Feb 5th 2024, 09:00 AM - Tinder introduced the Big Tinder Wedding in February last year and commenced a nationwide search for queer couples who found love on the app and wanted to get married with a very “extra” wedding. Following hundreds of entries, the lucky winning couples, Will & Monte and Kelly & Tara, walked down the aisle over the weekend in the ultimate celebration of their love stories.
Kristen Hardeman, Country Director of Tinder Australia comments, “For the past decade, Tinder has played a vital role in sparking new connections - especially amongst the LGBTQIA+ community here in Australia. We’re honoured that we were able to play wedding planner for Will & Monte and Kelly & Tara and give them the wedding of their dreams thanks to Tinder. The Big Tinder Wedding is our way of celebrating these incredible love stories, by helping some of these couples take their next step, on us!”
Successful stories from matches are unfolding on Tinder every day. In fact a survey revealed that 55%* of respondents know someone that has married their Tinder, or other dating app, match. Of them 40%* say they’ve been to at least one dating app wedding - with 36%* attending up to three!
Globally Tinder’s LGBTQIA+ members are now the fastest growing group on Tinder ** and users aged 18-25 that identify as LGBTQIA+ have more than doubled in the last two years**. According to a recent survey of young daters aged 18-25, 33% agree their sexuality is now more fluid***.
Meet the couples
Kelly (30 she/her) and Tara (29 she/her), both from Sydney, matched on Tinder in 2021. Tara was initially drawn to Kelly through the warmth that radiated from her profile. They also found a connection through identifying as demisexual – says Tara, “Our initial connection was purely emotional and mental, with the physical attraction coming later. We are a team in all aspects of life and can’t wait to continue our journey together, now that we are married.”
Monte (30 he/him) and Will (32 he/him) are a pair of self described “lively and fun-loving characters” hailing from Queensland. The two proud First Nations men (Maori and Torres Strait Islander) formed a strong bond through Tinder in August 2020 and quickly found that they both shared similar values of tradition and culture. Monte and Will are both musicians and not afraid to burst into song at any moment, something that has livened up their love story - in fact Monte has even written a song for Will to celebrate their love!
About their wedding, Monte says, “We have been running off adrenaline these last few days. The wedding was incredible and we were in the present and enjoyed every single moment of it. It was so incredibly touching that our weddings represented us as a couple, particularly when it came to incorporating our respective traditions and cultures into the wedding ceremony and having all of our family and friends take part."
The Big Tinder Wedding celebrations!
On Saturday Feb 3, each of the couples received an extra special wedding for up to 100 guests. With a beautiful ceremony held at the Royal Botanical Gardens and an extravagant reception hosted on Sydney’s latest prestigious yacht, The Jackson, the weddings brought together the couples and their family and friends to celebrate their love. Tinder has also chipped in funds towards their honeymoons. Whilst Will and Monte are still deciding on their honeymoon destination, Kelly and Tara will be heading to the beautiful Whitsundays to relax and enjoy the sunshine together.
A team of Big Tinder Wedding Planners, led by Brooke Blurton as Chief Maid of Honour, have been on hand throughout the wedding prep process to make sure the unique personalities of each couple are captured in the celebration and brought to life through the ultimate in decorations, catering and wedding looks to suit their individual styles. The wedding planners also included Jamie Azzopardi as personal stylist, Stacy Brewer as cake maker extraordinaire, Brendan de la Hay as event stylist and Conor Curran bringing the best in food and cocktails.
Playing a key role in the celebration of these queer love stories is an honour for Brooke, she says “It's been an honour to work closely with the winning couples, to help them plan their big days and watch them say yes to love over the weekend. It means a lot to be involved in something so special. The weddings were a great excuse to celebrate the matches that turn into beautiful love stories on Tinder, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Watch the introduction videos for both couples on Tinder Australia’s YouTube channel here.
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* This survey was conducted by OnePoll in February 2023 - survey of 1,000 AU 18-25 year olds and 1,000 AU 26-40 year olds.
**Tinder Future of Dating Report: Internal Tinder data from the More Genders and Orientations feature 2020-2023.
*** A study of 4,000 18-25 year old actively dating singles in the US, UK, Australia and Canada between Jan 21, 2023 and Feb 7, 2023 conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Tinder.
About Tinder
Launched in 2012, Tinder is the world’s most popular app for meeting new people and has been downloaded more than 530 million times. The app is available in 190 countries and 45+ languages. More than half of all users are 18-25 years old. In 2022, Tinder was named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
Media assets
Media assets can be found here.
Contact
Tinder AU via Thrive PR - Tinder@thrivepr.com.au
