Kate + Eden by Ed Summerhays - Together Journal

Eden was playing fetch with Cal, and we were chatting, and then all of a sudden, I saw our dog running back with a small box dangling from his collar.

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

We live in Sydney. We spend a lot of our time outdoors with our 5-year-old Golden Retriever, Cali, who keeps us occupied at the beach and in our local park most weekends. Much of our family and friends are spread across regional NSW so we’re often escaping our busy weekday lives in Sydney to visit them. We love good food, good wine and excellent company.

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

Kate: We met in our first year at university. We were in the same tutorial and had a mutual friend that we used to sit with in lectures. We’ve been together for 10 years.

Eden: I used to seek out our mutual friend in lectures because I knew Kate would be sitting with them. One day, Kate needed a lift home from uni and I lived close by so I offered a ride. The rest is history.

Kate: I remember I used to think he had the best taste in music on those car trips… it was before the days of curated Spotify playlists, so being able to pick and choose saved songs on cue was a bit of a flex back then!

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

I always felt at home with Eden from the beginning. We balance each other in so many ways, and as soon as we got to know each other, he became the first person I’d always want to share any news or stories with, and that hasn’t changed in our 10 years of knowing each other.

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

Eden proposed at one of our local parks. We’d made a habit of going to this particular park whenever it was a nice day on the weekend, and we’d pack a picnic and soak up the sun together with our dog, Cali. I didn’t think anything was particularly unusual about the day as it was a nice sunny day, and we’d grabbed some pastries and snacks from the local markets that morning. Eden was playing fetch with Cal, and we were chatting, and then all of a sudden, I saw our dog running back with a small box dangling from his collar. Eden then turned to me, and I clocked what was happening. I think I said yes before he even asked the question!

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

We had originally planned a big wedding, but after getting quite far along the journey, we realised we were planning a day more for our guests to enjoy rather than ourselves. We decided to go for a much smaller wedding (about 40 people) and splurge on a bougie honeymoon instead! I’m so glad we did because it meant we got to spend time with all of our guests on the day, and it felt way less intimidating leading up to the wedding day. It also meant we could pick really intimate venues and spend more on cost per head than we would have if we’d gone for a much larger wedding. It allowed us to share all the things we love about Sydney with our favourite people: great water views, great food, great wine and great music!

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

I don’t remember being stressed about anything in particular on the actual wedding day but there was so many things that I was stressed about in the lead up that I laugh about now.

What if it rains? What if I trip as I walk down the aisle? What if we don’t run on schedule and we don’t get enough time to dance at the end of the night? It’s cliché, but in hindsight, none of this mattered. It rained on our wedding day, and it was one of my favourite memories of the ceremony. If I tripped, I would have had my dad catch me as I walked down the aisle. We were behind schedule the entire day, and it still didn’t matter. Everything that didn’t go exactly to plan was part of the beauty of the day. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story? The history of the ceremony dress..

I think I’d tried on about 50 dresses before the one I landed on. My biggest piece of advice is to go and try on dresses with a small group of family or friends if you want to, but go back and try on your top few picks alone. I didn’t realise until I did this how much my feelings towards some dresses were impacted by the reactions of those with me on the day. Trying them on again alone allowed me to make a decision that felt entirely right to me! Also, don’t overthink it. You don’t have to have that magical moment where you cry in your dress to know it’s the one. It just has to feel like you!

I chose a second dress because I wanted to be able to really relax and not worry about things spilling on my wedding dress once we went to the Dudley for the afterparty. I’m so glad I did because I think the train of it would have covered all sorts of things by the end of the night had I left it on!