Manu and Guillaume: Their Australian Wedding

Manu and Guillaume’s love was the centrepiece of their outdoor summer wedding, inspired by the warmth and passion of Italy. The beautiful Redleaf Wollombi provided the perfect backdrop for the occasion, with loved ones gathered on the lawn to witness the two grooms exchange vows and commit their lives to each other.

Photographer Hungry Hearts Co. | Location Redleaf, Wollombi, NSW

“…I said yes to Guillaume because I felt we were both on the same page, and I wanted to spend my life with him…”

How and when did you meet?

Guillaume: We met at a barbecue on a rooftop up my building in October 2013, and our encounter was kind of a set-up. But there’s more to the story…

Manu: We met in a very Aussie way at a barbecue! Guillaume was organising it at his place, and I was invited to join by a mutual friend. For me, it was a random get-together; on the other side, it was a set-up to introduce me to him.

Tell us a little about the first time you met.

Manu: The first time I met Guillaume, I immediately felt comfortable and in a safe zone. I found him attractive, of course, but my heart was telling me that he would not be a one-night stand for me, and I was more interested to know him more as a person; I wanted to spend more time with him.

Guillaume: I made the first move. It was getting chilly and windy, and I could tell Manu was shivering, so I asked him to come to my apartment to grab a sweater. It appeared later that Manu didn’t know about the set-up, and despite his being super flirty (classic Manu), he would just see me as a “mate”’ in the following months...... well I wouldn’t take no for an answer, so here we are.

What was the first thing you noticed about each other?

Manu: The first thing I noticed was his smile. Trust me; you can’t miss it...

Guillaume: He looked like a meerkat. Tall, with big eyes, a cute nose, a particular way of standing, proud but not pretentious, and always alert. I don’t know; it’s just a vibe I got that made me melt from day one.

Any standout moments in your relationship?

Guillaume: So many. I’ll have to pick our first kiss in the toilets at the Stonewall (a Gay bar in Sydney). I love the irony of it, considering we’re both romantic at heart.

Manu: Definitely our trips around the world. We both love travelling so much, and our best moments were on a terrasse in Paris or in yum cha in Hong Kong. We are on the same page and so high on love when flying together.

Have you ever faced any issues of non-acceptance?

Manu: I faced issues of non-acceptance my entire childhood at school. I grew up in a small town in France and felt like an outsider for as long as I can remember, and also had to face bullying. However, I am lucky to have an incredible and loving family, so I never felt threatened at home, luckily. But the outside world was tough, and I never talked about it for many years to anyone. This experience helped me to be stronger as an adult, and it also changed me a lot.
I went from an introverted kid to an extroverted man, and it wasn’t an easy journey for me to be loud and proud and not sorry for being who I am anymore, but I want to use all that experience to make me a better person today.
My relationship with Guillaume is helping me a lot. Love is right; there’s nothing wrong about it, ever.

What does marriage mean to you?

Manu: I think marriage shouldn’t be seen as an achievement in life. I think the real achievement is to work on your relationship on a daily basis. The little details, that’s what counts.

I’ve always tried my best to go through difficult times with communication and compromises in my relationship and never thought that everything would be fine the day I’d be married.

I said yes to Guillaume because I felt we were both on the same page, and I wanted to spend my life with him, so why not!

Guillaume: It means a lot of things to a lot of people. We got married after 8 years living together. To me, marriage establishes a sense of responsibility to live and grow old together, looking in the same direction. And be excited about it every day.

Who proposed and how?

Guillaume: I proposed. I surprised Manu at home with a movie I made, and my best friend was playing it. At the end of the video, I appeared sweaty with the rings. I think he always thought he was going to be the one proposing. I beat him to it, and I still remember the look on his face that day! I love the fact that we don’t necessarily have rules around proposing.

Manu: He was supposed to be in Brisbane the day it happened, and I was in Sydney. I was having a drink with 2 of our friends at home, and they played a video for me; I could see Guillaume walking into our building and taking the lift, then when the video stopped, he walked in and proposed.

