It was quite the week here last week at Struan Farm--we're still recovering!
Our farmstay accommodation had been booked out for over a year now for family and friends attending the Piopio/New Zealand wedding of local girl Gemma to her husband Jamal, with many guests travelling from overseas.
Arrangements had been made to have both the ceremony and reception at a remote rural airstrip on a private farm, sitting atop a cliff with 360 degree views of rather spectacular "Middle Earth" landscape. An amazing glass-walled marquee was to be erected, with guests ferried to the site by van.
Weather forecasts for the week started to look rather grim. One particularly bad day of high winds and heavy rain was predicted. A Plan B was required, and with family staying here the couple decided to have the wedding ceremony instead in the gardens at Struan Farm, with the reception at the original location.
Suffice it to say that everyone kicked into overdrive. I spent much of the week on my knees trimming and weeding, while John lived up to his reputation as the "Mad Mower." We wanted everything here to be beautiful for Gemma and Jamal and their guests.
It poured rain on Friday. Saturday was wedding day, and guess what? It was sunny and beautiful. Guests were brought from Piopio here by bus. The wedding ceremony was held beneath the flowering dogwood tree in the Homestead gardens, the symbol of "love undiminished by adversity." Following the ceremony Gemma and Jamal were whisked off by helicopter for photographs on the coast. A drone filmed around the farm during all this, can't wait to see the footage from that!
We will eventually have some professional photographs to share, and did not photograph during the actual ceremony. But below are some pics from the day, including the cliff top reception afterward. Piopio's Fat Pigeon Cafe catered drinks and nibbles at the farm and the reception dinner, Piopio Berry Orchard supplied ice cream cones, and Lee Alcock did the beautiful flowers. There were also quite a few adorable little girls running around in tutus!
It was a special day, and we were pleased to have been asked to share it. We wish them a long and happy life together.
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