Elise & Kane

April 21st 2023
Sol Gardens

How did they propose?

It was 2018 we were living in Byron Bay, it was my (Elise’s) birthday and I was sick with a head cold. I’d just gotten home from work and Kane had asked what I wanted to do for my birthday. As I didn’t feel well, and just wanted to lay down and do nothing, Kane suggested we take our 5-month-old pup for a walk to the beach.

It was right at sunset and I could tell Kane was slightly annoyed with the amount of people who were on the beach as it was around 5 pm and usually there weren’t many people at that time. He placed something in my hand and said ‘Why don’t you hold onto that for a while’; I was confused as the hand he’d held out to me also had a dog poo bag in it but he’d dropped a ring into my open hand as well. It was all very ‘Kane’.

I found out later that he’d actually booked for us to go to Harvest, one of the lovely restaurants in the Byron Bay hinterland but we didn’t go because I was unwell. So we ended up eating Burgers in town. The engagement ring was incredibly special as well. Kane has a lot of love and respect for his family, especially his mother’s side.

The ring he gave belonged to his mother’s cousin Mary, which was gifted to her by her husband for the birth of her first baby. Mary was incredibly close to Kane’s mother and would have been 100 if she was still alive, but gave the ring to Kane’s mother before she passed. I designed my wedding ring with green stones to match the engagement ring.

What song was your first dance?

We chose not to have a first dance or a cutting of the cake; we wanted all the formalities to be over early in the night so we had more opportunity to catch up with the many people who travelled a long way to attend the wedding. Our musician Nick Cunningham played an acoustic version of Daryl Hall & John Oats ‘You make my dreams come true’ for us to walk down the aisle to and we played the real version when we went back into reception.

Your words of wisdom to any couple getting married?

Have kids before you get married, then you’re too busy stressing about them to stress about the lead-up to the wedding.

Just kidding, choose a celebrant that makes the ceremony fun and special. Cara from Modern Love Ceremonies felt like our best friend. She was so easygoing and amazing to work with. We were so blessed to have her.