Ami + Jared by Emma MacAulay - Together Journal

We met the ‘old fashioned way’ (on a dating app), I’m not sure if the app still exists (we may have been their only success story). The idea of the app was to match couples that crossed paths or visited similar locations.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

JR – I was a real estate agent and business owner at the time of our wedding. I love getting together with friends and family and spending time together with Ami and our 3 little dogs (aka the wolf pack).

AR – I am a paediatric occupational therapist working with young children with special needs. I love catching up with friends, trying out new restaurants, going to the movies and I love my job, helping children and families achieve their goals!

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

AR – We met the ‘old fashioned way’ (on a dating app), I’m not sure if the app still exists (we may have been their only success story). The idea of the app was to match couples that crossed paths or visited similar locations. Jared was completing a showing of an apartment and I happened to be driving past to see a client. I usually didn’t go out to see that client, so it was lucky that I did that day! Initially Jared asked me to attend a first date where he had planned to watch a sporting event with 30 of his friends. Needless to say I declined this invitation. In the end, our first date was at a small café for a coffee. I wasn’t sure about Jared, he came across as overly confident.

JR – I initially invited Ami to watch a sporting event with 30 of my close friends, I thought it would be a good ‘meet and greet’. She declined, so we ended up arranging a time to meet for coffee a few weeks later. My first impression of Ami was that she was very sweet.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

JR – Early into our relationship, I became really unwell to the point I was in so much pain I couldn’t get out of bed. Ami took care of me and my dog (even though he chewed all her furniture) and I knew then that she was the one.

AR – Jared became very unwell early into our relationship due to an autoimmune condition he has. We hadn’t been dating long and I lived a fair distance away from him. He was so sick and in so much pain he wasn’t able to get out of bed. He was unwell for about 2 months and he was all I cared about (and his very destructive dog). I knew that if I wanted to be with him through all the ‘bad times’, I definitely wanted to stick around for the good times.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

Jared told me that we had a cocktail event at Crown Towers. I had already planned to spend the weekend there with my close friends to celebrate my 30^th and so he told me he had booked an extra night for us to stay. We drove to Crown and he seemed nervous, which was unusual. I was dressed for a cocktail event and as we arrived, he asked if we could quickly run up to the room. When we entered there were rose petals, candles and a huge balloon saying ‘will you marry me?’

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…

We had actually planned for our wedding to be in Bali, but then Covid-19 hit and our wedding was postponed twice. We then decided it was safer to get married in Australia. We knew Sharene, who basically took our wedding plans from our Bali wedding and tried to replicate it here. We wanted it to be romantic, with all white florals and hints of greenery and lots of candles. The flowers were a huge part of my vision and I wanted to make a statement with the floral install over the bridal table.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

We both felt that it was important to ensure that we had amazing food. The venue was an amazing blank canvas, so we were able to turn our vision into a reality, particularly with the florals and lighting.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

I always knew I wanted to purchase my dress from Rachel Rose Bridal, I even had a dress in mind. When we went to the store the ladies at the store picked out a few dresses for me. One was very similar to the dress I had in mind, however it was all lace and I wasn’t sure about it. She told me she had a suspicion I’d love it. I tried on a few dresses and as soon as I put the dress she had pointed out on I knew it was the one. Little did I know that the designer was in the store and had been watching as I tried dresses on. When I ‘said yes to the dress’ she came over and told me that she also knew that dress was perfect for me. It was a really lovely moment getting to meet her. I also happened to pick the dress up on the 14^th February the year before I wore it, so it must have been a sign!

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

We were meant to get married on the 13^th February, which turned out to be a lockdown. This meant our wedding was rescheduled for a third time. At the time we were extremely stressed and were so grateful that our planner was able to coordinate everything to go ahead on the 14^th of February (day after lockdown ended). We had actually legally gotten married the year before on the 14th February, so it turned into a 1 year celebration.

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