There is one moment I’ll never forget in my travels as a celebrant. It was 2:30pm on 11 March 2017, an hour before I was due to marry two very close friends. Before I joined a convoy of cars enroute to the ceremony site, the bride said one thing to me:
“I just want to get married on that cliff side. To walk down the aisle towards that view and JP. That’s all I want.”
It was the wedding day of Stephanie and John, at one of Mother Nature’s most raw and beautiful stomping grounds – Bethells Beach in New Zealand. They’d selected a private, exposed cliff side location, which framed the rugged and pristine coastline perfectly. It was a million-dollar view, made famous by Hollywood several times over.
But at that particular moment in time, Mother Nature was being a tad moody. The heavens had opened up – really opened up. Taunted by light showers all day, the bride and I were now staring outside at torrential downpour.
Steph was gutted.
We knew what it meant – hosting the ceremony in the back-up location. We’d done a rehearsal onsite the day before and inspected the modest hall. We had laughed through gritted teeth at the eighties-inspired décor (featuring large fibreglass dolphins, no less) and prayed for sunshine overnight.
No amount of “rain is good luck” chat was flying at that point, so I hugged her, cracked some bad jokes to take the edge off, and made my way towards the ceremony location where she’d soon make her entrance.
Celebranting – a verb I often take the liberty of using in this gig – is equal parts meticulous planning and winging it. More often than not, it means reading the room and the people in it, to make calculated changes on the fly – always with your client’s wishes top of mind. It’s usually little, thoughtful, gentle things; but this wedding called for something more.
You see, just 12 minutes before the bride was due to arrive, the rain dried up, the storm clouds parted and the sunshine returned. It was divine intervention. The rays beating down on that cliff side were karmic, I’m sure of it, because Steph and and John are pretty stellar humans.
I’m no meteorologist and neither was the groom, but we had a little chat about that sunshine and decided to act quickly.
“At the bride and groom’s request, I’d like to ask everyone to pick up their chair and move outside to the cliff side,” I said.
There were cheers and tears as everyone picked up their seats and moved outside at record speed. It was a bit like directing traffic to get the ceremony set up again, not to mention the tech gear that was being quickly relocated. But there was a buzz in the air and it added a whole new level of excitement.
We did it. Within minutes, we were set up and soaking up the rays with THAT view. Exactly where they’d dreamt of saying “I do”.
When Steph and her bridal party made their entrance on the horizon in a vintage kombi van, and saw us all there waiting, she was ecstatic beyond words. It was a defining moment of their wedding day, that everyone present will never, ever forget.
Today marks Steph and John’s second wedding anniversary and they recently welcomed a beautiful little girl into their family too, Remi Rose. So I thought it was fitting to share this story, so Remi knows just how lucky she is. It’s in her DNA.
Happy anniversary Steph and John, congratulations on first-time parenthood and thank you for this special memory.
Hales x