Please check back here for photos after the wedding. In the meantime, if you haven't seen photos from our engagement, please see below, along with photos of us from our 13 years together.
the engagement
After being together for nine-and-a-half years, Chloe decided to fly solo and complete her degree on a six month exchange program in Sweden. Ben, having already done his stint overseas, to the Caribbean and beyond, back in 2008, was left to man the Chevron Island fort.
Six months was the longest they'd ever been apart, as half way through Ben's eight-month trip overseas, Chloe surprised him on a tiny Caribbean island for their three year anniversary and Ben's 19th birthday. While the cat was away, the mouse would smoke all the cigars he could, and sing his lungs out at many late night karaoke sessions - one of Chloe's most resented pass-times. Meanwhile, Chloe was living in shared accommodation and getting very well acquainted with Romanian merlot and Swedish beer, and loving the lack of responsibility that comes with exchange student life.
Six months was the longest they'd ever been apart, as half way through Ben's eight-month trip overseas, Chloe surprised him on a tiny Caribbean island for their three year anniversary and Ben's 19th birthday. While the cat was away, the mouse would smoke all the cigars he could, and sing his lungs out at many late night karaoke sessions - one of Chloe's most resented pass-times. Meanwhile, Chloe was living in shared accommodation and getting very well acquainted with Romanian merlot and Swedish beer, and loving the lack of responsibility that comes with exchange student life.
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On January 22nd, 2015, Ben had arranged to meet Chloe in Copenhagen airport. After moving out of her apartment in Sweden, and a quick little catchup with her friend, Jenna, in Berlin and Budapest - who knew of Ben's intentions and tried to subtly investigate whether or not Chloe would say yes - coincidentally, both Ben's flight from Brisbane and Chloe's flight from Budapest happened to land at CPH within 30 minutes of each other, and from there, their Scandi adventures would begin. Their rendezvous began with two nights in the Danish capital, before hiring a car and driving across the Øresund bridge into Sweden, up to Gothenburg, then to Strömstad to get the ferry over to Sandefjord, Norway. A few nights in Stavanger and the drive to Oslo then took them to Iceland, which was the final and most anticipated destination on their trip.
Of course Ben had to hire a vehicle and to him, the Range Rover Vogue was the most appropriate (and Boss) vehicle to navigate the Icelandic winter. But they were soon to discover that only the supercharged Arctic trucks were capable enough to challenge the harsh conditions of the Arctic winter (and save their asses). But nevertheless, Ben's intentions were to drive the entire way around Iceland in 5 days, and Chloe, probably still drunk from 427 bottles of red wine in Sweden, happily obliged.
It wasn't until they reached Akureyri, the most northern town in Iceland, where shit got real. Ben had been talking about finding a waterfall for the whole trip and on the day they went to find their first Icelandic waterfall, it became increasingly hard to find. In a land of no trees and snow covered fields that spanned as far as the eye could see, you'd think a waterfall would be easy to find. Much to their delight, the waterfall Godafoss runs from a stream, at ground height, 12m off the cliffs into the river below. Spanning 30m wide, it is easily visible from the carpark and during the winter, the temperature was around -16°c. This meaning, Chloe was not keen on getting out of the car.
After some back and forth, Ben convinced Chloe to leave the comfort of the heated seats and take some photos. Ben was busy setting up his DSLR on the tripod, ready to capture the moment, while Chloe blissfully took some happy snaps of the scenery. After Ben had taken some stunning shots of the view and set up the perfect frame, he rushed back to the car to get the ring. Chloe, completely unaware, thought it would be a great time to remove Ben's camera and mount her camera on the tripod, to see what kind of shot she could get. Meanwhile, Ben seeing this happening from the car, and quietly freaking out, politely asked, "honey, what are you doing!?", with Chloe responding that she simply wanted to have a go. Without ruining the moment, Ben kept his cool and suggested they take some auto-timed jumping photos to remember the moment.
After the first round of jumping photos, Ben rushed back to the camera to double-check everything was in order but became a little frustrated that Chloe wasn't putting in her best efforts and he sternly suggested she try harder, and jump higher. This resulting in Chloe replying that the edge of the waterfall was very near and she couldn't tell what was under the snow and blah blah blah, but agreed to do another round of photos.
