TESSA & LUKE’S STORY (AS TOLD BY THEIR CELEBRANT, NIKKI MCCARTHY)

These two first crossed paths six years ago when Tess took her best friend to get her first tattoo. The artist doing the important job that day happened to be Luke. Now, despite them both being in relationships with other people at the time, Tess noticed Luke immediately, as she’s always had a bit of thing for boys with tattoos and she may have noticed he had a couple of small, really discrete ones ;)

But she also remembers, she wasn’t too keen on his terrible, long moustache that he curled up at the sides at the time, yet... she definitely loved how incredibly easy he was to talk to and his kind, sweet face.

During this tattooing session, they were all chatting and discovered that Tess was a local barista at the coffee shop Luke frequented near his house. Pretty soon they started following one another on Instagram and enjoyed getting to know one another with what they both remember as really easy flowing conversations. They quickly realised they had quite a bit in common.

Luke loved how bubbly and friendly Tess was, and when their relationships were coming to an end and he started heading into her cafe for more and more skinny flat whites, I think it’s pretty safe to say their feelings began to grow.

Their mutual love of their dogs was a definite draw card for both of them, so they decided to hook up with the pups for a walk around Tomato Lake. A simple, yet perfect first date and slightly exhausting for poor little Pink the pug who was worn out wayyy before Luke, and after quite a few laps of the lake, indicated she needed to chill under a tree. This suited Tess and Luke perfectly as neither of them wanted their first official date to end.

Walking back to their cars Luke knew there was no way he wanted to let Tess leave without letting her know he was pretty keen on her, so he leaned through her window and snuck in a quick, sweet, slightly awkward first kiss, and it wasn’t long before these two lovers were getting to know one another more intimately and started making memories together.

Over the years they’ve travelled overseas (remember when travelling was a thing?!), they’ve enjoyed road tripping around parts of our own incredible country and have done the full grown up thing: bought their first home together only 6 months into their relationship!

Luke says he knew Tessa was his forever person pretty early in their relationship. Neither of them held back their feelings, and they jumped in the deep end pretty quick, as NOTHING has ever felt too soon, or too much. Luke realised that Tessa genuinely makes him a better version of himself than he ever would have been without her... she also wasn’t very shy in hinting she wanted to get married, so he hatched a plan to ask her the big commitment question!

Tess and Luke shower each other in mutual kindness and respect. They have realised just how well they fit together, and are now married to the person they never in their wildest dreams thought they would have the good fortune to meet and spend the rest of their lives with.

Now tattooed on each other’s hearts, they are husband and wife.

MORE ABOUT TESSA, LUKE AND THEIR SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIAN WEDDING

Who are you? Tell us a bit about yourselves

Hey hey! We are Luke & Tess, Luke is a tattooist in Fremantle (Perth) and Tess does cosmetic tattooing. When we aren’t working we are hanging out with our 3 doggos, escaping the city when we can and seeking out our next favourite burger place. Basically we love food, dogs and the country!

When/how did you become a couple and when/how did you get engaged?

We years ago when I took my best friend to get her first tattoo, but Luke and I were both in relationships then so didn’t think much of it other than a little attraction. Fast forward 3 years and Luke started frequenting the cafe where Tess was a barista, obviously her barista skills were that damn good it got them more than a friendship.

Tell us about your wedding planning process. How did you choose your venue and other vendors?

Tess had always drooled over old Broadwater Farm, and we always travel to the south west so wanted to get married down there. Then choosing vendors we both wanted to use local companies to the South west so did our research and booked locals that we loved the look of! Couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of people!

What advice would you give to couples who are currently wedding planning?

Chill! Enjoy the planning stage and the lead up. It goes so bloody quick. Also invite who YOU want to and get married where you want, remember it’s your day, you shouldn’t be trying to make anyone else happy except yourselves.

Looking back, is there anything you would change about your wedding day? What was your favourite part?

Our wedding was hard because Luke is from North Queensland and Tess has a lot of family in the east and over seas too, so due to covid we were down about 35 very important people. We considered postponing but we had no idea when this would all pass and we had already paid for a lot of things in advance.

If we could change anything it would be for Covid to f*** off and have been able to spend the day with our whole family.

Our favourite part was that we were able to marry each other and have some of our friends and family around considering the crazy world we are in at the moment. Just thankful that the restrictions had lifted enough for us to have the wedding that we did!