Lesbian couple toast wedding anniversary as marriage becomes official
A day before they celebrate their first wedding anniversary, a Melbourne lesbian couple will pop the champagne at midnight as their marriage becomes legally recognised in Australia.
In addition to same-sex couples being able to marry from early January, gay couples who tied the knot overseas will also have their unions officially recognised.
Anna Scovelle, 28, and Bec O’Connor, 28, from Reservoir in Melbourne's north, married locally with a special celebration on December 10 last year, days before a Las Vegas honeymoon wedding, where same-sex marriage is legal.
"What a way to celebrate our first wedding anniversary," an elated Ms Scovelle told 7 News Online on Friday.
The pair, who have been together for almost five years, were "super excited" to learn the Governor-General signed-off the new marriage equality laws on Friday morning.
"We didn't know when it would happen. We didn't want to get our hopes up. But it's such a relief."
Ms Scovelle said her wife was "over the moon".
She shared with 7 News Online the heartbreak of not being able to call Ms O'Connor her wife, despite their commitment to one another.
“The big thing is… to know that the Australian law recognises us as equals… that we’re treated as equals.
“The little things are [also] meaningful… like being able to tick ‘married’ not ‘de facto’ on legal documents,” she said.
“It’s such a relief knowing our marriage is just going to be accepted. To be able to call Bec my wife without getting strange looks from people."
About 80 of the couple’s closest family and friends watched the pair tie the knot exactly 12 months ago during an evening ceremony at Thorbury restaurant Little Henry.
Ms Scovelle’s mother Celia Hayward walked her down the aisle, while a friend sung Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet it is (To Be Loved By You), and a celebrant friend of Ms O’Connor officiated the wedding.
Ms Scovelle said it was a blessing to have friends and family travelling from the Netherlands, Adelaide and Perth for the ceremony, despite the marriage not being lawful at the time.
“The fact that it wasn’t legally recognised wasn’t important… They made the effort to be there and support us with love,” she said.
The newlyweds spent the next four weeks on a US honeymoon, where they stopped over in Vegas for a wedding officiated by Elvis, for a marriage that was legally recognised in the US.
"We made a mockery of the situation, but we have that signed document. For us, [the Australian ceremony] was the true wedding."
Today, Ms Scovelle and Ms O’Connor have the bubbles in the fridge, ready for a midnight toast when their relationship becomes legally recognised in Australia.
The pair, who now have an extra reason to celebrate the milestone, will mark their first wedding anniversary with a weekend away at the popular Victorian holiday hot-spot Phillip Island.
Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove gave the same sex-marriage laws royal assent on Friday morning when he was visited by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis in Canberra.
Gay couples will now be able to lodge formal intentions to wed from Saturday, allowing them to marry from January 9.
"It is now part of Australian law," Mr Turnbull announced.
