Aussie couple proceed with NZ wedding despite law change

Shannon Molloy posted on Instagram with the caption 'off to get married.' Photo / Instagram

When Shannon Molloy and Rob Battisti originally planned their wedding, it was illegal in their Australian home town and so they turned to New Zealand and its Remarkables mountains.

In between the proposal and the planned big day, Australia legalised same-sex marriage.

But the long-term partners decided to go ahead with their original idea of getting married in NZ's stunning venue.

And so, on Friday a planeload of the men's friends and family descended on Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island.

On Saturday afternoon in a joyous ceremony, Molloy and Battisti exchanged vows before their guests on a mountaintop in the Remarkables.

Molloy, a journalist and writer, and Battisti, a clinical psychologist and mind plasticity specialist, chose to stick with their finely tuned arrangements in the picturesque location.

On Friday, they were rewarded with a rainbow over nearby Lake Wakatipu, which Molloy posted on Instagram with the words, "I'll take that as a wedding day sign".

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I’ll take that as a wedding day sign.

A post shared by Shannon Molloy (@sleemol) on Apr 20, 2018 at 5:12pm PDT

And about 5pm on Saturday as golden rays of sunshine flooded the valley below, the couple were finally married.

View this post on Instagram

Just married.

A post shared by Shannon Molloy (@sleemol) on Apr 20, 2018 at 10:11pm PDT

Molloy, a former print journalist, now works for Amazon. Battisti, known on Twitter as @TheBendyBrain, is an expert in the mindset of children with cancer, addiction psychology and comorbidity.