Chateau Wyuna Wedding Celebrant | Wedding Vows | Julie Byrne
Writing your wedding vows can be a daunting experience for some. At this Yarra Valley wedding venue, Chateau Wyuna, Chloe and Leighton shared their epic love story with all. Encapsulated in their wedding vows were sentiments of their relationship and promises for the future. When booking me, couples are given lots of resources to help them write their own wedding vows. Here’s Leighton’s and Chloe’s vows that encompassed much love, admiration and emotions.
Thanks to Duncan Macauley Photography for these gorgeous images captured on Chloe and Leighton’s special day!
Leighton’s Wedding Vows
Chloe you came into my life when I was least expecting you, how little did I know that chance encounter would change my life.
From the moment our paths crossed, you have captivated me, challenged me, frustrated me, and through your endless love and inspiration you’ve also improved me. But above all you are the love of my life and you make me happier than I could ever imagine and more loved than I ever thought possible. You are the strength I didn’t know I needed and now you make me a full person, making me feel whole and complete. Because of this I strive passionately and relentlessly to try and become the man I know you deserve.
Over the course of our relationship we have experienced great triumphs, but also difficult challenges, challenges that have pushed us to our limit of what I thought we could endure, but fortunately I was wrong, because despite the inevitable trials, I’ve learned that together, United, we can endure and overcome anything that we encounter.
And so as we stand here surrounded by the people we love, about to begin a new chapter of our lives, I make the following promises;
I promise to put you and our family first, but above all, always.
I promise to tell you everyday how much I love and appreciate all the things you do for our whanau, unless I forget and miss a day here and there which in that case I apologise profusely for now.
I promise to stand by your side and continue to help shoulder whatever challenges come our way, but to also celebrate all of our wins, whether they’re minor or major.
I promise to love, to encourage, to provide strength and to support you in any and every endeavour you wish to pursue.
I promise to listen, to hear, and to always consider your feelings and thoughts.
I promise to always protect you from harm, to stand with you against your troubles, and look to you when I need protection.
I promise to join your laughter with my own and when you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark
I promise to continue to learn from you and to follow the examples of patience and respect that you continuously set.
I promise to give you the best of me, my heart, my soul, forever for you are my soulmate.
Chloe, you are my best friend, my rock, my inspiration, and on this day I cannot wait to make you my wife, I love you.
Chloe’s Wedding Vows
Leighton, you were my reason back then, my reason today and my reason for the future. I choose you, again and again, at the start and finish of every single day.
I choose you to struggle and succeed with. To love and grow old with. I know that we will continue to find strength in one another and grow side by side, individually and as a couple.
I promise to fiercely love you in good times and bad. When life seems easy and when life seems hard, when our love is simple and when it is difficult.
I promise to protect you and defend you. I promise to always make you see your full potential and to always push you to achieve your goals and dreams personally, as husband and wife and as a family.
I promise to love you for who you are, who you were and who you will become. I promise to always make time for us no matter how many babies we have. I promise to always cherish and respect every inch of you for all of my years.
I promise that in our hard times I will look back to this moment and remember exactly how I was feeling and that nothing could ever compare.
I promise to never go to sleep angry and I promise to always be on your side and your biggest supporter even if I don’t agree.
I promise to always put the love that you and I share first so that Elsie and our future children are able to watch us grow old together while falling more and more in love with each other every day.
I take you to be my beautiful husband to love, hold, cherish, care for and love on our best days, worst days and every other day in between.
Remembering Loved Ones
Not only did Chloe and Leighton have passionate wedding vows, their passion for family was highlighted throughout the ceremony. Leighton’s brothers were all included in the bridal party, their daughter, Elsie, shared a family cuddle right at the beginning of the ceremony (see photo) and they honoured those who have passed by reserving the front row for them. Black and white photos in gold frames of loved ones adorned the front row (see photo). Not only was it a beautiful testimony, the photos created nostalgic discussion amongst guests before and after the ceremony.
