The sweetest photo of a happy groom you’ll ever see

At this Brisbane couple’s stunning wedding, the photographer captured a magic moment of the groom that usually only the bride gets to see. See the beautiful picture.

Wedding of Claire Turner and Blair Surmon. Picture: Leah Cruickshank

A proposal picnic at Kangaroo Point cliffs the week Brisbane was shutting down with COVID restrictions last March was luckily able to go ahead for this Everton Park couple.

Claire Turner and Blair Surmon, who met 11 years ago at their McDonald’s Corporate workplace and have been together for five years, were also fortunate to marry on January 29 this year unaffected by restrictions.

Once lockdown was underway they booked Gabbinbar Homestead at Toowoomba for their ceremony and reception without having been able to visit the venue.

They wed in front of 68 guests, with a black and white theme to the decor, danced their first dance to Lover by Taylor Swift and honeymooned at Sunshine Beach.

The beautiful moment at the altar that groom Blair Surmon saw his bride Claire Turner for the first time. Picture: Leah Cruickshank

The proposal?

We had just finished an eight-week gym challenge and Blair disguised it as a post-challenge dinner and surprised me with a picnic at the Kangaroo Point cliffs through The Picnic Co, with a beautiful view of Brisbane City.

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What was the standout moment of the day?

There is an amazing photo of Blair’s reaction to seeing Isabelle (his daughter) and then me walking down the aisle to Simply the Best performed acoustically. The emotions and adrenaline in that moment were unforgettable.

Wedding of Claire Turner and Blair Surmon. Picture: Leah Cruickshank

What would you do differently?

The day was perfection and we wouldn’t change a thing. There were some overseas guests who we couldn’t attend due to COVID travel restrictions however outside of that everything went to plan and all our providers were excellent in bringing our vision to life.

One thing you wish people told you about planning a wedding?

Planning during COVID meant there were no bridal expos or opportunities to meet vendors prior to booking – we actually booked Gabbinbar without even seeing it.

Best advice for other couples planning a wedding?

Take control of your own day and make sure what you organise suits you both. We had the best providers who were able to ensure we had everything that was important to us on the day – styling, music, food etc.

Wedding of Claire Turner and Blair Surmon. Picture: Leah Cruickshank

Original wedding plans?

We got engaged the week that Brisbane started shutting down due to COVID so at the time we didn’t totally realise how much of an impact it would have and went ahead and booked our wedding for January 2021. We were very lucky that we rode out the COVID restrictions and didn’t have any impact to our day and original plans.

Emotions around lockdown?

When Brisbane went into the three-day lockdown in January we were very concerned that it would impact our wedding. However, we decided that we had organised too much to postpone and we would make it work with whatever we needed to do.

Wedding of Claire Turner and Blair Surmon. Picture: Leah Cruickshank

Advice for other couples whose weddings are impacted by coronavirus?

I would recommend taking the risk and going ahead with what you have planned, things can change in an instant and adapting to COVID is the new normal.