IT came as no surprise when Daniel Elliott proposed to his partner Sarah Gray three years ago. Family and friends could see the love they had for each other.

But after years passed with a guest list that was unwritten, venues went unbooked and the wedding dress not yet chosen, it seemed the wedding was never going to happen. It had been left on the backburner or so everyone thought.

Earlier this month, Daniel and Sarah invited a host of family and friends over to their Queanbeyan home for what was to be Daniel's 30th birthday party.

They were told it would be a simple backyard party and the theme was come in your favourite football colours. The highlight of the evening was going to be the sumo wrestling suits and everyone would have a go.

Imagine their shock when guests arrived and were met by a celebrant who announced, "Hello and welcome to Daniel's 30th and Daniel and Sarah's wedding".

Music started to play and out came Daniel's mother Jackie, his father David and Sarah's mother Loretta and grandmother Colleen followed by the bride and groom's three children.

Daniel and Sarah then arrived and walked down the aisle to "Thing Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran.

It was a very wet day, with rain pelting down all morning and evening. It was a little bit stressful for the couple who had organised an outdoor wedding but managed to pull together some marquees in the last few hours.

Following the exchanging of vows, the celebrant told the couple "You know it's good luck when it rains on your wedding day", to which Sarah replied "Well, we've got a lot of luck then!"

The bride said the simple, no frills wedding suited the couple to a tee. There's nothing she would change about their special day.

"We just wanted something low key ... we don't need a big, flashy, fancy wedding - that's all for show. We don't need that as a statement of our love," she said.

"When it was coming up to Daniel's 30th, I said to him 'I've got an idea, how about we get married at your birthday party? If we don't do it then, we're never going to do it.

"It was so hard keeping it secret from our friends and family."

The couple met through Daniel's sister, Michelle but took the relationship slowly, wanting to be cautious as they had young children.

Daniel has a son named Jighe, 9 and Sarah has a daughter named Sophie, 10. They also have a five-year-old daughter together, Summer.

"From the first night we met, we both knew from that moment we definitely had something special but the timing just wasn't quite right," Sarah said.

"We were good friends for quite some time. We both had kids so we wanted to be careful and take it slowly."

Sarah is overjoyed they are finally married and said there were just so many things she loves about Daniel.

"Where do I start? I try not to be corny but he's just a great person. Not just to me and the kids but everyone," she said.

"He will drop what's he's doing to help anyone. He's just a lovely, caring person and wonderful dad."