‘I accidentally pierced his finger’: Bride reveals proposal disaster
When Al Nicholas got down on one knee to propose to Jenaya McDermott he didn’t quite expect this reaction.
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Eloping to Vegas involved too much travel so this couple chose a “Bris-Vegas” theme and a small wedding at new Brisbane venue, Wham Bam Thank You Sam.
Jenaya McDermott and Al Nicholas, who live in Mudgee, NSW with son Dallin, have been together five years and decided to elope north for an intimate ceremony with 12 guests at the Windsor venue on October 15 last year, with a party for friends five weeks later.
“We mostly loved the idea of a ‘Vegas’ wedding and didn’t want to have to travel super far with our little boy,” says Jenaya, adding that they often travel the 850km north to watch the Brisbane Broncos, Al’s favourite team, and plan to live in Brisbane one day.
“So we decided to do ‘BrisVegas’ instead, plus made a little holiday of it at the same time visiting Australia Zoo and the Thunderbird Adventure Park at Mt Tamborine for ‘Dig IT’.”
They followed the ceremony with dinner at Massimo in the CBD and honeymooned in Fiji.
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How did you meet? Al and I had known each other for a while as we live in a small town. However, our friends Laura and Grant were on a mission to set up their best friends. I was a little stand-offish at first and definitely made Al work for it. However, we quickly became inseparable. Shortly before our six-month mark, we purchased our first property together.
The proposal?We got engaged at the Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas light display, in front of the gingerbread house. In the moment, while Al was down on his knee, I accidentally pierced his finger with my nail. It was the most romantic/unromantic moment of my life.
Why did you choose your venue?We chose Wham Bam for our ceremony as we wanted to do something that felt like “us”. We are the type of people that don’t take ourselves too seriously and loved the idea of Vegas, but didn’t want to travel all the way there. Plus, in the end, we couldn’t have picked a better venue, Kady and Sam organised everything down to the flowers. We just had to show up on time.
What was the budget for your wedding?
$15,000 but ended up coming in at $12,000.
What would you spend more or less on?
Wouldn’t have changed a thing.
How did you go about choosing your dress? My dress was a shorter “fun” version of a dress I had in mind if we were to have had a big wedding. It was a midi but I had it altered to a mini.
What was the most stressful part? Organising a “big” wedding, which we realised wasn’t our thing. That’s when we decided to elope.
Any unique details about your wedding?We kept our wedding a secret from everyone other than immediate family. We surprised our friends five weeks later at our “engagement party”.
What was the standout moment of the day?
Hiring the 1959 Cadillac “Minty”.
What was a wedding non-negotiable for you?
Having our parents and little boy, Dallin there.
What would you do differently? Go with the elopement straight away rather than think the big day is what we had to do.
The Bride
Jenaya McDermott, 26
Profession Accounts administration
Parents Kirsty & Shane McDermott
Dress Aje
Hair @hair.bykadie_
Make-up Juliana Cruz Makeup
Flowers By the venue, Wham Bam
Engagement ring Parade Jewellers
Rehearsal dinner
We hired a container at Eat Street and it was perfect as everyone could go and get what they pleased to eat and come back to the container and all sit together while enjoying some great live music.
The Groom
Al Nichols, 31
Profession Operator at the mines
Parents Tina Dawson & Glenn Nichols (dec.)
Children Dallin Nichols
Suit Pants and shirt from Connor and jacket from Politix, shoes from RM Williams
Transport Mint Green Cadillac “Minty’
Videographer Marina Emerald
Celebrant Sam Capewell
Cake Vanilla sponge cake with strawberry jam and cream (we used it as a smash cake)
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