Beccy & Josh
Back in late February, when most of the world was still blissfully unaware of the “Covid-19-Storm” brewing on the horizon, Beccy and Josh got married!
They were among the lucky ones who managed to have more than two witnesses and a celebrant attend their celebration. In fact there were more than 150 of us there!
But then their luck changed a little when they found themselves stuck on a cruise ship off the coast of New Zealand on their #notmyhoneymoon.
But I’ll let them tell you their story which they shared with me whilst in isolation on their return.
Describe how you met & tell us about your proposal.
Being from a small town and having a lot of the same friends we just kinda met. We both have different recollections of the first time we remember meeting each other and then we were friends for 8 years before dating. Our proposal story includes me inadvertently ruining Josh’s plans, him having my dad and cousins in on the plan, a broken down header, a run away sheep, me almost driving right past josh and not noticing him and and outdoor sunset picnic on top of a hill on the farm. We can give you the longer version if you like haha
Did you chose a particular theme or style and if so, why?
We just wanted something laid back and easy going with fairy lights.
Did your chosen location have any specific significance?
Growing up I always thought I would get married on the farm but since we sold that the gorgeous back drop of Lower King at mum and dads new place was perfect. And the fact that having it there meant we could party the night away without being kicked out of a venue
What was your most memorable moment of your wedding day?
Bec: having fun on the beach with the bridal party and having some time to stop and realise that we we were actually married. Oh and drunkenly driving the golf cart across a paddock and almost into a big ditch to get to our wedding night accommodation at 4 am using the torch from a phone for light because golf carts don’t have headlights.
Josh: first time seeing Bec walk down the aisle
Which was your favourite photo & why?
Bec: The pictures of Josh and I walking down the beach with the dogs and the one where we are sitting on the sand with the dogs. Lex was my baby, there for the start of my relationship with Josh and all the way through to our wedding day. Finding out three days before the wedding that he had cancer and having to put him to sleep a week after was heart breaking and I am so grateful that he was able to be a part of our day and I have those wonderful photos
Josh: Hang on I need to look at them again. The close up picture of us during the speeches.
What one wedding planning tip would you give other brides/couples?
Have some food put aside for you and get someone to make you drink water during the night. Josh says the bride is always right. And of course just enjoy it and have the best day.
Tell us about your Not-Honeymoon!
#notmyhoneymoon because we refuse to call it a honeymoon since we went with my entire family.
A few weeks after the wedding that we went on a cruise to New Zealand with my whole family. (The trip was part of Mum’s bucket list.) We boarded the Golden Princess just before all the “Covid Madness” and set sail for New Zealand.
We arrived at the Fijordlands to discover our trip would be getting cut short because Covid-19 had been declared a global pandemic but we were able to disembark in Port Chalmers and went and explored Dunedin for a day then that night sailed to Akaroa. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to disembark at Akaroa because we found out there were a couple of passengers on board that may have been exposed to Covid-19 prior to boarding the boat.
The New Zealand government arranged for them to be tested and we had to wait for test results. The test results were negative but came in too late for us to be able to go ashore. But while we were waiting on the boat we are pretty sure we saw a small pod of orcas so that was pretty cool.
That was also the day that Australia called all the cruise ships back so that night we turned around and headed back the way we had come. A few days later we docked back in Melbourne at 6am and some passengers were tested as they were displaying flu symptoms for Covid 19. We spent the whole day waiting to find out if we had potentially been exposed. Finally the tests came back negative and we were allowed to get off the boat at 5pm and raced to the airport to catch the last flight back to Perth for that day since we had already missed two flights that day.
THEN once we got back to WA we had to self isolate for two weeks. It was interesting being locked in a house with josh for two weeks. But we survived, didn’t kill each other and there was only one day that I considered locking Josh out in the yard. As for a proper honeymoon, plans are kinda’ on hold at the moment because we don’t know when we can travel yet but that just means more time to save for a more epic adventure.