Courtney and Victor's Wedding

Some love stories are just meant to be, a statement that rings true for Courtney and Victor.

After dating briefly in high school when they were teenagers, Courtney and Victor reconnected ten years later and love blossomed over the phone.

They moved in together in 2010 and Victor proposed soon after.

Courtney didn’t say yes.

10 years, 3 babies and 3 engagement rings later, Courtney finally agreed to marry the love of her life.

Courtney found the process of planning a wedding daunting (it’s one of the reasons it took her so long to say yes!) so of course, the year that they planned to get married, a global health pandemic happened.

Read on to see how Courtney and Victor navigated their wedding through the minefield that is covid-19 restrictions.

The Wedding: “Planning the wedding was a deeply personal and spiritual process for me. I had to learn how to be ok with the unexpected happening from 6 months out because of covid-19 and the ever-changing restrictions. We worked through so many challenges and ended up having to adjust our plans and guest list 3 times.

I kept reminding myself to remember what was TRULY important and why we had chosen to get married after so many years. I never felt like marriage was a necessary step (children is the biggest commitment you’ll ever make!), but I got to a point in my relationship when I realised there was no way I could ever live with another person who ‘got me’ the way Victor did. So, if we were both there on the day, that was what truly mattered. That is what kept me going”

The Vows: “We both wrote our own vows. It's easy to find things you love about someone when you’ve lived with them for 10 years, although I did find inspiration from the book 'Love Out Loud' by Niciole Gibson. The morning it arrived in the mail, I had asked the universe to help me find the words to express how much I loved and valued my soon-to-be husband.

My vows were inspired by the love I have for the land, nature, and our ability to work through all of life's challenges together. Over the past decade, we have been through the ringer together and still, we continued to fall in love with each other as we grew and matured. Reflecting on our life and what we had created together made it easy.” 

The Decorations: “We are two vastly different people. He’s a boy from the bush and I’m a hippy who loves the land, so a bohemian country vibe was an easy choice!

I used Pinterest for inspiration and found everything either second-hand (I love, love op-shopping!) or we hired it. Most of our decorations were Australian natives from our and our friend’s garden.”

A Funny Moment: “My husband has GIANT knuckles, so we knew we’d have a hard time getting his ring on. On the day, it just would NOT go on! It made for amazing photos of smiles and laughter.”

Your Favourite Moment: “Ah this is a hard one because the whole day was actually near perfect!

Waiting with my dad in anticipation of walking down the aisle was really beautiful, but I don't think I could say it was better than when I saw Victor’s beautiful face as I made my way to him down the aisle.”

The Dress: “I fell in love with the Celine set while scrolling through the Twosisters The Label Instagram page. I had seen several other gorgeous brides wear it and fell in love with the fabric, fit and classy boho design first, the price tag second!”

The Bridal Party: “Our 5 children made up our bridal party.

The girl’s dresses were inspired by the pink of the Protea and we found everything online and on sale for the girls. We never wanted our wedding to be a financial burden.

We went for a classy country vibe for the boys with beige wranglers and navy vests to match their dad.” 

The First Dance: “We weren’t sure if we’d have one because we only had out photographers for 4 hours, but we squeezed one in after the cake cutting and I am so glad we did! We danced to ‘Rescue’ by Lauren Daigle”

Words of Advice? “Honestly, whatever happens leading up to the wedding day, always come back to the TRUE reason you decided to get married. You need to be ok with things not going to plan because guaranteed, there will be something that happens to throw you off course.

Marriage is not just one day, it is a lifetime and you need to be ok with people not showing up and people having their own opinions (and they will!), but that is life and love. The thing that matters most is that you chose each other, and you are committed to staying the course and continuing to keep showing up for each other.”

Photographers: The Lost & Wild