I didn’t expect it because I always thought I was more romantic than him! (Not anymore).

When did you get married?

14th of January, 2022.

Manu and Guillaume’s story continues below ↓

What was the main influence behind your wedding day?

Guillaume: The plan was to get married in France and do a small celebration with our friends in Sydney. We were lucky enough to stay at Redleaf in Wollombi for a weekend, and it was love at first sight for me. We heard we had the opportunity to book it following a cancellation if we wanted to. It was in the middle of lockdown, we thought this was a sign, so we made our decision very quickly!

Manu: We wanted a “weekend away with friends” type of vibe. The original plan was one big wedding in France, but we decided to have a “small” one in Australia with our best friends first. So we focused on the venue and the food.

We wanted quality over quantity, and the idea was based on offering a great weekend to our friends because we all struggled so much with Covid last year, and everyone deserved it.

What was the most important thing to you surrounding your wedding?

Manu: The most important thing for me was to see my guests enjoy themselves, laugh, and have fun. That’s what makes me happy.

Where did you find the bulk of your inspiration?

Guillaume: Instagram and Pinterest. We made boards searching for Italian-style weddings. Manu and I are pretty clear on what we like and don’t like, so we had no issues on agreeing on what we wanted our wedding to look like.

How did you choose your suppliers? 

Manu: Matthew from Redleaf helped me with this. They have a list of suppliers that are all based in the area, and they all know the venue, which is very convenient.

Any standout suppliers?

Manu: We were amazed at how good all our suppliers were, but I have to say, Loz from Hungry Hearts, our celebrant, was so professional and so sweet. You can tell she loves what she does, and her speech was very well written.

Also, David from Josue Films, our videographer, asked me to donate to Mardi Gras to support the LGBTQI+ community instead of paying him. Not only is he the kindest human, and incredibly talented, but he is also sensible to others and tries to make a difference with a meaningful gesture. I couldn’t recommend him enough.

Any surprises on your wedding day? Or anything that didn’t go to plan?

Guillaume: Not really. There’s a photo of Manu and I 1h before the ceremony walking on the lawn in shorts and thongs. I love this photo, so telling of how chilled we were about it all. Not everything was perfect, but we were high on love from the day we arrived there, I became oblivious of all the details in the background and focused on the amount of love I was receiving from everyone. And how grateful I was to see all my favourite people in the world around us. It’s seriously the best feeling! 

What was the most difficult thing about planning your wedding?

Manu: COVID. I was stressed the whole time of the preparation only because of this. It honestly could have been a disaster. We got lucky.

Guillaume: Apart from the COVID-related issues and cancellations, the most challenging part was the coordination between all the suppliers. It was daunting at the beginning as we didn’t have a wedding planner. What saved us was the fact that we decided to only work with suppliers that knew the venue from previous weddings and had worked together before. They were willing to collaborate without us being the middleman. So that would be my number #1 advice when you choose your caterer, celebrant, florist, stylist, photographer ect…

Any advice for other couples planning their day and finding it difficult to navigate the journey?

Manu: It’s like buying a property. Try to list the number of things that are the most important for you and invest more of your time and budget on it, then take care of the rest. Also, try to condition yourself that it won’t be exactly what you want and focus on what’s really important.

Guillaume: Choose who is going to be the project manager from day one, work with a budget and be ready to compromise, delegate tasks (ie. you deal with the florist, I book the photographer), don’t waste too much time and energy on things that no one will notice except you.

Manu and Guillaume’s Team

Photographer Rhys – Hungry Hearts Co

Videographer Josue Films

Venue Redleaf, Wollombi

Manu’s Suit Institchu, shoes Givenchy

Guillaume’s Suit Institchu, shoes Laurent

Flowers Sourced by us at Sydney Flower Market

Celebrant Loz – Hungry Hearts Co

Catering Fennel & Co 

Furniture Crab Apple Hire

Hair Stylist ByManu 

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