Hooray!!! New Zealand has become the first country in the Asia-Pacific region – and the 13th in the world – to legalise same-sex marriage.
Now hopefully Australia’s next… I’m not holding my breath but my fingers are still crossed.
I’m so excited for all the beautiful New Zealand weddings to share with you all! x
I’m slightly getting off track here posting maternity photos but when I think of love and commitment, having a baby is another leap of its own! This adorable couple brought tears to my eyes. The love between these two and their baby is so sincere and beautiful! Congratulations Rebekah & Michelle, I wish you all the best with the arrival of your little treasure!
A big thank you to Sarah Deragon from http://www.portraitstothepeopleblog.com/ for your beautiful photographic work. x
Today is going to be a good day! I’ve just been sent a shoot by the best wedding photographer in Sydney Lara Hotz and I’m pretty much jumping out of my skin with excitement about sharing it with you all! Whitney & Sara from The Real L Word have been on an Australian tour and Lara had the pleasure (the very lucky girl) to spend a day working her magic on a Sydney beach (Bare Island) with these two totally in love babes! Beautiful work Lara once again!. x
Please do not copy these images anywhere without photo credit. © Lara Hotz Photography 2012 www.larahotz.com + www.facebook.com/larahotzphotography — with Whitney Mixter’s Official Fan Page and Sara Bettencourt at Bare Island.
Nina (originally from Swansea, UK), took a year off to go traveling around the world. She ended up falling in love. Twice! Once with Australia and once with Bree! They now both reside in Sydney together, yet during a recent holiday to the UK to visit Nina’s family and friends they decided to incorporate a wedding into the trip! They had already planned to have a ceremony at The Kerrawa Beach Resort Cairns, Australia, but they also thought that it would be lovely to have an intimate wedding in the UK. It took place at Lothian Chambers in Edinburgh with their closest family and friends. They deliberatelykept all photos off Facebook in case any of their Australian mates would get a sneak peek of their wedding dresses!
A friend of the couple gave them an engagement photo-shoot as their wedding gift. As they had both chosen their wedding dresses together and knew what each other were wearing they decided to do the shoot wearing the gowns. The shoot took place in and around Nina’s hometown of Mumbles, UK. The girls thought it would be great to have a British twist to the photos and what better way to express typical Britishness by the seaside than fish and chips!
Ben Wyeth Photography
www.benwyeth.co.uk
Hello to my amazing readers! Sorry I’ve been slow with the updates. Life has been a bit busy (in a good way)!
I’m back in full blog mode and really keen to have a month of lesbian & queer weddings (or engagements) from all over the world! Europe, UK… everywhere!!!
So if you are engaged, married, or have had a commitment ceremony, and have some beautiful photos you would like to share please email me! twobirdsnest@mail.com
Also to all of you who live outside of Australia & New Zealand please share this link on your facebook as you may have friends who would be interested in submitting their weddings and sharing their story.
I’m super excited! x
Photo: Wild Orchard Baking company
This is one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve seen yet. It took place in Nelson, New Zealand. I spent my teenage years in this small seaside town, which makes this wedding extra special to me. And being that New Zealand has recently taken steps towards Marriage Equality, it’s a very exciting time for the New Zealand LGBTQI community (including me!). Their photos are so full of love! Thank you Courtney & Mel for sharing your love story. And a big thank you to Nelson Wedding Photography for perfectly capturing the day! x
“Mel and I had been talking about getting married for a while. The “proposal” (for want of a better word I guess!) came after Mel and I went shopping for engagement rings. We were on holiday in Australia, and Mel, who wasn’t originally going to have an engagement ring, found one that she really really liked. She liked it so much that she kept telling me how much she liked it, so off we went to buy it with big grins on our faces! I picked mine, but, as indecisive as I can be sometimes, I swapped mine for more bling later! Anyway, we went to the beach to have a drink and calm our collective nerves. Mel turned me and she said… “I’ll marry you if you marry me!” How could a girl refuse?!
Over the next 2 years we scrimped and saved and negotiated what ended up being our perfect wedding for us. We really struggled with not having enough money to have a reception to feed everyone, but we would have hated not to invite some people over others. In the end, we compromised and came up with a plan.
To put a small spanner in the works, I contracted pneumonia two weeks before the wedding. I was unable to stand for long enough to have my wedding dress fitted the week before. I was in the emergency department exactly one week before. I had been in bed for two weeks and was getting weaker. My friend had to seek my wedding shoes for me. My biggest worry was not about how sick I was, but that I couldn’t stand for long enough to make it through the ceremony – I was going to go, and if I had to lie or sit down during my vows, I was going to marry Mel that day come hell or high water!
The big day finally came, Mel and I broke tradition (ha!) and stayed together the night before, then Mel went off to get ready with her parents. Our good friend Jaz Grew was an absolute trooper – she raced between Mel’s place and mine, getting me, my bride and my brides’ maids hair & makeup ready. We had our ceremony on our desired golden beach, Little Kaiteriteri. We were true to form; two girls equals twice as late!
The ceremony was beautiful; we walked up the isle together as planned, walking to “Bless This Day” by Liv McBride. The beach was full of our closest relations and friends – there were so many more than we had anticipated! All that genuine love and support, all gathered to be with us on our special day, and to welcome us as a newly joined married couple. After the ceremony, Mel and I took a moment alone to reflect and regroup – wow! We’d done it!
