Charlotte + Lauren at Granary Estates | July 2026
“As a queer couple planning from overseas, finding a celebrant we felt completely comfortable with was really important. Sarah came recommended by our photographer, and after our first chat, choosing her was genuinely the easiest decision we made throughout the entire wedding process.”
It was a hot summer, wasn’t it? I was delighted for Charlotte and Lauren when I got to The Granary Estates that they were able to be married outside, as they’d hoped; the garden had a touch of the South of France about it, with the shimmering heat rising off the grass and the bees fluttering busily around the lavender.
But the first thing I did was assess the shade situation. One parasol. And 33°. We would make it work. And keeping those beautiful brides shaded was my priority.
Early, as ever, I kept messing around with the positioning of the couple’s chairs for the “sit down bit” of the ceremony, moving them into the parasol’s shade every quarter of an hour as the sun baked across the sky. Charlotte and Lauren are used to a bit of sunshine (to put it mildly), they live in Australia. But I just never want to be responsible for a perspiring bride (or groom), if I can help it.
Ahead of the ceremony, I got chatting to Charlotte’s lovely mum, Nicky, who - as it turns out - lives in France. She had spent months in advance of the wedding not only drying rose petals for confetti, but constructing dozens and dozens of handmade paper cones made with vintage French dictionary paper. And choosing only pages with words from the brides’ initials, C and L. What a thoughtful touch. C’est gorgeous! Je suis une soppy vache!
I was (buzzingly) pleased to be reunited with Gina, a photographer I met a couple of years ago. And I had to thank her: she had recommended me to Lauren and Charlotte, and that means the absolute world. Photographers see it all…literally. If they like you, you’re doing something right, I like to think haha!
The brides spent the morning together, rather than the more traditional time apart, getting ready in each other’s company. They only parted when it was time to get dressed, with their outfits as a surprise. Turns out they had both chosen gowns with very similar corset-style tops, which was another coincidence given they had also separately chosen similar engagement rings from the same jewellers.
Delightfully in sync.
When it came to the ceremony, I was mindful of the heat but I didn’t want to cut Lauren and Charlotte’s ceremony down in any way. I was pleased the guests all had paper fans (and were utilising them, whoosh whoosh whoosh) and I made sure the brides had time to rest in the shade while I told their love story.
Photos by the wonderful Gina Fernandes Photography
An Aussie friend, Chelsea, read this passage from Great Expectations that Lauren and Charlotte had chosen. It’s fun when you have a new reading you’ve not heard used in a wedding before.
That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life.
Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.
Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.
This exquisite scene….it really had to be outside!
And we had two memorable days to mark in that sunny garden: the day they met, the first link was formed, and everything changed.
And the day we were enjoying in real time, the link of their marriage, where we all witnessed the long chain of gold and flowers and in-jokes and care and security and adventure that loops them together.
“You’re an incredible human and we couldn’t recommend you more highly to any couple looking for a funny, heartfelt, choose-your-own-adventure, sharing-stories-at-the-pub kind of celebrant.”