Arlena & Neihana

Arlena tells their story ...

“My dream came true”

Neihana and I had been going together for 3 years when he proposed to me on Christmas Day 2002. It wasn't the proposal I had imagined, but as he got down on one knee and told me how much he loved me, it didn't matter, of course I said Yes.

We decided to wait a year before getting married to plan and save, so we set the date for January 2004. It was hard to wait that long, especially because I am a super organised person and got to planning my dream wedding within the first weeks of being engaged. The hardest thing was the wait. However it helped as we paid for nearly everything ourselves.

We made our own invitations, Mum organised and bought our table decorations and I organised each guest a small gift at their table setting.

My dress was made by a fantastic dressmaker called Doreen who lives in Hamilton. It was exactly what I wanted. The dress complimented my jewellery. I wanted my outfit & jewellery to be pretty, but simple. It was hard to keep everything hidden from Neihana, but it made it all the more exciting.

Our wedding was held in Hamilton, although we live in Auckland we are from Hamilton and that is where most of our guests live. Our ceremony was at the Muir Park Chapel followed by our Reception at the Garden Terrace Restaurant, Hamilton Rose Gardens.

I was so blessed to wake up on our wedding morning to a beautiful sunny morning. We had had an unbelievable night – with my sister-in-law giving birth to my first nephew at 4.15am on my wedding morning. It just made things more special.

A friend of our families ‘Margaret Higgins' offered to do our bouquets and the guys buttonholes and she done a superb job. I wanted all the flowers to be roses and my Mum done a beautiful job doing the flower decorations for the chapel which we took through to the restaurant.

The cars were on loan to us from Terry Booth, a favour which we are extremely thankful for. We were lucky to have two brand new silver Mercedes Benz. They were exquisite. My oldest brother drove one car and Neihanas brother drove the other.

The ceremony was beautiful. I was so eager to get there and see Neihana, and it was all worth it. My dad and my father-in-law spoke and it was very special. Neihana said I looked better then he could ever imagine. He couldn't stop smiling!

We were welcomed into the reception by my Mother-in-law who done a maori karanga, followed by my Mum and her friends who done a maori welcome song. It was great.

The food at the Garden Terrace Restaurant was superb, and the waiting staff were tremendous. From the beginning the staff at Garden Terrace were a pleasure to deal with and made planning a breeze. They set everything up for us – it was a ‘hassle free' venue.

I had chosen my best friend Julie to be my bridesmaid and Neihana had his twin brother Teina as his best man. Both were fabulous attendants on the day and lived up to their duties. Our flower girls were really good as well. And don't they look cute in their dresses!

Our cake was the most beautiful cake I have ever seen (and tasted). It was made by an extremely talented friend of the family named Sue Thompson. It suited our theme and colours.

The whole event was videotaped from the early hours of the morning to us leaving at midnight by Blaine Rakena. He made time to interview the guests in pairs as they shared stories of how they knew us and passed on their best wishes.

And to put an end to a perfect day, our best man and a couple of friends shouted us two nights in the Honeymoon Suite of the Novotel. It was the best!

On the whole it was the most perfect day of our lives. It was extremely special and exciting. Without our families, our bestman & bridesmaid, we would not have had such a perfect day – so we thank them for making it so. My Mum who was always at my side hearing my ideas and helping me develop them.

After a lovely relaxing 8 days in Rarotonga, we are back into reality and loving every day of married life. I have my dream man, and have now had my dream wedding.