Words by Melanie
I was being dragged to a football game that I didn’t want to go to, after the game I wanted to go home but the people I was with wanted to go to the pub.
I’m so glad I got dragged along because Michelle was there for after-work drinks with some friends.
She was dancing on the dance floor, and I wanted to dance too, but none of my friends wanted to. So, I just went up and started dancing with Michelle. We danced and kissed for at least fifteen-twenty minutes before we introduced ourselves. We then spent the next few hours dancing and drinking and talking before getting kicked out for being too drunk!
Corny as it sounds, I never believed in love at first sight, but I could not get her out of my head from the second I met her. We would text back and forward for months, and eventually, she got me a job where she worked. We would meet in the elevator and rooms to… ‘hang out.’
I was still living with my parents at the time, and they went away for a month, so Michelle invited me over to stay as she had a couple of weeks off work. I did. And I never left. I basically moved in before we were even dating!
We were in Whitehorse, Canada, on holidays when Michelle proposed to me. We were engaged for eighteen months.
Because we were working seven days a week for basically 18 months in our own business to save for the wedding, we didn’t really have too much time to think about anything else but work.
We weren’t even excited about the wedding until we stopped work and realized that it was in five days!
My dress was the second one I tried on. Anyone who knows me knows I wouldn’t say I like shopping and can be a real pain. The first one I tried on, I nearly died when I saw myself, I thought it was the one. Then I tried the second one on and fell in love. It was super easy.
Then we went to get my shoes a couple of months before the wedding.
I have big feet and just don’t wear heels, so I thought this would be hard.
My Aunty picked a pair for me which I didn’t think I’d like, I put them on, and then Michelle pointed out what song was playing in the shop, it was our song. Our first dance song. So we took that as a sign and bought them.
Finding a suit for Michelle was harder. We googled so many places for tailored women’s wedding suits, but so many were so ‘business-like.’ We eventually found something perfect.
Finding Michelle’s shoes were the hardest. I’m slightly taller than Michelle, and I told her she needed to wear heeled shoes because I didn’t want to tower over her. It took about five months of searching, but we found them eventually.
Our wedding day was absolute perfection.
My favorite part of the whole day was the ceremony and all the formalities before dancing. It just ran so smoothly, and we got time to ourselves before the reception and after the photos to hang out for half an hour and have a drink and soak it all in. Absolutely everything ran according to plan.
We had been to a few weddings together before the marriage equality laws changed in Australia and heard the words “is the union of a man and women.” Then we went to a wedding shortly after the laws had changed and for the first time heard “is the union of two people.” It was like a sense of belonging and acceptance that FINALLY we and so many others could do something that should have always been our right anyway.
I did something a little extra for Michelle. I had a song made for her.
My mum sent me a link to a place that created custom songs for people. So I sent our entire story, it took nearly a year of back and forth emailing, but it happened. I played the song for Michelle at the end of my speech. It’s called ‘Night Shades and Blue Wrens.’ I still cry when I listen to it.
For us, our marriage is a promise. For us, we are big on promises; we don’t promise anything we don’t intend to keep, our vows were all promises, and we both meant every word of them.
DWH Preferred Vendor
Suit Designer Shane Ave
Photography by Ben Adams
Bridal Boutique Luv Bridal
Cake Say Cake
Cake Topper This Old Love
Catering Gassd Fire Pizzas
Ceremony & Reception Venue Seclusions Blue Mountains
Celebrant Monty King
Engagement Rings Underwood Jeweller
Florist Koch & Co
Gown Designer Madi Lane
H&MU Chereine Waddell
Sound Hire DJ Warehouse
Suit Shane Ave
Wedding Rings Midas
