Mr & Mrs Deverson

All 49 wedding attendees

With all the planning done, the day was upon us. Not saying there weren't a few stressful moments with an additional last minute beach ceremony location change. We went from the beach with restoration works happening, to the gazebo at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, to another beach in Loveladies Township, which we chose just two days before the wedding. 

But the morning of the wedding, I had a to-do list from Amy with only a few small check ups and deliveries that needed to be made, and I even had a moment to dash to the beach for a quick dip before me and the best man made our way down to the beach ceremony. With perfect timing just buttoning up our shirts and a helpful lady helping with our boutonnieres, just as the bridal party arrived. Short on seats, our friend and celebrant for the day, Phil got forgotten about for a good few minutes baking away squashed in the boot (trunk) of the Subaru. He did later emerge slightly cranky and a tad sweaty. 

We had organized a few kiwi blokes to be in charge of setting up the beach with chairs and a few decorations, and they also did a brilliant job of handing out bubbles and programs.

As a bride and her entourage do, Amy spent the morning with her ladies getting all pampered with beauticians and hairdressers and the sorts. Dressed in a shiny silk gown with the obligatory new initials AJD. Going against the tradition, they did emerge on time but of course looking splendid. 

The only small mishap that I heard of was with Grandma Louise ironing Amy's Dad's dress shirt and some rust residue came off from the iron. Nothing a fast turn around from a local dry cleaners couldn't sort out though.

A few pre-wedding photos with the famous local photographer Ann Cohen, chasing seagulls, jumping in waves and that sort of shenanigans and then Amy and the Bridesmaids snuck off across the dunes and through someone's private property in order to hide from the guests and get back to the top of the dune to make her walk.

The guests were seated, well minus the late cousins. Elliott, Brady and Juliet gracefully and playfully set the stage for Amy's entrance along with her father.

We worked hard to make this wedding fully about us, leaving out our family member's opinions, and having it completely represent who we are as a couple. It started when we asked Amy's cousin Jodi's partner AJ to play the guitar during our ceremony, and he had full creative reign on that. Having a great friend preside over the ceremony was the perfect touch, with his words being genuine, meaningful and so relevant to us. 

We also had Charlotte read the poem 'Love' by Roy Croft, which we had picked out, which was emotional for the two of us to listen to, but also meant so much to include Char in the ceremony. Everything could not have been more perfect, a beautiful day, with the ocean behind us and surrounded by our closest friends and family.

Now a few more photos with the family and we were off to the reception, driving the RX7 in style as our newlywed car. 

Graced with reggae and NZ-dub, guests sipped the signature cocktail: Blueberry Thyme Mimosas and sank craft beers. Our caterers Kate and Ally's passed hors d'oeuvres which we had selected months earlier and a mild wind off the bay kept the temperature ideal but caused a bit of havoc on some centerpieces. 

The friends we've met in New Zealand

Again, the venue was right to our dreams. Looking out over the bay and nature preserve, it was elegant but understated and truly represented Amy and myself. All of Amy's hard work was evident, with so many personal touches, from using my surfboard as a seating chart, our sign post showing where everyone had traveled from, centerpieces in pint glasses chosen from our collection, and many map and travel themed accents which she handmade.

The evening flowed casually with a premeditated playlist I created timed to the night. Amy and I had our first dance to our favorite song, Shapeshifter - One, with our nephews running laps around us. Later Amy and her father had a dance to Tom Petty - Wild Flowers. We even paid tribute to Amy's Greek heritage with a few Greek dances! 

The fantastic food kept flowing with a buffet dinner, but a shortage of beer required a bottle shop run by one of the venue staff. Taylor Swift songs were a crowd favorite but not able to compete with Pendulum or the wide eyed viewing by our American guests to the Devo and NZ-Crew throwing some huge moves to Nero -  Crush on You. Many of our guests who would had never witnessed such bass heavy and glitch zapping music and dance moves.

My brother John, my Best Man delivered a perfect Maori greeting and a powerful but humorous speech followed by some truly heart felt words from Amy's Matron of Honor, her sister Nicole. Less serious was my father's words in his usual fashion and Amy's Dad, Ted delivering a more traditional welcome to the family. 

Right at sunset we snuck out for a few final photos on the marsh, including acro-yoga, many many smiles, kisses and on my request a very posed shot with the RX7.

Of course the day flew by so fast, but thats just the way it is when you're having a blast. It was the day of our dreams and it was made only possible by all our family and friends who made the journey. Whether from far or near, by helicopter, plane, bus, train or car. It means the world to us, all those who were with us for the day. 

