Disaster to delight

When Stu Williams finally slipped a wedding ring on to his bride Amy's finger the Masterton couple knew things could only get better.
Their rocky road to the altar was more of a nightmare than a fairytale as a business failure slammed shut the doors of their wedding venue only hours before their big day.
Only a gargantuan effort by Stu and Amy and by good Samaritans who rushed in to help, salvaged their wedding day but, even then, another battle this time financial waited just around the corner.
Stu and Amy's dream wedding began to crumble when they got wind that Tulloch Lodge Country Hotel, owned by Trevor and Rebecca Pearce, was heading into liquidation.
That was where the pair had decided to stage most of their special day celebrations on February 28, apart from the actual wedding ceremony that was to be held at the Greek Theatre at Rathkeale College.
The couple had not only gone to great lengths to organise the wedding breakfast there but had booked rooms for themselves and the bridal party so as to enjoy most of the weekend together.
They had also paid $4500 up front as a deposit and bar tab.
Stu said everything seemed fine "until we heard on the grapevine Tulloch Lodge was going into liquidation."
"I didn't know much about that sort of thing so I sent a text message to Amy.
"She put an urgent call through to Tulloch Lodge who indicated everything would still go ahead but at that point I decided to find out for sure what the liquidation would mean to us.
"Firstly I rang the liquidators and later I went to Tulloch Lodge to discover the liquidator was actually there.
"I asked him what was going on with our wedding that was less than two weeks away and said we had paid money, partly for food and drinks."
"He said 'that money's gone, you will have to put it down again' and that it was 85 per cent sure the wedding could still be held."
The pair were certainly not prepared to pump more money in without a "100 per cent guarantee."
They said they later got that from Tulloch Lodge and "everything seemed it would go ahead as planned."
But on February 26 two days before their special one Stu got a phone call at exactly 4pm to say Tulloch Lodge had closed and the wedding could not be held there.
Frantically he and Amy tried to fathom out where they stood.
Stu met Trevor Pearce.
"He said he would move heaven and Earth for the wedding to go ahead and offered us Aberdeen Restaurant as an alternative venue. But we had 130 guests coming and even with a marquee out front it was a totally inappropriate place for our wedding."
Stu and Amy said "no" and consider at that point any relationship they had with Mr and Mrs Pearce soured.
Not only had they lost their wedding reception venue but the weather conspired against them with heavy rain forecast, virtually certain to wash out any plans of using the Greek Theatre for taking their vows.
With nowhere to get married, and no venue for the "after match function" and only little over a day to go Stu and Amy were at their wits end.
That's when the proverbial fairy godmothers/godfathers suddenly appeared.
Masterton mayor Garry Daniell got to hear of their plight and came to the rescue on one front by securing the Frank Cody Lounge at Masterton Town Hall for the wedding ceremony, paying the cost of that himself.
Stu and Amy spent hours on the phone frantically searching for a caterer and a venue.
"We found a spit roast company in Porirua who said they could do it if we put the money up by Friday lunchtime, but that they needed somewhere to cook the food.
"Alan Maxwell, who manages the Horseshoe Restaurant and Bar, not only gave the outside caterers the nod to do the cooking but supplied waiting and bar staff it was a remarkable community effort," Amy said.
Three hours before the wedding, at a time when most brides have only to worry about their hair and nails, Amy was still on the phone contacting guests to tell them of the major changes to plans and putting the final touches in place.
Finally, Amy, the Douglas Park schoolteacher and Stu, the IT man with New Zealand Police, got their big moment and what's more it turned out to be a wonderful wedding to boot.
What had taken them a year to organise took less than 48 hours to completely re-organise.
Stu and Amy Williams will not only never forget their special day, they will likewise never forget the amazing effort made by others to ensure they had a happy start to their married life.