Touching love story wins couple a Whanganui wedding
Couple have faced many hardships but they have won Caboodle wedding
Liz Keegan had never heard of the Mainstreet Caboodle when she entered the competition to win a wedding at the event. “I was scrolling online late one night and decided to enter,” she said.
“I didn’t expect that we would win and the reality is still sinking in,” she said this week.
Mainstreet Whanganui events manager Kelly Scarrow said entrants were asked to share their love story and what winning the wedding would mean to them and their partner.
“There were five of us on the panel and we selected Liz and her partner Josh Wakeling because their story touched our hearts,” Scarrow said.
The fun-loving Eltham couple have faced some huge challenges during their 11 years together.
First, Keegan’s oldest son Jared was diagnosed with cancer and she had to move to Christchurch while he underwent lengthy chemotherapy and stem cell transplant treatments.
“Josh and I had only been together for six months and I had to go away to get my son’s treatment so I said: ‘Hey let’s just be friends because I’m not going to be able to give you the relationship you deserve’.
“He said ‘I’ll choose what I deserve, all I know is I need you’ And since then we have been inseparable.”
Keegan and Wakeling were in Christchurch when the city was rocked by devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.
“Josh was on the phone non-stop with me virtually holding my hand as the world shook every five minutes,” she said.
Wakeling, says Keegan, has been a brilliant stepfather to her children Jared, 20, Joseph, 14, and Jessica, 11.
In 2013, they had a son named Tristan, which brought great joy to the family but Keegan suffered a
I didn’t tell him I had entered the competition until we got the phone call while we were on a family camping trip. Liz Keegan
stroke after the birth.
“We have been near bankruptcy, relied on family to be able to house our big family, and walked with some precarious health problems,” Keegan said.
“This man has earned me as his wife and I would be so honoured if only it could come true,” she wrote in application.
Scarrow, who is a marriage celebrant, has donated her services as part of the prize and will perform the ceremony in Majestic Square during the Mainstreet Caboodle as part of Bayleys Whanganui Vintage Weekend on January 24.
Etcetera Bridal is providing Keegan’s gown, Victoria Rhodes Flowers will provide bouquets, buttonholes and flowers for the archway, which is provided by Wainhouse Macrame.
Top Draw Lingerie Boutique are providing the bridal undergarments and Spoilt Beauty & Nail Salon will provide the bride’s makeup and manicure.
Memories of the special day will be captured by 360 Tours Photography in photos and video before the wedding party adjourn for a 40-person buffet dinner provided by Stellar Bar & Restaurant.
The couple will then retire to the honeymoon suite provided by the Rutland Arms Inn where they will also enjoy a complimentary breakfast on Sunday.
Jared will be Wakeling’s groomsman and the children will spend a night with friends in Whanganui while their parents are at the Rutland.
“Josh is a humble, shy man and feeling a bit anxious about this big surprise,” Keegan said.
“I didn’t tell him I had entered the competition until we got the phone call while we were on a family camping trip.”
Wakeling, a trained baker, has been working for Fonterra but has decided to retrain as a food technology teacher this year.
“This fantastic treat has come at such a good time for us and we can’t thank all these wonderful Whanganui people enough for making it possible and choosing us,” Keegan said.
Check out essence inside Saturday’s Chronicle for a full preview of Bayleys Whanganui Vintage Weekend and the Mainstreet Caboodle.