Clare & Flo

There is something about the beach at sunset, as the golden light makes the water glitter, the sand shine, and auras of golden fade in and out that are just a little more than magic. Clare and Flo took to the beautiful Nielsen Park with photographer Akaness Shaks Photo to capture the beginning of the next stage of their lives together. “We wanted something casual, chilled and not over the top. Considering Flo is from Austria and we were hoping to show his family (who’s never been to Australia before) the photos, we decided we wanted it to be near the ocean” tells the bride to be. And so it was decided, the stunning backdrop of the sea setting the scene for the story to unfold.

It was international love for these two, who were both far from home when they met. Clare tells “We meet during an exchange semester abroad in Flagstaff Arizona in 2014. I’m Australian and Flo is from Austria. We were at northern Arizona university and met on the first day of exchange in the library. After the exchange, we did long distance for a year traveling back and forth between Australia and Austria before Flo made the move to Australia at the beginning of 2016.”

Clare remembers “When I first met Flo he was quite shy and quiet. We went out that night and I thought he was super cute but didn’t know if he would have the guts to try anything so I decided to challenge him to a drinking, competition to try and loosen him up. Later that night, and plenty of drinks in I accidentally said “scull your drink or kiss me” and luckily for me Flo wasn’t too thirsty.”

“As a couple, I love our sense of adventure and our willingness to give anything a go. We’re always on the lookout for next experiences, new places to go and new things to try. We could happily spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together and never tire of each other’s company” tells the bride to be.

On what she loves about Flo, Clare remarks “He is the most caring, loving and gentle person I have ever met. He makes me happy every single day and I feel so fortunate that for whatever reason, we were both sent to Flagstaff for exchange.”

Clare was completely surprised when Flo proposed on the day of his graduation. “Flo has recently completed his master of sports management in Sydney and it was the day of his graduation. I planned a celebratory lunch at Catalina in Sydney for before the ceremony. We got there super early and Flo told me that to say thank you for all my help while he’d been studying he’d booked us for a seaplane ride over Sydney. After the ride, we had lunch at Catalina and once that was over I thought we were being picked up by my parents to go to the ceremony. As we left the restaurant and were walking towards the car park a boat pulled up to the wharf next to us and jokingly I asked if it was for us… turns out it was. The boat took us across the water to Milk Beach where Flo proposed. My parents who were hiding in the bushes jumped out afterwards with flowers and champagne. Amongst all of it I had to ask Flo if he was even graduating that day – he was and we had to rush to the ceremony.”