Richie and Gemma’s official wedding album: you are invited to the wedding of the year
“Our love will just grow stronger”
On a windswept hillside above Lake Wanaka on January 14, rugby legend Richie McCaw and Gemma Flynn became husband and wife. The former All Black captain and his stunning hockey player bride exchanged vows in front of family and friends in a romantic, intimate ceremony. The Australian Women’s Weekly was privileged to share the couple’s special day. Kelly Bertrand takes us inside the wedding of the year.
Standing under a rose-covered wooden archway that framed a breathtaking vista of rugged mountains and a crystal clear lake, Richie McCaw was waiting. Nervously.
It was disconcerting to see the All Black legend so anxious – after all, this was the man who shouldered the great expectations of our rugby-mad nation for the 10 years he captained the boys in black.
But on his wedding day, his heroics on the field meant nothing. All that mattered was that he was about to see his stunning bride, hockey star Gemma Flynn, as she walked towards him on the hillside above majestic Lake Wanaka.
While Richie and Gemma are one of the country’s most high-profile couples, this was to be a down-to-earth, romantic ceremony. Well, as down-to-earth as it’s possible to be with helicopters buzzing overhead and a horde of paparazzi at the gate. “Yeah, it’s been a bit crazy,” Richie remarks of the media attention, in something of an understatement.
No other union has ever enthralled the country quite as much as this one. New Zealand, it seemed, finally had its answer to a royal wedding, a true Kiwi fairytale.
It certainly felt like a fairytale when the beautiful bride finally appeared, traditionally late, looking radiant in her custom-designed Anna Schimmel gown and cathedral-length veil, on the arm of her father Rob.
Somehow, the clouds that had threatened rain all morning cleared, and sunlight streamed onto the rose-petal strewn aisle. The gusts of wind abated, and all eyes were on Gemma. As she made her way up the aisle, her eyes locked onto Richie, and rugby’s hard man couldn’t contain his delight, his face breaking into a wide grin. This was the moment he had looked forward to the most.
“I choked up a wee bit… I was blown away,” says Richie. “I knew I would be. She was beautiful.” Gemma, for her part, was just trying to get down the steep aisle in one piece, and was determined to keep her eyes on her groom. “It was nice walking towards him.”
Songbird by Fleetwood Mac, one of the couple’s favourite songs, filled the air, as her four bridesmaids – fellow Black Stick Charlotte Harrison, cousin Nicole Turner and friend Abigail Marshall, and maid of honour Lydia O’Donnell, as well as the gorgeous flower girls, Richie’s nieces Chloe and Ruby – took their places for the ceremony.
On reaching her groom, Gemma offered her dad a quick kiss before he shook hands with his soon-to-be son-in-law. The bridal couple gave each other nervous, excited smiles as their celebrant, former Olympic heptathlete and Gemma’s long-time friend, Sarah Cowley-Ross, began their service; Richie gently stroking Gemma’s hand as Sarah welcomed the 170 guests.
If any of them had turned up expecting a formal, regal ceremony, they would have been disappointed, for it was soon apparent it wasn’t two celebrated sports stars getting married on that moody, windswept Wanaka afternoon – it was, simply, two soulmates.
They first met at a promotional function for the All Blacks and Black Sticks in Hamilton four-and-a-half years ago. Gemma thought Richie was sweet, and Richie thought he would very much like to talk to the hockey star again.
“So I messaged her on Facebook,” he says. Wishing her luck for the upcoming London Olympics, Richie started a conversation, and it turns out, it never ended. They began dating, and found they had much in common – their determination, drive, family values and, it has to be said, their competitiveness.
Richie fell for Gemma’s friendliness, kindness and generosity. “She’s pretty wise,” he says. “She’ll listen and understand. One of the coolest things is
that she enjoys seeing people have success, and encourages them. She encourages me to try new things. I hope that goes the other way, too!
“We’re pretty similar – that’s what makes us get on so well,” Richie continues in his famously laid-back style. “We have the same outlook, we enjoy doing the same things. And family is really important to both of us.”
Gemma, meanwhile, was taken by Richie’s sweet, old-fashioned nature. “He was a gentleman,” she says. “It’s easy to love them, but you have to really like them too. I know that sounds funny, but you have to really like how they are, accept them and all the little different things about each other. That’s what we have.”
Gemma later moved from her native Tauranga to be with Richie in Christchurch, which is now home.
Early in 2015, Richie knew it was time to pop the question. However, there was the little matter of the Rugby World Cup to get through first. Still, he bought a diamond in Africa, then tried to figure out how to turn it into a ring. “I had to subtly get advice from my sister Jo without giving it away!” he says. But finally, the right time came. An early morning run up the hills behind Wanaka proved the perfect opportunity, and convincing Gemma to take a drinks break, Richie made his move.
“I was taking a photo of the view, then I turned around and there he was down on one knee,” Gemma smiles. “It was an incredible moment.”
