Michelle & Stephen

The Tasmania Issue is fast becoming a month of bucket list items, and today we’re making sure that the amazing Bay Of Fires is on your list after this stunning shoot (with such a romantic proposal to boot!) The contrast of rusty toned landscape and moody skies with the stellar captures by Meghann Maguire Photography, make this one a story we’re dying to share!

It was a beautiful new chapter for a couple who almost didn’t even meet. Michelle shares their story. “We met at a church Thanksgiving dinner event in Jakarta, Indonesia. At first, I did not want to go to the event because two of my exes were there (not only one but two; how crazy was that?) But I ended up still going because my friend begged me to go to help her do the fundraising for the church. So I went, and at the end of the dinner, just before I left, I met Stephen. After that day I never saw him around again, until one day I met him in the airport late at night while we were waiting to go through customs. He was going to Japan and I was going to China. We talked and promised one another to see each other again in Jakarta after our business trips. So we fulfilled the promised after we returned – we met for dinner and that was it!”

It was all a little magic, this trip to Tasmania, and Michelle had a hunch something more was brewing. “I had suspicions that he was going to propose because one day out of the blue, a week before we went to Tasmania, he asked my finger size, which I thought was really weird and a very specific question. The suspicions became stronger because when we were in Tasmania, he was so annoyed if I touched his hand carry bag, which I thought very strange.”

“Before we left to Tasmania, I asked Stephen whether he wanted to do a casual photo shoot in Tasmania because I know that Tasmania is really beautiful,” tells the bride to be. “The purpose of the photos was just to have memories of both of us in beautiful Tasmania and apparently, he took that chance to propose. At first, I thought he was going to propose to me when we went to Cradle Mountain but he did not (I asked him why a week after our engagement and he said because there were too many tourists). So he proposed to me the day after, which was in the Bay Of Fires. There was no one there, only us and the photographer (lucky!)”

It’s what a simple caring act that makes Michelle fall in love with Stephen every day. She explains, “We actually have a lot of things in common, we even have the same favourite ice cream flavour (cookies and cream). The thing that made me fall in love with him is every time we eat, he always cuts a piece of the food that we share or he puts it on my plate (it’s a really specific thing but it made me fall in love with him because I feel loved and taking care of). I love that we can talk about everything and be honest with each other. I love that he really takes care of me and him not being angry at difficult times.”