Sophie Delezio says ‘I do’! Burns victim who suffered horrific life-changing injuries as a child finally gets her happily ever after as she weds childhood sweetheart Joseph Salerno
Burns survivor Sophie Delezio has tied the knot in a whimsical country wedding at an exclusive Hunter Valley estate with her fiancé Joseph Salerno on Saturday.
The couple married at Anambah House in the heart of the Hunter Valley just two hours from Sydney.
The venue sits amongst a lavish 1890s private country residence surrounded by rolling green hills, on-site church and a converted rustic barn amidst the property’s landscaped gardens.
Sophie, 24, wore a long flowy gown complete with a long lace veil while her bridesmaids wore silk champagne coloured gowns.
The groom wore a chocolate brown suit white his groomsmen wore matching beige suits and RM Williams style boots.
The reception was held inside the converted barn overlooking ancient oak trees and acres of pristine lawns and gardens.
Bridesmaids could be seen holding Sophie’s veil back as the couple said their vows.
The bride wore the incredible diamond heart and pearl drop earrings that Italian movie star Sophia Loren gave her in 2007 for her special day.
Burns survivor Sophie Delezio has tied the knot in a whimsical country wedding
Delezio tied the knot with her fiancé Joseph Salerno at an exclusive Hunter Valley estate
Sophie’s bridesmaids wore silk champagne coloured gowns (pictured)
The bridesmaids could be seen holding Sophie’s veil back as the couple said their vows
The childhood sweethearts met when they were 15-years-old and recently welcomed a baby
Australia rallied around Sophie (pictured aged three) when a car crashed through the window of her daycare centre in 2003 when she was two, trapping her underneath
About 160 friends and family arrived at the venue by bus on Saturday afternoon to see the longtime couple commit to each other for life.
Amongst the guests included the doctors who performed more than 100 operations to save Sophie’s life after two devastating accidents as a child.
Australia rallied around Sophie when a car crashed through the window of her daycare centre in 2003 when she was two, trapping her underneath.
Burns covered 85 per cent of her body after the tragedy, which also took both of her feet, several fingers and her right ear.
Who can forget the heartbreaking images of the doe-eyed toddler, who also lost both feet, a number of fingers and an ear in the shocking accident?
Three years later, tragedy struck again when the five-year-old was hit by a car near her home in Sydney’s northern beaches while out with her nanny.
The impact threw her 18metres out of her wheelchair, leaving her with a broken jaw, broken collarbone, nine broken ribs, punctured lungs, two fractured vertebrae and a brain injury.
Sophie suffered a heart attack during the ordeal and doctors at Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick asked her family twice if they would like to turn off her life support.
The couple married at Anambah House in the heart of the Hunter Valley (pictured)
The venue sits amongst a lavish 1890s private country residence (the interior is pictured)
Sophie’s long-time partner Joseph Salerno wore a chocolate brown suit for the wedding
The bride and groom arrived to the ceremony in a white Pontiac Bonnevile (pictured)
But the resilient little girl made another remarkable recovery and only a month later she left the hospital and went back to school.
She’s celebrated many milestones in the years following the freak accidents, last September the happy couple welcomed a little boy, Frankie, with Sophie telling Woman’s Day magazine it was ‘the best year of her life’.
The couple met in Year 9 a students at Oxford Falls Grammar, a co-educational Christian school and soon became fast friends, spending afternoons together and even going as each other’s dates to their Year 10 formal.
They got engaged in 2023, after Joseph popped the question on Valentines Day surrounded by rose petals and candles.
In the months following the engagement, Sophie revealed that she underwent surgery in order to walk down the aisle for her special day. She took to Instagram to share the news of her recovery to her followers.
‘Life threw me a major curveball and I had to undergo surgery in order for me to walk down the aisle next year,’ she wrote.
She previously told Woman’s Day magazine she intended on wearing the special prosthetic legs she had made so she could wear 10cm heels to her Year 10 formal and dance the night away with Joseph.
Three years after the daycare incident, tragedy struck again when the five-year-old was hit by a car near her home in Sydney’s northern beaches while out with her nanny
Sophie and Joseph were engaged in 2023, after he popped the question on Valentines Day
‘That’s a full-circle moment, wearing those same legs for the wedding,’ she says, adding that they will both write their own vows, and play the 1963 Ronettes classic Be My Baby for their first dance as husband and wife.
The couple spared no expense for their wedding weekend, hiring a $4,000-a-night Airbnb that sleeps 21 guests and boasts a cinema room, games area and enormous swimming pool.
The couple’s respective bridal party spent the morning getting ready at the lavish rental property where they held a pre-wedding photo-shoot on the lawn.
Sophie wore a white silk bridal robe alongside her five bridesmaids who were dressed in royal blue robes. Her mum Carolyn could be seen in matching blue pyjamas.
The girls enjoyed a celebratory champagne during the photoshoot where they could be seen raising a glass to the special day.
A classic 1964 white Pontiac Bonneville with antique blue interiors drove Sophie and her parents Ron and Carlyn to the wedding situated 20-minute drive from their lavish accomodation.
