An Orange-based wedding celebrant has stepped across the alter to celebrate her own magical day.
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Kate Noller wed James Allen at the Orange Botanic Gardens in front of family and friends on May 27 this year.
The couple has officially been together for two and a half years after being introduced to each other by a friend.
"From the day that we started talking we instantly felt a connection and it just went from there. It's just been a blessing, he's such a wonderful man and very patient," Mrs Allen said.
In that time she has officiated more than 70 weddings in Orange and across the Central West before saying "I do" in the weeping elm section of the gardens.
"I became a celebrant in October 2019 and then COVID hit and that put a dampener on my first two years of being a celebrant but then last year was a very busy year given a lot of postponements from the two years prior and a lot of couples getting more confident with planning their weddings," she said.
"The same sex marriage rights was a very strong push for me, I wanted to show my support for the community and enable them to celebrate their love because I know unfortunately they are still struggling, not so much in the Central West, but I still hear a lot of stories about the LGBTIQ+ community having difficulty with a lot of vendors who may not be supportive.
"I believe love is love, who you love is your decision, and I wanted to support and help them marry how they wanted to, and also I have pre-COVID event management experience so I thought that was also a good side-swing."
Most of the couples she's worked for have been heterosexual but there have been some same-sex marriages and plenty of new friendships formed through her work as a celebrant.
"I had about five couples I have officiated the marriages for that were also at our wedding," she said.
"We had 85 invited guests but we did have a few [extra] friends or family, just due to the limited number we could have at the venue, still come to watch the ceremony."
Mrs Allen said the decision to change her name was an easy one, her brother's wife is also named Kate Noller, so in preparation for her name change she changed the name of her business.
"I ended up changing my business name so instead of being Kate Noller Celebrant, end of last year I changed it to Celebrations by Kate to help hopefully alleviate any confusion with the name change now that I'm married," she said.
Following the ceremony the wedding party had photos taken at the newly-opened Byrne Farm on Cargo Road and the reception was held at The Remington near the Bloomfield Hospital.
Bespoke Country Weddings did the flowers and chair hire for the ceremony and decorations at The Remington.
Mrs Allen said hers was not directly inspired by any she worked at as a celebrant.
"The whole theme was black, gold and bright florals, I've always been a fan of black and I thought that helped the colours pop and the gold gave it that more glamorous style," she said.
"I wouldn't say any specific wedding has inspired it, obviously I do get to see a lot of weddings but I don't get to stay for the receptions usually so I don't get to see what they have done. Obviously Instagram and Pinterest are very strong for just general inspiration as well."
As of the start of this month, Mrs Allen has been the celebrant at 77 weddings while also holding down a day job working in insurance.
"In the busy wedding season I'll work my day job and then I'll come home and I'll be writing ceremonies or responding to emails or having meetings in the evenings and sometimes on the weekend as well," she said.
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"There can be times when I'm working over 12-hour days when I'm working six or seven days a week but I think having a passion for celebrant work helps make that easier.
When it came to standing on the other side of the alter she said it was difficult to hand over control but her team was "absolutely phenomenal" and she trusted them 100 per cent.
Her celebrant was Kirralee Burke from Bathurst, and another celebrant friend, Tess from Say Yes With Tess, was the wedding co-ordinator.
Other people who helped the day come together included photographer Angus McKern, Dave from the Studio Door was the videographer, Kathryn from Kathryn's Cake Creations made the cake, music was by Chris from Orange DJs, Leanne from LMH Couture in Bathurst was the dress maker and Haley Jean was the makeup artist.
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