Yes, we were born on the same day, month and year in 1972, but the first meeting between Andrea and I took place 12 years later.

Rose Bay High School in Hobart - Grade 8 in 1985. Same home class with Miss Pennington-Smith. We were also in music class together. Friends? Probably. Acquaintances? Definitely. But we really didn't have much to do with each other beyond home class and music. Rose Bay High was unusual though, insofar as it didn't matter what group you were with, or how much time you spent with people, it felt like you knew virtually everyone in your year.

When I moved away from Hobart to Adelaide after only two short years, I only kept in touch with a handful of people. Andrea wasn't one of them. By the time I finished High School in Adelaide I wasn't in touch with any Tasmanian people.

15 years after I left Hobart it was time to re-explore my past. I got in touch with many people from my childhood including people from Tasmania. This happened mainly through a website then called schoolfriends.com.au . One of the first was Justin McCulloch, my best friend at Rose Bay High School and one of the best men tonight. He'd recently landed in Melbourne where I also lived. I went to Hobart for work for a few weeks around this time and caught up with a handful of people.

Soon after, I got in touch with Andrea Davison. It was a brief exchange. She advised she was in Melbourne; I let her know I was too. But it didn't go beyond a couple of emails.

Four years later, it was mid 2006 and I was about to commence broadcasting a radio show on a community station with Nicky Talacko, also one of my best men/women tonight. The week before we were to make our debut on the show, it was time to send an email out to everyone in Melbourne advising them to listen in. I worked through alphabetically and came to Andrea Davison. I paused and thought - we hadn't been in contact for four years. Would she still be at this email address? I must have contemplated this for around 30 seconds, before making one of those life changing decisions. I thought if it bounces back, it does. If she gets back to me, great.

And with just a click of the mouse, my life had changed forever.

We were back in touch and communicating by email. After all this time, we decided to catch up. Incredibly, as we found out numbers really factored in our lives, we coincidentally caught up at 8pm on 4/8/06.

The night was fantastic. We caught up on the last 19 years in our lives and others. But as we communicated, it was just like talking to that girl with the hair eye-patch who was just a little wiser. Magic happened and we both felt something we never had before.

Within a few short weeks we talked about children beyond her lovely boys Jacob and Harrison. Marriage talk happened soon after. But we couldn't broach that mystical L word. "I really, really, really like you" was a common phrase. Until one night, when Andrea was very unwell and I got the runner from a film I was working on to take flowers, soup and Tim Tams to Andrea. The runner, Deana had one more delivery to Andrea: the words "I Love You".

Luckily those words were reciprocated. From that point on, we both knew it was on. Since then we have lived by one motto: "Together, Forever, No Matter, Whatever".

In the two years since meeting we have seamlessly integrated a home life together with work, boys and a fantastic future. On the eve of our second anniversary I proposed to Andrea. Now, 12 months later all the fruits of our labour have come together in the celebration of our marriage.

Our future is bright. Beyond the wedding we hope to catch up on sleep, set up a new business venture together and have a couple of children. But whatever happens, everything comes back to love.

We trust you have enjoyed this evening's festivities. It is very special to us you have been able to attend our wedding. We invite you to share our next celebration and pop a date in your diary: 4/4/2016, where Andrea and I turn 44 together.


Luke on behalf of Andrea and Luke Gibson
Producers
Peppermint Media Pty Ltd