‘Albo can't steal our day': The couples saying ‘I do' on election day
The same goes for vendors and suppliers. Shaw says they should allow extra time for heavier traffic and lengthy polling booth lines. She recommends checking in with photographers, DJs, florists, and other key wedding service providers to ensure they get to the venue on time.
Shaw likens an election day wedding to one that clashes with the AFL grand final.
'Make a game of it,' she says. 'Get people to bet on who they think will win in certain electorates … Get the MC to give updates on the election ... That way, they won't need to look at their phones.'
William Miller and Maddy Wilson will marry at Yarramalong Valley, west of Wyong in NSW. They are considering hiring a television to show poll updates. Miller knows the election will be on their guests' minds – especially Wilson's family, who are mostly active Liberal Party supporters – so they're leaning into it.
'They'll be keen to watch the results, but it's also their first daughter's wedding, so I imagine they will give that more attention,' Miller says. 'Albo [Prime Minister Anthony Albanese] can't steal our day.'
Miller and Wilson will vote ahead of the wedding, despite a suggestion from Wilson's mother to attend a polling booth in her white dress. 'Time will not permit,' Miller says. 'That's very much not an option.'
NSW-based marriage celebrant and MC Gary Clementson says an election day clash could be a great way to make a wedding more memorable.
'You could do a photoshoot at the polling booths, kind of like how photographers do the 'first look' photos,' says Clementson, who is also the director of The Celebrants Society. 'You could really make an event of it.'
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He also suggests incorporating political questions into classic wedding games like the ' shoe game ', creating a wishing well that looks like a mini polling booth, and offering 'classy versions' of democracy sausages.
Neither Buck and Morgan nor Miller and Wilson feel the need to establish ground rules about behaviour. However, Miller jokes there are 'enough cold [water] hoses at the venue to splash whoever may need it'.
Buck and Morgan intend to rely on their MC to keep things running smoothly. 'We trust she'll be able to control the crowd so that we don't even have to think about it,' Buck says, adding this will allow them to focus on their nearly two-year-old daughter and Buck's father, who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Shaw says the election will be a topic of conversation on the day and recommends the dance floor is the perfect place to blow off any steam.
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