Kyle and Liz had a wedding they'll never forget. Photo / Geoff Sloan
The earthquake and heavy snow did not stop one Hokitika couple from tying the knot in Darfield yesterday.
Kyle Scott and Liz Blatch still had their wedding at Darfield's Oak historic homestead only hours after the 7.1 earthquake.
The epicentre of the quake was Darfield.
The couple had thought
hitting heavy snow coming over from the West Coast on Friday, so grim it nearly made them turn back, was as bad as it would get.
But little did they know they would barely be getting any sleep the night before the wedding as mother nature threw something else at them.
"It's definitely a day we will never forget," Kyle said.
"I don't know what else could possibly happen to try and stop us from getting married."
Emotions were running high in the bride's camp after the quake.
"We didn't go back to sleep, and everything was up in the air," Liz said.
With no power, the only thing on the women's minds was how they were going to do their hair without hair dryers or straighteners.
On the men's minds, on the other hand, was the food.
The owner of Darfield motel, Leanne Kingi, where Kyle and his guests were staying, dragged out the barbecue early in the morning to supply a hot breakfast to the concerned wedding party.
Thankfully family member Des Hetherington had visited his favourite butcher at Oxford the day before and stocked up "on the best bacon ever".
He reluctantly handed it over for breakfast.
"We didn't exactly get the nice breakfast we were hoping for," Liz said.
Unable to contact the homestead, Kyle simply said it was all out of his hands but he was certain everything would work out - and it did.
The homestead only suffered minor damage to a chimney and water supply upstairs.
"The coal range has been working overtime, but we've managed to pull most of the menu off without a hitch," owner Madeleine de Jong said.
But guests would be receiving some of the 40 legs of lamb that could not be cooked.
In the end the couple had a gorgeous wedding with one-of-a-kind memories that they said they would never replace.
"The weather is great and everything came together," Liz said.
"Nothing was going to stop us from getting married today."
