‘I’VE FOUND THE WOMAN OF MY DREAMS’ MAFS’ Sean Hollands’ joy
Former MAFS star Sean Hollands tells all about the moment he popped the question and how Roslyn is his perfect match
Cowboy Sean Hollands may not have got his happily ever after with Married at First Sight bride Susan Rawlings, but he has found lasting love with his girlfriend, Roslyn Buerckner, 36, whom he proposed to at this year’s Melbourne Cup on Nov. 6.
Chatting exclusively to WHO, Hollands reveals the day he popped the question had special significance for the couple, who celebrated their first anniversary in August.
“There are lots of things [that are meaningful] for us with the Melbourne Cup,” says Hollands, 37. “Obviously, we are both horsey people, but Roslyn’s Pop, George, owns a thoroughbred stud – he’s very well-known in the racing industry – but he passed away a few months ago.”
It had always been George’s dream to run a horse in the Cup and to attend the big race, but he died before fulfilling it.
Describing Buerckner’s grandfather as her “best friend,” Hollands says he knows how much George meant to his now fiancée and was there for her through George’s fierce battle with cancer, stepping up to take him to radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
Hollands had been planning to propose to his girlfriend for some time – meeting a jeweller in July to begin planning the ring – but knew that for him to get down on bended knee at the Cup would mean so much to bride-to-be.
“It’s the first time I had been to the Melbourne Cup,” he adds. “It was the first time Roslyn had ever been, too. And not only that, but the actual Melbourne Cup this year was made from the gold from the mine site that I work at,” says Hollands, who works at Queensland’s Evolution Mining. “So this was about so much more than just ‘proposing’ – I knew I would never get an opportunity like this ever again.”
Hollands entered a competition at his work to win tickets to the event in Melbourne – thankfully, the stars aligned and he won.
“I had to fast-forward everything, and pull everything together within just a couple of weeks,” he explains, saying he enlisted his good friend and fellow MAFS groom Simon Mcquillan to be in on the plan.
Though he’d been in the process of speaking to a jeweller, he also knew he wouldn’t have time to execute his plans before the big race. Cue plan B – with the help of Buerckner’s willing family. Hollands visited her parents to ask for their permission to marry her, and they all met with Buerckner’s grandmother to see if there was a ring that was already in the family.
The gorgeous diamond ring he ended up choosing had added meaning: “I actually went through the rings with my daughter,” says Hollands, who has a daughter, 11, and
a son, 9 (whose names he doesn’t want published), from a previous relationship.
“I picked which one I liked first, and she picked which one she liked. And also, Roslyn’s mum liked the same one.
“The ring, it has three little diamonds on one side, and three little diamonds on the other side, so that just instantly brought meaning to me – the three diamonds were my family, and the three other diamonds were Roslyn and her two children.
“The big one in the middle was the big, blended family together.”
Since meeting, the pair’s families have come together seamlessly – something that makes them both immensely proud.
“It really is the Brady Bunch,” Hollands says sweetly. “Honestly, for a blended family, you could not ask for more. The siblings get on, her children love me, and my children love Roslyn. You couldn’t ask for a better family.”
The couple plan to marry in early 2020, and preparations are already under way.
“We have some big plans,” says Hollands. And yes, horses – so much a part of their lives thus far – will be a part of the big day, too.
“The planning is well under way between all the girls, my daughter and Roslyn,” Hollands adds. “They are so excited.”
As serendipity would have it, on the day he proposed and attended the Cup, the couple also signed the papers for a racehorse of their own.
“The plan is, in about 2020 or 2021, that horse will be racing in the Melbourne Cup,” Hollands says with a smile.