Couple’s countdown
Wedding bells to ring finally after 45 years
GRAHAM Newman was the school captain and Gregory Peck was the adoring first year who looked up to him at a school they both attended in northern NSW.
But this couple’s 45-yearlong love story goes back much further than that.
Their grandparents played bridge together in 1910, and their parents went to school together too.
It seemed the two were destined to meet, reconnecting again years after school ended at a textile event in 1973, both having chosen to work in the “rag trade”.
“I noticed him at an event. I remember him because I had idolised him at school,” Mr Peck said.
The couple is set to wed in front of 40 of their closest friends and family on Mr Peck’s 70th birthday on March 22, having waited 45 years to be able to officially honour their relationship.
“It means everything to us to be able to acknowledge our commitment to each other,” Mr Newman said.
“Weddings are normally done when you’re young and then you establish your lives together, but we’ve already had a wonderful, interesting life together, so it will be an acknowledgment of that.”
Celebrant Robert Simmons said he was “so excited” to get a call from the couple just days after Parliament passed the same-sex vote.
“Graham and Greg’s love story was honest and heartwarming, and I’m privileged to have the opportunity to replicate this on their wedding day,” Mr Simmons said.
“Same-sex couples who I have united in commitment ceremonies over the years are now asking me to unite them legally in marriage, and I feel privileged to be able to take part in the legal unions of same-sex couples.”
Graham and Gregory will marry at the Nobby Beach Surf Life Saving Club.