"It turned out to be breathtaking": Julie Visnes on her idyllic Thailand wedding to Camilla Lorentzen

Sometimes the sweetest, tear-inducing love stories begin in the most conventional, will-they-won’t-they way, and for entrepreneurs and content creators, Julie nee Visnes and Camilla Lorentzen that's exactly what happened.

“We became a couple under somewhat turbulent circumstances because Camilla didn’t know she was gay,” says Julie. “Finding out you’re attracted to girls at age 30 isn’t the easiest journey because you feel like you face some sort of an identity crisis – exploring your own sexuality while falling in love with your best friend isn’t exactly a dream scenario.”

This not-so-dream scenario didn’t spell the end though. Julie and Camilla got their happily ever after earlier this month, tying the knot on Thailand’s beautiful Koh Chang island. Their romantic relationship was formed from a solid three year friendship before Julie confessed her true feelings for Camilla.

“We did rent an apartment together as 'best friends’ for a year (with one bedroom) and planned to buy a house together as ‘best friends’ as soon as we had enough money,” says Julie. “So maybe we knew subconsciously?” In other words: when you know, you know.

Julie started planning the proposal two months after they became a couple. “I know it sounds early, but keep in mind we had been best friends and already lived together for a year, so she knew what she was in for,” she says.

Julie printed 30 polaroid pictures of the couple’s firsts – their first photo together, the first party they went to – and wrote the dates, along with songs that reminded her of that day, and transcribed journal notes about how she felt about Camilla from that exact day and put everything in envelopes.

“I told Cam in the middle of September [2020] that I had a surprise for her, and that it was going to be an early Christmas calendar because I had a really cool Christmas gift planned for that year,” says Julie. “Camilla went along with it and didn’t really ask any questions; she was just happy to see the polaroids and didn’t quite connect the dots.”

Camilla received a polaroid every four days as planned, but as November approached Julie began getting impatient and sped up the process. "I gave her an envelope to open every other day, then every day, and by 15 November I told her to please just open the rest!”

Camilla opened the very last envelope and on the last photo it said: ‘Ask for your puzzle.’ I gave her the puzzle, there were loads of pieces, and asked her to start with the edges.” Camilla realised the puzzle was a collage of photos of the two of them. She placed the last puzzle piece down which read: “Will you be my wife?”

“It was more romantic in real life than it sounds,” laughs Julie. “She said yes, and I had the ring ready, and it was a beautiful, intimate moment that really represented us as a couple.”

Such an intimate proposal naturally led to an intimate wedding ceremony on Koh Chang, the island holding a special place in their hearts. It was the first place they travelled to together and once COVID restrictions lifted, they returned to the island and to the incredible hotel they stumbled across on their first visit – they immediately knew it was their wedding location.

"The staff feels like family, the place feels like home, and it was where we had our very first kiss. Some places just click; we didn’t have to search for it, we just knew.”

Having a beautiful beach as a wedding backdrop meant the couple didn’t feel the need to overly complicate their wedding décor – no long Zoom calls with wedding planners – but instead Pinterest pictures were sent to the hotel, along with the request for a white and green colour scheme.

“We felt like leaving the rest to our Thai friends would be the best idea,” says Julie. “We just knew they would have a vision that would out-do anything we could think of in our wildest dreams, and we were right. It turned out to be breathtaking."

Their wedding dresses were found in a similar vein – a call-out via TikTok where Australian-based Desert Moon Bridal answered the brief. “We sent over our ideas and visions and together we created the most perfect dream dresses,” says Julie. “We didn’t try them on until they were done and shipped to us, so it was quite nerve-wrecking, but they ended up just perfect.” Julie had always wanted to wear a black wedding dress and Camilla opted for a two-piece white ensemble.

Because of their small wedding, they asked their best friends to walk them down the aisle, which they say, along with so many other aspects of the wedding, “felt right.”

“We are really big on making our own traditions and never really follow mainstream ideas if they don’t feel right,” says Julie. “We had seen each other’s dresses before the ceremony, we had seen each other the morning of the wedding, we do what feels right for us and that resulted in a wedding that was very 'us'."

They both wanted to walk down the aisle to a Scandinavian song and Victor Leksell’s Svag truly fit the bill. “It’s a song that really describes our relationship and love, so we chose the acoustic version of the song and it was just beautiful,” says Julie. The song left them both in tears – undoubtedly wedding-speak for 'you've made the right choice.'

“I walked down the aisle before Julie, and I honestly thought I would do fine, but man was I wrong – I started sobbing the moment the music started playing,” says Camilla. “I saw this princess dressed in black walking towards me and she was so beautiful. I looked into her eyes, I got this feeling that it was all going to be alright, and I just felt seen, happy, in love and lucky.”

Julie says she felt very nervous, even hiding in the toilet as Camilla walked down the aisle so she wouldn’t see her, and yes, the tears did flow for her, too.

“I randomly started crying as the song went on and I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I ended up walking way too fast and almost tripped over my dress,” says Julie. “When I saw Camilla, everything felt good again. I don’t remember what was said, I don’t remember what happened, I just remember looking into two beautiful brown eyes and knowing I had found my forever home.” Signed, Sealed, Delivered, by Stevie Wonder closed their rain-blessed ceremony.

“We didn't have a song for our first dance,” says Julie. “We had a beach, a thunderstorm and pouring rain that left us absolutely soaked, made our dresses 6kgs heavier and left our makeup running, but it was perfect. We wouldn't have wanted it any other way.”