31 October 2020
I proposed to my husband amongst native bush in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens after wandering through the cherry blossoms in full bloom. No one knew, and even he had to check it was real, at first. It was relaxed, at home, so very 'us'. His pounamu ring hid incognito amongst the breads and cheeses of our picnic until he found it. I did not get down on one knee. We gave ourselves 24 hours before we told anyone; before we even thought about planning.
We never wanted a long engagement or an expensive wedding. But then we never counted on a global pandemic. Our low-key garden wedding was a COVID-19 casualty, and while trying to re-plan, all it took was 5 minutes at the plush Britten Stables for Leo to be sold on the venue change. I was less easily persuaded, but between my fiancee's certainty and *that staircase*, we had the deposit paid in less than a week.
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| *That* staircase. |
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| The final fitting with my ladies. |
But time goes ever on and on, and without a wealth of community transmission, we had a 2020 wedding where we could celebrate, hug, and dance together to celebrate. And that was an incredibly rare and wonderful thing.
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| The night before. |
Naturally, I slept terribly the night before. But once day broke, Leo and I took a moment - just the two of us. We wandered down Cambridge Terrace and had a decent breakfast to see us throughout the day. When we returned to the Stables, it was a flurry of hair, make-up, bubbles, laughter and people coming and going and the morning flew by. I made my way into the main house to put on my dress, and it was like walking into an oven. The house was sweltering. I resigned myself to 'glistening' through the day. I 'glistened' through our first look in the sun-bathed atrium, and then 'glistened' over to Mona Vale for photos.
At my insistence, about 3:00 we had a break and I took off my dress, having champagne in front of the air conditioning in my robe. I loved lingering at the huge triangular window as guests started to arrive and seeing them collect a drink from the trolley. But when it came time to put my dress on again, I felt tense and nervous. I am not particularly adept at being effusive about personal things, even just to Leo. I was not eager to share them in front of a large crowd. As we made our way downstairs, I tried to distract myself but felt incredibly overwhelmed.
I am not sure I would have made it to the stairs without Leo by my side. I have no idea how brides do it traditionally. I needed his voice in my ear and his hand in mine. But once we were in position, and he was there in front of me, and every face in the audience was someone special to us, every stress melted away.
The atrium was a furnace. We had no idea it would be like that - on other visits it had been chilly. We had even discussed hiring space heaters! As we dripped through the ceremony, guests backed into the shadows, and the wedding party nabbed water we had sequestered around the balcony. But despite the heat, it was perfect. The ceremony was personal and unique. Our parents gave speeches - Leo's through the conduit of Nacho, and everyone had a drink to enjoy throughout. I nearly made it through my vows without tears, and the balance of laughs and sentiment was terrific.
Directly after we had canapes on the lawn - outside and with a slight breeze, the temperature was perfect. Master's of Ceremony Richard and Luke took over, and I spent the rest of the day enjoying myself with my new husband. We took the time to make our first video call as husband and wife to Leo's parents Susana and Luis, and it was special to speak with them so soon after the ceremony. My favourite part of most weddings is speeches, and these were above expectation.
We had exponential canapes, ending in sweet treats, about the time that the playlist titled 'Dancing with the Boomers' meant that nearly all the guests hit the dance floor hard.
There was a moment about 8 pm that we snuck out for a final few portraits and filtering over the fence and through the trees was the sound of my loved ones having an excellent time. It was such a beautiful sound.
By 10, I had changed into a more manageable outfit, said goodbye to Britten and most of the guests and a small contingent headed to Rouges Bar to continue the party. We decided to open up the bar tab, and soon shots, cocktails and top-shelf liquor were sloshing around with us on the dance floor.
I still am unsure what time we got to bed, but it was in the little hours of my first day of being a wife. The next day was difficult. People plying me with espresso martini's the night before meant that food made me feel queasy, and I was very unhappy with the bright sunshine. But it was time to honeymoon.
We flew to Queenstown and caught the bus to Te Anau and stayed in the most well equipped Airbnb, before boarding a boat in Milford Sound, where we would enjoy the next six days sailing Fiordland. The 'Breaksea Girl' is an eighteen-metre steel Buckeyed Ketch with a "strong history of conservation". She was a hardy boat - made for much more than tourism - having been down to the sub-Antarctic on scientific missions. It certainly made us feel more intrepid than those on the occasional large tourist boats we saw.
Day one, we left Milford with reasonable haste and embarked on the most extended sea voyage of the trip - one that taught Leo that he does, indeed, get seasick. We popped into Bligh Sound to give him a rest from the rolling waves, something that saved him from actually feeding the fishes, before anchoring in George Sound for the first two nights. We hiked up Alice Falls and kayaked for hours down the Southwest Arm on the calmest water I have ever seen.
Our next sea excursion took us to Caswell Sound, and I expertly skippered the entire way.
After unsuccessfully hunting for an abandoned marble mine, and a spot of fishing behind Styles Island, we made our way to Charles Sound for the next two nights. Making friends with some local crayfishers saw us enjoying some absolute beasts of lobster. In the morning, the clear blue perfect days that had so far defined the trip were replaced by the misty moodiness of classic Fiordland, and we paddled through the fog up the pristine Irene river in a double kayak.
We celebrated the sunrise on day six with an unexpectedly enjoyable pre-breakfast swim. We said goodbye to Doubtful with a helicopter ride out of Deep Cove under the low hanging clouds, and it was one of the most spectacular sights of my life so far.
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| Te Anau from the air |
For anyone who has not gone deep into Fiordland, you should. It is the most untouched place I have ever been, and the complexity and rawness of it have to be one of the most profound things to experience. And to do it with my new husband Leo was the very best part.