Julie & Shana – An Inclusive Wedding at Zonzo Estate

Two lesbian brides getting married in Melbourne Victoria their wedding captured by Ashleigh Haase Photography

Like every modern-day couple meets—the internet. Only Shana was online to make new friends in the LGBTQ+ community, and Julia longed for a woman to romance, if only for the night. Online dating consists of attempting jokes as an opener. However, Julia was over beating around the bush and opened with the line“you’re hot.” Not only did that win her Shana’s Snapchat, but her heart eventually, too.

During a trip to Japan with my friend, I realised I had fallen deeply in love with Julia, so I learned how to write “I love you” in Japanese Caligraphy and brought it home to give to Julia. I planned to propose to Julia on our third anniversary. However, Covid had other plans and locked us down for another four months. So it wasn’t until November 2020 that I could finally pop the question after keeping the ring a secret all of the lockdown.

We tied the knot three weeks ago at the beautiful Zonzo Estate. And we had an incredible team of inclusive vendors and, of course, the most supportive family and friends. We wanted to make sure our wedding made a statement, so we included pride pins from Minus18, an organization supporting the LGBTQ+ youth of Australia where the proceeds of these pins went straight to them.

How did COVID impact your wedding?

Like other engaged couples in a pandemic, wedding planning came with challenges. Specifically, the unvaccinated. Due to government mandates during the beginning process of our planning, we were unsure when and how we let our family and friends know that they may not be able to attend. Fast forward a few months to March, and we were delightfully informed that further restrictions were easing. It’s not something pre-2020 couples had to think about, and it’s certainly not something we wanted to think about. But in the end, it all worked out.