THE Sunny Cowgirls have enjoyed a big year personally and professionally, with Sophie Clabburn learning the value of speed dating and Celeste Clabburn branching out into making music alone.
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Celeste launched her debut solo album, Keeping Me Here, yesterday at the Family Hotel, but they will continue performing together, and Sophie recently got married. In an exclusive for The Leader, newlywed Sophie spoke to us about how she met her husband, Mick Casey.
Sophie has been working at AgQuip, the largest agricultural field days in the Southern Hemisphere that are held in Gunnedah, for many years, either for cattle stations or RM Williams or cooking steak sandwiches.
It's where she met Mick, who owns NFS Ag, a Gunnedah company that provides agricultural technology and support to farmers in the region. "We were distant friends for three years before Lessy (Celeste) dared me to do a speed-dating night in Tamworth," she said.
"I went and invited some friends and thought it would be a laugh. I was just there for the free champagne and food and thought, 'how bad can it be?'"
Sophie said every other speed date was terrible, just like how the movies show them.
"When Mick and I had our five minutes, we didn't stop talking," she said.
"The next day we found out we were a match, but had already made a date for lunch.
"I moved to Gunnedah a year later (after living in Tamworth) and he proposed in New York at a restaurant overlooking the city (last January)."
Sophie said before they went to New York, all their friends were talking about how Mick would propose, which Sophie thought meant he wouldn't, so it was a complete surprise.
The couple married on December 10 in Perth, with 30 family and friends gathering for the occasion.
Celeste was the maid of honour and Mick's brother, Leo, was the best man.
Sophie and Mick honeymooned on Hamilton Island for 10 days.
The newly married Sophie has now been living in North West NSW since 2004, first in Tamworth and now in Gunnedah.
As well as a wedding and a new album, there is more good news for the Sunny Cowgirls, having signed with ABC Country yesterday.
Sophie and Celeste are writing for their upcoming album, which they expect to be released in the second half of the year.
The Sunny Cowgirls will party tonight at the Longyard Hotel with their Grog Monsters Ball at midnight to farewell the festival.
