"I can actually say it was sequins, glitter, and a bottle of wine that made this happen," says Jade (right) about when he met his husband, Campbell. Photo / Supplied
"I can actually say it was sequins, glitter, and a bottle of wine that made this happen," says Jade (right) about when he met his husband, Campbell. Photo / Supplied
Movie makers call it a Meet-Cute – an amusing first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship. Every fortnight Reset shares a real-life origin story.
Jade Turner is creative director of The Warehouse Group. Campbell Orr works for Ray White Real Estate. The couple married in 2017, after same-sex marriage became legal in New Zealand in 2013. They live in Auckland with their dog, Pepper.
Jade says …
I moved up to Auckland from Wellington in 2006 after I’d finished uni. I went flatting in Newmarket and flatted with friends of Campbell’s. Campbell owned Caluzzi on K’ Road. The people I lived with said “oh, you have to meet our friend, Campbell. He’s so lovely. He owns this drag bar and it’s having a birthday party”. And then Campbell came to the flat for dinner one night. To be fair, I thought he was really cute when I first met him, very handsome.
We’d spoken a few times, but not much, really. I got a little bit of Dutch courage at the party and told him I thought he was very handsome. He said, “look, I’m actually in a relationship, but thank you very much, it’s very flattering”. He really was such a gentleman. So, I just had to wait.
And then a few months later, when he broke up with that person, he gave me a call and asked if I wanted to go on a date. Because he had just come out of a relationship, I didn’t want to be the rebound guy. But I was like, “he’s into relationships. So maybe I should just see how far we can go”. I wanted to be wined and dined!
A friend, Gareth, was leaving for the UK and was having a big farewell party and then that’s when I thought “I’m gonna kiss this boy tonight”. And then I did and the rest is history. We were inseparable after that, actually. I think wine brings people together. I can actually say it was sequins, glitter, and a bottle of wine that made this happen.
We went on a lovely, great first date to a little Italian restaurant. It was super low-key and casual. I thought it would be at 45 minutes to an hour, [the date] lasted seven hours. We went for dinner and then we went for drinks. And then we just stayed up all night, talking and laughing.
After that, it was every weekend and every night after work. Because Campbell owned the bar our hours were really different. He worked until four in the morning, and I’d be asleep. We were like ships in the night. We were only dating for about three months before I moved in, it was very quick.
He is the nicest person. My parents love Campbell and can’t rave about him enough. He’s a hopeless romantic. He’s very generous and has a loving heart. Everything has been milestones. We got engaged on our fifth anniversary and married on our 10th. [The delay was because] we said we weren’t going to get married until it was legal [rather than a civil union]. And also, Campbell got braces, like adult braces. And I was like, “I can’t have that in my wedding photos!”.
Campbell is my person and I am his. We say that to each other all the time.
Campbell says …
My family adores Jade. They think he’s incredibly entertaining.
I remember my friend Brad saying, “Oh, you’d love our new flatmate. He’s right up your alley”.
I came around for dinner and Jade came home from work. And I went, ‘yes, he’s right up my alley”, but I was seeing somebody. We expressed that we were interested in each other, but nothing was going to happen [until I was single]. It was Gareth’s party when we kissed, and [Jade] said “I’m not that easy. You have to take me on a date”.
When we got engaged, I let him think it was our fifth-anniversary celebration, but I had this whole proposal planned.
When it comes to holidays, Jade just basically turns up at the airport with a bag packed, so without even trying I was able to organise everything completely in secret. I thought ‘I’m going to go as cheesy as I possibly can’. We flew business class to the Gold Coast, I got this big limo to pick us up from the airport, there was champagne. We had a great hotel suite, and we went to the Palazzo Versace restaurant, which was amazing.
I had a ring in my pocket the whole night. I’d had a ring designed, but it wasn’t ready. The jeweller apologised and said, ‘take this as a backup’, a giant diamond ring. We got back to the hotel room, and I said, “do you want one more surprise?” and I got down on one knee and I was about to say something, and the ring was barely out of my pocket, and he said “yes, yes, yes”.
Jade Turner (seated) and Campbell Orr on their wedding day. Photo / Supplied
We got married at Mantell’s in Mt Eden and our friend Gareth officiated. We didn’t want a formal wedding. The formalities were 10 minutes, max, then it was a celebration with family and friends. It wasn’t traditional and to be fair, we had 15 drag queens there all in drag. It was exactly what we wanted.
Jade is very loving and very caring. He never takes anything too seriously and can always make a joke out of something.
We have lots of quiet moments and love being with each other. We can go anywhere and do anything, and we’ve travelled the world. When we go somewhere, we’ll do a check-in; ‘We’re good, we’re good. Cool, stick together, whatever happens. It’s us against the world’.