Concentrating on the camera timer, to get the right shot, Chloe was extremely focussed and after about three shots, out of the corner of her eye, realised that Ben wasn't jumping. She even hit him in the face at one point. Ben was counting the number of photos left on the timer and tried to get Chloe's attention but she thought he was saying she still wasn't trying hard enough. After two more shots, Chloe finally looked down and realised Ben had been on his knee in the snow, for the whole second round of photos, waiting for her to notice he was trying to propose. After she finally shut her mouth from the sheer surprise of it all, he asked her if she would marry him, and she said, "yes, of course."
Completely overwhelmed with emotions, and still slightly bewildered they continued their day-trip, then retuned back to their cabin overlooking Akureyri, where Ben cooked dinner and they celebrated with champagne.
They continued to explore down the east and south-east coast to Vik, and finally flew back to Copenhagen together, where Ben flew back home and Chloe continued to Istanbul for another two weeks.
Just over three years later, we are finally celebrating all together with the wedding held on their 13 and a half year anniversary.
Of course Ben had to hire a vehicle and to him, the Range Rover Vogue was the most appropriate (and Boss) vehicle to navigate the Icelandic winter. But they were soon to discover that only the supercharged Arctic trucks were capable enough to challenge the harsh conditions of the Arctic winter (and save their asses). But nevertheless, Ben's intentions were to drive the entire way around Iceland in 5 days, and Chloe, probably still drunk from 427 bottles of red wine in Sweden, happily obliged.
It wasn't until they reached Akureyri, the most northern town in Iceland, where shit got real. Ben had been talking about finding a waterfall for the whole trip and on the day they went to find their first Icelandic waterfall, it became increasingly hard to find. In a land of no trees and snow covered fields that spanned as far as the eye could see, you'd think a waterfall would be easy to find. Much to their delight, the waterfall Godafoss runs from a stream, at ground height, 12m off the cliffs into the river below. Spanning 30m wide, it is easily visible from the carpark and during the winter, the temperature was around -16°c. This meaning, Chloe was not keen on getting out of the car.
After some back and forth, Ben convinced Chloe to leave the comfort of the heated seats and take some photos. Ben was busy setting up his DSLR on the tripod, ready to capture the moment, while Chloe blissfully took some happy snaps of the scenery. After Ben had taken some stunning shots of the view and set up the perfect frame, he rushed back to the car to get the ring. Chloe, completely unaware, thought it would be a great time to remove Ben's camera and mount her camera on the tripod, to see what kind of shot she could get. Meanwhile, Ben seeing this happening from the car, and quietly freaking out, politely asked, "honey, what are you doing!?", with Chloe responding that she simply wanted to have a go. Without ruining the moment, Ben kept his cool and suggested they take some auto-timed jumping photos to remember the moment.
After the first round of jumping photos, Ben rushed back to the camera to double-check everything was in order but became a little frustrated that Chloe wasn't putting in her best efforts and he sternly suggested she try harder, and jump higher. This resulting in Chloe replying that the edge of the waterfall was very near and she couldn't tell what was under the snow and blah blah blah, but agreed to do another round of photos.
Concentrating on the camera timer, to get the right shot, Chloe was extremely focussed and after about three shots, out of the corner of her eye, realised that Ben wasn't jumping. She even hit him in the face at one point. Ben was counting the number of photos left on the timer and tried to get Chloe's attention but she thought he was saying she still wasn't trying hard enough. After two more shots, Chloe finally looked down and realised Ben had been on his knee in the snow, for the whole second round of photos, waiting for her to notice he was trying to propose. After she finally shut her mouth from the sheer surprise of it all, he asked her if she would marry him, and she said, "yes, of course."
Completely overwhelmed with emotions, and still slightly bewildered they continued their day-trip, then retuned back to their cabin overlooking Akureyri, where Ben cooked dinner and they celebrated with champagne.
They continued to explore down the east and south-east coast to Vik, and finally flew back to Copenhagen together, where Ben flew back home and Chloe continued to Istanbul for another two weeks.
Just over three years later, we are finally celebrating all together with the wedding held on their 13 and a half year anniversary.
Thirteen years and countless adventures along the way...
