Travel Guides Australia star Victoria Fren says her new husband Nathan Moran’s late grandfather Barry – who sadly passed away a week before their wedding – “was definitely looking down on us” during their special ceremony, given the unseasonably sunny weather the couple enjoyed on the day.
The 29-year-old walked down a gum tree-shaded aisle toward an ancient rock cathedral in picturesque Kangaroo Valley, two hours south of Sydney, on the arm of her father and fellow reality star Mark Fren, who was overcome with emotion.
“When I saw Victoria, I was bawling my eyes out,” Mark tells Woman’s Day. “I just couldn’t stop. I didn’t know whether it was because I saw my little girl was getting married and she was all grown up or that I was thinking of my bank account!”
A tearful Mark walked his daughter down the aisle.
Victoria was less than impressed at her dad’s show of emotion, though. “It actually pissed me off,” Victoria jokes. “Everyone was looking at him instead of looking at me. It’s about me!”
The family’s signature humour was evident in the couple’s vows too.
While groom Nathan, 30, revealed his relief that the big day had finally come around so he could ditch his diet “man shakes”, Victoria promised to continue bringing back duty-free alcohol for her new husband from her trips overseas with her famous family for TVNZ 2’s Travel Guides.
The groom’s Aboriginal heritage was also celebrated, with Nathan’s cousin Brenden playing his didgeridoo during the ceremony.
“It was amazing,” says Victoria, who explains that the whole day was inspired by Nathan and his family’s love of the bush.
Nathan’s cousin Brenden performed at the ceremony.
After guests enjoyed sunset drinks on a deck perched high above the valley while the bride and groom posed for pictures, it was on to the reception, with the highlight of the whole wedding for Victoria – the couple’s first dance.
“We’d practised so long for it and it definitely paid off,” says the star. “It was so epic. We had dry ice and fireworks, then the band chimed in. It was spectacular.”
The couple’s celebrity friends, The Block Australia stars Mitch Edwards and Mark McKie, took on the MC duties for the evening. “They were fantastic,” says Victoria. “They’re such lovely people.”
Michael Teng was the only Travel Guides castmate on the tight guest list, with Victoria revealing the couple “only had limited numbers” and “didn’t really want it to be a Travel Guides thing”.
She explains, “We just wanted it to be about me and Nathan.”
The family’s TV friends Mitch and Mark, plus Travel Guides’ Michael joined the party.
The couple’s nearest and dearest enjoyed a feast of black angus sirloin with miso, beetroot-cured ocean trout and butternut dauphinoise with browned sage butter. “The Frens love a buffet,” enthuses dad Mark.
The evening ended with guests gathering around a big bonfire. “Everyone got changed and then met by the fire to debrief after the reception,” tells Victoria, adding that if her big day was an episode of Travel Guides, they’d definitely give it five stars. Mark agrees, “It was just absolutely stunning.”
“We fell in love with the rock cathedral,” says Victoria.
The newlyweds are now packing their bags for Thailand for their honeymoon, but Victoria still has a long bucket list of places she’d like to visit with her funny family on Travel Guides. “I want to do Spain and the Maldives,” says the Newcastle-based star, who works in disability and aged care support when she isn’t filming the show. “There are so many places in the world we still haven’t been to yet.”
Victoria is keen to stay on the reality show “as long as they still want us”, she adds. “We love Travel Guides. It’s so nice, with me and Jonathon being older, to be able to still travel with our parents.”
“It was all about family,” says Mark, with Jono, Victoria and wife Cathy.
She and Nathan also have other plans for the near future. The couple – who have been together since they were 18 – are already parents to a dog named Zeus, but they plan to add a child of the human variety to their family soon.
“We’d like one or two kids,” she says, adding that she’d love it if her brother Jono and his wife Danielle, both 32, started a family at the same time so the cousins could grow up together.
“That would be beautiful.”
But Victoria and Nathan’s future children won’t be Frens – much to her parents’ dismay.
Nathan popped the question with Mark’s mother’s engagement ring.
“We are now the Morans,” Victoria declares. “No longer a Fren… I think the family deep down is heartbroken.”
