Firstly, we’d love to learn more about your love story. Where did it all begin?

Ian and I met in Melbourne where we both worked together. He is an English boy, and I am a born and bred Melburnian! I loved his accent and his cheeky British humour, so we began a secret office romance! We soon fell in love and decided to move over to the UK for an adventure together.

How did Ian propose to you? What do you remember most about this special moment?

Ian is really into photography and we would often go on walks where he could capture beautiful shots. One morning he asked to go and photograph Windsor Castle at sunrise, where there is also a gorgeous walk. Unbeknownst to me, he had actually planned the most beautiful proposal - he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and caught it all on camera! It was the most amazing surprise and captured us as a couple perfectly. It was the most romantic backdrop, it was so early we had the whole walk to ourselves, the most gorgeous misty morning!

Rebecca, what was your reaction when you saw your engagement ring for the first time?

I was completely blown away! It is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen, and it is perfectly me. I honestly could not have designed anything better myself. It was also unbelievably thoughtful - I had always said I wanted to honour my Aussie heritage as much as possible and I couldn't believe how much effort Ian had put to make that happen for me.

Ian, we’d love to know why you chose NMJ to help create the perfect engagement ring for Rebecca. How was your experience and how did you end up with the design that you did?

I knew that it was really important to Bec that our rings were Australian and Bec had mentioned Natalie Marie Jewellery to me before. Once I had a look through some bespoke pieces, I fell in love with the idea of designing the perfect piece for Bec. I wanted the ring to be unique, so I decided on a white sapphire as the centre stone, with smaller diamonds flanking each side. The whole process working with Natalie Marie Jewellery was brilliant! I had a few meetings to discuss the various options and felt so taken care of - the team is extremely experienced and knowledgeable and I left every meeting feeling so excited! I was even able to choose Bec's wedding band to fit the engagement ring perfectly. When the time came to choose my own wedding band it was an easy choice - I picked out my own NMJ band, and it matches Bec's set perfectly.

Your ceremony was incredibly breathtaking, held against the backdrop of the Italian Dolomites. Tell us more about your special day!

The location was insanely beautiful for sure! We stayed there for a few days so we were able to do some hiking around the lake and really take advantage of those views! We had decided to elope with just the two of us - this felt so right and really fitted us as a couple. We had our amazing wedding planner with us and she took care of all the details so we were able to relax and focus on each other. My wedding dress was also Australian, so it was such a lovely feeling having a little piece of home with me.

The day was so special, we had our ceremony by the shore of the lake where we exchanged the vows we wrote for each other and then danced to our favourite song. There was even a small group of hikers who watched on, and we got a round of applause as we were pronounced husband and wife!

We had a photographer follow us around the lake and capture the beautiful scenery. She was such a trooper, she even joined us for a boat ride! Ian and I then had a romantic lunch overlooking the lake, where our amazing wedding planner had organised for us to have the whole front of the restaurant to ourselves. One of the most memorable moments was being serenaded by a Sicilian tour group who sang us a traditional wedding song after lunch!

At NMJ, at the heart of everything we do is love. Tough question, but tell us, what do you know about love? 

I think love is finding that person that you can't live without, the one that completes you. You want to experience all your adventures with them and share your whole life with them. It's feeling at home no matter where in the world you are.