Our Story

His Instagram profile photo was a blurry fish. So when we finally met in person — after I'd made him work for it for about six weeks — I wasn't expecting someone that tall, or that attractive. And the man didn't just have height. He had calves that could roundhouse knockout Mike Tyson. His legs and booty are still unbeatable.

I walked in thinking it was a platonic meeting and immediately went to adjusting my boobs and sorting my hair and makeup. This was now a date, and I wanted it to go really well.

On that first date we talked about not wanting kids, wanting to elope, all the big life chats. We just seemed to be on the exact same page. And now here we are.

Six weeks after we met I moved into Alex's house to look after him after his wrist surgery. He'll tell you I Florence Nightingaled him. I just remember wanting to take care of him forever and never see him in pain again. He has taken care of me and protected me every day since.

Then my house got broken into. I rang him and he dropped everything, turned up exhausted, and handled all of it with me. He told me that night I was going home with him — no negotiations. I never left.

He made me comfortable enough to be completely myself, flaws and all, and then went out of his way to build me up anyway. He's a stable anchor for my ADHD self: we can do all the fun things in the world, but everything needs a plan.

Buying our forever home. Every holiday. Our walks with the boys. I just love our life. (Also the clownfish attack in New Caledonia, which has us cackling every single time.)

Home is Alex and my boys — I never think of it as a physical structure. It's wherever he is. We could live in a one-bedroom shack with the dogs and I'd love my life just as much.

The dogs are small extensions of our personalities. They teach us how simple joy actually is. If they could describe our relationship they'd say that at 2am we CANNOT SING and should go to bed. They love fried chicken as much as we do. They're very happy boys, so I think they feel the love in this house too.

In five years: strong foundations personally and professionally, healthy dogs THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER, and still waking up with love and lust for each other. In twenty: I still want him to get excited every time he sees my boobies, and I want to smack his butt every time he walks past me. We are never not going to be teenagers.

The shared dream is early retirement, young enough to actually enjoy it. His dream that I want to help happen: his own business, or at least work where he's never treated as disposable — he works himself into the ground and deserves to do it his way, with his ethics intact.

I hope we never stop laughing. We're pretty funny and goofy and it takes almost nothing to start a snowball of giggles.

Driven and passionate, Dani struck me immediately as someone who went for what she wanted. Her smile and her love of dogs caught my attention first — closely followed, due to the dress she was wearing, by the rest of her.

Yes, I fancied her straight away. I made the first move to set up the date, then chased for weeks before she finally agreed. Our first proper conversation was a wild chat about her recent adventure that weekend and her flatmate's ex. I had to reassure her I hadn't done any prison time like another first date of hers had casually dropped on her — that did stick in the mind.

The date itself was entertaining, covering a wide range of topics. When she suggested we stay in for KFC rather than going out to dinner, I thought: shit… I actually really like this person. The cheeky smile that was always about to laugh is what I remember most clearly from those early days.

If I had to describe us in three words: something always happening. Humour and relaxation are aligned — basically, we laugh and recover with the same stuff. That's why we work so well.

We're complete opposites when it comes to dealing with problems that involve other people. I want to resolve it; Dani is more of the 'they can fuck off' mindset. But we're also ridiculously similar — we can both find the alarm snooze button no matter how many times we've promised each other we won't sleep in again.

The biggest adventure or risk we've taken together was quitting stable jobs in lockdown three in 2020 to move cities. We also bought a lifestyle property to run a dog daycare. The hardest thing we've faced was Dani's back injury and getting the surgery — it taught me that we can overcome anything if we have each other. I'm proudest of her recovery and rebound post-surgery, as well as stopping drinking and watching genuine happiness unfold with new friends and wellbeing.

They've all been awesome, but Bali and Thailand is probably the best trip so far. The funniest travel memory — or travel disaster — was the horrific clownfish attack in New Caledonia. I'd say I'm the better traveller; Dani gets easily overstressed when the plan has to change in real time.

We're both pretty good at remembering the important things. Dani's issue is remembering to take stuff out of luggage. She's a window-seat person for sure. As for five-star resort or spontaneous road trip — either or. Right now I want the resort, so that's my answer.

The number-one place we still want to experience together is a European music festival trip. If money, work and annual leave weren't an issue, we'd go to Tomorrowland tomorrow — happening at time of writing. The proper NZ tour with the dogs alongside is still sitting at the top of the couple bucket list, and we'd love to spend our tenth wedding anniversary doing exactly that.

We're really unique when it comes to our relationship and way of doing life, so doing our wedding this way seems perfectly normal. Privately eloping means the day will be just about us, with bugger all else to worry about.

Watching the ceremony film for the first time alongside everyone we love, I'll be filled with love and pride — but also likely a blubbering mess. I'd say we'll both cry during the speeches, and after 8pm we both can't be trusted. Hiring a DnB DJ for the reception feels very us.

The one thing I hope everyone remembers about the Big Gig is that everyone comes away thinking: god, that whole thing just felt right.