Bride Asks Everyone To Cover Their Ears During Her Marriage Vows For A Very Important Reason

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When Tom and Emily Verrocchi exchanged wedding vows they asked their guests to cover their ears.

The Melbourne couple disagree with the traditional monitum that states: ‘marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others'.

Mrs Verrocchi told Daily Mail Australia the vow, which must be said by law, was ‘offensive' to same-sex couples.

The bride and groom are the latest couple to choose to 'not hear' the compulsory statement in a growing trend in the country, but it had particularly special meaning to them - with the bride's gay brother serving as her best man.

Mrs Verrocchi's brother and ‘best friend' Jonathan Wells stood by her side during the ceremony, which he attended with his partner of 10 years, Adam Gregorio.

‘My brother had said in the past it hurts his feelings,' Mrs Verrocchi said. ‘We tried to get her [the marriage celebrant] to take it out, but she couldn't because it's a legal thing.'

The couple instead asked the marriage celebrant if she could ask guests to cover their ears during the line, and she happily obliged.

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‘After they actually said it, he [Jonathan] turned around to Adam and gave him a big pash,' Mrs Verrocchi said.

‘Even if they're not going to go ahead and make it legal for same-sex couples to marry, they should at least take that out of heterosexual ceremonies.

‘It's offensive more than anything else.'

Mrs Verrocchi said ‘the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of others' should be reworded.

The couple were married at The Deck at Circa in St Kilda, Melbourne on November 21, and guests responded well to show of protest during the ceremony.

Mrs Verrocchi said they had gay friends and family members attend the wedding and they thanked the couple for making a stand.

‘It's been amazing, we've had a lot of really nice comments and people emailing me through Facebook to say thank you for standing up for them,' she said.

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‘If it's something you feel passionately about or have a strong opinion about do something or say something during your ceremony to acknowledge your point of view.'

The Verrocchi's wedding is not the first time couples have chosen to take a stand against the traditional vows.

Bride and groom Abbey and Mitchell Johnston also asked guests to cover their ears during the compulsory words, and previously told Daily Mail Australia they believed it was ‘the right thing to do'.

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Mrs Johnston was troubled after her celebrant, Alison Bartlett, told her she was required by law to read out loud the precise statement known as the monitum at the ceremony.

'We told Alison that marriage equality was something that was extremely important to us as a couple and could she tell everyone our views on this within the ceremony,' she said.

'She happily obliged. However it just didn't sit right with me. I thought to myself "Is that all we can do?" Surely such a bigoted statement should have no part in our personal marriage ceremony.'