Rain is pouring on the picturesque $20 million estate where Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz are set to tie the knot today.
The happy couple has been waiting to exchange vows for 18 months after Mr Sharaz proposed to the former Liberal staffer atop the Cape Byron Lighthouse at sunset on New Year’s Eve 2022.
Despite moving to a castle in the French countryside in December, they quietly booked an afternoon wedding ceremony The Valley Estate in Currumbin Valley on the Gold Coast for Saturday 1 June.
However, the pair now face a gloomy weather forecast of ‘a very high chance of rain’ from around midday, with heavy rain forecast for the evening and into Sunday.
Mrs. Higgins and her fiancé do has worked with Labor senators, former prime ministers and TV personalities since being thrust into the spotlight in 2021, but it is unclear whether the wedding will be a star-studded affair.
There are rumors that Lisa Wilkinson and Grace Tame didn’t make it.
Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz are pictured on New Year’s Eve in 2022 after he proposed
Lisa Wilkinson was pictured in Mosman on Wednesday, wearing $1,700 Dior sandals
On Wednesday, Wilkinson was spotted walking around Mosman, an affluent suburb on Sydney’s lower north shore, wearing an $1,850 Celine caramel wool sweater and black Dior sandals worth $1,700.
She completed the look with white jeans, large black sunglasses and a tan leather handbag, as she sat in a cafe sipping a cappuccino with an iPad, AirPods and a big smile on her face.
The TV presenter and Ms Higgins have been close friends since the former employee revealed her rape allegations in an interview with Wilkinson on Network Ten program The Project in February 2021.
After Ms Higgins gave evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case in December, Wilkinson approached her in the courtroom and gave her a big hug.
The wedding venue is set in nine hectares of landscaped gardens and is the ‘epitome of luxury’ according to The Valley Estate website.
“A bespoke, one-off space designed to inspire celebration and reflection with loved ones,” the site says.
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured smiling at a cafe in Mosman, Sydney’s north, on Wednesday
Lisa Wilkinson interviewed Brittany Higgins on a 2021 episode of The Project
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured at a cafe on Wednesday, wearing a $1,600 Celine sweater
‘The Valley Estate organizes exclusive, tailor-made wedding parties.’
Ms Higgins’ best friend and business partner Emma Webster will be her maid of honor.
Ms Higgins’ wedding date was revealed in the WA Supreme Court last week, amid Linda Reynolds’ defamation case against her over social media posts that she claims have damaged her reputation.
Outside court, Ms Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett said last week that he had made a request to obtain a copy of documentation relating to a trust account in her name.
The Brittany Higgins Protective Trust was formed in February last year after she was awarded $2.4 million in compensation for the way her rape claims were handled between 2019 and 2021.
Chief Justice Peter Quinlan was told Ms Higgins was getting married early next month and her lawyers would need more time to prepare submissions for the application.
Ms Higgins’ best friend and business partner Emma Webster will be her maid of honor
Rumors are swirling that Grace Tame didn’t make the guest list
The location is an old dairy factory, located in rural Queensland (photo)
Mr Bennett said: ‘We don’t know who the trustee is, we don’t know which law of Australia, Victoria, NSW or the ACT applies to it. We need to know those facts and we get them by finding a document.’
The application will seek to determine who the trustee is and who should bring charges in the event Ms Higgins says she cannot pay damages if she loses the case.
Chief Quinlan accommodated her wedding date and ordered the case returned to court on June 17 for a directions hearing.
On Friday, Lehrmann filed an appeal to overturn a crushing defamation judgment against him.
Lehrmann lost his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson on April 15 when Federal Court Judge Michael Lee found on the balance of probabilities that he raped Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
After the ruling in April, Ms Higgins released a statement on Instagram saying she felt vindicated: “I was raped. No amount of judgment could ever change this truth.”
“I lived with the shame, humiliation and fear of what telling my story would mean for my life and career, like so many other victims.”
