IN JUST four weeks John and Joy Telfer pulled off a wedding that would bind them for six decades.

The Warwick couple will tomorrow celebrate their Diamond Anniversary, marking sixty years of marriage.

Their love story began in a hospital at the Royal Australian Air Force base in Laverton in Victoria, where they were both posted.

Mr Telfer first clapped eyes on Mrs Telfer as she lay in a bed after having her appendix removed.

"She looked lonely so I thought I'd go and say hello, chat her up,” Mr Telfer, now 79, said through a smile.

The pair became engaged on March 17, 1956 and then married on September 21, 1957.

Mrs Telfer said the pair planned to enjoy a long engagement of a couple of years, but this was unexpectedly cut short when her now husband was given four weeks notice to take up a posting at Lake Macquarie with the Air Force.

The extra time would have allowed Mrs Telfer, now 80, to maintain her own position in the Air Force.

"In those days you had to get out when you were engaged and married,” Mrs Telfer said.

"Even though I liked the service and wanted to keep going I didn't have a choice.”

Given the short notice of their departure, their wedding was an intimate affair with about 50 people at St Peter's Catholic Church in Toorak.

In their 60 years together, the pair have raised three children, Sharon, Jennifer and Greg, and now are proud grandparents to six.

Despite labelling each other as "ying and yang”, Mrs Telfer said the pair had never shared a serious argument.

"Completely opposites in a lot of things but united in the major things, like raising children,” she said.

The pair relocated from Melbourne to Brisbane in 1980 then settled in Warwick in 2005.

Mr Telfer, who grew up in Brisbane, said living far away from family for most of their lives has helped bring them closer together.

"The challenges cement the relationship because you face them together,” he said.

A party has not been planned to mark tomorrow's occasion, with the couple instead planning to enjoy a quiet dinner together at Roses Licensed Chinese Restaurant.

Members of several Warwick clubs, the pair will keep making the most of each day together.

"We haven't got too much planned for the future, just to stay healthy and live a little longer,” Mrs Telfer said.