You both met in Spain,. Shaun had been working on and off for 6 years and TJ for 6 months. TJ had been frequenting the bar where Shaun worked (girl of my own heart haha) and Shaun never charged her for a drink. TJ asked for a Tequila (which came without the lemon and salt so she asked for it. Shaun handed her a bag of salty chips and that got them both laughing. Love soon followed them home!!! Great story, loved it.

My partner Greg and myself are getting married in November this year at the Powerboat Club, Caloundra.. We met at a bar also, in Mooloolaba 9 years ago. We both have 2 children each -2 boys, 2 girls. Because we are a blended family our wedding is alot about the children. We are having our ceremony complete with vows for Greg and I and then we are doing “hand fastening” which consists of each of our children tying a coloured ribbon on our wrists and hands to symbolise the tying together of family. The kids will each say something which represents the colour and significance to our family. Once we release our hands we will have a blended circle of colour which signifies the making and blending of our beautiful family! We can not wait and this prize would be such a blessing to us and our children. Thanks for the opportunity 🙂 Jess

Hi Toni-Jo and Shaun,

First of all congratulations on the cash cow win. I love the idea of pay it forward, since I watched the movie. Every now and then, I would do a small thing like buy a coffee for the next person, so when someone orders a latte it’s already been paid for.

Just been reading your blog and I think your story of how you met in Spain and the story of the lemon is so sweet. Our story is very similar. Long story but in short guy meets girl in a bar on a random Wednesday night and insulted my shot of squashed frog. I retaliated by telling him to take a shot with me. Rest is history. But it was very much fate that brought us together and if your interested why? Then please read the rest on our wedding website mywedding.com/edwardjoanne.

Our wedding day is on the 10/08/2014 at Maleny Manor, Maleny Qld. Reasoning for our wedding date, is that I love the look of full moon, and apparently on this date, we will experience a super moon in Aus. I just love what our pics would look like, hand and hand under the moonlight sky. But what we didn’t realise is that we will now share a wedding anniversary as Ed’s maternal grandparents, which made this day even more special. So our theme is Alice in Winderland. Lots of quirky things like mismatched bridesmaids, centrepieces, lawn games, Pimms cocktail and instead of canapés, we’re having finger sandwiches and scones pre-dinner.

I am Filipino-born and want to incorporate my heritage by having a traditional Filipino ceremony. Ed is from England, and we thought quirky Alice in Wonderland theme gives a nod to his British heritage. We now both live in Aus, so we choose to have the wedding here. Few of our families and close friends are travelling to witness us say our vows to each other. We have incorporated many little touches that will mean a lot to both our families. Like Ed’s late paternal grandmother’s Victorian sponge recipe that’s been passed on to generations as our wedding cake, as. a surprise for his Dad, is just one of the examples. (We actually have a copy of her handwritten recipe, and we will display this next to the wedding cake. We’ve stolen the copy while Ed’s mum wasn’t looking sssshhhh).

This wedding video would mean the world to us, as many of our family and friends cannot afford to come and see us wed. We plan on going back to the UK and Philippines on Dec, and hopefully sharing our video with the rest of the family.

Pay it forward…. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be able to give back. If we win this amazing price, (I’ve been planning this for awhile, even before this price), I am a registered nurse and I would love to one day if funds allow me to, is to volunteer my services in Philippines in a hospital. Especially after Cyclone Yolanda devastated parts of it. I’ve been privately raising funds to be able to do so. Ed is a primary school teacher and he has done volunteer work building houses in South America, he too is very excited to give back, and teach in Philippines with me. This is what we will do if we win this price.

Many thanks for this allowing such a wonderful opportunity for so many couples.

Sincerest,
Joanne and Edward

My partner Kyle and I have booked our wedding for Friday 4th September 2015 at Osteria, Casuarina. We wanted a venue that we could hold both the ceremony and reception and Osteria is absolutely perfect.

Our theme is rustic & Italian chic…. with vintage furniture in the garden for guests to relax in after the ceremony with a cocktail and finger food, followed by an Italian shared table feast with carafes of red wine, warm fairy lights, personalized bunting and our most favourite songs playing in the background.

The day before our wedding is my grandad’s 80th Birthday so I want to spend a few moments celebrating that special milestone with all of our family and friends.. I thought it would be super cute to create a slide show with some old school photos of my granddad. (Osteria have a hug projector so we will be using this throughout the reception).
We want our wedding to be an emotional, visually stunning experience that our guests will walk away with full hearts (and stomachs).

We are so excited! And would love for it all to be captured on film.

A: Shaun and TJ met in a bar in Spain where Shaun was working and TJ was a regular. TJ had ordered a tequila shot and requested a ‘Lemon’ which coincidentally there was only one that night picked by Shaun off his tree.

If Kyle and I were lucky enough to win this amazing prize, we would go straight down to the animal welfare league and sign up for volunteer work for the next year and a half. It’s something we have always wanted to do but haven’t found time to do so.. We met our beautiful cat Hugo at the AWL and have spoken about spending more time helping out. with whatever they need. Hugo had been down at Grafton in a pound for some time and was due to be put down, but AWL had organised for him to be sent up to the Gold Coast where we met him a few days later. So we are very thankful.

Thanks for your time Shaun and TJ.