A Double Celebration: Jason & April, Karina & Kirby

A diary entry from our team at Elope Australia

This one started with a phone call we’ll never forget.

Jason rang us and said, “I want to get married but I also want to get married with our closest friends.” Which, fair enough, we’ve heard versions of that before. Except then he clarified that his closest friends were two girls, and for a moment we genuinely thought we were being asked to officiate a marriage between Jason and three brides. We had to gently explain that’s not quite how things work in Australia. Jason laughed and cleared it up straight away, no, he just wanted to marry his beautiful bride, April, on the very same morning that his best friends, Karina and Kirby, married each other. So that is exactly what we did!

And so it began, the first double wedding Elope Australia has ever had the honour of officiating.

We made sure both couples got their own special, private moment. A first look for Karina and Kirby, and a separate first look for Jason and April, timed so neither couple missed a second of their own moment with their own little family around them. Karina and Kirby had their two gorgeous little girls by their side, while Jason and April had their tribe of five boys in tow. From there, we headed out into the national park for family portraits with Uluru rising behind everyone and it was clear from the start this was going to be a morning full of joy.

Then came the ceremonies, held out at the camel farm, with each couple standing as the other’s witness. We began with Jason and April, whose boys proudly carried the rings forward, and whose vows spoke not only to each other but to their children too. Meanwhile, Karina and Kirby’s girls had been busy rolling around in the red sand like it was Christmas morning, completely covered head to toe by the time their turn came, having long since abandoned the rug we’d laid out for them. Then it was their turn, and we watched two families quietly become one, right there in the desert.

The celebrations rolled on through the rest of the morning. Angus was back with us again, filling the air with live music while everyone warmed up with damper and hot coffee after a crisp desert morning.

What made this one so special was the story behind it, this whole gorgeous, chaotic, joyful family were in the middle of a camping trip, and had simply decided to stop at Uluru to get married before continuing on their road trip as their honeymoon. Two couples, one incredible group of friends, and a morning we will genuinely never forget.

Congratulations, Jason & April and Karina & Kirby. What a way to become one big family.