Haylee and Shaun
6 MARCH, 2021
‘Shaun and I met on Tinder, although it took a while for us to admit to it when people asked. At the time I was a uni student and my flatmate knew him, so when I told her I was talking to this guy she was so certain we would be perfect together.
‘On our first date we went out for Japanese food in Dunedin. I don’t remember what we ate or what we talked about but I do remember that I inhaled a grain of rice and started choking. Shaun offered me his beer and I refused as I don’t like beer. I was fine, only embarrassed. It regularly comes up in conversation with our family and Shaun jokes I would rather die than drink beer. ‘Shaun had planned to propose in June 2020 when we were supposed to be in Bali, however COVID-19 had other ideas. Instead he proposed in winter, under the stars, in the Onsen Hot Pools in Queenstown, while we celebrated our five-year anniversary.
‘I tried on probably 50 dresses waiting for that “OMG! This is the dress!” moment and I never got that. My mum and I then went on a seven-hour drive to Invercargill and the first dress I tried on I said, “This is the dress!”’
‘Given we had already been together for five years, we knew we didn’t want to wait much longer to get married, but were keen to have it in summer. We chose Castle Claremont as our wedding venue as it was absolutely beautiful and we loved the idea of being able to have the ceremony and reception at the same place. ‘We both wrote our own vows individually, and to our surprise they were very similar. Both mentioned future dogs and children and of course how we would support each other. Many guests thought we had written them together. After the ceremony we led our guests up to the back lawn where we had arranged tables, had drinks set up and a surprise white bouncy castle. ‘Shaun wrote me a song which he performed after his speech, and many of the guests cried. After speeches and dessert the band started and everyone continued to party for hours. Throughout the night Shaun and two of his cousins joined the band to sing.
‘The best part of the day was when Shaun surprised me with the song, and also after we had finished eating Mr Whippy for dessert we turned around to see the long line of adult guests excited for Mr Whippy too. It was awesome.’ ◌
‘After we had finished eating Mr Whippy for dessert we turned around to see the long line of adult guests excited for Mr Whippy too. It was awesome.’