As already mentioned, we spent the weekend in beautiful New Plymouth, Taranaki. The weather was beautiful, no clouds spotted the entire weekend, which meant that Mount Egmont was fully exposed. Perfect background for a wedding, but the weekend had many more highlights:
- Having the run of the house: Living away from home, out of reach from parental guidance has its perks, but nothing feels like being at home with the parents being away. Even after much more than a decade in own apartments, this feels like the epitome of freedom.
- Talking to friends: At some point at the reception – we were just sitting outside, enjoying the wine on a rare Taranaki warm night – I realized that Harriet was not around and I was talking to friends I didn’t even know a couple of months ago. Harriet’s New Plymouth crew welcomed me into their circle and I really enjoy their company.
- Seeing the bride for the first time: Yes, this is pretty standard. But the bride had a stellar appearance into the park, where the ceremony was held. Accompanied by her father, she wore a dress that was most elegant and yet simple. It was one of those moments you long for at a wedding: Seeing the bride, feeling your heart making a little jump and just thinking that she is so beautiful.
- Listening to the end of the groom’s speech: It started with the standard thank-yous, but Dave’s speech finished on a high note. He managed to put into beautiful words, what Megan means to him. It left a few eyes wet at our table, the married guys being happy that they’ve already had their speech and the still-to-be-married men worrying about a very difficult act to follow. Thanks a lot, Dave.
- Being stalked at the airport: The lovely Anna (famous of the Ramblings of Anna blog) and Claire (famous of her guest posts on the Ramblings of Anna blog) managed to coordinate with Harriet and scared the bejeezus out of me, when she jumped at me at Auckland airport. We haven’t seen each other … since April last year and it was a total surprise, that was very well executed. Since we share a couple of traits (among of them the need of iTime and the love of photography), it’s always fun to talk to Anna.
These were just a few of the many highlights of spending the weekend in New Plymouth. Many have been left out (dinner with Greta, brunch with the bunch, and the post-wedding barbie at Megan’s parents, to name a few). Quite travel intense, but loaded with good memories. In the style of the flight attendant’s welcome message after landing: Welcome to another typically beautiful weekend in New Plymouth.
