Steffanie & Tony, 16th July 2011

Steff and Tony were only young teenagers when they started their sweet romance - she was the girl next doors best friend, and he was the boy next door with the really nice family swimming pool! Today we shine a light on their nine years of marriage.

How did you meet? 

Steff

Tony moved into the house next door to my best friend when we were 12 years old.  It wasn’t until I was 16 and Tony was 17 that we realised we both had a crush on each other. We have been together (aside from a few little detours) ever since!

Tony

Steff was the girl next door, sort of. Technically she was the friend of the girl next door. My family had a really nice pool and this was enough of an excuse for Steff to come over and make the first moves.

Any funny first date stories?

Steff

It’s not really a first date story, but about a month after we started dating, Tony invited me to his sister's wedding. I hadn’t met Tony’s parents or siblings at this point, so to meet them for the first time at a family wedding was pretty intense. Not only did I meet the immediate family but I also met the whole extended family! I must have made a good impression as I made it into his sister's wedding album.

Tony

It was only meant to be a summer fling but has obviously lasted a few more summers. It makes me laugh when I look back.

What's one thing you wish you knew before you started planning?

Steff

I’m an event designer so I was fortunate to know a lot about the process before we started.  All we wanted from the day was a great celebration with all the people we love in the same room and we definitely got that!

What made you choose Stones of the Yarra Valley?

Steff

We grew up in the outer Eastern suburbs and spent lots on weekends exploring the Yarra Valley.  It just felt like the right fit for us as a couple.  We loved the ambience of the property and the Stones team were so lovely to work with.

Tony

We visited other locations but to be honest, we knew that Stones was the place the moment we saw it.

What did you think would be your favourite part of the day? What did it end up being?

Steff

I don’t think I went in with any preconceived thoughts of what would be my favourite part of the day but I do remember being anxious about time flying by like it did at our engagement party.  I think because I was conscious of that I made a huge effort to slow down and enjoy every moment of the day. I can still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday.

Tony

I thought my favourite part of the day was going to be after the wedding but I was too tired.  I think spending time with our closest family and friends before the ceremony was my favourite part. It was relaxing and fun before all the formalities of the wedding.

Did you scrap any wedding traditions? If so, why?

Steff

We definitely did. To us the day was all about making sure we spent as much time with our family and fiends as possible.  So that we didn’t miss out on post ceremony drinks we arranged to have all our photo’s taken prior to our ceremony.  I don’t particularly enjoy having my photo taken and we both weren’t fussed about the tradition of not seeing each other until the alter.  It worked so well for us and meant we were relaxed going into the evening.

Tony

I didn’t actually ask Steff’s Dad for permission to marry her.  It wasn’t intentional, I just forgot because I was so preoccupied with proposing.

What was your first dance song and why?

Steff

Our first dance was to 'Time of my life’ from Dirty Dancing. The first movie we ever watched together was Dirty Dancing, which at the time I thought was incredibly enlightening of Tony to want to watch while hanging out with his best friend and myself. In hindsight, now that I know his taste in film, I’m pretty sure he was just hoping for a Netflix and chill moment!

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We went to Italy and it was amazing! It was our first trip to Italy and we both fell in love with it.  Santa Margherita is still one of our most favourite places on earth.

What does marriage mean to you?

Marriage means everything to us. I think going into it, we didn’t think it would change anything but it did. We see it as a binding contract that reminds us we are a team. It makes us try harder and reminds us to always show up for one another. I can honestly say we both work at it everyday and are both good at making sure we pull each other up if we are getting a little complacent.

Tell us a little about what life is like now... where do you live, what do you do for work, been on any awesome holidays as a married couple, do you have any children (human or fur babies) etc? 

We are almost a decade in and a lot has happened! We sold our first house, then bought and renovated our second home. We have both had the opportunity to focus on our careers and follow our dream jobs. We’ve both travelled all over the world for work and fun. We now have two children, Oscar (almost 5) and Hugh (6 months old) and our fur baby Senna is almost 11.  We were one of the first of our friends to get married and have since been to many weddings and every time we go to one we feel so excited for the couple as we know how special the day is for them and the awesome things that are to come!