And They Were Roommates: A Hunter Valley Wedding
Ray (she/her) and Rana (she/her) never expected a share house, a global lockdown, and a living room sleepover to lead them here. Five years later, they found themselves planning a wedding filled with happy tears, medieval dance moves, mixed gender bridal parties, and a last name reveal that had guests guessing right until the very end.
Held at the beautiful Settlers Rest in the Hunter Valley, their celebration was equally heartfelt and playful. From personalised bouquets by The Flower Seekers and a ceremony led by You Say I Do to a packed dance floor powered by Man Of The House, every detail reflected the people, creativity, and humour that have shaped their relationship from the very beginning.
How did you two meet?
To quote an infamous Vine, “and they were roommates,” is the best way to start this story.
We first got to know each other properly after Rana moved into a share house that Ray happened to be living in. About a month later, COVID lockdowns began, giving us plenty of time to spend together. As Rana’s feelings grew, little did she know Ray was feeling the same way.
A living room “sleepover” turned into an all night conversation, a kiss at sunrise (so gay), and a decision to start dating that very same morning (even more gay).
Over the next five years, we moved cities, shared many more homes, and continued building a life together. Through every challenge, our shared humour and positivity helped us take on whatever came our way.
How did you decide when to get married?
We were engaged for a year and two months. Honestly, we didn’t think we were going to get married for years to come because everything felt quite out of budget for us.
Then, we came across an incredible deal from our amazing venue, Settlers Rest. It was a “shotgun deal” where we had to get married within the year.
We were so happy we got to tie the knot in 2025 and at the most perfect location!
Who took charge of what during the planning process?
Because Ray’s a freak in the (Google) Sheets, and she’s a passionate event planner, she led most of the charge for the big day.
However, Rana provided a lot of creative vision for the overall features, like how the bridal parties dressed, the DJ playlist, ideas for the hens night, and what was on the menu.
Ray was the styling queen when it came to flowers, table dressings, and cute little party items like guest favours and dancing accessories, as well as a lot of the boring admin stuff!
How did you build your dream wedding team?
We are super lucky to have many creative and talented people in our lives. Ray’s mum made our cake, our friend Valerie of Man Of The House was the house DJ, our friend Lane was the MC, and Rana’s cousin shot film photography.
Outside of our direct network, it was important that our vendors were inclusive and fantastic to work with. Our celebrant, Bec Sweeney of You Say I Do, beautifully captured our love story and was considerate of everyone’s pronouns. Emma and the team at Settlers Rest were our wedding guardian angels, helping us navigate logistics while embracing all of our unique ideas. Steven and Clyde of Memento Collective captured the day beautifully and made everything feel easy and relaxed.
We also wanted to give a special shout out to Sonya of The Flower Seekers, who brought together the most whimsical floral arrangements for our day. Ray had some specific colours and unique shapes she was after, and Sonya nailed it to a tee. We especially loved the bridesmaids’ and bridesmen’s flowers, with each bouquet designed to suit that person’s personality and aesthetic.
Sonya really is a one woman flower champion!
What helped you stay on top of the budget?
Keeping a collaborative spreadsheet that we could update from our phones was really handy! We were able to track the budget and invoices as they came through, alongside the run sheet, guest list, dietaries, speeches, and more.
I’ll admit that I was pretty on top of tracking the bigger expenses, like the celebrant, photographer, and catering. But closer to the day, I stopped tracking the smaller expenses because I found going into the sheet constantly wasn’t all that fun and could be a little stressful at times!
It was a necessary evil through the beginning and middle of the planning process, but I gave myself a break near the end.
Was there any DIY involved?
Quite a few items we took a DIY approach to!
We made our own beautiful invites on Vistaprint. I hand-watercoloured the table card name tags. We brought our own candles and cheesecloth for the table décor.
We also put together a beautiful “family tree” that consisted of family members’ photos tied with ribbons to a pole in the reception space.
Tell us about your ceremony!
Our celebrant, Bec of You Say I Do, provided us with an in depth questionnaire that gave her heaps of juicy insight into our relationship. She then delivered a great speech about how we met and what we love about each other.
We both wrote and delivered our own vows, which were three minute speeches about what we love about each other and our enduring relationship.
Both of our vows were a perfect balance of humour, heartfelt anecdotes, and meaningful commitments.
What were some of the moments that made the day unforgettable?
Rana and I wanted to do things in a way that felt both fun and traditional, so we slept in separate beds the night before and didn’t see each other until we both walked down the aisle.
The ceremony was full of happy tears. Rana had a special upbeat song for her entrance, while Ray walked down the aisle to a slower paced song. The moment Rana turned around and saw Ray, they both burst into tears, quickly followed by both of their dads. It was a beautiful festival of happy sobs.
After cocktail hour and oysters with guests, we made a memorable reception entrance alongside our bridespeople before surprising everyone with a medieval inspired dance to the medieval version of 50 Cent’s Candy Shop.
Following dinner and cake, we revealed our new last name, shared our first dance under the moonlight, and kicked off a four hour dance party led by our friend and DJ, Val of Man Of The House. Once the music faded, the celebrations continued with a low key pool party in the plunge pool at Settlers Rest.
Truly the perfect full day of love adventures!
How did you make wedding traditions your own?
The main non traditional feature of our wedding was our last name reveal!
As a queer couple, “taking” a name isn’t a prerequisite, so we were considering creating a new name altogether. We had our guests guess at our hens night, then played their guesses before our Man of Honour and Maid of Honour revealed our last name. It brought on a lot of excitement (and even competition)!
We also both had a special moment walking down the aisle. Whilst Rana is the masc in the relationship, we both wanted her to have her big bride moment. She chose a special song to play while she, her parents, and her bridal party walked and danced down the aisle.
Were there any traditions you wanted to carry forward?
Not really a family tradition, but we enjoyed following the “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” tradition, as our parents and grandparents had done before us.
Rana wore her great grandfather’s watch (borrowed and old) and had blue toenails done for the day.
Ray borrowed, and kept, Rana’s nan’s golden ring, which she used as her wedding band and which had blue sapphires in it. She also wore vintage shoes from the ’90s (old) and earrings given to her on her 18th birthday by her nan (also old!).
How did you adapt wedding traditions to fit your relationship?
One of the biggest ways we made traditions our own was through our mixed gender bridal parties. Ray had her brother and three close female friends, while Rana had her male cousin, male bestie, her sister, and her other female bestie. We also gave our bridespeople unique titles, including a “Man of Honour”, a “Groomsmaid”, and “Bridesmen”.
We honestly didn’t realise there were so many traditions that straight couples followed, so we just winged a lot of it! We didn’t want any sense of either of us being “given away”, so we skipped traditions like handshaking between fathers.
We were pronounced as “Bride and Bride” because we wanted to save our last name reveal for later in the day. We also skipped having a ring bearer, instead hiding our wedding bands under two guests’ chairs and turning them into surprise ring bearers!
Captured by Memento Collective
Celebrant You Say I Do
Caterer Settlers Rest & The Hunter Bartender
Ceremony Venue Settlers Rest
Dress Boutique Belles & Beaux
Engagement Rings Black Finch & Simon Curwood Jewellers
Florist The Flower Seekers
Hair & Makeup Zoe Shaw MUA
DJ Man Of The House
Signage Love and a Little More
Suit Designers Gentleman’s Outfitters & Rundle Tailoring
Venue Settlers Rest
Videography Memento Collective
Wedding Rings Simon Curwood Jewellers
