Excitedly Kaylene and Reuben Farrelly picked out April 29, 2011 to marry.
But never in their wildest dreams did they imagine they would go on to share the day with Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton.
“We booked our wedding date and then Kate and William got engaged, and Mum joked that she wouldn’t want to have to choose between the two weddings if they happened to pick the same one,” Kaylene tells Woman’s Day.
“Thankfully, she decided to record the royal wedding and accepted our invitation!”
On April 29, the Farrellys and the Cambridges will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversaries and no doubt reminisce about their big days.
While Kate and William married in Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony watched by millions around the world, Kaylene and Reuben’s wedding was an intimate ceremony in a church overlooking the water in Kiama, south of Sydney.
Kaylene, 42, walked down the aisle to Phil Collins’ A Groovy Kind Of Love, which was much less formal than the trumpet fanfare and choirs that accompanied Kate.
“We wanted something small,” says Reuben, 46. “It was very different from the other wedding. We just wanted the people closest to us to share our day.”
While the Cambridges’ wedding was watched by millions, Kaylene and Reuben had an intimate church wedding
(Seona Mercer Photography)While the Duke of Cambridge wore the red tunic of the Irish Guards, Reuben opted for a dark grey suit and his son, Liam, then five, was by his side as ring bearer.
While Kate’s dress by Sarah Burton took months to make and was rumoured to cost more than $600,000, Kaylene opted for a simple but elegant off-the-peg ivory gown embellished with Swarovski crystals.
“I really did feel like a princess on my wedding day,” she says.
The Farrellys’ special day was filled with joy and plenty of humour.
“Reuben bought me a blue scrubbing brush to uphold the tradition of having something blue on my wedding day – I don’t think Kate got a scrubbing brush from William!” jokes Kaylene.
The Royals said ‘I do’, and Kaylene and Reuben did too!
(Getty)And their guests had a lot of fun comparing the Aussie nuptials to the one happening thousands of kilometres away in England.
“We had our own royal wedding and it was the running joke,” says Kaylene.
“Throughout the day and even in the wedding speeches, there were references to the Farrelly royal wedding.”
After the ceremony, while the royal wedding guests dined at Buckingham Palace, Reuben and Kaylene’s guests partied into the small hours at a Wollongong reception centre.
It was a perfect end to a perfect day – and the couple wouldn’t have swapped places with the royals for anything.
Kate and Kaylene both had fairytale weddings with their Prince Charming
(Seona Mercer Photography)“At one point during the evening, Kaylene and I stood on the balcony looking over the water and we watched our guests dancing and laughing and they were all there for us – as husband and wife,” says Reuben of one of his favourite moments of the night.
The happy couple and their guests didn’t get a chance to watch the royal wedding until the next day.
“There were some interesting comparisons,” Kaylene remembers.
“Comments included things like, ‘I wonder if you will bump into the royal couple on your honeymoon in Thailand’ or ‘Your dress is much better than Kate’s’.”
It’s been a decade since William and Kate wed
(Getty)After a two-week honeymoon in Thailand, the couple began married life in a two-bedroom flat in Sydney while Kate and William set up home at Kensington Palace.
For both couples, married life – whether in a palace, an apartment or now in a four-bedroom home in south-west Sydney – has been blissful.
While Reuben works as an IT network engineer, Kaylene is a team leader with the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The bridal party were all smiles on their big day
(Seona Mercer Photography)But there has been something missing in their lives.
While Kate and William saw their family grow, it has been a decade-long journey for Kaylene and Reuben to welcome their first child together.
Along the way, Kaylene has lost more than 50kg and battled with a hormonal disorder, polycystic ovary syndrome.
Rounds of IVF brought a string of disappointments.
But their 10th wedding anniversary will be shared with their new son, Asher, who was born April 2 at Campbelltown Hospital, weighing 3.64kg.
“The royals had one child, then another and another, and that was a bit hard at times,” says Reuben.
It was also difficult for Kaylene watching her wedding twin, Kate, have three children.
Little Asher is a special 10th wedding anniversary gift!
(Supplied)“When George was born, he was so cute and I remember thinking, ‘I wish I was having a baby, too’,” she admits.
“I’d always compare our journey on the anniversary – what they had and what we had, but not in terms of the palaces and wealth but the fact that William and Kate had another child. I wondered whether we’d have that.
“But this year we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with our baby and I can’t think of a better way to mark our own royal milestone.”
Wedding photography by: Seona Mercer Photography
