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Published: September 1st 2007
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The Venue
Looking very pretty After the very long flight back to NZ, it was straight into last-minute preparation mode for the most important weekend of Cam’s life. The stag do. Although saying that, I did spend a lot of the first few days just catching up with the people who were left in New Zealand. It was really good to catch up with a lot of the ex-PMP (and a few current who shouldn’t be) people, especially as it was obvious how much they had all missed me. I also managed to be back in time for Jess’ Birthday so that was well done.
So on the Friday night, the stag weekend kicked off with a roadtrip down to Taupo. Thankfully we missed the worst of the driving conditions as the car I was driving, the headlights were not the best and I had to guesstimate where the road was at different points. But we arrived injury-free and started as we meant to continue. We had a few beers on the Friday night before heading into town to do a bit of research on the pubs and bars for the following night.
Saturday morning was the real beginning (well not for Mike,
who had a ripper of a hangover) and after a healthy big breakfast, we presented Cam with his weekend costume. A fluorescent green mankini. For those of you who don’t know what a mankini is, think Borat, and if you haven’t seen it, google it. The original plan was to get him to jump out of a plane for a tandem skydive, but the weather put paid to that plan, so instead we threw him off a bridge. So Cam flew 47m straight down and plunged into the icy water of the Waikato River (attached to a bungy cord). Just as entertaining was when the staff had to get him down into the boat. It looks quite funny on the video as the staff pretty much had Cam’s crotch right in his face as he dragged him in. Poor guys.
The afternoon was spent playing poker (and for the old men, napping) before we went out for dinner and watched Harbour retain the Ranfurly Shield against Taranaki. The rest of the night, I shall not reveal too many details. But some tidbits include Cam getting thrown out of one bar for getting stripped by girls, and getting drawn over
The Groomsmen
Looking out over Muruwai Beach most of his body with good luck messages, commiserations and hopeful girls’ phone numbers (which he only managed to remove a week later!).
The next week was more of the same of the first until Friday when the real preparations for the Wedding began as we picked up the cake and had the dress rehearsal. Saturday morning came round very quickly and we polished off some outstanding details at the reception venue before getting into our penguin suits and heading back to Settlers Lodge for the photos. It was quite a special moment seeing Cam’s reaction to Arevik arriving in her dress. So after several hundred photos at both the Lodge and down at Muruwai Beach, the girls headed back to the bach to have a make-up touch-up while we headed to the reception to mingle with the guests.
Before long we were all setup and despite a minor technical problem with the music while the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle, thankfully it had fixed itself by the time Arevik came around the corner. It was a beautiful ceremony and Arevik couldn’t keep the tears of happiness from her eyes. Cam also played his part very well
The Groomsmen #2
Looking out over Muruwai Beach. This time more posy. and was not nervous at all. Then it was time for a few more photos before we made our grand entrance for dinner. After the main course, I finally got to say my speech, which I managed to do without forgetting anything and it went down excellently well. I even had a couple of people tell me I should do public speaking! Usually though public speakers won’t have as much ammo as Cam had provided me over the years. After that was done, I could finally enjoy myself and had a couple of glasses of champagne and some delicious desert.
After ‘decorating Cam’s car, we saw the new Mr and Mrs Ford off for their first night as husband and wife before we all made our ways home. Also, a link to the official photos is:
http://web.mac.com/gpdltd/GPD_Weddings/Online_Weddings/Pages/Arevik_%26_Cameron.html#grid
The following day, I headed round to Cam’s new in-laws for a lunch and joined them whilst they opened presents. I must say there is something to be said for getting married. The amount of presents they got was easily a few Birthdays and Christmas’s rolled into one! That said, I said my farewells to the happy couple before
Cam admiring his Bride
He can't seem to wipe the smile off his face can he? they left on their honeymoon around the world that night, then it was a last couple of days for me to enjoy the last of NZ for a couple of years. And would you believe it, my last 2 days, I actually got perfect weather! So after a nice stroll along Takapuna Beach and listening to a lot of the Rock, I was back on the plane for another few movies and lack of sleep before I arrived back to my new home for the next few years, London.
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