GONE WITH THE WIND!
Two hours before hand, they had to relocate
Surrounded by a fine evening mist, holding hands on a pier overlooking the rippling Waitemata Harbour, newlyweds Alexandra and Tony Russell were enjoying a romantic moment after their Auckland ceremony.
The bride’s Audrey Hep burninspired gown fit perfectly with the elegant white décor of the wharf venue. However, she and the groom, both 27, were meant to be somewhere else entirely.
Their wedding was supposed to have been held at the Redwood Treehouse, a pod-shaped structure 10 metres off the ground in a forest north of Auckland, but just two hours before the ceremony, they were told it couldn’t go ahead due to the monster storm battering the North Island.
“The wind and rain were literally sideways, so there was no way we could do the ceremony we’d planned,” recalls teacher Alexandra. “Our photographer was really concerned she wouldn’t get the right shots, but the main thing was the health and safety limit on the wind level for having people in the treehouse.”
Hidden in the woods in Warkworth, the treehouse was chosen as a venue for the Auckland pair’s intimate wedding because of vehicle importer Tony’s love of the outdoors. “We didn’t even look anywhere else after
seeing it,” says Alexandra. “My heart was set on it.”
When they received news of the last-minute cancellation, the bride’s mother burst into tears. The treehouse manager suggested they relocate to another venue, The Wharf, a 40-minute drive away, but Alexandra wasn’t keen – until she called level-headed Tony.
“He’s absolutely my rock,” tells Alexandra. “He’d never visited the place, but he said, ‘Yep, that’s what we’re going to do.’ Even in the most challenging situations, he always reassures me to go with the flow.”
Family, friends and the wedding planner helped reorganise the photography, catering, cake and sound system. But Alexandra recalls, “It was only later that I realised nobody had phoned the celebrant. When I finally got through to her, it was an hour before the ceremony and she was already at the treehouse, but she immediately turned around and drove all the way back through awful traffic. She didn’t appear at all fazed by the travel and change!”
Even more fortunately, the owners of the Warkworth accommodation the couple and their guests had booked for the night waived their cancellation fees. “We’re incredibly
grateful for that,” says Alexandra.
This wasn’t the first time that bad weather had disrupted one of the couple’s big occasions. The bride tells, “Tony had planned an elaborate trip to Rangitoto Island in 2016, when he was going to propose. He’d secretly sold his car to save the money and designed the engagement ring, but it was so windy and rainy, the ferries were cancelled, so we ended up going out for dinner instead and he proposed at Takapuna Beach.”
Four years after they met while working in retail together, Alexandra and Tony tied the knot at The Wharf, against a backdrop of blossoming pohutukawa trees and a glistening sea.
“It was really overwhelmingly beautiful,” smiles Alexandra. “I walked in with Dad and as soon as I saw Tony, I didn’t see anything else. After the ceremony, I knew we’d absolutely made the right call. The venue really didn’t matter as long as he was there.”