Andy Bateman

We woke up in Oceans Resort in Whitianga after Andys restless night, I however slept like a baby. Lots of beauty sleep ready for the day to come.

Our ceremony wasn't until 5 o'clock so we had a little bit of relaxing to do. We broke all the rules and stayed together the whole day and headed across the road to the beach, we chatted about our future to come and the more trivial matter of lunch. Midday soon came and I headed off to have my hair and makeup done, the clouds were gathering above and the salon talked of nothing else but rain! Even though our wedding wasn't until later that day the thought of pouring rain encouraged my hair dresser to use an entire can of hairspray to ensure it would stay.

Andy came and picked me up after I was done, looking a little out of place with fancy hair and make up and shorts and t shirt! Andy had not wasted any time and had gone for a run, swam in the sea, accepted a cup of tea from a couple on the beach and been kind to a young girl who was stranded on the beach in the pouring rain. And yes, it rained- so much that Andy couldn't even see the cliffs opposite.

As Andy picked me up there was no sign that it had even rained, the clouds had gone and the sun was out for our wedding day.

We headed off to Villa Toscana, a stunning, breath taking villa secluded in the mountains above Whitianga and Mercury Bay. For anyone interested Mercury Bay was the place that Captain Cook first properly landed and met locals (without accidentally killing them). We only had 45 minutes to get ready before Mark, Gordon and Diana arrived so Andy went off to have a shower and I wandered around the villa stunned by how amazing it was! Before I knew it Mark and the rest of the gang arrived and I finished getting ready.

I was very impressed with Andy that even though we had been dragging my wedding dress around for the previous 3 weeks, he hadn't looked and resisted the temptation to look. I had been trying to throw him off the scent by pretending to worry about strap marks and creases but I will never forget how he looked at me when I appeared from our bedroom.

We had a few photos around the Villa, then headed off with Gordon and Diana to Lonely Bay, a winding road around the bay for about an hour. We were expecting a few people on the beach but when we arrived at the top of the path to the beach there were many cars and we started wondering how busy the beach would be. As the path opened up onto the beach people soon realised what we were there to do and as we picked our spot on a rock by the waterside our spectators gave us space (as the ceremony progressed we soon forgot they were there until a little applause broke out as we kissed, lovely).

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We stood on our rock and Gordon kicked things off, as it was just the two of us we had worried that we would pick some readings and words and when the day came he would just be reading them back to us, so Gordon had kindly suggested he write the ceremony and that it would be a surprise to us, it was beautiful, we wouldn't have picked anything better. We'll tell you more when we get home.

Mark took us off around the beach for a little photo shoot, we wandered around as people congratulated us. We had great fun with Mark and can't wait to see the photos!

Next it was off back to Villa Toscana for our Wedding Breakfast, a feast of sea food as follows:

  1. Avocado and Tuna on Ciabatta
  2. Shrimp Cocktail
  3. Whitebait with toast
  4. Tomato pasta with a different kind of fish
  5. Crayfish with Tomato salad
  6. Panna cotta with Strawberries
  7. and a strong Italian Coffee

All fantastic! Lovely, lovely food, a huge thank you to Giorgio and Margherita, not just for the food but their hospitality over that last few days at Villa Toscana.

And then off to bed...

We have a few photos here while we are waiting for Marks.

Mr and Mrs Bateman