BLOCK WINNER SAM’S PERFECT DAY
They had to postpone tying the knot twice, but the reality star and his bride finally celebrated in style on Waiheke Island
You could forgive The Block NZ’s biggest-ever winner Sam Cable for thinking the universe was against him when it came to marrying his gorgeous fiancée Lydia Lawrence.
Not only did their 3 March Waiheke Island wedding day fall just weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle wreaked havoc on the North Island, but it was actually the couple’s third attempt at getting hitched, with the pandemic forcing them to cancel their big day twice since Sam popped the question back in February 2020!
In the intervening years, the couple has bought a house and had a baby boy, Sebastian,who is now an adorable 18-month-old.
“It’s crazy to think we’ve been planning our wedding since before Sebby even existed,” marvels Sam, 36, now a bar owner and national operations manager for a gym chain. “And now the big day is finally here, nothing else can go wrong before the ceremony… Can it?!”
But this time, as 75 of their closest friends and family gather at stunning Spanish-themed vineyard and restaurant Casita Miro, beneath blue skies and a blazing sun, fate is well and truly on Sam and Lydia’s side.
“It’s like a scene from a James
Bond movie with this crazy beautiful supermodel,” says Sam of the moment his bride arrives – a vision in a silk, backless, slip-style Shona Joy dress, her long veil floating from an open-top silver Porsche, helmed by her racing-car driver stepdad Conrad Timms.
British-born Lydia, 27, whose family moved to Aotearoa when she was 12, then takes the arm of her mother Louise, walking down a picturesque pathway towards the restaurant doors as a string quartet plays one of the couple’s favourite songs, Never Tear Us Apart by INXS.
The venue is of special importance to the couple, who fell in love with it instantly when they dined there during a rain-soaked visit to Waiheke soon after they first started dating back in 2018.
Overcome with joy at seeing his bride, Sam, dapper in an Assembly Label shirt and Rodd & Gunn pants, can’t resist pulling Lydia in for a quick smooch before their celebrant and good friend Chris Payne begins the ceremony.
Fashion buyer Lydia, who is wearing Sam’s wedding day gift, a delicate gold Zoe & Morgan fantail-wing necklace, keeps her cool during her vows, listing all the qualities she loves about her Block-star beau, whose team scooped a whopping $480,000 in prize money back in 2016.
Praising his “unmatched confidence and calmness”, his “passion and drive”, and his witty, fun-loving nature, she tells him, “I never thought that it would be so easy to be with someone as it is to be with you.”
Emotions get the better of the groom. “I had to keep stopping and starting again,” he tells us.
“I couldn’t hold back the tears.”
In his vows, Palmerston North-born Sam recounts how he fell in love at first sight with Lydia, then 22, when he walked into the designer homeware shop where she worked while he was filming The Block NZ.
“I knew it then and there. That’s her! I finally found her. I even awkwardly told friends at the time about my soon-to-be wife, so now I must look pretty baller having followed through with it!”
Unfortunately for Sam, Lydia had a boyfriend at the time, and it was two years before she was single and he could finally make his move. But the rest is history.
“That’s one of the things all of our friends will say about us – how it was all on from day one,” he tells Woman’s Day. “We’re always looking for reasons to touch each other and be as close as possible. It’s a running joke.”
Guests gather round as the couple’s adorable son Sebastian, dressed in a white linen shirt and sandy-beige chinos, topped by a bowler hat, brings forward the rings, by Auckland jewellers Naveya & Sloane.
The toddler’s parents crouch to take the rings from the box, where a sticker of a digger has cunningly been placed to keep his eye on the prizes – a gold diamond band with a ruby for Lydia and a brushed- gold band with a black diamond for Sam.
“He’s been practising holding the box for a while now and he did such a good job,” Lydia beams proudly as she reflects on the moment later in the day.
Their commitment is sealed with what Sam dubs “the longest you-may-now-kiss-the-bride moment in history”.
Celebrating their love with family and friends is at the core of their big day – the couple rejected gifts and instead asked each guest to bring a bottle of their favourite red wine to be shared with them at a future date: “A good excuse to catch up with all our favourite people despite the busyness of life,” Sam reasons.
“We were blown away by the wines,” he says later. “There were some really beautiful bottles that probably cost way too much. But the good thing is, everyone will get a chance to share them!”
Ditching traditions “that don’t speak to us” was also a key theme of their celebration.
So when Lydia failed to find the dress of her dreams in the shops, she went online and soon spied a stunning “silky, slippy little number” that was a bargain at $300. “It fit like a glove when it arrived,” she marvels. A few minor alterations made it backless, sealing the wow factor.
“The price tag meant we could splash out on the things that really mattered to us – like accommodation for the bridal parties, spending the whole weekend on the island, and having a big feast with beautiful
food and wine because Casita Miro is a restaurant after all!” shares Lydia.
Interiors aficionado Lydia gifted her bridesmaids, along with best childhood friend and “bridesman” Max Burney, 27, vases by Auckland-based Author Ceramics and a goodie bag of Aesop’s skincare products “because I’m obsessed”.
Sam, meanwhile, gave his groomsmen each a bottle of his favourite red, a Syrah called The Barnstormer by Hawke’s Bay vintners Alpha Domus.
After mingling with canapés and sangria, guests take to their seats for a magnificent meal, with the bridal party each being introduced by their friend and MC Doug Gilbert.
Following tributes from the couple’s mothers, best man and maid of honour, Sam takes to the mic for a heartfelt speech, referencing the “massive clusterf**k” of having three years of on-off wedding preparations and his love story with Lydia, before inviting guests to enjoy themselves with his catchphrase: “Remember life’s a garden and tonight I’m digging it!”
The newlyweds then hit the floor for their first dance to In My Life by the Beatles – intended as “a slow, romantic number with dips and lifts”.
“It was a hilarious fail,” reflects Lydia. “We’d both had quite a few wines by then, and ended up going off in different directions and asking to start again! But we got through it and it was so much fun with everyone cheering us on!”
By the end of the night, the lovebirds can’t wait for some alone time – sneaking back to their cottage without saying goodbyes.
“The day was everything and more than we could’ve ever dreamed,” beams Lydia.
“Every time I catch glimpses of Sam’s wedding ring, I get butterflies. I’m going to love calling him hubby. After so many false starts, it’s added so many layers to what it means to get married. And we’re not gonna get boring – we’re gonna try our hardest to keep the spark alive!”
Sam adds, “We’ve got the foundations, the house is built and now it’s time to add some levels to it, to build on our love. But to spice things up, we’ll fall short of adding any additional properties to the portfolio, if you catch my drift!”