Our reception was at Relish, a gorgeous small intimate restaurant overlooking Nelson harbours. The meals were spectacular. We had sweet speeches from Mel’s dad and an enormously special gift from Mel’s family – they had spent months travelling up Wales and other parts of the UK gathering photos and special messages from her family members who couldn’t make it.
As we were dined with our closest friends and family, our other guests were arriving next door at the yacht club. Over the 2 years between the proposal and the wedding, we had gathered candles, candle holders, glass stones, glass vases, pearls and other beautiful decorations, all themed in a tasteful rainbow (groups of colours, red, orange, yellow, blue, green and then purple, grouped one per table). The candles were lit, the band had arrived from Invercargill (three amazing Musicians called Lipstick and had begun playing. One of our “bridesmaids” (if you can call that, given that he was a boy!), introduced us. We entered to a huge gathering of the rest of our friends and family, about 150 or so, all clapping and cheering. We stayed out well beyond our expectations – right up until our bridesmaid said (tongue in cheek) “you know, I love you guys, but will you f**k off already and go to the hotel!?” They really did have it all under control, we just didn’t want the day to end…
Off we went to the hotel, at 3am, popped some champagne, had a shower, the rest is history!” – Courtney
With spring in the air and love fluttering around our hearts, I’d like to introduce a very beautiful couple who are absolutely crazy about each other and overflowing with cuteness! Congratulations Ray & Asha!!!
*Tell us how you two met?
R: I first saw Asha perform at an event at the Red Rattler and she took my breath away. It wasn’t until at least another six (?) months later that we actually met at a roller derby game where she was the score girl… Over the next few months we spoke nearly every day, she went to Hong Kong I racked up a couple of grand in phone bills and that is pretty much that…
A: It’s funny though, because we keep realizing all these times where we have met before and not known it. Ray Ray had been to one of my housewarmings, and there’s a bunch of things like that, over nearly ten years, like a movie romance, we were meant to be!
*What’s the most romantic thing that you have done for each other?
R: Aside from proposing I think the most romantic thing I’ve done for Asha would be last Valentines Day. I downloaded Top Hat (her fave Fred Astaire movie) drove to the beach picking up fish and chips on the way, I turned the back of the car into a bed and we sat there with the ocean as a backdrop watching the movie… It was awesome!
A:That valentines day was so incredible! But also, I think that we both do romantic things all the time. We both try and find little ways of surprising the other with romantic things, and it’s safe to say we do something romantic every day. Be it surprise flowers, or occasionally something more risqué…
*Your happiest moment together?
R: That’s easy, when we agreed to start the process of having kids!
A: Yes!
*What do you love most about each other?
R: I love Asha’s passion for injustice and willingness to throw herself on the fire for anyone who has been wronged…
A: I love Ray’s intelligence and passion. I love the way they do what they believe in, and be them self in the face of anything.
*You’re engaged!!! We’re so excited for you and dying to hear all the details! Who asked who? How? Where?
R: I asked Asha to marry me in the kitchen one night. We had been pottering round the house all day, playing old records, swapping stories about songs, dancing, Then when it came to start cooking she just looked so perfect, she looked like home and I knew it was right.
*What’s your vision for your big day? (big or intimate, in Australia or overseas, formal/relaxed…?)
R: Well we really are all about home and family. Thus we decided to have the wedding at our place, all the family from both sides have little jobs so it doesn’t get to overwhelming… Not too big, not too small… Given Asha’s cultural background the food will be Greek (yes!)… It’s a little scary sometimes dealing with all the organizing but I’m learning to delegate… We just want everyone to have an awesome party, and be with us when we walk down the aisle!
A: We’ve let the aesthetic of the wedding evolve through conversation and sharing ideas. We bounce things off each other, and they become real things that we want at the wedding. All the discussions have been so constructive and exciting. We want it to reflect who we are as a couple, so we are doing most of it ourselves, from the flowers to the invitations…
*What has the response been from your friends and family?
R: My family and friends are all into it, I’m really lucky to be out and accepted completely with all my mob!
A: My family is really excited. They love Ray Ray and are really happy I’ve found someone who fits with me so well.
*Do you have hope for Marriage Equality in Australia anytime soon?
R: I hope so, but I don’t think so…
A: I think it might happen slowly, there’s been talk in Tasmania of bringing it in there, so it might be a domino effect. I also think they should just push it through so people can start looking at other ways people of diverse sexes, genders and sexualities are discriminated against. Just pass it, already, so all those resources can go into things like support for young GLBTIQ people. It just seems so backwards to me…
*What does getting married mean to you both?
R: Well, I’ve always had quite traditional views on relationships and their path, I always had full intentions of proposing to the right partner, my primary partner. It means security, love, and the proper foundation to build and grow the family that I want to have. And Asha gives me the strength to go forward with all of these things. Legalities don’t mean anything to me; it’s the act and commitment that I’m going to share with her.
A: To me, getting married is really about starting a family, whether or not kids are a part of that, though we do want kids. It means telling someone that there is nothing so big it cannot be worked out, and making the commitment to work things through. It’s finding the person you want by your side in the hardest times, and find ways to get back to the good times. And it means sharing our intentions with our families and friends and bringing them all together.
*A note to Ray & Asha – We couldn’t be happier for you both! Thank you so much for sharing your adorable love story… it’s left us super excited about your up and coming wedding (were in hope you’ll be posting the photo’s here). Congratulations!!! From Cushla & Tan @ Two Birds Nest x x x
