Damien Foley and Jacqui Smith's iconic and intimate wedding

The match blossomed out of a long friendship some three years ago during a friend's 60^th birthday party when the two of them spent most of the evening chatting away, oblivious to their friends' remarks of 'wouldn't they make a great couple?!'.

Then as several evenings of long conversations over glasses of wine went by, the relationship between them grew organically, effortlessly and they fell progressively more and more in love with each other.

Then one day Damien surprised Jacqui with the big question, as they were seated at a beautiful platform overlooking Main Beach.

"At some point I looked over and he had disappeared, he'd ducked down on one knee and while he hadn't planned to ask me that night, when sitting there thinking about his life, he decided it's what he wanted to do, so me coming home early that night gave him the opportunity to do so," she said.

"Everything about our relationship had unfolded really calmly and naturally, so while I was surprised, I wasn't screaming into the sky with excitement, I just felt a deep, calm happiness."

The wedding followed a year to the day of the proposal, November 24, 2023 and it was a simple yet meaningful affair.

Prior to the wedding Jacqui and Damien decided to throw a casual soiree at Kitty's at Club Sapphire.

"We wanted to incorporate a little bit of his work life in the pre-celebrations, so we hosted the most beautiful evening at Kitty's to welcome all of our friends and family for a casual soiree of food, drinks and barefoot bowls," Jacqui said.

"It was a really fantastic way to start the weekend and it allowed people who had travelled a long distance to meet up with friends and family and also meet new people."

The day of the wedding Jacqui went about her morning like it was any other day of the week, starting with her exercise class in the morning and then going out for a coffee with her friends before heading to her family home and getting ready.

"Then the beauty regime began and we had our hair done by Chloe from DMH Boutique and makeup by a friend of mine, Olivia Kennedy," she said.

Meanwhile Damien got ready at their house with his three daughters and two groomsmen - but while they were getting ready the weather started to turn.

"We were going to have the ceremony on my Mum's front lawn that looks onto the ocean, where my dad's ashes are scattered so that a bit of him was with me since he couldn't walk me down the aisle," Jacqui said.

"Unfortunately the rain just continued to pour and while we held off for a while hoping it would clear it didn't, so everything was moved inside."

Jacqui said the moment she stepped out of the room she was overwhelmed to see 140 of her nearest and dearest gathered in her mother's living room.

"My uncle who is a retired Anglican minister officiated everything for us, my two beautiful nephews and niece were our pageboys and flower girl," she said.

"Everything was absolutely beautiful."

From the bouquet made by Jazz from the Little Bouquet in Merimbula, to the dress from CC Bridal in Bega and live music from Colleen Brown.

After the ceremony was over the newlyweds took off with local photographer Tara Chiu from Daisy Hill Photography to get photos at various locations together, including the platform where Damien proposed.

Meanwhile guests began to flood into Wheelers for the reception where they were welcomed by Frankie J Holden, MC for the night.

"Damien has a background in horse racing so Frankie surprised us with a hilarious trick, every time he had an announcement to make he'd make a music cue, playing the William Tell Overture song, so throughout the night it was really funny to hear the familiar tune come back on when he had something to say," she said.

"We had around 125 guests dining at the restaurant that night which was quite an effort to fit everyone in, but my team did such a beautiful job."

"We also had some incredible speeches and at the end of the night one of our bar staff Matt Black stepped in as DJ, it was truly an incredible and memorable day."

The newlyweds then took off on a trip away at Lake Crackenback for their honeymoon, where they were met with "beautiful calm weather" after a week of wild rains on the South Coast.