Wedding in Paradise

The show South Pacific was an excellent production with some powerful voices, especially the gentleman who played the French plantationist Emile DeBeque. The food was also delicious.

We had a late night prior to the wedding day as Josh stayed up late (3.30am) making the pavlova for the wedding cake. Ros and I didn't get to sleep until around 1.30am due to the sound of the beater going non-stop.

The setting

Proud Dad & bride

The day of the wedding dawned bright and clear but a little windy as you will see from the photos. After much initial preparation we arrived on the beach for the wedding. It was an ordeal for Michelle who is still recovering from a broken ankle 8 weeks ago, and it was very painful for her to walk on the sand.



We all formed an aisle and Sam's father Rick proudly escorted his daughter down to the ceremony.

Joshua serenading his bride

Joshua performed a song he had written specially for his bride, which was very moving, especially for Sam.

Exchanging rings

The female celebrant gave a beautiful service with a traditional Hawaiian blessing of the rings, before pronouncing them man and wife.

The kiss!

The marriage was sealed with a kiss to the sound of the roaring waves with Bali H'ai in the background. I don't think you could have got a more magical setting for a wedding.

Groom's family

Then it was time for the congratulations and obligatory family photos before Josh picked up Sam and waded into the sea for a ceremonial dunking!

Getting wet in paradise

After that we made the long trek back to the cars, and had some difficult reversing to do to get back along the narrow track to the road.

We returned to our house for drinks and the unveiling of the wedding cake that Joshua had spent many hours the previous night creating. Both fathers, Gill and Rick made moving speeches before Joshua gave an unforgettable speech of his own which brought tears to his bride and probably to most of the audience too.

Paradise wedding cake