Newshub bride Wilhelmina’s wonderful Waiheke wedding
The blissful News hub bride ties the knot on Waiheke
Surrounded by spiralling grapevines in a beautiful Waiheke Island vineyard, Newshub reporter Wilhelmina Shrimpton and her beau Mike Sanders slide swords down two champagne bottles, breaking the necks away to release sweet, flowing bubbly.
The celebratory practice, known as sabrage, is a postceremony surprise for wedding guests sheltering from the sun below parasols at Tantalus Estate, where not even a breath of wind has ruffled Wilhelmina’s delicate veil.
An echo of excited applause can be heard through the vineyard, where the couple have wed in front of 120 guests, including fellow Mediaworks reporters Ryan Bridge and Aziz Al-Sa’afin.
As the beaming newlyweds direct loved ones to a sundrenched verandah for chilled champagne and canapés, Mike, 29, takes a moment to pull in his bride by the waist for another lingering kiss.
“Today has been everything I hoped for and more,” says Wilhelmina, 27, her eyes sparkling with a mix of happy tears and love for the man she met at an Auckland café as a teenager. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”
Eight years ago, when Wilhelmina accepted Mike’s invite to a party, it was he who felt like the luckiest guy alive to have nabbed the attention of the well-spoken brunette with endless legs.
“There wasn’t actually a party, so I had to organise one,” a loved-up Mike confesses, speaking to Woman’s Day after the ceremony. “My parents were away, so I threw this big party especially for Wilhelmina and she only ended up staying an hour.”
Jumping in, Wilhelmina laughs loudly, “I also had a 21st to go to! In fact, I didn’t realise until a few years ago that you did all of it for me.”
Leap forward to August 2016 and Mike – a commercial manager for a magazine – again wowed the woman he describes as intelligent and beautiful by proposing during a six-week tour of Europe.
“Wil is Dutch, so we went through London first, then Paris and then to Amsterdam,” explains Mike, who planned the sentimental moment over six months.
Queen for a day
“I’d organised a trip to Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn for a private tour. It’s the palace where Holland’s Queen Wilhelmina used to live and I found an area in the Queen’s Garden, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
“I’m glad she said yes because it would have made for a really awkward rest of the trip if she hadn’t!”
Wilhelmina is glowing as she peers down at the antique-style sparkler on her wedding finger, carefully selected by Mike because he thought its classic cut would still suit her in 30 years.
“I hardly even let you finish proposing before I said yes, did I?” Wilhelmina smiles. “There were a few happy tears too, of course!”
On the wedding day, when Mike sees his bride glide through an aisle of white petals towards him, wearing a backless Martina Liana gown, finished with lace and a floating fantail, it is his turn to well up. “I never cry and my eyes definitely filled with tears,” says Mike.
Wilhelmina confesses that when she made her entrance, everything was a blur except her husband-to-be. “When I turned the corner and saw
Mike, it was almost like tunnel vision. There was only him.”
In their heartfelt vows, Mike tells Wilhelmina she’s the yin to his yang, and the bride replies that he’s the mac to her cheese, her voice breaking with emotion.
Later that afternoon, as the newlyweds brave the scorching heat for photos beside fruit-filled vines, Wilhelmina talks about their future. “Kids are on the horizon, but not immediately,” she admits. “We’d like to spend a few more years as a twosome, ticking off goals like getting overseas work experience for me.”
Meanwhile, the couple have a Hawaiian honeymoon to jet off to in just 24 hours, where they’ll replay memories from the beautiful day they describe as the best of their lives.
“Mike and I have been there for each other through all of life’s massive milestones such as university, graduation, 21sts and first jobs,” says Wilhelmina. “Marriage was a no-brainer – it felt like the next big leap to take together. My heart is very whole at the moment.”