KATE + ED

Romantic proposals don’t get better than this. Whilst hiking a mountain on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Ed Sixsmith dropped to one knee producing his grandmother’s ring from 1939 to propose to partner Kate Gazzard.

The couple first met while working together in the emergency department at the Royal Children’s Hospital where Kate was studying her paediatric exams and Ed was the senior doctor. After Kate changed hospitals they stayed in touch playing Words with Friends before eventually going on their first date about four months later.

Dedicated in achieving an environmentally-friendly wedding the couple planned to get married in the UK, saving Ed’s family and friends from travelling from overseas and in turn reducing their carbon footprint. Unfortunately international borders closed due to Covid-19 and they were forced to cancel their plans.

Refocusing, the pair set about organising a festival-style wedding at the Cumberland River Holiday Park, just outside Lorne where guests were to stay in the onsite cabins. Using only local vendors and to assist in reducing their environmental impact they organised vegetarian food only, no single-use plastics and renewable energy for power. They even booked a tree-planting service to offset the impact of their wedding.

With everything booked and ready to go, the couple endured yet another blow to their plans when a snap lockdown the week before was announced, causing them to cancel their wedding again.

After lockdown was lifted the following weekend the couple decided to go ahead with a small wedding and with only four days’ notice managed to secure the RACV Torquay venue.