{"id":194003,"date":"2013-05-08T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/real-weddings\/irene-vanessas-joyful-cocktail-wedding\/"},"modified":"2022-03-16T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T04:31:48","slug":"irene-vanessas-joyful-cocktail-wedding","status":"publish","type":"au-real-wedding","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/real-weddings\/irene-vanessas-joyful-cocktail-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Here come the brides: Irene and Vanessa’s cocktail wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"
On April 17, 2013, news broke that the New Zealand parliament had voted to legalise gay marriage (more about that here)<\/a> and the world watched as the entire congregation broke, emotionally, into Maori song to mark the historical moment.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a moment which many of us in Australia are eagerly awaiting, but I shan’t get into politics right now. Because our gorgeous couple, bride and bride, Irene Angelopoulos and Vanessa Conte, certainly didn’t let the current state of affairs get in the way of their joyful nuptials and cocktail wedding at Meadowbank Receptions<\/a> last October.<\/p>\n The Melbourne girls met through a love of sport \u2013 Vanessa played it and Irene was the star spectator. 24-year-old Irene says, \u201cVanessa seemed to be part of every sporting club going and when I would go to watch different friends play [soccer, basketball and indoor soccer] she would be there.\u201d<\/p>\n She jokes, \u201cI\u2019ve been the cheerleader for over six years now. And the scorer. And the \u2018soccer mum\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Irene says that after a few years dating, a wedding was the natural next-step to their relationship \u2013 the pair had already started building a house together \u2013 but they\u2019d said, \u201cWhen it\u2019s legal, we\u2019ll do it.\u201d So for Irene, with no clue as to when the Australian government might change its mind, 27-year-old Vanessa\u2019s proposal came as a complete shock.<\/p>\n She says, \u201cVanessa had laid out red rose petals in the shape of a heart on my bed and put the ring box in the middle\u2026 I freaked out when I saw what was going on and made her open the box just in case it wasn\u2019t a ring! As we both started crying, no words were exchanged but we both knew what the answer was.\u201d<\/p>\n Irene says their ceremony in front of 140 family and friends was essentially the same as any other (just without signing the papers), adding they wanted to \u201cshow everyone this is our decision, this is who we want to spend our life with and if it ever becomes legal in our lifetime we\u2019ll go down to city hall and sign the papers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done the fancy party, now all we want is the same rights as everyone else. We are over the debate. We just want the same rights.\u201d<\/p>\n