Luke and Craig cemented their love and created history as Australia’s first legally married gay couple earlier this year in what was a stunningly beautiful and stylish celebration.

Being such a momentous occasion in Australia’s history, the couple were lucky enough to have vendors from all over the Gold Coast practically line-up to donate their services, however Luke and Craig made sure the whole event reflected their tastes and personal style with special input on the decorations, cake, flowers etc. but in particular the timeline and flow of the event.

The wedding differed from traditional weddings with the reception celebrations preceding the actual ceremony which took place towards the end of the night as the had to wait till 12.01am to be “officially” married.

The whole event was put together in a month and it’s a great example of what you can pull off, even in a short timeframe. “Oh, it was amazing, and I don’t think I will ever get over just how beautiful the venue and the styling was,” said Craig.

“For Luke and me, it was the easiest wedding ever. All we had to do was basically choose and make decision-based on options given to us by Tanja, our event planner & co-ordinator and Sarah our celebrant. Luke and I arranged our Garden Party and Ceremony outfits as well as dressing the guys and gals in our groom’s party. Apart from that, everything was organised for us. In that sense, all the vendors wanted to be part of the wedding so for them, they knew that it was coming, they just didn’t know when it would be until the government had made the official dates. Once that was done, a month was more than enough time for everyone to get everything sorted.”

They only thing the couple wished they had more time for was on the day/night itself. “I imagine the experience for the bride and groom, or in our case the groom and groom, at every wedding, is that the time goes so fast, and for us that was the case as well. We didn’t have a rushed Garden Party or Ceremony, in fact Luke and I had to wait for 10 minutes or so at the altar, just standing there, until 12:01am arrived, so that the celebrant could continue with the proceedings. It just felt so fast. But in the lead up to the wedding, we were very ready and very prepared, and everything went so smoothly.”
When asked what their favourite detail of the wedding was they agreed it was the back to front timeline. In fact, they think they could have possibly revolutionised the way weddings are conducted!

“The days following the wedding, we had a lot of feedback from all of our guests saying just how much they loved the timeline and flow of the wedding.”
It went a little like this:
The bridal party, including Craig and Luke started getting ready around 2pm with hair and makeup. The photoshoot commenced at 4pm at the venue at Summergrove Estate with immediate family and the groom party. As the sun was set Craig and Luke continued the photoshoot alone.

The wedding party had a break between 7pm and 8:30pm. The guests arrived at 8pm and at 8:30pm Craig & Luke came out to welcome everyone. They kicked off proceedings with speeches from family members and the happy couple. Then from 8:30pm till 11pm they had “a very beautiful and casual night of being with their favourite people and celebrating the occasion.

“At 11pm they played a few traditional wedding games and cut the cake. Then at 11:20pm the couple and the wedding party changed into their Ceremony outfits which started around 11:40pm. By 12:10pm the ceremony had finished, legal documents signed, and the happy couple had their first dance at 12:30pm followed by their send off. They felt it was a great way to have the actual climax of the wedding at the end of the night and by that stage everyone really could feel the “love in the air”.

Craig said couples shouldn’t feel pressure to follow traditions. “If you want to do something different and want to do something your way, do it. People will love you for it because everyone loves surprises, but more importantly, everyone loves to see you and who you are and what you like…and they want to see you happy, which is the most important thing. Luke and I made the wedding our own as much as we could even though we didn’t do all the organising. We made it our own, put ourselves into it and everyone really appreciated it.”

“It’s really special to be the first gay couple to be officially married in Australia. We honestly didn’t have our hearts set on being the first, but we knew we loved each other and we knew we wanted to get married, and how that happened and when that would happen we hadn’t worked out yet. We’re very lucky to have been the right guys at the right time at the right place and to have been given this opportunity. We are so grateful to everyone that was involved. We had the most beautiful wedding, more than anything we could have wished for. Plus being the first is the icing on top; it was such an incredible whirlwind experience. Our relationship hasn’t changed one bit since we’ve been married except that Luke and I get to call each other husband now instead of boyfriend… which is a reminder of how special the whole thing is.”

The team at the Waterfront wish Craig and Luke all the best in their new life together and thank them for allowing us to share the memories of their special day.

And just like Craig and Luke, we work closely with all our couples to create a stunningly beautiful and memorable day that captures your own unique style.

Our dedicated team can advise on a whole host of vendors and help save you time and money and help make everything flow smoothly and professionally for you.

Even better, why not come to the Waterfront’s Weddings On Display Expo on Sunday 4 March from 11am – 4pm and see for yourself. Entry is Free!

You can explore the stunning waterfront rooms and meet some of the best suppliers in the bridal industry including wedding cars, cakes, gowns, bonbonnieres, photographers, invitations, photo booths, hair and makeup artists and much more. We’ll also be showcasing some beautiful wedding styling while you enjoy free wine tasting and canapés. All couples who attend will go in the draw to win some fantastic prizes along with a bonus special wedding package offer to all new bookings courtesy of The Waterfront Function Centre at Sans Souci.

Call our team on 1300 602 845 or register online at the link below:

If you would like to see more images from Luke & Craig’s wedding day click here.

Photographs courtesy of Jadore Weddings