Christian and Louise’s love story starts in June 2012, when Louise, who was born and raised in Australia, was on holiday in Malta with her sister.

“My father was born in Malta and lived in Sliema for the first five years of his life, but his parents decided to move to Sydney in the early 60s to start a new life there,” Louise explains, speaking of her ties to the island. “On our second night here, we met up with our cousin and her boyfriend who were also holidaying in Malta. They had tickets to a party in Gianpula and asked if we wanted to come. We jumped at the chance – little did I know that this was the night I would meet my future husband.”

At the time, Christian was studying Architecture and Civil Engineering at University, and had just finished his third year exams. “His friends were also going to this party and had apparently dragged him out,” Louise says. As the girls hit the dance floor, it was Louise’s sister who first noticed Christian, who had been looking over at Louise. Louise recalls, “I looked around, we locked eyes and smiled at each other. As we were both shy, neither of us said ‘hello’ for a little while.” Once Christian plucked up the courage to speak, he offered to buy her a drink. “We went to the bar and talked for what seemed like minutes, but was actually a couple of hours! We hit it off straight away – it felt like we had known each other forever,” she says.

The pair added each other on Facebook and chatted for the rest of Louise’s stay, making plans to meet up again on her last weekend in Malta. After another great night out, the pair had to say their goodbyes. “Once we said good night, we knew that we wouldn't be seeing each other again any time soon, so it felt bittersweet. However, as I was saying bye to him, I had the strangest feeling that this wasn’t going to be the last time we’d see each other. I had never felt this kind of deep connection with anyone I had just met before,” Louise recalls.

Louise returned to Sydney, and the pair continued to chat online every day. They spoke about meeting the following summer, but after a few weeks, it became clear that what they had was special. “Christian told me that he couldn’t wait a whole year to see me. He still had a few weeks left of his summer break and he wanted to come visit me! I was over the moon that he wanted to travel all that way,” Louise says. Christian spent three weeks with Louise in Sydney that September, meeting her dad, who “loved him straight away”.

After his time in Australia, the pair maintained a long distance relationship until it was Louise’s turn to visit in March. “I stayed with Christian and his family in Mgarr and they made me feel like family from the moment I stepped into their house,” Louise recalls. After six blissful weeks, it was time to say goodbye again, but not for long – Christian had plans to spend the summer months in Sydney with Louise and her family.

“As soon as he arrived, Christian gave me a gorgeous diamond eternity ring; a promise that we would always be together,” says Louise. This was a difficult time for her family, as her father, who was suffering from a form of ALS, had reached an advanced stage in his illness and was wheelchair-bound. “Christian was a godsend, always helping us with manoeuvring dad, helping administer his medication and even helping to feed him. He truly was amazing with him and dad loved having him around,” she continues. And while Louise still had to work over the summer, the pair still managed to pack a lot into Christian’s stay – visiting Melbourne and Cairns in Northern Queensland, snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef and driving through the Daintree Rainforest.

All good things come to an end, and it was once again time for goodbyes as Christian prepared to return home. “This never got easier. My dad was in tears when he was saying bye – he knew he would probably never see him again. Christian gave him a huge hug and said goodbye. At the airport, it was more emotional than ever. We said goodbye and I saw him walking through to the departure area, but as I turned to leave, he came running back out in tears. We hugged and kissed and knew that he had to go back home. I assured him that we'd see each other again soon,” she recalls with emotion. While the couple knew that one of them would eventually have to move country, Louise had her ill dad to care for, and Christian needed to finish his University degree in Malta.

“I had managed to get Christmas and New Year off from work that year, and had booked another trip to Malta. Sadly, a week and a half after Christian left Sydney, my father passed away. It was a difficult time, and although Christian was on the other side of the world, he supported and comforted me as best he could,” Louise recalls.

As the weeks went by, the pair began talking about living together more seriously. “We decided it would be best for me to relocate to Malta. Since I was already coming over for Christmas, I decided to cancel my return trip and live here for good! It was hard breaking the news to my family and friends, but they knew it was the right thing and were happy for us. I arrived in Malta on December 16th and moved in with Christian’s family. We’ve now almost finished building out own house, just around the corner.”

It was on their two year anniversary, July 21st 2014, that Christian decided to pop the question. “We wanted to do something special that day, but I had work at 3pm. We decided to have a nice breakfast somewhere. Christian asked me a few days prior where I'd like to go, and I mentioned somewhere along the Sliema waterfront – little did I know that he was planning how to propose to me. That morning, we got to Sliema but before we looked for a breakfast place, Christian asked me if I could show him the house in which my father had lived in the late 50s/early 60s. I loved that he wanted to know where my dad had lived, and I found the street but had forgotten the house number. Then, all of a sudden, I recognised it... number 43 St Vincent's Street. Christian went down on one knee, presented me with a box with a ring in it, and asked if I wanted to marry him. I burst into tears of joy. He couldn’t have picked a more meaningful spot – I felt my dad's presence and love all around,” Louise recalls.

From then on, Louise set about planning the wedding, with the help of Christian’s parents. “Even before I moved to Malta, I had my heart set on getting married in Mdina. Christian also thought Mdina would be perfect, so we booked the Cathedral for our ceremony on 25th June 2016.” The reception location followed, for which the pair chose Bacchus. “We wanted our wedding to look simple and laid back with a rustic feel to it. Nothing was too over the top and that’s how we wanted it. The Cathedral was magical and the team at Bacchus were nothing short of amazing,” Louise gushes.

As for the bride’s dress, Louise was after something simple and elegant. “I created a Pinterest board to gather ideas of the types of dresses I liked, but although I liked a few, one particular dress by Katie May in Los Angeles caught my attention. It was made out of fitted lace with the perfect length train, and the most striking feature was the low cut back. Luckily, Katie May has a great system whereby if you live far away, you can make a request online to get sent a sample dress to try on at home. Once I received the sample, she set up a virtual fitting via Skype. This was the only dress I had ever tried on but I knew straight away it was the one,” Louise says, recalling a unique surprise organised by the dress designer and her fiancé, which made it extra special: “a beautiful little love note written to me by Christian that was printed on a tag stitched on the inside of the dress.”

The invitations and souvenirs followed along with the couple’s rustic theme: “the pockets of the invitations featured a laser-cut lace look, while the souvenirs were small glass mason jars with the traditional perlini inside. As an addition to the souvenirs, we donated some money to ALS Malta in honour of my father,” she says. Meanwhile, the three-tier cake featured an almond layer, a chocolate layer and a pistachio layer.

Looking back on the day, Louise reveals the best part of it all was getting to marry her man. “My favourite part of the whole day was finally, after two years of planning, to see the man who I had met four years earlier on holiday, who travelled back and forth to Sydney for me, who looked after my ill father and comforted me through the experience of losing him, whom I moved across the world for, standing at the altar waiting for me to become his wife and for him to become my husband.”