Stuff's wedding of the week
Is there anything more romantic than an elopement? Keen snowboarders Tracy and Matt certainly didn't think so, choosing to fly up into the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps in a helicopter to exchange their handwritten vows.
We'll let Tracy tell you all the beautiful details . . .
How did you meet? Matt and I met through friends in 2002. We became good friends ourselves after we passed each other in a mall and I accidentally "snobbed" him. I turned away just as he was about to say hello! I felt so terrible so I tracked down his number to apologise. We were the best of friends for at least six years before we became a couple. We are the complete opposite of each other; I'm loud and arty and he's quiet and loves to tinker around in his man cave. He's a sparky and I'm a nanny.
Picture by evening dresses
Tell us about the proposal: Matt proposed to me in May 2010 with my dream ring on top of George St Bridge in Brisbane. We had been living in Australia for some years as Matt is an underground electrician in central Queensland. It was Mother's Day and a beautiful, sunny, 26 degrees Celsius, so we decided to take a walk up to the bridge viewing platform, something we had talked about doing for a few years. We reached the top and he dropped to his knee and proposed overlooking Brisbane city.
Location of the wedding: We started to discuss locations and soon realised we both wanted to elope into the snowy mountains, which are an important part of our life together. We love to snowboard and our original plan was to snowboard and marry at the same time . . . except the snow was rubbish this year! The location we ended up choosing was Chest Peak, right in the middle of the Southern Alps.
Describe the wedding day: Well, it was a bumpy start to say the least! We got the go-ahead to helicopter up into the Alps the day before the wedding. Everyone was good to go and I was so sick! I am actually terrified of flying and my nerves were fried by the thought of jumping into a helicopter. Matt had to go to the chemist at 8am on the day to get something to settle my nerves. But by the time 11am rolled around and we were all good to go, I was absolutely fine and really enjoyed the ride.
When we landed, it was crazy windy. We had to do the official part for the license on the peak, so we spent a wild 30 minutes getting married and taking photographs. We then flew down and said our personal vows which we hadn't done yet. We spent the entire day laughing and having fun. The views were amazing - we were so happy to be able to elope like this, how we always dreamed we'd do it. All our friends and family knew of our plans and we are having a reception with everyone in November in Auckland to celebrate.
The dress: It's was a custom made chiffon and tulle number with beading, and mostly my design.
The flowers: We chose to have wild flowers.
Highlight of the wedding: When we were flying over the farms as we left Christchurch and headed towards the snowy Alps when it suddenly dawned on me . . . we are getting married up there! It was an amazing feeling. When we managed to stand on the last dusting of snow to officially become husband and wife was also a dream come true for us.
Was there any drama? The biggest drama we had was it being too windy to spend the entire time up on the peak in the snow. However it worked out being a blessing in disguise, as the second location up in the mountains with all the tawny coloured plantings was amazing for photos.
The honeymoon: We are heading to Japan in Febuary next year for a three-week honeymoon - in the snow of course!
Your photographer and favourite photo? Our photographer was award-winning Susannah Blatchford Photography right here in Christchurch, and she was amazing! My favorite picture is the one of us in the snow, straight after we were pronounced husband and wife.
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