Brisbane couple marries and then joins global bin outing

A Brisbane couple celebrated their perfect secret wedding at the weekend – there was no pomp and ceremony but the day did include police and a rubbish bin.

Lee Withers and Chris Boehm of Albany Creek on their wedding day - April 12, 2020. Picture: Cindy Brewty Photography.

A BRISBANE couple celebrated their perfect secret wedding at the weekend – there was no pomp and ceremony but the day did include police and a rubbish bin.

Lee Withers and Chris Boehm of Albany Creek have been together for six years and planned to elope with a registry wedding on May 7 before joining friends on a trip to Hawaii.

Those plans went awry with the advent of COVID-19 so the couple (who have five adult children between them) decided to bring the date forward to cheer everyone up, but they didn’t tell anyone.

Lee Withers and Chris Boehm on their wedding day. After the ceremony they took their bin out to the footpath to post on the Bin Isolation Outing Facebook page.

They found a spot in Albany Creek surrounded by bushland and were married at 2.30pm on Easter Sunday.

“We had the celebrant Christina Towler, her husband – he was the second witness and he did the video for us on my iPhone – and Cindy Brewty the photographer,” Lee said.

“The police turned up just as we finished with the photographer – there was just the three of us.

“I think they were just checking on people. They rolled down the window and said congratulations.”

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This is the third marriage for Lee and the second for Chris.

“I think it was the best one of all,” Lee said.

“There was no pomp and ceremony, no audience to perform in front of. It was just about us. The day was perfect, the sun was shining.”

Once home, the couple spent a couple hours on FaceTime telling everyone their news.

“It was a surprise to everyone, even our kids. Everyone else was in daggy trackies and were asking why are you so dressed up and why do you have flowers in your hair.”

Chris Boehm and Lee Withers in another photo they posted on the Bin Isolation Outing Facebook page.

This is where the rubbish bin comes in.

“I’ve been following the Bin Isolation Outing thing on Facebook (where people dress up to take out their bins) and one of my friends said it was so funny and I said ‘we have to go do that’.

“We were still in our wedding clothes. My husband isn’t even on Facebook but he was on board – that might have been because he’d had a few drinks.

“We were each going to take a photo of the other but a neighbour took a photo with both of us.”

The newlyweds ended their perfect day with a catered dinner, which was delivered the previous day.

They hope to reschedule their Hawaii honeymoon once travel restrictions are lifted.