Maree and Forrest

Real Wedding – Maree and Forrest Tyrrell-Baxter - 12 March 2005

Walking down the beach on the north shore in the pouring rain, Forrest waited for a break in the weather and when it came, he did the deed in a very sweet manor. We had been together for 5 years already and knew it was something that was always going to happen between us at some stage.

I had probably been planning my wedding my whole life...... no actually we lived in London until August last year and we pretty much started planning from about October. Once we set the date and decided on the location, we got down to planning our day. We pretty much did everything ourselves right from making the invitations, to making the little pots that sat on every table. I even made the bridemaids' earrings.

I love the mint green that has come out this season and I think that silver is a real goer as well, so we mixed the two and everything we ended up with our wedding colours and a theme that was perfect for us.

I decided on a Strapless, A-line gown in pure white with rouching down one seam which was made by Maureen Mc Millan. My bridesmaids wore beautiful dresses of mint green/silver made from Thai Silk.

We arrived at the ceremony in two hot rods, a ford convertible and a Cadillac - quite a collection of cars!

The ceremony was quite informal as we didn't want a religious service but the fact that we were there getting married was better than anything and not one thing could have been more special than the next thing. We had photos after the ceremony and when posing for the photos on the water front, a bus load of Asian tourists decided they needed photos of us too, so they conveniently perched themselves in front of us for every photo they took and all had turns- so we may be famous one day!

The reception had a relaxed feel to the atmosphere which was very us. The music and the people we had invited to share our special day really bought it all to life. Probably one of the most memorable moments for me was the very special speech Forrest made and seeing the impact it had on people and how special he was about me.

We followed tradition, but kept it very personalised and even the church ceremony was quick and very non religious based.

I sewed my great grandmother's ring into my Torsolette as my old;

My outfit was something new;

My borrowed was my skin sparkle from my sister; and

My something blue was my garter.

The best decision about the wedding was marrying Forrest and I don't think anyone would have done anything differently! Everything was so special I couldn't pick out any particular moment of the day. I highly recommend getting married.

Afterwards, we had a wonderful honeymoon in Rarotonga in the beautiful Muri Lagoon.

And their advice on married life: "Married life does change things a little, but only for the better. Forrest and I have been together for eight years, but I think you loose any worries you may have had before you got married and relax into the whole situation."