For three-and-a-half heady days in late 2013, Hackett couple Veronica Wensing and Krishna Sadhana were a legally married couple, both revelling in being a "Mrs" and feeling their relationship was finally equal to others in the community.
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While they never doubted the legitimacy of their now 18-year relationship, being married somehow made them feel different. Even if it was all too brief.
They were one of 31 same-sex couples who were lawfully married in the ACT for up to five days until a High Court ruling found their marriages to be unconstitutional and their unions null and void.
Now with the federal parliament moving possibly towards a vote on same-sex marriage, Ms Wensing and Ms Sadhana are excited but wary.
"I feel less excited this time around. I don't want to believe it until it happens," Ms Wensing said.
"I know what it's like to have that huge wave of excitement and to just have it taken away from you."
Ms Sadhana said: "I'll wait until it's very real and legislated and it's not going to be snatched away and then I'll probably feel comfortable".
And she couldn't resist a cheeky dig. "And then we'll go back to doing all the wild things that gay people do. Like cooking the dinner and watching Game of Thrones".
"The world won't be destroyed by this legislation being passed," Ms Sadhana said, with a laugh.
"But as citizens of this country we will feel more accepted."
Labor leader Bill Shorten and his deputy Tanya Plibersek intend to introduce a bill to the House of Representatives to legalise same-sex marriage on Monday. Even if the various machinations within Parliament allow a vote next week or sometime later in the year, the couple won't believe anything is certain until the Marriage Act is changed.
They will be happy to say "I do" again but believe they don't need another big ceremony.
"We had a huge wedding. There were 200 people. Our children gave us away," Ms Sadhana said.
"We had our day, we had an amazing day. If we did, we would probably do something low-key."
Ms Wensing said their marriage, however brief, had also been good for the four children they brought to the union – she has one child and Ms Sadhana three children.
"It cemented their relationships with each other, because we're a blended family," she said. "And for them, it legitimised their relationships with each other as well. I think that's something that's overlooked with same-sex marriage. It's about validating families."
Evatt couple Julia O'Boyle and Sue Read entered into an emotional and heartfelt civil partnership in 2010, complete with amazing frocks and a fun-filled party.
Five years later, Ms O'Boyle was excited by the apparent pace of change within federal parliament towards a vote on same-sex marriage.
"It is happening really quickly so I am feeling a lot more hopeful," she said.
"I definitely thought it would happen but given what's happened in Ireland and I was reading something about Greenland, it does mean Australia is so far behind the rest of the Western world in terms of marriage equality. It's becoming embarrassing, really.
"I guess I didn't feel it would ever happen under this government but, you know, miracles do happen."
Ms O'Boyle said she and Ms Read would get married if the laws changed but didn't feel the need for another big ceremony.
"Ours was very special and very meaningful and we have talked about it and we would get married but possibly wouldn't have as big a bash as five years ago," she said.
Ms Read said same-sex marriages would be "the next layer of recognition" that gay relationships were as legitimate as any other.
"I mean, for us, you look at something like Married at First Sight and it's us making a joke of marriage?" she said.
