Black Cap Tim Seifert has battled quarantines and a bout of Covid but will make it down the aisle to marry his fiancee in three weeks.
The 26-year-old, who also plays for Northern Districts, proposed to Morgan Croasdale last November in a 24-hour window between two Twenty20 matches.
The bride-to-be runs Married by Morgan and is a celebrant and event co-ordinator.
In January the pair had their engagement party at the Hamilton Golf Club at St Andrews in Hamilton, and golf-loving Seifert was grinning ear to ear.
On her business Instagram page, Croasdale wrote: "This celebrant loves a reason to throw a party. Due to my partner's work commitments, we've had to move our wedding date forward — so I'll be calling this man my husband in six months time and I'm so excited, I can't wait to be on the other side of it."
Croasdale's page is full of dream weddings and locations she has celebrated for others. Spy is picking a picturesque winter setting in the Waikato, where the couple are based.
In a podcast show this week, Seifert talked about being the last Kiwi left in India after he tested positive for Covid-19 just hours before he was due to leave the virus-ravaged country.
The batsman, who represented the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, failed both his pre-departure PCR tests and was taken into quarantine.
"I was very lucky that everyone gets sick differently. For me it was just like a cold, cough, runny nose," Seifert said.
He lost his smell and taste and his asthma has been the worse since.
He also talked about proposing in a 24-hour stint between cricket trips. He was just finishing MIQ after competing in the Caribbean Premier League for the Trinbago Knight Riders, when KKR coach Brendon McCullum gave him the call to see if he was interested in playing in India — and so he was on the next flight out.
He and Croasdale had already purchased the ring together but he hadn't formally proposed or asked her father for her hand in marriage.
But after a dash to Croasdale's parents' farm, Seifert got permission and then proposed to Croasdale before boarding.