WIN YOUR DREAM WEDDING

Meet our four finalist couples and have your say on who should win this fantastic prize package valued at $ 60,000

At New Zealand Weddings, there’s nothing we enjoy more than a good love story, and those of our 2015 Win Your Dream Wedding finalist couples in the running to win their ultimate day aboard a sleek Hauraki Blue cruise ship will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face.

Visit newzealandweddings.co.nz to learn more about our couples and cast your valuable vote.

➀ Emma Smith & Ryan Johnson

There aren’t many brides who can claim they once babysat their beau, but that’s how it was for this Auckland couple. With their parents longtime friends, the pair shared childhood adventures before moving house saw the families lose touch. Reconnecting years later, Emma and Ryan’s mums plotted a set- up dinner, which Emma nervously attended. She’s so glad she did, as she and Ryan have been inseparable ever since, thanks also to Ryan’s mastery of spaghetti bolognese and his bewitching Birman cat! On the wish list for the couple, who got engaged at a lookout under the stars in Northland’s Bland Bay in January and believe they were “meant to be”, is expanding their family, and they’d love to be married before they do just that.

➁ Jennifer Littlewood & Aaron McFarlane

Lovers of travel, adventuring and “eating a sneaky doughnut”, Hamiltonians Jennifer and Aaron were introduced by a friend in 2012 and got engaged three years later in the Coromandel. After a picnic dinner, Aaron popped back to the car and returned with an offer of a mint. Knowing the tin was empty, Jennifer refused to open it , thinking her man was pranking her − so Aaron did. Inside was a beautiful love note, and when Jennifer finished reading, he got down on one knee. The funloving pair, who are the best of friends and describe themselves as each other’s perfect complement, celebrated their engagement on Haraki Blue’s flagship vessel Ipipiri, so winning would see their journey to marriage come full circle.

➂ Marysa Dalton & Peter Theiler

A ballet dancer living in New York meets a traffic engineer based in London… while skiing in Austria! Fate may have been at work when Marysa met Peter in 2010, but it’s love that’s kept them together. Peter proposed earlier this year in a secluded reserve near the couple’s Auckland home. He planned to pop the question at a popular restaurant, but on arriving discovered one of Marysa’s friends in the room, who invited them to join her table. Plan B took place the next day: “Marysa cried and said yes,” recalls Peter. The pair, who adore each other for being dedicated and caring, level- headed and supportive, have poured their energy into setting up Marysa’s barre fitness studio, and say family is another important focus in their life together.

➃ Jené Hattingh & Mikhail Savin

Speaking different languages was no barrier to Jené and Mikhail’s love when they met working at Waikanae camp and conference centre El Racho. After their first date, on which they meandered beside a river talking about everything, their connection was impossible to resist − love at first sight for Jené and enough for Russian Mikhail to teach himself English! Here on the adventure of a lifetime, he got more than he bargained for in finding his soulmate. The couple share a giving spirit and flew to Vanuatu to volunteer their help with the Cyclone Pam rebuild. They got engaged on Waikanae Beach in June and dream of opening a health centre where people can nurture their wellbeing. “We complete each other,” says Jené.