It certainly was a wedding to remember; their love story what fairytale are made of. When you know, you just know, even if you’re in different countries. Read all about it below. If you’re looking for a celebrant to create a memorable wedding ceremony like Chloe’s and Leighton’s, please contact me.
Chloe and Leighton – Their Love Story
Chloe and Leighton first met in Queenstown in a 90s bar called Buffalo on the 28th of December 2015. Chloe was on a Contiki Tour and Leighton was visiting from Christchurch with a group of friends for New Years.
The first thing Chloe noticed about Leighton was his dance moves, tanned skin and huge smile that instantly warmed her heart. She doesn’t know what ended up happening because now he’s got terrible dance moves. He was so full of life and such a hottie (still is!) Chloe’s confidence on the dance floor caught Leighton’s eye in amongst the packed club. He care-free and let loose attitude intrigued him, she could really boogie.
Their first date could be so many things; the night they met or their first long distance phone call or facetime. But, in these early stages, Chloe was impressed with the unconditional love and respect he had for his family. He had a gentle soul and protective nature with a loving heart for anyone he cared about. Leighton found that Chloe was so easy to connect with, despite being in different countries and worlds.
As their relationship developed they knew they were sharing a very special connection and believe their love for each was truly blossoming when Chloe made the trip to visit Leighton at Easter in 2016. Chloe couldn’t keep her mind off Leighton whilst Leighton was amazed how much Chloe meant to him in such a short period of time.
Leighton proposed on the 5th of January 2019. A week earlier he went shopping with Chloe’s sister, Em, to buy a monopoly game that cost a significant amount of money Chloe saw the bank account and was onto it! A week later she came home from work and Leighton is walking around in a suit freaking out like a lunatic and she knew straight away it was happening that night. They went to Little Blue in St Kilda for dinner where Leighton was wearing extremely tight pants with a ring box protruding out of the pocket. After dinner, they went for a stroll, Leighton dropped to his knee and the rest is history.
Chloe describes Leighton as warm, loving and a rare commodity. She loves that he has a soft soul towards Elsie and herself. He is the best Dad and he never fails to make their hearts feel warm and full. He makes her feel like everything is going to be ok even when she feels like it won’t. He has a beautiful, caring nature and works hard to provide for them financially and mentally. Chloe loves that he always tries to find the good in almost anyone. Leighton strengthens her weaknesses and he is her safe spot. His mere presence allows her to overcome obstacles. Leighton has taught Chloe to be more patient and more understanding. He’s taught her that their love is better than any fairy-tale, and you can fully trust someone.
Leighton describes Chloe as selfless, brave and inspiring, but, put simply, Chlo is amazing! She is an inspiration she is to Leighton. He will always be astounded by her seamless transformation from party girl to motherhood. Once they found out that they were expecting, she really took things in both hands, and without any apparent fear of the unknown she set forth and would let nothing get in the way of her providing for their baby.
She will put anybody and their needs before her own (which is annoying at times!) but its things like this that make him feel so lucky and for Leighton to be able to give her his best and just be a better person. Chloe has taught Leighton a lot of things, such as showing him how to use the car wash (he thinks she’s still waiting to teach him how to change a tyre!) to more important things like how to be an awesome dad and partner. She’s taught him these through her own example by how she is with everybody around her. Leighton doesn’t think he’d be the person he is today to his daughter or to Chloe if it wasn’t for Chloe.
Together they enjoy watching Netflix, playing UNO, drinking coffee and eating food, as a family. And, enjoy the occasional date night and random activities. In continuing their relationship in marriage they know that love, trust, honesty and laughing s hard with and at each other will be extremely important. Communicating, working as a team and never going to bed angry will help to create a successful marriage.
They look forward to more babies to add to their family and seeing each continue to grow as parents. They are each other’s best supporter and Chloe can’t wait to call Leighton her husband. Together they will accomplish anything until they slow down, when old and grey, choosing their retirement village, reminiscing about all they’ve achieved and holding hands on the balcony whilst celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
