Monique Penberthy was more concerned about her hair than how her body looked as she walked down a bush aisle wearing nothing but a veil and a smile for her recent wedding.
The 31-year-old Melbourne woman had spent a long time searching for the perfect size 32 wedding dress when she fell ill with a flesh-eating bug called necrotising fasciitis, and went into a coma. The order for the dream dress along with the dream wedding was cancelled as doctors could not confirm whether Monique would survive.
Thirty one days later she woke from her coma and decided she didn’t want to delay for a moment longer her wedding to her fiancé, truckdriver Rowan – so they decided to ditch all clothing completely and get hitched in the nude, in front of their 700 guests and a few of their dogs.
The couple got married at alternative bush campout festival Confest, in Moulamein, New South Wales, earlier this year. Monique wore a veil and necklace, while the groom sported a top hat and a bow tie.
Monique, who according to The Mirror weighs 159kg, had no issues with being in the nude in front of everyone.
“I’d survived death, so what did my weight matter?” she told the Mirror Online. “I wasn’t embarrassed. I was more concerned about my hair looking OK.”
She admits she was a bit terrified about walking down the aisle when she looked out at the 700 gathered guests at the clothing optional ceremony (even the celebrant was nude, except for some funky body paint).
“It was nothing like we’d planned, but everything we’d wished for,” she said. “When I saw all the guests … I was naked. I was terrified. But when I look around and everyone was smiling and clapping, I was touched.”
Monique met Rowan in November 2014 online. They immediately hit it off, sharing a common interest in dogs and photography. They had planned an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party wedding, for which she’d ordered a dress, for Valentine’s Day in 2016, and then she fell ill.
