BIG DAY - SHARNI & ROBYN

THE BIG DAY // SHARNI & ROBYN

SO TELL US HOW YOU MET, WERE YOU SINGLE FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU STARTED DATING ?

SHARNI We actually met through my cousin Jordan, he moved over to N.I. and me & my other cousin Jodie arranged a week over to Belfast to visit him. When we came over we went on a night out in the city centre and ended up in the gay bar Kremlin, we met with Jordan and a few of his friends from Belfast one being Robyn. As soon as we were introduced that night in Kremlin we clicked straight away, we couldn’t keep away from each other - we spent the night getting to know each other and spent the rest of the week I visited together, we became inseparable. I’ve never actually believed the saying ‘love at first sight’ until I met Robyn. I’ve always really been in relationships but before I met Robyn I was single for around a year so for myself it actually ended up being perfect timing also. I’ve literally not looked back since the day we met & i’m forever grateful how our lives have no panned out I wouldn’t change it for

the world.

ROBYN I was out at a concert at the SSE before meeting up with friends at the Kremlin in Belfast. I was introduced to Sharni and her cousin Jodie who she was with through her cousin Jordan who was a mutual friend of mine and Sharni and I instantly connected, we spent the evening getting to know each other. The next few days we spent going for dinner, out for drinks and ice-skating also. I knew from then she was special as I found it hard to leave her. Before meeting Sharni i was single for around 10 months.

HOW LONG AFTER YOU STARTED DATING DID IT TAKE TO POP THE QUESTION, WAS IT AN IMMEDIATE YES?

SHARNI We’ve been together since February 2014, we always spoke about our future and we always wanted to get married down the line. I arranged a trip away for us both & book us tickets to go and see Ariana Grande in Paris, I mean what could be better than

visiting one of the most romantic cities in the world together. Whilst we were there Robyn had a lock engraved for us with the date we met for when we visited the Love Locks Bridge. Whilst we were there she asked me to put the lock on the bridge and to my surprise as I turned back around to Robyn she was down on one knee in front of everyone proposing to me which definitely took me by surprise as I was the one who arranged the trip so I had no idea - but there was no hesitation at all straight away I said yes! One of the happiest days of my life for sure.

ROBYN After being together for around 8 months long distance I moved to England to be Sharni as travelling each weekend was not enough for the both of us, Sharni had bought me tickets for Ariana Grande in Paris, I always knew I wanted to marry her and we’ve spoken about it previously so I knew this would be the perfect location so i got planning, I got a lock engraved with our names and anniversary on it and got Sharni to put it on locks bridge as she

turned around I was down on one knee proposing to her. It was definitely an instant yes followed by a few happy tears. The following christmas eve (my birthday) I came down stairs to “will you marry me” in rose petals and an engagement ring, again it was an instant yes from me.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BIG DAY, LOCATION, AMOUNT OF GUESTS ETC

SHARNI Our big day was absolutely incredible, so good in fact I wish we could do it all over again already because it went way to fast for my liking. We had our wedding at The Loughshore Hotel in Carrickfergus. Our location was absolutely beautiful, we had looked at a lot of venues online but The Loughshore Hotel was the first we actually went to visit and as soon as we did we fell in love with the venue, the hotel is beautiful and exactly what we both pictured as we were looking around the venue we just fell in love with it even more so much so we had to put our deposit down straight away to secure our place as we didn’t want to even consider anywhere else. Plus the absolute bonus of the venue being right on the coast it was even perfect for our photographer and the wedding photos we dreamed of having on the beach even being a February wedding. We really wanted an intimate ceremony so we only invited 50 people to that part which ended up being the most perfect setting for ourselves, having made history and being on the news around the world having our most nearest and dearest witness us getting married was the best feeling in the world. We then had a further

ROBYN Our wedding day has definitely been the best day of my life, we had the whole day in the Loughshore Hotel including our hair and make up which was done in the salon at the Loughshore Hotel also. We had a small intimate wedding with close friends and family which was around 50 guests which was perfect for us. After the ceromoney we had a 15 minute media conference with so many different news and radio crews which was surreal but we wanted to keep it all seperate from our actual wedding, staff at The Loughshore Hotel were incredible making it easy as possible for us, ensuring our day was not crowded by media. We had a drag queen Miss Onya Beck do a performance for the guests, dance off and a lot of laughs it was amazing. In the evening we had more guests arrive for our DJ and everyone including ourselves had the best day.

WHAT ABOUT THE FOOD AND DRINK?

SHARNI The food and drink at The Loughshore Hotel was absolutely incredible, compliments from not only ourselves but from all the guests too. During the day we got to sit down to the most beautiful 4 course meal, which also featured a sparkling wine toast - we literally felt like royalty. A major positive for us also is that we were giving a choice of menu items to choose from, but not only this the hotel actually catered well for the children and for vegetarians that were part of our party also. We had no problems at all, and for that we couldn’t be more grateful towards the staff of The Loughshore Hotel. Without them our day wouldn’t have been as perfect as it truly was.

ROBYN The food was amazing, everyone enjoyed it including the 2 children who they also catered for at the Hotel, we had our cake made by heavenly treats and it was out of this world, everyone was complementing it throughout the day and still now talk about it, we also had a treat table from Heavenly treats which included macaroons, cupcakes, cake pops and rainbow pizza cake everything was perfect we cannot thank Alex enough she did an amazing job.

