It proved to be fifth time's the charm for Georgey Henshall and Jack Bowyer as their two-year journey to the alter finally ended on Saturday.
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The Bendigo couple were married in Daylesford after having their previous four wedding dates scuppered by the coronavirus pandemic.
After getting engaged in New York in October, 2019, the couple started planning their wedding in December, 2019.
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Their initial plan was to marry in Italy in September last year. When the pandemic took a hold of the world, they pushed the date by a year to September this year.
"We (originally) thought 'a wedding in Italy', this will be great," Georgey said. "We had it all planned by January, 2020, and sent the invites in February. By March we could see it was not going to happen.
"At the time, being naive, we moved it September (this year). But we got to September (2020) when we were initially meant to get married and said 'this won't happen, even next year'."
When it became apparent international travel wouldn't re-open they rescheduled for a Melbourne wedding on June 11, lockdown pushed it to July 24 and finally August 14.
"Months and months went by with not a single case in Victoria," Georgey said. "We watched other people get married and thought it will be perfect. Then two weeks before our wedding which was meant to be on June 11, Victoria went into lockdown. No one could believe it.
"But we thought 'okay, we'll move to July 24 - six weeks later - and let it die down. A week half before that wedding, we also went in to a lockdown.
"When we booked for August 14, we thought there was enough time for cases to go down, we had a double zero day and were thinking it would finally happen. Every border was open and it was all looking good. Then NSW went into s**tshow (and Victoria recorded) 26 cases."
Three days before their wedding, with Melbourne still firmly in lockdown, Georgey and Jack re-organised their day to a regional wedding in Daylesford.
"Jack and I just said 'what are we doing this for? We're doing it for us, so let's do it for us," Georgey said. "On the Thursday before the wedding, we made decision that we wouldn't tell guests and just figure it out and in 72 hours organised an entirely new wedding.
"Fortunately we had the same photographers, florist, hair and makeup people who were all from regional Victoria. I called almost every restaurant in regional Victoria to get us in for dinner and booked a beautiful French restaurant in Daylesford and a church in Spring Hill.
"We were still calling people to figure things out on Friday morning with the wedding on Saturday."
The wedding only featured immediate family with three of Jack's four siblings stranded in Queensland, Melbourne and Chicago respectively.
"They all face-timed in wearing their wedding outfits," Georgey said. "It was our immediate family, our two best friends Jamie and Eliza and our friends Hayley and Christian who were also our photographers.
"I think we cried from the morning to the following day. With such an intimate setting, everything was more emotion than it was ever going to be, it was incredible. It was a really emotional day, every person cried in their speech. I dread watching video back because I don't know if I will able to understand myself.
"At the end of the day we think this is exactly what should have happened. The hilarity of it all, the drama and quick thinking, it was always meant to be this we. We felt lucky to have it at all."
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Georgey said staying positive in the face of having their wedding dates constantly crushed was taxing but there was great support for her and Jack.
"It was so taxing, constantly being positive," she said. "But we didn't ever not be positive. We were in no rush, we said 'how it will be is how it's meant to be'.
"Our friends and family just want us to be happy and married whether they were there or not. Our relationship is now so solid, it feels like nothing will break us. We have been together almost nine years and two of them were spent trying to figure how to get married."
Jack proposed to Georgey during a trip to New York. He originally planned to do it after finishing the Chicago Marathon on the same trip.
"He said he didn't because he had nowhere to put the ring," Georgey said. "So he proposed after we saw Hamilton (in New York). We got an Uber afterwards and pulled up at the Brooklyn Promenade at midnight. Jack said we should go for a walk and I was like, 'this is not you, you hate walking'.
"I knew something was up but the next thing I knew he was asking someone to take a photo of us and I thought 'something is happening here, he never asks for photos'. Four 18-year-old girls were walking past and took a photo and Jack asked them to take it again and he proposed.
"I had always said he can't propose somewhere normal, it had to be somewhere overseas, so he said it was my fault it took so long."
On their wedding day, Georgey wore a dress by Harriette Gordon and carried flowers by Brett Matthew John. Her hair and make-up was done by Demi Ryan. Jack wore a suit by Albert Clothing.
"I'm sure we are not the only ones this has happened to, I feel for anyone who has had an event disrupted," she said. "And also any supplier who had to manage something like that. People were so amazing, helpful and positive. It kept us going."
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