I tattooed my wedding date on my arm but then we had to cancel

This couple had planned a romantic wedding in Italy with the bride celebrating the date early getting it tattooed on her arm only for Covid to cancel their plans.

Jane Armitstead

@JaneArmitstead

3 min read

June 29, 2022 - 6:00AM

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Mark Thomson surprised his bride-to-be, Ginette Carter, with a romantic sand sculpture when he proposed to her on the beach while the pair were holidaying at Noosa.

Written in the sand were the words, “Marry me G”, alongside the epic castle that was surrounded by candles.

“When we got to the beach, I saw the sandcastle but didn’t think anything of it so I walked straight past it towards the water,” Ginette says.

Ginette Carter's tattoo showing off their original wedding date.

“Mark comes up to me and says ‘Honey, come and look at this beautiful sandcastle’, he takes me by the hand and that’s when I see it, the back of the sandcastle with the trophy ‘Let’s take the Plunge’ inscribed on it and ‘Marry me G’ written in the sandcastle.”

The Warner couple, who met nine years ago, married on March 26 this year at Casuarina Gardens, Noosa, followed by an Italian-themed reception at Rickys in Noosa.

The pair tied the knot in front of 33 guests before enjoying their honeymoon where
they stayed at Longboard Beach House on Sunrise Beach, just south of Noosa.

How did you meet?

Ginette was a sales manager for a radio station and Mark was a dealer principal at Salters Cars dealership. Ginette came in one day with one of her sales representatives to get Mark to advertise on air. He did and the rest, as they say, is history.

How did Mark propose?

Ginette: He proposed while we were holidaying in Noosa with our dogs with a custom-made sandcastle complete with candles and “Marry me G” inscribed in it at Noosa Main Beach. Suffice to say, I started crying my eyes out and we lived happily ever after!

The custom sandcastle Mark Thomson surprised Ginette Carter with when he proposed

Any unique or surprising details about your wedding?

Ginette: As a surprise I got a tattoo of the map of Italy on my forearm with the date 08.08.2021 in Roman numerals to commemorate the day of our wedding. It was the date we had originally planned to go to Italy, where my mum was from, to get married. Mark had never been there.

This was just as Covid was happening and little did we know it would get as bad as it got.

We never thought, “What if we don’t get married that day?”

But it will always have great personal and sentimental meaning regardless, as it was the date of my 50th birthday.

What would you do differently?

The only thing would have been to organise someone to record the ceremony and speeches.

We have some recordings taken by family and friends but the day just goes so quickly,
so to have that recorded would have been a great keepsake.

Ginette Carter and Mark Thomson. Picture: Sunshine Photography

Original wedding plans?

We were originally planning to get married on August 8, 2021 at Ricky’s Noosa. It was also my 50th birthday but we were in lockdown in the lead-up to the wedding.

We came out of lockdown on what would have been our wedding day and my 50th.

We had a lot of people coming from interstate that couldn’t attend so in hindsight it worked out for the best that we rescheduled because everyone we invited could attend.

What helped you get through the stress of changing plans?

All the businesses we were dealing with
were fantastic and as flexible as possible.

Everything happens for a reason and the day is the day whenever it is, it will be as good as you make it.