In 2020, then-Labor MP Anthony ‘Albo’ Albanese wasn’t looking for a relationship when he invited Jodie Haydon out for a drink. Five years later, he has become the first Australian PM to get married while in office. Here’s everything we know about Australia’s wedding of the year!
When did Anthony and Jodie get married?
The Prime Minister and his fiancée Jodie Haydon officially tied the knot on 29 November 2025. When we spoke to the newlyweds earlier this year, they confirmed they were planning to tie the knot in the second half of 2025.
“We’re thinking second half of this year,” Jodie told The Weekly in our exclusive conversation. “Second half of this year, possibly outdoors, and it’ll be small and intimate. With our family and loved ones.”
They always wanted to wait until after the election. The wedding means too much to both of them to have it tangled up in politics and publicity.
What kind of wedding did they have?
As Albo shared earlier this year, the nuptials were “small. Just pretty personal.” They couldn’t take place in a Catholic church because of Anthony’s previous divorce to Carmel Tebbutt in 2019.
“We’re doing it in front of family and loved ones,” Jodie added. “It’s something that we’re looking forward to, and I think marriage is an important and symbolic way to reaffirm our commitment with each other.”
According to the official statement, they were married by a celebrant, and they wrote their own vows.
Jodie was walked down the aisle by her parents, Bill and Pauline Haydon, to Ben Folds’ song “The Luckiest”. Her five-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, and we wouldn’t have a ceremony without Toto, the PM’s dog acted as the ring bearer!
After the ceremony, the newlyweds walked down the aisle to a very fitting Stevie Wonder hit, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”.
The witnesses were Haydon’s brother, Patrick Haydon, and Anthony’s cousin, Helen Golden.
What kind of wedding dress did Jodie Haydon wear?
There are no official wedding photos just yet, but we can expect Jodie would have worn something created by an Australian designer.
“It was such a pleasure to work with the Prime Minister and Jodie Haydon for our exclusive shoot in the March 2025 issue of The Weekly, celebrating their engagement,” said The Australian Women’s Weekly Style Director, Mattie Cronan.
“Jodie is a passionate champion of Australian fashion and especially female founders, and she particularly loved wearing the Lee Mathews and Jac + Jack pieces I selected for our Weekly shoot with her and the Prime Minister, which featured all-Australian fashion.”
On seeing the stunning Romance dress, Mattie continued:
“It is only fitting Jodie chose Romance Was Born for her wedding. Anna and Luke are the ultimate artisans and an incredible force in the Australian industry. The elegant long-sleeve silk gown with beautiful embroideries and adornments is signature Romance. They are known to have dressed some of Australia’s most famous faces and now added Australia’s First Lady to the list.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wore a suit by MJ Bale.
The wedding bands are from Cerrone Jewellers in Leichhardt, Sydney.
Where did Anthony and Jodie get married?
Despite the newlyweds meeting and being from Sydney, they tied the knot in the Lodge. A significant spot, not only for its political history in Australia, but also for the couple, as that is where they got engaged.
According to their statement, the Prime Minister and Jodie “both love Canberra and were really happy to be able to be married there.”
Who attended the wedding?
As they planned, the wedding ceremony was mostly made up of family and friends.
“One of the differences that has been quite nice is getting to know Jodie’s family – the Haydons and the Hastings,” shared Anthony in our exclusive interview in 2025. “I come from, there was just me and my mum. My mum’s siblings have all passed on. I added up just this week, I’ve got six first cousins only. Jodie, it seems like she has hundreds, but there must be 70…I’ve got one really close relative, my son Nathan, and I cherish that relationship – we’re great mates.”
“My mother’s one of nine and my father was one of eight,” said Jodie. “So very big extended families. And grandma, oh, she was one of, I think, five or six.”
“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.
In addition to their family and friends, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Senator Penny Wong, and Richard Marles were among the attendees.
How did Anthony Albanese meet his fiancée, Jodie Haydon?
The couple met in 2020 at an event in Melbourne where Anthony had been speaking. He’d asked whether there were any South Sydney rugby league supporters in the audience. “Jodie yelled out, ‘Up the Rabbitohs’,” he previously recalled with a wide grin.
Later, he introduced himself and learned that they not only had a football team in common, but that Jodie lived in his electorate. “We had what I thought would just be a drink at Young Henry’s in Newtown, and we got on really well. That’s how it started,” he said.
“When I met Anthony, I wasn’t looking for a relationship,” Jodie shared in our interview in 2022. “I had reached a point in my life where I was truly happy being single. At first, I was hesitant. I knew Anthony had had a recent heartache, and he had a public profile, as a private person, that terrified me at first. I wanted to really get to know him as a person and see whether we were at the same point in our lives.”
How did Anthony Albanese propose?
First, he discussed it with his son Nathan. “I thought it was important that he was made aware. I respect him, and I have a good relationship with his mother. But it could be difficult. I didn’t want him to find out afterwards. So I talked with him and asked him to think about it.”
Nathan was all for it. “Nathan was supportive and wants me to be happy, and Nathan and Jodie have a really nice relationship as well,” the Prime Minister shared with The Weekly.
“I thought one option was New Year’s Eve or the beginning of the year. And then I ended up settling on Valentine’s Day because we were going to be in Canberra and together. So I blocked that out and then put some thought into the actual proposal. Also, the ring took a while to design, so it had to be all ready.
As PM, was it difficult to keep the engagement a secret?
“The only people who knew were my son, Nathan, and the designer of the ring, Nicola Cerrrone, and their daughter, because they’re a family business. An amazing jeweller in Leichhardt, and he’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time,” Anthony said.
When he went to speak with the jeweller, he made his security cars park around the corner.
“The difficulty, of course … was not to put it in the diary. My executive assistant was very shocked by the fact that it could be done without her knowing. So I literally just told Nathan and my security people and the jeweller.”
Has it been difficult to maintain a marriage in the public eye?
“I’m not the first [unmarried Prime Minister in office],” Anthony said in our exclusive interview in 2022. “I think that Australia is made up of people who are in lifelong marriages, divorcees, single people, straight people, gay people. It’s made up of a whole range of relationships, and relationships are complex – people are complex. And I think Australia is a mature country that gets that.”
“I thought that my marriage would last for my lifetime, and it didn’t…people don’t as well. So it’s not to say there can’t be successful relationships. There are. Carmel and I were together for 30 years; we were both in public life. She served as Deputy Premier; I served as Deputy Prime Minister. And I think we had a good relationship and raised a wonderful son together.”
In fact, during their marriage, they were often dubbed the “King and Queen of Marrickville.”
Jodie and Anthony have mostly kept their relationship out of the public eye, despite an exclusive interview or two. How do they maintain their relationship?
“Having our own time. I’m pretty good at diary management,” says Anthony.
“We also make time at the beginning of each week to sit down and look at each other’s diaries,” added Jodie. “I’ve got work commitments during the week, and obviously Anthony has a number of commitments. And when we sit down with each other’s diaries, we look at that intersection of when we can actually spend time together. And we’re pretty good, I’ve got to say, at just making that happen.”
Where will the couple honeymoon?
According to their statement, the newlyweds will honeymoon in Australia from Monday until Friday of next week.
We wish to two newlyweds the best success and happiness in their marriage. Congratulations from The Australian Women’s Weekly!
Stay tuned for more news on Albo’s wedding. We will update with more news as it comes out!
All expenses related to this event are being paid for privately by PM Albanese and Ms Haydon.
