Merryn & Ethan Civil Ceremony

Ceremony: Battery Point Community Hall, Tasmania

Reception: Brooke Street Larder

November 2016

It was a warm summer’s evening, one New Year’s Eve, when this tale of true love and romance began. Merryn and her friend Brooke were out and about in Sydney and celebrating. The tables had been set up with party hats – and they eagerly donned the hats, despite everyone else at the event being too cool to wear them. Being opportunistic, and always in search of fun, Merryn and Brooke collected all of the party hats and proceeded to head to a very fine establishment called The Gaslight (really, it’s a proper dive bar, I’ve been told). This was where this dashing gentleman was waiting to meet the woman of his dreams.

Merryn and Brooke happily distributed the hats to people in the bar. Without much fanfare Ethan was given a hat by this stunning lady, dressed to the nines in black lace, who continued to catch his eye in her frequent trips over to the Jukebox to cue up Prince songs. Transfixed by this vision in black lace, he felt some courage to interact with her, because even though Ethan thought that such a lovely girl must already be spoken for, he thought she seemed kind enough to at least let him down gently. Ethan was working up the courage to ask for Merryn’s number, but towards the end of the night, concocted an ingenious way to instead supply her with his.

It was quite late, so when Ethan and his crew decided to leave, on his way out, Ethan walked up to Merryn and returned his party hat. Merryn was confused by the gesture but retook it graciously anyway. Witnessing the confusion, Ethan’s good friend Caedyn returned inside to Merryn and reiterated that Ethan really wanted her to have the hat. Merryn turned the hat over and saw Ethan’s handwritten number inside. Surprised and touched, Merryn messaged Ethan a good night and happy new year.

On another fine warm summer’s New Years Eve, many years later, in a different city, Merryn and Ethan were out celebrating in Fitzroy. They were enjoying midnight drinks when Ethan asked Merryn to close her eyes. Once Merryn opened them, there were two party hats resting on the bar. They both picked up their hats and put them on which led Merryn to quiz Ethan on where he had hidden them the entire night, to discover that the hats had been deconstructed and wrapped around his socks whilst he was wearing jeans on a sweltering 40 degree day. After a gentle nudge from Ethan, Merryn looked under the hat because she clearly didn’t learn the lesson that you should always look inside a party hat. She flipped it over to read the words, ‘Will you marry me?’

I met Merryn at work three years ago, and have since enjoyed a cherished relationship with her. Her work ethic, kindness and generosity will continue to inspire me to become a role model just like how she is to me.