PM narrows down wedding date, settles for shorter honeymoon

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will settle for a shorter honeymoon with fiancee Jodie Haydon following Labor’s election win as he narrows down the date for their highly anticipated wedding.

Albanese, who is set to become the first prime minister to get married while in office, told ABC Radio Perth on Tuesday that he and Haydon were yet to lock in a date.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s thumping election victory had one drawback – he’ll now have to take a shorter honeymoon.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“We have now had an opportunity to discuss, and we have a few options between now and the end of the year,” he said. “But we’re waiting as well to look at the calendar.”

Albanese proposed to Haydon in February 2024, the first prime minister to get engaged while in office, but held off planning their wedding because of the May 3 election. “I deliberately did not get ahead of myself. So from May 3 and beyond, there was a blank diary,” he said.

The prime minister admitted in March that he had seriously considered eloping on Valentine’s Day this year, exactly one year after their engagement, just to put an end to the wedding speculation.

“I did think about doing it really quietly,” he said of their decision against a secret ceremony at the time. “We decided that might get some speculation back as well, so we didn’t.”

Albanese has previously said the wedding would be a small event and held this spring – although he won’t be the only one tying the knot in the second half of the year.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in 2023 the largest number of marriages took place on November 11. Saturdays in November are among the most popular days for weddings, along with Saturdays in late October.

While further details are scant, the prime minister will likely choose a date removed from sitting weeks, for which he will be required in parliament. The current parliamentary calendar has the House of Representatives sitting in the second and last weeks of October, and the first and last weeks of November.

The House of Representatives is set to sit for fewer days this year than any other in the past two decades. The government, which decides the sitting weeks, has copped criticism for this decision because it limits time for scrutiny of the government’s agenda and debates on legislation.

Parliament will not sit again until late July, when the make-up of the Senate will change to reflect the recent federal election, making it more favourable for Labor.

Labor’s thumping victory will also mean Albanese and Haydon’s honeymoon will be shorter than the two months they would have taken had Labor lost the election.

“Had the result gone a different way, we would have had a lot of time to plan and probably would have had a two-month honeymoon,” he said. “As it is, we’re trying to find a couple of weeks. I reckon the Australian people will go: ‘Fair enough’.”

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