celebrity

There's been a surprise Matildas wedding and we're not crying, you're crying.

Matildas' striker Emily Gielnik married her long-term partner Temica Sayer at a beautiful outdoor wedding on Wednesday. Wedding guests included family, friends and many of Emily's Matildas teammates, including Ellie Carpenter and Teagan Micah.

The newlyweds shared a short video of their big day with fans on their social media accounts captioned, "23.08.23 - Truly the best day of our lives."




Video via Instagram/emilygielnik.

The pre-wedding celebrations began back in July when Temica, director of wellness studio Saltt, held a hen's party for her closest mates at Broadbeach. Temica wrote at the time that she couldn't wait to marry "future wifey" Emily.

While Emily was originally due to play as part of the Matildas World Cup squad, she unfortunately suffered an ankle injury in March and did not recover in time. Instead, she spent the World Cup commentating and cheering on her beloved "Tillies" while also spending time with Temica before their big day.

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Emily – who has represented the Matildas more than 57 times and most recently finished up with Aston Villa in the UK – has been in a relationship with Temica for eight years.

While the pair have shared little about their romance with the world, Emily once explained how she felt uncomfortable sharing her happiness openly.

"My mum being Croatian... being gay was frowned upon, so I never saw how I was going to come out and tell my family," Emily said on the Disney+ documentary, Matildas: The World At Our Feet.

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"So I tried everything to live this lie for years. There was a lot of dark times."

Like many other icons of the sporting world who have had to deal with harmful stereotypes and homophobic abuse, Emily explained that football was "the saving grace".

Viewers of the Disney+ documentary, got to see Emily fly home from the UK a day earlier than planned so she could propose to Temica.

"I reckon I've done the flight 40-45 times from Australia to Europe. This was one of the rough ones. There were no sleeping pills that were going to alleviate what was going on in that flight. I was overthinking a fair few things," she said. 

"I'm nervous thinking about it, I'm sweating [but] I'm ready to marry the girl of my dreams."

While her romantic proposal didn't go to plan, exactly, it was still an incredibly special moment for the pair.

"I went blank, I literally froze. Everything that I planned to say I left in the hotel room," Emily said.

"It was really Temica who helped me break down finally being okay being in a same-sex relationship," she shared. 

"She deserves this more than anyone. It should have been a long time ago but better late than never."

 An huge congratulations to the happy couple!

Feature Image: Instagram/emilygielnik