It’s the Farmer Wants A Wife wedding we’ve all been waiting for: Brad Jones and Clare Hockings are finally married!
They captured fans’ hearts when they found love on the show’s 2023 season, and now New Idea can exclusively reveal that they’ve officially said: “I do”.
On Friday, October 23, the couple exchanged vows on Brad’s family farm in front of 150 guests, despite being “pretty hard” on the invites.
Among their most special guests were their sons, Roy, two, and Lachie Leigh, 12 months.
“They came to the ceremony [and] they looked very, very cute,” Clare tells New Idea in an exclusive wedding chat.
“It definitely made it trickier to plan the wedding with the kids, but I’m so glad they’re here.”
But with two kids under two, planning the wedding was no easy feat, with much of it happening in the dead of night!
“Brad wasn’t stressed about anything because I did everything,” Clare jokes. “The wedding would be in a tent somewhere in the park if Brad did [the planning].”
One upside of starting a family before getting married, Clare says, is that she already knows what a good father Brad is.
The couple had been waiting for their wedding day for a long time, and apart from nerves about the rain holding off for their outdoor ceremony, they were just happy the day had finally arrived.
“I was just excited to have all our good family and friends all together to celebrate and have a party, basically,” Brad says.
On the day, Clare looked every inch the blushing bride in a Stella York gown and floral-embroidered veil, even arriving at the aisle on horseback.
While they opted for a rustic farm wedding, the bride still wanted some bling, choosing a mini wedding dress paired with a glitter overskirt.
Clare was walked down the aisle by her father before she and Brad exchanged vows in a “short and sweet” ceremony.
“We’d written our own vows, but everything else was very quick; we just didn’t want a long, drawn-out ceremony,” Clare tells New Idea.
Keeping with tradition, Brad didn’t see Clare’s dress before the big day, with the bride hiding it in their spare room. They also kept their self-written vows a surprise from each other.
Brad opted for a plain wedding band while Clare’s ring featured pink sapphires to match her engagement ring.
After their picture-perfect ceremony, the couple celebrated with their loved ones at another nearby farm, which they manage for another family and currently live on.
Roy and Lachie didn’t join them at the reception, with Clare explaining, “They’re just too young and too hard to look after and try and enjoy the night. It’s too loud for them; they wouldn’t have slept there.”
While the boys were left in the hands of their babysitter, Clare and Brad partied the night away with their family and friends, including fellow Farmer Wants A Wife alum, Brenton Kuch.
Even though their love story might have started on FWAW, it didn’t play a big role in their wedding day.
“Obviously, there [was] a bit of talk around Farmer once in a while throughout the day, but so much has happened in our lives since then,” Brad explains.
“It’s kind of a small part of our relationship now,” Clare agrees.
They enjoyed all the traditional wedding speeches at their reception, but one detail remained up in the air until the big day: the first dance.
“He kept changing his mind that he didn’t want to do a first dance because he hates dancing,” Clare laughs.
But, in a last-minute change of tune, Brad told New Idea before the ceremony that he wanted to dance to Next Thing You Know by Jordan Davis.
An acoustic guitar played during the meal before a DJ took over for the night, with guests enjoying food from a wood-fired pizza truck.
As for a honeymoon, with Roy and Lachie in the picture, it will be far from a traditional wedding holiday.
“We’re going down the south coast somewhere for a week in November to try and get away for a week,” Clare says.
“The kids still haven’t really seen the beach. I wouldn’t really call it a proper honeymoon!”
