Melanie Rogers and Dan Gould with their children Beauden (left) and Jack. Photo / Supplied
Melanie Rogers and Dan Gould with their children Beauden (left) and Jack. Photo / Supplied
Wild weather wreaking havoc across the Coromandel Peninsula is threatening to wash out a couple’s wedding day that has been eight years in the making.
Don Gould and his fiancée Melanie Rogers are due to be married at Orua Beach House at Cooks Beach this Saturday and were supposed to check in to the venue today to start setting up and for the rehearsal.
However, road closures caused by slips and flooding has meant they and members of their bridal party who have travelled from Australia have not been able to get there.
“We’re really disappointed and confused, I’d say more than anything. My partner’s quite sad, she’s had a few tears today,” said Gould.
Gould and Rogers have been engaged since 2015 and decided to axe their plans to get married in 2020 in Northland because of the pandemic.
Dan Gould (left) and Melanie Rogers have been engaged since 2015. They are pictured with their children Beauden and Jack. Photo / Supplied
Gould said they then found Orua Beach House and it won him over because there were plenty of wet weather options, however he said it never crossed his mind that they might not actually be able to get to it because of the roads.
Gould and Rogers are waiting it out at their home in Tauranga, constantly checking local pages for updates while their international guests are stuck in Auckland.
“A couple of my groomsmen flew in [yesterday], got to their hotels and checked out this morning and were getting a shuttle to go to Coromandel but obviously they are now going to have to rebook and try again tomorrow, but tomorrow is looking bad too,” said Gould.
The couple, who have been together since 2014, are slightly relieved to have the venue booked until Monday and hoped the wedding would be able to go ahead there even if it isn’t on Saturday.
“So Sunday is the last day we can do it but it still won’t be what we had planned,” he said.
Unfortunately though, if they aren’t able to make it to the venue they have no back-up plan.
“We’ve just put so much money into this wedding, it’s hard to rebook stuff and pay for stuff. It’s definitely an expensive day,” said Gould.
The eastern side of Coromandel Peninsula has been cut off today and communities are isolated by flooding and slips as intense rain continues to fall.
Floodwaters are swamping paddocks and spilling over main roads and large slips are blocking key routes with traffic unable to travel in or out of the region’s main loop highway.
State Highway 25 is closed at Hikuai by flooding and to the north at Whangapoua by a slip.
A number of key routes across the peninsula, including the 309 Rd, have also been affected. Just after 2pm the Thames Coromandel District Council said that road had reopened after being blocked by an earlier slip. A tree had since come down across the Thames Coast Rd north of Tapu.