DID YOU HAVE A HONEYMOON OR ARE YOU PLANNING ONE

SHARNI Yes! We’ve actually just arrived back from our honeymoon today. We went to Cyprus for 2 weeks, we literally left our wedding venue the early hours of the morning after our wedding and headed straight to the airport. It was perfect for us especially with how big & overwhelming our day truly was. Cyprus was beautiful & being a winter season there was hardly anyone there but yet was still relatively warm so I really can’t complain. It was nice to get away just the two of us and to let everything truly sink in. ROBYN We have just got back from our honeymoon 2 weeks in Cyprus which was a wedding present from my mum. It was beautiful and so relaxing, everything you want after your wedding day. We left for the airport at 4am the morning after our wedding so it was amazing to just be able to relax after the stress of planning our big day. Cyprus at winter is amazing if you just want to relax as its so quiet and just really locals who are lovely and so welcoming.

ARE YOU INTO THE SAME THINGS? WHAT INTERESTS DO YOU HAVE THAT ARE DIFFERENT ?

SHARNI In our day to day lives we are pretty much into the same things, people sometimes say we’re like the same person! We enjoy the same programmes, the same movies, we both cook, we both clean so we pretty much have it quite easy that way for sure. The only difference we really have is that i’m really into my sport, especially football where as Robyn not so much she’s more

into her music side which I love about her. Having the same interests really helps us out and we enjoy every single day we’re able to spend together.

ROBYN Yes we are pretty much into the same things which is good for us, we have different friendships circles but we both socialise with each others friends together also, we are lucky that way to have amazing friends. Sharni’s very much into her football, any sport really where as i Love music and art so when there’s a game on i can get into some art work and loose a few hours and shes happy watching the match.

DO YOU DO EVERYTHING TOGETHER OR DO YOU LIKE TO KEEP INDEPENDENT?

SHARNI We definitely like to do the majority of things together, especially having similar interests but as we both work full time and sometimes our schedules are opposite we also like our independence and don’t mind being independent. Our career paths are completely opposites so we have that difference too, but no matter what we always support each other through everything and that’s another reason I love Robyn.

ROBYN Yes we pretty much do everything together we are alike in so many ways which is nice as we enjoy the same things but we also do things separately if either of us is working or has different plans, we get the best of both worlds.

HAVE YOU A FAMILY OR IS THIS SOMETHING IN THE PLANS FOR YOU?

SHARNI We don’t have a family ourselves as of yet but we’ve always spoken about families and having a family together which we both cannot wait for! Our future ahead looks very bright and now we are finally married we can get that ball rolling. Our next step in our lives in to buy a house ready to start our family & to both pass our driving tests before the end of this year to be fully prepared. We are open to trying every option to start a family, we literally cannot wait, we’ve had our plan for years and finally the pieces are all coming together.

ROBYN We don’t have a family yet, but we have always spoken about having children of our own. We cant wait to start a family and

become parents its one of the things we have both always wanted to do so we are so excited for the years ahead, getting our own house and having children will be our next goals.

NOW THE DUST HAS SETTLED, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED WITH YOUR RELATIONSHIP?

SHARNI Now the dust has settled I can actually say that nothing has changed in our relationship at all, everyday we go through the more love I have for Robyn and for me personally I know that feeling will never change, we are very happily married and we can’t wait to see what the future truly brings our way.

ROBYN No nothings changed, if anything I love Sharni more each day, I can’t wait for our future together it will definitely be a bright one for the both of us. We haven’t changed anything in our relationship from our wedding as to us it was perfect as it was, we both push each other to do what we want to and believe that we can achieve it, its nice to have that support from my wife.

YOU WERE THE FIRST SAME SEX COUPLE IN NORTHERN IRELAND TO TIE THE KNOT, WAS THIS PLANNED OR WAS IT A HAPPY ACCIDENT?

SHARNI I still find it so surreal we were the first same sex marriage in N.I. it’s the best feeling in the world, we feel so humbled and grateful to having been able to accomplish this because we fell in love. This was not planned at all and was a complete coincidence, I’m quite an inpatient person and because we had been engaged since May 2015 I wanted to go ahead with a civil ceremony as I couldn’t see the bill being passed any time soon in N.I. we’d already waited 4 years by this time. We actually booked our venue in January 2019 and had all our paperwork for a civil ceremony filled out already but as fate happened the bill for same sex marriage finally got passed in September 2019 just 4 months before our big day! As soon as we found out we went straight down to our registrars office to change our paperwork and found out we could potentially be the first to be legally married. We really couldn’t have asked for anything more all we’ve ever wanted is to be equal and finally our dreams were coming true.

ROBYN As sharni said its still surreal being the first same sex marriage in Northern Ireland, I personally didnt think it would happen anytime soon never mind to us. We got engaged in May 2015 and wanted to get married whether it be a civil partnership we just wanted to move forward with our relationship so we went to the registrar and got the papers for the civil partnership and had them filled in and ready to go however in September 2019 the bill was passed and the law changed so we immediately got the papers changed, we were told we could potentially be the first but never actually thought it would happen to us. We picked the date a year before the buill was changed and the reason for that date was that it was our 6th year anniversary so it will always be a special day for us being able to celebrate our anniversary and make history all in one day!