Our Story

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We met in 2016 in Australia. Sharni, who is from New Zealand, was living and working in Melbourne, and I was on a working holiday in Australia. I got a job at the same venue where Sharni was working, and we were interested in each other immediately. In early 2017, I returned to the States and Sharni followed not long after. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, and we got married at City Hall (with only 2 witnesses and a photographer friend) roughly 1 year after meeting, on June 16, 2017. We continued to work and live in Brooklyn until 2021 when we moved to Texas to be closer to family. We decided to have a "big" party here in Texas (60 or so people) with those who were not there with us when we became legal spouses and found The Lambermont (and Dona and Erica!) to be a perfect fit. We were able to have our event just a few days before our 5-year anniversary on June 11, and we flew in Sharni's mom from New Zealand for her first visit to the US. Friends and family flew in from across the country, though no one beat coming from New Zealand! We bought new rings and had a ring exchange "officiated" by a close friend in English, Maori, and Spanish. We then had a dinner and reception, followed by a sparkler send-off and an outing to the Bonham Exchange. We organized most of the event ourselves and relied heavily on Dona and Erica at the venue to keep things running for us. My only regret is that we didn't hire our lovely photographer for longer; I wish we had more photos with family and friends partying (not just posing).