrong, and the plan would be abandoned.
So I finally settled on Port Douglas because it reminded me of Bali, where Kristy had proposed. It is a beautiful town with a mix of rainforest and beach. I had planned a sunrise hot air balloon ride to start the day, which was almost canceled due to heavy rain and road closure. The journey to the launch site was one to remember speeding down a coastal winding road in the torrential rain at 4 am. Luckily the rain stopped, and we were able to launch.
I had planned to propose in the air however had not factored in how many other people would be in the balloon, so I chose not to. Our landing was hilarious; due to a surge of wind, we crash-landed into a field. The basket tipped to the side and we were all clinging on. But due to sliding through the field, we had collected a selection of critters that were terrorising the other tourists. Kristy quickly stepped into vet nurse mode and freed the creatures.
After the excitement of the hot air balloon, we went for a champagne breakfast in the rainforest, where we could feed kookaburras. After that, we went back to our hotel and napped after an early start. Then spent some time in the town having cocktails and walking along the beach. Gabbie had planned dinner at Nautilus Restaurant, which offers fantastic food in a rainforest setting. We had a five-course meal, and Gabbie proposed during the meal.
What does your engagement mean to you both?
Our engagement is significant, and we know we are fortunate to live in a country where same-sex marriage is recognized by law. Marriage cements our commitment to each other, and we believe it gives us a solid foundation on which to grow our family. It is a celebration of our love and a promise to each other.
More simply, we can’t wait to refer to each other as ‘wife,’ which will end the awkward ‘You are engaged. What is HIS name?’ We are both looking forward to sharing the same last name and beginning to grow our family, whatever that looks like for us.
How is wedding planning going? What do you hope for your wedding to be like?
Wedding planning is going well. We both decided we wanted a smaller affair. We have thirty-two guests, and most of the guests are staying at the venue with us for three nights. In a way, it is more like a holiday for our nearest and dearest.
We want to keep the wedding within a budget and from the start, we knew we did not want to get into debt or spend a considerable amount on our day. We chose our venue pretty quickly, and it instantly felt right. Luckily, we are usually on the same page when it comes to making decisions and the venue was an easy choice.
For the other day’s details, we sat down and thought about what was important to our day. We decided that food, music, and photos were our most important things, so we prioritized these. We had a strict budget for dresses. These were both bought from ASOS, coming in at under £300 for both.
Deciding we are going to do some things DIY, such as table settings and flower arrangements. We have tried to be as eco-conscious as possible and that has meant no paper invites instead, we sent out an email invite illustrated by our friend, and we have also steered away from balloons and non-biodegradable confetti. We have decided to make our confetti out of dried lavender and leaves. Keeping to a tight budget has kept us on track and kept the communication going around what is actually important to our day. It is easy to see how people get carried away and spend lots of money.
We also want some personal touches, so we have asked Gabbie’s sister and brother to make our wedding cake. Gabbie’s cousin will be singing as we walk down the aisle, and it will be all hands on deck when it comes to decorating the venue. Overall, we would like the day to be a very chilled-out affair, and we would like people to be as comfortable as possible and have fun!
How are you going about choosing your key vendors?
Our florist is our friend’s mum. She is making simple bouquets for us both and posies for our bridesmaids. We have decided to do our DIY centerpieces using supermarket flowers, jars, and hessian.
Our caters are local to Norfolk and use locally sourced produce. They are known to the venue and have worked there before. We have gone for a tapas wedding breakfast which will be served family-style, and then we are having loaded fries as an evening meal to soak up some of the alcohol! Both loving food, so catering was important to us. We have done a tasting menu, and everything was divine, so we are thrilled with our choice.
Our photographer is Jessica Grace. It was important to us to feel comfortable around our photographer and that they were LGBTQ+ friendly. We chose her because we instantly felt at ease with her. Even down to the tone of her emails, she made us feel 100% comfortable. We also love her style of photography, and she is an LGBTQ+ friendly photographer who grew up with two mums. From how our engagement shoot turned out, we know we have made the right choice; the photos are absolutely gorgeous.
Photography by Jessica Grace Photography
