Deux Belettes

Hasti & Brandon | Northern, Nsw.

The story of how we met.

It was a modern love story with a twist I would say!

We met on the dating match hinge - I was in medical school doing a rural placement in NNSW and Brandon was working as an accountant on the Gold Coast. Neither of us knew our radiuses were set to match so far apart and I had only redownloaded the app recently because it was pointed out to me that I focused mostly on school and had essential stop making an effort to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people. We began talking and clicked right away, quickly adding each other on Instagram. We wanted to meet in person but I was flying to Japan and then Canada for the holidays so we kept in touch over Christmas and planned to meet in person in the new year. Thats when COVID happened. The week we had a date planned, the borders between NsW and QLD closed and we had no choice but to postpone meeting. Then a month or two later when things settled down a bit, all of the international medical electives got cancelled (mine was set to be 6 minths in Canada) then rearranged to be in Lismore, and finally with 6 days notice - I had to move back to Wollongong to complete electives and meet the requirements for graduation (where my school was based).

Disappointed, I cancelled on Brandon again and had a weird sad feeling that I was missing out - even though we had only ever spoken on messaging. While I was in Wollongong and Brandon still on the Gold Coast, we still kept in touch intermittently, and one day Brandon asked if I wanted to meet him on zoom for a date. Figuring he was a catfish, I thought “sure why not”…. That evening, we talked for the first time….. for 4 hours! It was so natural. After a month of talking almost every day, Brandon found a strange loophole, although NSW and QLD weren’t open to each other, Canberra was open to both. So I drove and he flew and we met in person for the first time- this confirmed what we already knew. That this was THE person!

We had the best weekend in Canberra and were basically on FaceTime constantly after that. I following my last final exam, Brandon flew down and spent the most nerve wrecking days reassuring me everything is ok, while i awaited results. Coincidentally, I had already lined up a job on the Gold Coast. Once I found out I passed, we celebrated and then Brandon helped me pack my life over 4 years into my Mazda 3 and he drove us up to the Gold Coast. I stayed with him while apartment hunting - once I found a place, Brandon came over and just sort of stayed over forever. The best part of our connection is how natural it feels and how at ease we feel when we are together.

One piece of advice I’d give future brides

Something or some things won’t go to plan. Some things won’t be perfect. Changes are you’re the only one who notices - try to always come back to what the day represents. Also it flies by so fast… I wish I could go back in time and live through the whole day again - the photos and videos allow us to do that and feel those emotions again, in a way.

The importance of photography when we booked

Photography was everything to me. It’s basically the only part of the day you can hold on to forever.

I have always loved photos and am often the one taking them. However, I have (admittedly) always been very harsh when it comes to critiquing my appearance in them. After seeing our friend’s amazing photos that Daniel had done and hearing their positive feedback about him, we knew he was our person! We even considered moving our wedding day around his schedule but fortunately we were able to make it work

To clarify, we booked Daniel only second to our venue! Daniel then introduced us to Sunny Day films. We cannot express enough love and appreciation for these two - not just as professionals and artists but as human beings. It was like having your best mates take photos and videos of you. I would even have added them to the guest list after knowing them, just because of how awesome they are as people!!

To us - marriage represents.

his is a hard question… I guess as a couple, we feel stability in each other. In a chaotic world, with stressful jobs and whatever else is going on - we always find each other and have each others backs - no matter what. Prior to getting married, we overcame some adversity (Brandon helped me recover following major surgery) and we felt as though we didn’t need to make vows of “for better or worse”, because we had already demonstrated this through our actions. We don’t just say I love you, we demonstrate it. Through stability, being there, and making each other better.