Beautiful double proposal for Brisbane couple

From getting ready together and arriving before their guests, this couple threw tradition away

Jane Armitstead

@JaneArmitstead

4 min read

December 13, 2022 - 4:00PM

QWeekend

Frances Garcia and Amanda Way celebrate their wedding at Lightspace. Pictures: Nicola Lemmon Photography

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After meeting through a dating app, Frances (Frankie) Gracia and Amanda Way made an instant connection and five years later tied the knot in Brisbane.

The West End couple threw away traditions and spent the morning of their wedding together going for a walk, getting coffee and opted to take photos before the ceremony and reception at Lightspace in Fortitude Valley.

It was a way to settle both their nerves before the ceremony and focus the day on what was important – each other – as they wed in front of 95 guests.

Frankie and Amanda's wedding. Pictures: Nicola Lemmon Photography

How did you meet? We had known of each other for a few years through a mutual friend and had met once at that friend’s birthday. We then reconnected on a lesbian dating app called Her in 2017. We hit it off on our first date and even went away camping for our third date. After three months, Amanda found out she was being posted to Townsville for work. We decided to commit to long distance and after a year, Frankie joined Amanda in Townsville for three years.

Describe the proposal. We both knew we had rings for each other and had many conversations about getting married. We have always loved the outdoors and travel. We were living in Townsville at the time so we went for a walk up Castle Hill. Up the top, we found a quiet spot on a rock where we had spent many afternoons together, often getting takeaway Thai and watching the sunset. Frankie had polaroid photos printed of all the incredible views we had experienced together and we went through them. She then pulled out a ring and proposed. That night Frankie had a table booked at our favourite restaurant in Townsville. After dinner we went for a beach walk and Amanda proposed back to Frankie.

First dance song? We had our DJ remix us a song which started with a cover of Crazy in Love by Daniela Andrade. Half way through we got all our family and friends on the dancefloor and the song changed to the original by Beyonce feat Jay-Z.

Frankie and Amanda's wedding. Pictures: Nicola Lemmon Photography

How and why did you choose your wedding venue? We knew we wanted something convenient for our guests to get to so being in Brisbane city, Lightspace was perfect. We loved that we could have our ceremony and reception at the same place.

What was the budget for your wedding? We originally aimed for $20,000 to $25,000. We ended up spending $33,000 as we opted to pay more for some things for convenience.

What would you spend more or less on? We would spend less on the little aesthetic touches. We would have spent more on more lighting for our ceremony. Due to it being an indoor venue, lighting at the ceremony was a bit harsh.

How did you go about choosing your wedding outfits? Frankie: I knew I wanted a two-piece set and didn’t want to spend thousands. Grace Loves Lace had exactly what I wanted. The set had no boning, no buttons and no zips, it was just soft, stretchy, gorgeous lace. It was incredibly comfortable and was handmade on the Gold Coast.
Amanda: I found Wil Valor in Brisbane. Mark (Ferguson, owner/designer) went above and beyond to make exactly what I wanted which was a fitted, feminine suit with a collarless shirt.

Frankie and Amanda's wedding at Lightspace. Pictures: Nicola Lemmon Photography

Any unique or surprising details about your wedding? We planned it with no pressure from external sources or traditions. We wanted to do things our way so we spent the morning of our wedding together. We went for a walk and got coffee. We then got ready together along with our four best friends and our parents. We got our photos taken before our ceremony and arrived at the venue before our guests. We wanted to spend as much time together on our wedding day as possible. We both had both our parents walk us down the aisle, one after another. We had Alfreshco Catering put on a taco station as we love Mexican food after travels to Mexico together. For our photo booth, we hand made nurse and police props which was a lot of fun for our guests. For our wedding favours, we had our guests choose between two charities close to our hearts and we made a donation.

What would you do differently? We wish we had organised more food for about
10-11pm for our guests before they left. We really wanted to do a dessert table. We both have some incredible home bakers in our family who were keen to bake a dish for our dessert, however due to Covid restrictions, we were unable to do this.

Frankie and Amanda's wedding. Pictures: Nicola Lemmon Photography

Is there a wedding hack you can share which saved you time and money? Don’t stress on the smaller aesthetic things, they are often overlooked by guests and don’t make a huge impact on the day. Look for a venue that provides a
co-ordinator for planning.

Best advice for other couples planning a wedding? Best advice we had was to pull each other aside during the reception to take a quiet moment just the two of us and take in our surroundings and our guests.

The Bride

Amanda Way, 30

Profession Police officer

Parents Chris and Colleen Way

Bridal party We did not have a bridal party. Instead we had two best friends each meet us at the apartment and get ready with us.

Suit Custom made by Wil Valor

Hair Hair by Riley at The Summer Stylist (for both of us)

Make-up Makeup by Prue Conway (for both of us)

Flowers Kate Dawes

Engagement ring By Charlotte

Wedding band Natalie Marie Jewellery

The Bride