Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon will head off on a five-day honeymoon tomorrow after an intimate wedding at The Lodge among only their closest family and friends.

Mr Albanese on Saturday became the first Australian leader to wed while in office, marrying his partner of five years after the couple’s engagement in February 2024.

The honeymoon, at an undisclosed destination in Australia, will be a shorter affair than might have been. 

Mr Albanese revealed in June that the couple had planned to honeymoon for two months had he not been reinstalled as prime minister.

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He is expected to resume public duties on the weekend with an appearance on the ABC’s Insiders couch next Sunday.

The private wedding took much of Canberra by surprise this weekend, with plans kept top secret due to potential security concerns.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, one of several Labor members on the guest list of about 80, revealed today the modest affair was celebrated with a two-tiered cake.

“It was a pretty small, intimate wedding, and it was lovely to share that day with them,” she told Sky News.

Other notable guests included cabinet ministers Jim Chalmers, Penny Wong, Mark Butler and Richard Marles, and actor Rhys Muldoon.

Ms Haydon’s parents, Bill and Pauline, and Mr Albanese’s son, Nathan, gave speeches as well as the newlyweds themselves. 

A flower girl walking in a white dress, with a white dog.

Ms Haydon’s five-year-old niece Ella was a flower girl at the wedding. (Supplied)

Ms Haydon’s five-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, and the prime minister’s dog, Toto, was the ring bearer.

Songs from Beyonce, Jimmy Barnes and Pink all featured during the reception party, after the couple’s first dance to Frank Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonight. 

Two couples dressed in formal attire walk along a road on a sunny day.

Katy Gallagher arriving at The Lodge with husband Dave Skinner and Jim Chalmers with his wife Laura Anderson. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

‘I slid into his DMs’

Like many modern love stories, Mr Albanese and Ms Haydon’s romance can be traced back to a well-timed direct message.

“I slid into his DMs,” she told News Corp in 2022.

“He had a public profile and I didn’t, so I knew that we both followed the same footy team, we both had a love for the inner west and I think I said in that direct message, ‘Hey, we’re both single’.”

Ms Haydon’s approach came some time after the pair first met. 

A man and woman walk along a garden path lined with rose bushes

The Lodge was the location for Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon’s engagement announcement as well. (Reuters: Lukas Coch)

During a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020, the then-opposition leader asked the crowd if there were any South Sydney rugby league supporters.

Ms Haydon yelled out, “Up the Rabbitohs!”, Mr Albanese told Woman’s Weekly in a 2022 feature.

Not long after, Mr Albanese introduced himself to Ms Haydon and the pair later met up over drinks at a trendy Sydney brewery, he told the magazine.

A man wearing a white hat and carrying a white gift bag walks with a woman in a colourful dress.

Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell and wife Nimfa Farrell arriving at the Lodge on Saturday. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

“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.”

They met again a year later, after his 19-year marriage to former NSW politician Carmel Tebbutt ended.

Ms Haydon has spoken of falling in love with the prime minister after he was in a car accident that nearly took his life in 2021.

A man in a suit and a woman in a purple dress walk as a federal police officer stands guard.

Dimity Paul and Paul Erickson, the ALP national secretary, were among the guests at the wedding. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

“I got the phone call and drove immediately to the scene. I saw the mess of a car before I saw him and thought, ‘He couldn’t survive this,'” she told Women’s Weekly while on the Labor campaign trail.

“It was very scary, and in that moment, you realise just how much you love this person — the fear of losing them.

“As I jumped in the ambulance and saw Anthony, I knew then the depth of my feelings towards him.”

Well-wishes for the newlyweds 

Congratulations to the newlyweds have come from far and wide, not least in Mr Albanese’s inner-west Sydney electorate.  

At the Henson Park Hotel in Marrickville, a woman told the ABC they were at “Albo’s favourite pub celebrating his wedding” before launching into a loud “cheers” and a chant of “oi, oi, oi,” with her glass held high.

Two locals said they felt “proud” of him.

“I think it shows that he’s human, that he has a life outside of politics and it’s really nice, it’s good to see,” one woman said.

Another man said he thought “it was pretty good” and that he was happy for anyone who gets married and is in love.

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“If you’ve been together long enough, and you feel marriage is the right thing to do, then why not?” he said.

“Toto was the ring bearer, perfect. That’s what I would have done too, awesome.”

How Jodie Haydon is challenging the ‘first lady’ role

How Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon met, along with her transition into the high-profile role of Australia’s first lady.

Well-wishes have also been shared by people from all sides of politics.

Nationals leader David Littleproud wished Mr Albanese well on Insiders this morning, saying he “couldn’t be happier for the PM and Jodie”.

“Jodie has already stepped up on the international stage and represented us in such a classy way for some time,” he said.

“Good on him and I wish him every happiness.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said she wished the couple “every happiness as they continue building their lives together”.