Ready, set, ‘I do’
WHEN the clock strikes one minute past midnight on January 9, Luke Sullivan and Craig Burns will be one of the first gay couples legally married in Australia.
The wedding will be held at the Summergrove Estate, in the Tweed Coast Hinterland.
“We were contacted by friends looking to throw the first same-sex wedding,” Mr Sullivan said, adding daylight saving meant they would be among the first same-sex couples to be married in Australia under new legislation.
Fifty-five friends and family will join the couple with a garden party until 11.30pm and then the ceremony will follow, complete with fairylights and fireworks after they say “I do”.
A few hours later, Cabarita couple Zoe Nolan and Michelle Edwards will tie the knot on the Gold Coast.
The couple will marry in front of 50 guests at Point Danger, Coolangatta just after sunrise.
For Ms Nolan, 38, and Ms Edwards, 46, being able to legally wed is a day they never thought would come.
“We had discussed going to Vegas to be married by Elvis as we never thought it would ever be possible to be married in Australia,” Ms Nolan, who played soccer for the Matildas, said.
Ms Edwards’ proposal to Ms Nolan came after a group of local wedding vendors, spearheaded by celebrant Shane Vincent, offered their services free to celebrate the change in the Marriage Act.
The couple decided they wanted to do it, so Ms Edwards hung a “will you marry me” sign on the front door for when her partner arrived home.
“Of course I said yes,” Ms Nolan said.
Ms Nolan and Ms Edwards have been together for 11 years after meeting at the Noosa Triathlon and Mr Sullivan and Mr Burns, a Commonwealth Games sprinter, fell in love after connecting online almost three years ago.
He said he had never thought much about marriage until he attended his sister’s wedding and realised he might never get to marry the man he loved.
Mr Burns proposed to Mr Sullivan at their favourite secluded spot in Byron Bay nine months ago.