We were honoured to create the most amazing Impression wedding bands for Pete and Matt for their surprise wedding ceremony in March 2021. We chatted to them about their story and how they came about making these special rings.
How did you guys meet?
Let me take you back to August 2015, it was a sunny afternoon at the Emerson Rooftop. My best friend Lucy and I thought “we can’t waste a beautiful night like this - better go get some drinks”. Another friend of ours, Dan, who happened to live opposite the venue saw me walk in and whisked me away, not taking no for an answer, to meet Matt.
Dan did a great job and we wouldn’t be here today without his sheer determination. A wild night was had and everyone had to go to work the next day, except we didn’t go. I acquired ‘hay fever’ and called in sick whilst Matt also couldn’t make it to the office! Sorry to our colleagues reading this - at least it was for a good cause!
How did the proposal go?
Things all got very serious in August 2018 when we went away for a weekend in Blairgowrie. It’s a favourite place of ours and was even supposed to be a wedding location. Matt planned to start the weekend by proposing on a sunny late afternoon, beer in hand, watching the sunset over the ocean. But I stayed late at work ..
We finally made it to the beach house and I went for a run the next morning - Matt thought “okay I can still make this work”. When I returned from my run he was waiting for me with drinks and a towel. Despite it being winter and 9am, a bit early for drinks, I went along.
It finally happened at the top of the sand dunes, it was a perfect moment but I was too busy taking photos of the ocean and didn’t notice Matt down on one knee. A complete comedy of errors but we got there in the end!
Tell us about your wedding day
We had originally planned to get married at Castello Montalto, just outside Siena, in Italy last year, but two of our brothers decided to fall pregnant during the planning of the wedding and would both have their babies only days apart from our planned wedding day – so that idea was scrapped. And we are more than thankful that it did, given the events of last year.
Our second attempt at a wedding was going to be on Point King beach in Portsea on the Mornington Peninsula in November of last year– but again Covid had other ideas here and we were not able to hold the event with the numbers we wanted – we didn’t want to cut any more guest as it just wouldn’t be the day we would want if all our close friends and family were not with us.
We then moved the same planned event to March 2021, but again Covid reared it head and we were not able to stick to the numbers – at this point Matt and I joked that I don’t think we are meant to get married.
However, in a 2am half asleep brainwave, I woke Matt up and said “why don’t we just get married at the bowls club we originally had planned for our recovery?” Matt loved the idea and we were off.
We shifted to having just family (of which made up 60% of the guest list) and a few friends at the Sorrento Bowls club for a surprise wedding– a far cry from our original Italian wedding plans.
We told everyone that we were just having a party for the long weekend for a few Sunday arvo bowls – with only our dads a part of the surprise. It was exactly as we wanted in the end – very relaxed, with everyone wearing their best bowls attire, we were married on an old grass bowls green under 150 year old pine trees and we celebrated into the night with live music, DJ and plenty of drinks.
What made you want to feature each other's fingerprints on your wedding bands?
Nothing about our wedding was traditional and so we didn’t want the traditional wedding band to signify the event. After chatting with Georgie – the unique style of the fingerprint ring really showcased the individual style we were looking for. The fact hat we would be wearing a piece of each other’s identity on ourselves every day, all though not very spiritual people, was something that spoke to what we thought a wedding should be about.