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On Friday October 10, Nicola Connolly and Tina Prestianni exchanged ‘wedding’ vows live on air in a ceremony at The Court Hotel. The ceremony was the culmination of a competition to win a package for a lesbian white wedding run by Perth Radio station 92.9 Breakfast Show hosts, Em and Wippa. Connolly and Prestiani were chosen out of three self-nominated lesbian couples to win the package by 92.9 listeners.
Connolly told OUTinPerth that she was ‘slowly coming down from cloud nine’ after her big day.
While she said that ‘to begin with it was slightly daunting. We felt slightly exploited but we still went ahead with it’, she went on to praise the staff and crew at 92.9 as being ‘sensitive to what we wanted’.
Connolly was critical however of the lack of legislation permitting formal legal recognition of same-sex marriage, saying that ‘the government needs to open their eyes and give us a fair go’.
Premier Colin Barnett was invited but did not attend the wedding, sending instead a card wishing the couple a ‘long and happy life together’. In an interview on 92.9 in the lead up to the wedding, Mr Barnett said that although he felt that gay people deserved the same respect as heterosexuals, he strongly believed that marriage should be between a male and a female.
Despite the day having no formal legal status, Connelly said that the ‘day turned out to be the most amazing day of my life. I’m sure everyone there would’ve felt the love. It’s been the best day of my life so far. ‘
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
