by Johanna Osborne

TRENT AND PAUL – August 19th 2013

“We are super excited to be finally getting married!”

Image by Anne-Marie Calihanna

• Ceremony at Museum of NZ: Te Papa Tongarewa, in Te Marae
• Reception: Martin Bosley’s Port Nicholson Yacht Club
• Celebrant: Kerry Prendergast
• Wedding Planner: Paula Bevege, Paula Bevege Events
• Accommodation: The Museum Art Hotel
• Cake: Decorada
• Transport: Eastbourne Classic Cars
• Styling: Horrobin and Hodge – botanical stylists, Vintage and Pretty
• Wedding Rings: Pacific Jewellers
• Photography: Inspire Photography: Ceremony, family and group photo and reception details
• We Do: Location creative photos and reception
• Videography: Jono Tucker Film
• Entertainment: The Amazing Travelling Photobooth, Steve the Crooner
• Sweets: The Couture Candy Buffet
• Suits: Frank Casey
• Special day spa package and hair and make-up on the day: Salute

When the marriage equality bill was passed in April this year we leapt for joy at the thought that all those couples who have always wanted to can now finally get married. Everyone can have their cake and eat it too, just as it should be! As if that wasn’t a delicious enough morsel of news, soon followed the glorious cherry on top, when Paula Bevege Events and The Wellington Wedding Show were asked to help plan and collaborate what can only be described as one of THE weddings of the year! Yip, we were tickled pink alright.

An exciting competition led by Tourism New Zealand and Positively Wellington saw Newcastle Australia residents, Paul McCarthy, a vet, and Trent Kandler, a teacher, try their luck to be amongst the very first same sex couples to be married on NZ soil under the new law. And it seems this loved up couple has the x-factor in more ways than one, as their positive spirit saw them beat 300 other gay and lesbian couples in their quest. Victory was theirs, and they could not be happier! “We have been together for 11 years and the fact that we’ll be the first to make a lifelong pledge to each other in somewhere as beautiful as New Zealand is both historically significant, and an important step in our personal lives,” Mr McCarthy shares.

Paul and Trent, as well as eight of their closest friends and family will be flown to Wellington, and graciously hosted in the Museum Art Hotel. The big history making wedding ceremony will take place in Te Marae of the Museum of NZ: Te Papa Tongarewa at 9am on Monday the 19th August, followed by a lavish reception at Martin Bosley’s Port Nicholson Yacht Club restaurant.

Paula Bevege Events and the Wellington Wedding Show are looking after Paul and Trent in the lead up to and of course on the big day, and providing them with every last detail to make everything perfect.

Who else will be there on this amazing history-making day? Kerry Prendergast is the celebrant, Jono Tucker Photography is taking care of the all important video, Inspire Photography and We Do Photography & Design are shooting the epic photos, The Amazing Travelling Photobooth will be there to wow and entertain, Vintage and Pretty are styling the event, Frank Casey Formal Suit Hire are dressing the grooms, Salute Hair & Day Spa are overseeing all things beautiful on the day (as well as pampering the grooms with spa packages in the days before!). Decorada is making the fabulously fancy cake, Horrobin and Hodge are doing the beautiful botanical styling and Eastbourne Classic Cars are taking the wedding party around in style.

This will not only be a happy day, but a day of intense emotion and excitement. It is a ground breaking day for our country, where those that love each other are able to make a formal commitment that is recognised in the eyes of the law. It’s a day about liberty, equality and celebrating love in its purest form. It’s a day about progress and triumph. To say we are thrilled to play a small part in something that is such a big deal is an understatement! It is our honour to be there and share this with you. All the very best Trent and Paul, may your life together be as awesome as your wedding day is bound to be!

Read on below for our exclusive interview with Trent and Paul – see what they have to share with us about this epic moment in their lives.

The day we interviewed Trent and Paul…

1. How did you meet and how long have you been together?

Paul and I have been together for 11 years. We met through mutual friends who had been trying to set Paul up with single guys for a while, by hosting dinners and inviting a single guy they knew to dinner so Paul could meet them. This wasn’t at all successful and they gave Paul my phone number as a final effort. Paul cold-called me one afternoon and gave me this big spiel about how he was tired of the dating scene and was looking for a long-term relationship. Unfortunately, in the time between getting my number and calling me, I had started to date another guy. Although I was about to call it quits with that guy as it wasn’t working out I had to turn Paul down, as I wasn’t going to arrange a date while dating someone else! I stopped dating the guy I’d been seeing but thought I’d lost a golden opportunity. Paul was terribly embarrassed at the time and apparently vowed to give up and move to Sydney. A few weeks later we both happened to be on a dating site at the same time and I recognised his nic, which was vetboy. We started chatting and arranged a date – we had Thai takeaway and watched to Rocky Horror Picture Show on TV – the rest is as they say, history.

2. Has it always been your wish to get married?

We have been talking about getting married for a few years now. We had a holiday in Canada in 2008 and had considered getting married while we were there, as same-sex marriage had been made legal in that country. We decided against this, as we really wanted our family and friends to be with us if we were to get married. We decided to wait until Australia made the necessary changes to the law and have been waiting for a long time. It has been a frustrating wait, particularly when other countries have altered their laws to allow same-sex marriage but our Government continues to demonstrate reluctance.

3. Your wedding is only days away and getting international media attention – how does all this feel?

It has been a very busy time fitting in interviews on radio, television and in newspapers and magazines whilst working long hours as a vet (Paul) and teacher (Trent). We have had our stressed out moments but despite the hectic schedule it has been a very exciting time! We aren’t accustomed to so much interest in our lives so it has been a little strange to be the topic of conversation for complete strangers! We hope that this experience will raise greater awareness of the importance of marriage equality in Australia for same-sex couples and make some impact on the choice people make when casting their vote at the upcoming Federal election.

4. What is the most important thing to get right on the wedding day?

Like everyone standing up in front of family and friends pledging your love for another, the vows must be the thing we most desire to get right. Especially since there will be TV and other media outlets present!

5. What are you excited and most nervous about?

We are, of course, super excited to be finally getting married! We can’t wait to be able to stand up in front of family and friends and declare our love for, and commitment to, each other publically. The prize we won from Positively Wellington and Tourism New Zealand is a substantial one and they are looking after us in Wellington very well from a luxury hotel room for 5 nights, flights and accommodation of 8 guests, numerous site seeing expeditions, our wedding held at the National Museum of NZ – Te Papa to a reception for 20 at Martin Bosley’s restaurant. It’s all very exciting! We are probably just nervous about the media attention while we are there.

6. What is the coolest thing about being the very first same-sex couple from Australia to be married in New Zealand?

We get to make a little bit of history for ourselves whilst finally experiencing what heterosexual couples experience as a given right, even if it is in another country.

7. What is your biggest wish for the future?

We just wish to happily grow old together, experiencing the ups and downs of life with the support and love that makes it all worthwhile and making the most of the opportunities we create for ourselves.

8. One sentence that sums both of you up as people and as a couple.

Two world travellers with a love of music, laughter and each other.

Want to know more about Trent and Paul’s big day after it happens? Simply pick up your copy of MR&MRS issue 5 out at the Wellington Wedding Show on 8th September at Shed 6!

Image by Ann-Marie Calihanna

Image by Ann-Marie Calihanna