With Wanaka now holding a special place in their hearts, the small Central Otago town seemed like an obvious choice for New Zealand’s favourite couple to tie the knot on January 14, 2017, a day that dawned wild and windy.
Early that day, at a Wanaka lodge, Gemma had looked out the window anxiously as she readied herself for the ceremony, her bridesmaids assuring her the outlook was improving.
By the time she emerged in her beautiful silk gown, with a dramatic low back and handstitched beading – and her show-stopping cathedral-length train – shafts of sunlight were breaking through the sky above the snowcapped peaks. Stunning diamond earrings were her “something borrowed” from Sutcliffe Jewellery, and nude coloured, studded Valentino shoes completed her bridal look.
“You look beautiful, Gemma,” a somewhat stunned father-of-the-bride Rob remarked, as he pulled his only daughter in for a hug while mum Michelle looked on, beaming with pride.
“I tried the dress on last night and it fit, so that was good, but we actually had Mum on and pretended it didn’t,” Gemma admitted with a grin. “Now I have it on and I’m all done up, it feels pretty real.”
Meanwhile, Richie was spending time with his groomsmen, Robert Dunne, Lachlan Boyle and Hayden Ferriman, and best man Jeremy Watson, all friends from school or university, his sister Joanna and her two daughters – flower girls Chloe and Ruby – and his parents, Don and Margaret.
“I’m very proud of him,” says Margaret. “It was a pretty special day because it was so personal. On the sports field, all of New Zealand is looking at you, but with it being such an intimate day of family and friends, it was lovely for it to be like that.”
Richie’s wedding day had been a long time coming for Margaret. “It’s not hard seeing your son get married, not when he’s 36 years old!” she jokes.
By 2.30pm, Richie, in his Ermenegildo Zegna suit, stood on the Wanaka hillside, eyes firmly fixed on the spot where Gemma would appear on the arm of her dad. Finally, half an hour after she was due to walk down the aisle, the whirring of chopper blades heralded the arrival of the bride and her bridesmaids in two helicopters from Christchurch Helicopters, where Richie works as a pilot.
Then, there she was. Richie, visibly emotional, beamed as Gemma made her way towards him. “He’s struggling to hold himself together,” whispered a guest.
Celebrant Sarah began the ceremony, saying the couple knew each other was The One early on.
“Through getting to know each other, quirks and all, they both realised each other was their perfect match,” Sarah told the excited wedding guests. “It was obvious they’d found the person they wanted to spend the rest of their days with.”
The couple ensured there were many personal touches to their ceremony, such as honouring their parents just before they said their vows. Richie’s mum and dad, Don and Margaret, have been married for 37 years, while Gemma’s parents, Rob and Michelle, have been married 33 years.
“Your parents and your grandparents have shown you that marriage is more than just a bit of paper you’re about to sign. It is living your vows to create happiness and a successful partnership as husband and wife. It is easy to act married, but I would encourage you and support you to be married,” Sarah said, before each of their mothers offered some advice to the almost-wed pair.
Exchanging their vows, Richie and Gemma told of each other’s best attributes, promised to share each other’s dreams and goals, be honest, faithful and, of course, love each other always.
“They were quite traditional vows, in terms of how you structure it, but there were a few things in there that were unique to us,” Richie says.
“We had some ideas, and then wrote them into our own words,” adds Gemma.
They slid on each other’s platinum wedding rings – after a slight fumble by best man Jeremy, much to the guests’ amusement. Then, Richard Hugh
McCaw and Gemma Michelle Flynn were pronounced husband and wife.
The couple walked into the reception tent to the sound of a lone bagpiper. During the speeches both of their fathers offered a few words. Rob Flynn spoke of their “baby girl Gemskin”, before choking up and needing a moment to recover.
Don McCaw spoke of how proud he is of his son’s achievements, before expressing his delight at his new daughter-in-law, “a woman who has already accomplished so much”.
Finally, it was Richie’s turn to speak, and showing far more emotion than he ever did on the pitch, said he was “struggling to find the right words to say how amazing Gemma looks tonight. Gemma, I’m so lucky to have met you.”
Then came the moment Richie was most nervous about – the first dance. But as Rod Stewart’s Have I Told You Lately played, the rugby great showed surprising rhythm as he twirled his wife around the dance floor. “We had a lesson from Nerida Cortese [Dancing with the Stars],” Gemma admits.
The simple, deeply moving celebration was the perfect way to seal the couple’s fairytale romance.
Blissfully happy after their special day, the new Mr and Mrs McCaw don’t expect things to change too much. Starting a family might happen in the future. But for now, Richie and Gemma just want to enjoy their first days as husband and wife.
And Richie is still getting used to wearing his new wedding band. “I said to Rich, when you’re working, it’s up to you if you want to wear one,” says Gemma. “But he’s still got it on! We went for a run and he was running a bit funny with his arm up, holding it up.”
“We’ll still do the things we love,” says Richie, “and the things we love about each other will just grow stronger, more than anything. But today has been the best day of my life.”