A Macgregor couple who have been together eight years say they can finally marry after winning an entire wedding in a raffle.
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Tracey Barker and Wes Smith will now get married at The Chapel at Gold Creek on September 15 after winning the wedding worth $35,000 in a raffle for Tour de Cure, the bike ride to raise money and awareness for cancer research.
The raffle was organised by Canberra wedding photographer and long-time Tour de Cure volunteer, Samantha Taylor
"This year I decided to see if I could do something a bit different and approached all these wonderful local wedding suppliers to donate their time and skills to put together the wedding package," Samantha said.
"They all jumped on board without any hesitation. I was really blown away at the support from each of them."
Tracey thought it was fate for them to win the raffle. Wes' mother Bev was diagnosed with terminal cancer two days before Christmas last year.
Tracey bought one $50 raffle ticket - something that also stretched their budget - hoping they could have a wedding that Bev could attend.
"I thought, 'It's going to a fabulous cause' , which is now very close to our heart," she said.
The couple, who have a three children together, and Wes' son, Angus, planned to get married eventually but family commitments and bills always got in the way.
"We always said we'd do it one day but then we bought the house and then we said, 'Let's have kids' and so then they became our priority," Tracey said.
Tracey is a store manager at Woolworths Kippax while Wes is a public servant.
The prize included everything from the dress to makeup and hair, suit hire, flowers, celebrant, a stretch limo, reception at Versatile restaurant, photographer, entertainment and wedding night accommodation.
Tracey said the shock of winning the prize took a couple of weeks to get over.
"When I got that phone call, I was a bit of a stunned mullet," Tracey said, with a laugh.
"I hadn't told anyone I'd bought a ticket so when I told Wes we'd won a prize in a raffle and it was pretty big, he thought it was a car.
"I said, 'Have I put the pressure on?' and he said, 'There's no way we're giving this up'."
They couple says the children - Angus,9; Lilly, 5; Hunter 3; and Mason, five months, will all have a role in the wedding.
And Tracey is more than ready to become Tracey Smith.
"Apparently we need more Smiths in the phone book," she said, with a laugh.
