Christine Forster and Virginia Edwards have tied the knot just months after Australia passed the landmark same-sex marriage bill.
The duo, who have been together for 10 years and engaged for the past four, married on Friday afternoon in a cocktail party-style wedding held at a secret location in the centre of Sydney. An afterparty was scheduled to take place at the Stonewall Hotel on Oxford Street.
In an interview on The Project ahead of the wedding, Ms Forster, a vocal marriage equality campaigner, said their happy day had been a long time coming.
“For us to be able to get married here in Sydney with our friends and our family at our sides, and to get married under Australian law, it’s amazing,” she said.
“I’m still in some ways pinching myself about this, because it was such a long time coming and it was a very long and hard fight for marriage equality in this country.”
Ms Forster’s brother, Tony Abbott, was among the 190 guests who turned out the celebrate the high-profile union. The former PM, who is famously opposed to same-sex marriage, managed to put politics aside to support his sister in the lead up to the big day.
“He was the first person to ring us this morning to check everything was going smoothly,” Ms Foster said.
“He is looking forward to it as well and will be here with his wife Margie, I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
Mr Abbott’s daughter Frances, who was a strong supporter of same-sex marriage during 2017’s postal survey, wasn’t able to attend the wedding but was seen to send her well-wishes via social media.
“Francey is based in Melbourne and she’s planning her own wedding now. That came up pretty quickly as you might know,” Ms Foster told The Project about her niece’s absence.
“We saw them last week … we had a lot of wedding discussion, I assure you.”
WATCH: Frances Abbott is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage. Post continues…
Frances, 26, recently announced her engagement to Sam Loch.
The couple had only started dating two weeks before becoming engaged but didn’t see the point in waiting.
In an Instagram post, Mr Abbott’s youngest said: “Two weeks was all it took to know that forever with you was a mighty fine idea.”
The announcement has come as somewhat of a shock after the bodybuilder stressed how single she was in a very recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar Australia.
“I always describe myself as ‘so single’, because that’s how single I am. Like, very, very single. But I also think it’s probably the best time to compete, because I don’t have a guy saying, ‘Let’s go get some dinner!'” she explained while detailing her restrictive competition diet.
Speaking to Newscorp, Frances said her friends and family were obviously shocked at the speed of the engagement.
“My family just want what’s best for me, as any family would with their daughter. They are cautious because of the time, but they know me,” she said.
Congratulations again to the happy couple(s)!
