It was a 57th birthday to remember for Ken McCready who married his partner of five years, Joanne Byron at Ararat's Astor Cinema on January 2nd.
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The cinema, which has been sitting on the main street of town since 1938 is extremely special to the couple with Joanne's father Barry owning the establishment for over 20 years.
Mrs McCready said the couple chose the wedding venue because it "just made sense".
"I thought it was a nice environment," she said.
"We just love the cinema and all things movies.
"It was a nice little gathering with our closest family and friends."
"We went across to the RSL for our lunch and then we took some photos up at one tree hill," Ken McCready added.
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The couple settled on the date to ensure as many family and friends were able to attend.
"We called Joanne Moon (Civil Marriage Celebrant) to try and figure out a day and I thought about my birthday and she said that was more than fine," Mr McCready said.
"We had family over from Queensland for Christmas so instead of trying to get them to come back another time with the uncertainty around travel at the moment we said let's do it because everyone was off work and in town."
"A wife for and a wedding for a birthday present, how lucky," Mrs McCready said.
The two have known each other for over 30 years however the romance only started to heat up in 2016.
"Our eldest boys went to kindergarten together so we have been friends over the years and have known each other through association," Mrs McCready said.
"We were always pretty much in contact and went on family holidays together.
"All of our kids liked each other so there were no problems, everyone was happy."
"It is a much bigger, happy family now," Mr McCready said.
On Sunday May 10 2020 Ken decided to showcase spontaneous nature, proposing while on a walk up One Tree Hill.
"We went for a walk during lockdown on Mother's Day a couple of years ago and I told her we should go a little further to One Tree hill," Mr McCready said.
"I thought if she was mad enough to walk up the hill with me, she was mad enough to marry.
"I proposed up there with no ring or anything like that.
"We had a bit of a funny moment afterwards because when we came back we said we got engaged and we went to Dad's in the afternoon and they had a packet of Cheezels so we did the old slide the ring on with a Cheezel.
"A week later we got the ring and we have just snowballed from there," Mrs McCready said.
Mr McCready said he can't think of a specific favourite moment as
"Everyday I spend with her is my favourite moment," he said.
"We try to get away and travel to Coolangatta in Queensland and holiday there for a couple of weeks each year, that is always really nice."
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Mr McCready said despite being stuck in seven lockdowns since beginning their relationship, he still can't get enough of Joanne's smile.
"Her smile is gorgeous, she is always smiling. That is the best bit," he said.
"That is the number one reason why I love her so much, she is always smiling.
"She is always happy and keen to go anywhere and do anything."
Mrs McCready said their relationship has flourished as the years have gone on.
"We are always standing side by side and have each other's back," she said.
"He encourages anything that I want to do, he is always there for me.
"He is easy going and we get on like a house on fire."
Mrs McCready said she couldn't remember who instigated the relationship however the love is as strong as ever.
"I think it was a bit of both," she said.
"We are very much spur of the moment people, it happened very fast.
"Anytime we spend together we just seem to get on so well.
"We are a fairly easy going couple, I may stress a little bit but Ken is a very relaxed person.
"He tells me everything will be fine and it always is."
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