Making the most of the last of the summer weather in March, Chris and Wendy enjoyed a beautiful, carefree engagement shoot at Hat Head National Park with Nic from Fox & Kin Photography. The surprise shoot was a wedding gift from Wendy’s daughter since they wouldn’t have a photographer for the family wedding.

Wendy and Chris met in late 2021 when Chris turned up at Wendy’s ukulele performance group’s rehearsals with her friend looking to join the group. “I was keen to meet them both as I presumed they were a gay couple and potential new friends. But during the break, Chris was the centre of attention with the rest of the group, and we barely had the chance to speak on that first day,” Wendy explained. “For the next three months, we performed and busked together as part of the ukulele group until Chris eventually asked me out for coffee – my reply was that I would love to, but I had lots of things on, so I couldn’t manage it until the day after New Year day! Our first official date was on the 2nd of January, 2022. Chris likes to tell the story of how patient she was, waiting for me not to be too busy!”

Nic from Fox & Kin helped Wendy’s daughter Kim surprise the carefree couple with an engagement shoot. Wendy and Chris instantly loved her personable personality and charming aura. “She met us at the assigned location without even having spoken to us beforehand, so she had very little to guide her other than what she’d been told by my daughter. Nic immediately put us at ease; she was so friendly and chatty – and without being intrusive in any way, she asked us questions about how we met, etc and seemed genuinely interested in our story. I don’t think I even noticed the camera in her hand most of the time. She stayed behind us and allowed us to talk about each other and encouraged our storytelling and certainly laughed along with us.”

Before they’d met, both Wendy and Chris had been very happily living alone and enjoyed their independence after experiencing the end of a long-term relationship. Both women were wary of entering into another serious relationship at this stage of their lives. Chris took the first big step six months into their relationship and asked Wendy to join her on a six-week “Rolling Solo” caravan trip to Central Australia. “My immediate response was – “no way!” I would never cope living in a “tin can” with someone I barely knew for six weeks! I tend to run when feeling closed in,” Wendy explained. “So Chris then proposed that she would memorise every airport on the way to Alice Springs so that if I needed to go home, she would take me to the closest one so I could fly home. The end result was that we had the best six weeks holiday either of us had ever experienced before!”

Chris knows that Wendy loves her by the way she looks at her, challenges her, and listens to her. “She says she sees me as very compassionate and loves the way I seem to connect with others without judgment. Also, I make her laugh—a lot!”

Wendy loves Chris’ thoughtful, respectful and caring nature. She describes her as tender, affectionate and sensitive – a true humanitarian at heart. “I love her passion to right wrongdoings even though she may be ostracised for it – she has a love of animals that is very obviously present when you see her with any animal whether a dog, horse or tiny injured bird. She has an amazing mind – a quick thinker, a great conversationalist and scarily knowledgeable on most topics (great for a trivia team, too!).” Wendy describes.

They both agree that while they have very different personality traits, they perfectly complement each other. “She’s a timekeeper, and I’m always running late. She’s a thinker, and I’m a talker. She’s a planner, and I’m a spur-of-the-moment kind,” she explains. “We love to cook for each other and nearly always eat together without interruptions of TV or phone. It’s one of our favourite times together (I think it’s our mutual love of food!).”

Chris and Wendy actually got married three weeks after this photoshoot, so join us in congratulating the happy couple on their nuptials! And thanks to Nic from Fox & Kin Photography for capturing and submitting this carefree couple.