IT COULD be a scene straight out of The Notebook: an intimate winter wedding ceremony, in a gazebo next to a glassy grey lake, as two elderly lovers exchange vows.
And just like the classic 2004 movie, the lead-up to the union of Sylvia Martin, 93, and Frank Raymond, 88, which will take place in July is nothing short of a miracle.
Just eight weeks ago, Sylvia had no idea if she would ever see her "darling Frank" ever again.
"I had this photo of us where we'd gone on our last cruise, and he's got his hand out, you see?," Sylvia said, holding a framed photo.
"I had it by my bed at night and I used to put my hand over his and say 'I don't know if I'll ever hold your hand again'."
The elderly couple - who are living proof it's never too late to find true love - had been living together for almost 20 years, most recently in Dodges Ferry, Tasmania, when tragedy struck last year.
Frank had been forced to temporarily move to Melbourne to care for his ailing sister, and Sylvia was staying with her son when she had a bad fall and struck her head. She died three times as paramedics worked to keep her alive.
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While she knew who her children were, she'd completely forgotten her true love, Frank.
"I'd look at photos and say 'look at that man, I don't know him'," she said.
Sylvia's family moved her from Tasmania to Goodwin Village in Monash to be closer to her Canberra-based daughter. A devastated Frank remained in Melbourne.
"I was asked to leave, you see. Because the house had to be sold," Frank said.
"I thought I was gone for good, as they say. That there was no hope.
"I had actually resigned myself to looking after my sister for years and years."
Sylvia settled in at Goodwin Village and then, in December, a miracle occurred.
"I was in my daughter's car, driving down the driveway of her property at Hall, and poof! everything came back to me," Sylvia said.
"I remembered my darling."
Sylvia started pining for her lost love immediately and would beg Goodwin Village Manager of Residential, John Penca, to help reunite her with the man she'd met in a seniors choir on Queensland's Russell Island.
"And then John, he's absolutely wonderful, and I was talking to him one day, and I got upset and I said that we were together," Sylvia said.
"I started crying. And John said 'if there's one thing I'll do, I'll get that man here'."
It took four months to arrange for Frank to leave Melbourne and join Sylvia in Canberra, with Sylvia writing him love letters all the while.
"Sylvia wrote to me. She found out where I was, and called me and said, 'well I would like you to come and be with me again'. Of course, I was very, very pleased to hear that," Frank said.
Being reunited with Sylvia was "heaven on earth, if you can describe that", Frank said.
Upon reconciling with his love, Frank promptly asked Sylvia to marry him. This wasn't unusual - he'd been asking Sylvia on-and-off to marry him for almost their entire 20-year relationship.
But this time Sylvia, having learnt she could keep her surname Martin, which she was adamant on doing out of respect for her first husband, said yes.
Sylvia and her squad of bridesmaids caused a national sensation when they arrived to shop for Sylvia's wedding dress in Cooma retail store Birdsnest in May. The couple has since been featured on Channel Nine's Today show and will spend the next three weeks preparing for their big day on July 25. That includes a hen's night for Sylvia and a buck's night for Frank.
"We never expected this attention," Sylvia said.
"But just to be reunited with my love - well, it's wonderful."
Frank and Sylvia's tips for a long and loving relationship:
Sylvia: It's all about finding the right person. You can't just find someone and say 'that's it'. I fell in love with Frank because he's very much like my father to talk to, and has a quiet nature like my first husband. And always hold hands - we started holding hands years ago and we always hold hands, even in bed at night. Never forget to hold each others' hand.
Frank: One of the things about a happy relationship, I would think, is always saying goodbye with a kiss. And goodnight. With a kiss.