Capping off the night with a beer on the beach, it was a perfect cool evening with the sand, sea and stars.

Mr & Mrs Deverson

New England with the Kiwi Family

Relaxing in NYC

Having been the recipients of many airport pickups worldwide, this was my opportunity to return some of the favors we have received over the years from family, friends and others. I hope I payed back a good portion with my 5 hours of commuting back and forth to New York's JFK airport twice in one evening and making double laps to LBI a week later. After my Saturday evening driving, I had both my parents and the entire Clark family in residence at the Sierpina family household. I might add we arrived only just as the household renovations and decorations had just been finally completed hours earlier.

So a big old NYC family welcome trip on dad's birthday was Sundays activities. A perfect 34 degrees C was a nice welcome to Northern Hemisphere Summer. We planned it Devo-slylz and had a non stressful affair. We saw the main sights of Grand Central Terminal, walked to Bryant Park and the New York Library, and Times Square. We took the subway to the 9/11 Memorial, then walked through Wall Street to South Street Seaport. Unreasonably priced ice creams we had and we found some legit NYC slice pizza for lunch. The Clark children then proceeded to flaunt with the bylaws of NYC and paraded themselves naked through some fountains.  A little bit more walking to Battery Park for a view of the State of Liberty by which time we could see a tantrum coming, so we found a nice bar and got dad a beer to quiet him down.

Newport, RI

I headed to work at 10pm that night, and the next day slept while the adult Clarks headed into NYC for another round, and Amy entertained mum, dad and the Clark children with a trip to a children's science museum. The next day, the Clarks headed off with a rental car to visit some friends and we were off on our mini road trip with mum and dad. Headed for some New England hotspots, we called into Mystic Seaport Connecticut and started the day with a coffee and viewing from afar the Old Port Town. Continuing north to Newport, Rhode Island we set off on foot to view the historic mansions and walk the coastal path. Amy's enthusiasm got the better of us there. As we ended up walking 4.5 miles on a sweltering day. Father was desperately in need of a beer at the end of all that. So much so, that he resorted to drinking a warm oil can of Fosters that I had brought him as a funny gift, which had been baking in the car all day. Other than experiencing dehydration and exhaustion, we enjoyed the early stroll through the old town, saw all the big mansions and had an adventure along the cliff walk. We made it to Boston none the less.

A few coffees a day, keeps these two alive. But ice cream it is right here.

A day on the Freedom Trail it was. Running in reverse from our hotel, the Constitution Inn, it was a quick stop to the USS Constitution Museum, then across the Charlestown Bridge to historic cemeteries, The North Church and Paul Revere's House. Chicken pot pie and Boston go hand in hand for me, so thats what I got at Quincy Market. Coffees for everyone else. Followed by a father-son-off on the free outdoor table tennis. On we went to Faneuil Hall, the Boston Massacre site, more cemeteries and finishing up at the Town Commons by the State House. From that point we knew exactly where we wanted to be, back to the Bell in Hand. Serving beer since 1795, we had a few cold Sam Adams to celebrate the man and his city. Later that night in the urban wasteland of Charlestown, we found a funky little pizza place with a beer list the Urban Hipster would die for.

Boston

Not done with New England yet, we headed slightly further north to Salem. Historic for its witch trials and old port. It certainly gave off that vibe, with its streets rowed with big gothic style houses where you know some funky shit went down. Sadly its seems, the lies of a few young school girls set off an unfortunate event of finger pointing which ended in a bunch of people being hung and burnt alive. The historic port customs house building was very interesting and far less depressing. Even more exciting was stopping into Notch Brewing Company, who contract brews at Two Roads. Their beer is exceptional and meeting the brewer and seeing their new little brewery was cool, especially with a couple of big cans to take home.

And with my nerves building, naat, it was just one more night before heading down to LBI. It was fun to have a group of family and Kiwi friends later that night back in Stratford and at the brewery for a couple of beers. Mum, dad, Amy and I, met by Simon who had been vacationing on our couch while we were away, and Gina and Sean who just arrived into town. We gave a tour and had a few beers before squeezing the seven of us into our little one bedroom apartment. Luckily, Simon and Sean took the adventure of sleeping on the beach, freeing up a bit more space inside.

Notch Brewery in Salem

Wedding Planning

Barnegat Lighthouse

Its all done and dusted, but there was plenty going on to make that smooth and seamless wedding that we had. Luckily for us, that meant getting a good bunch of little preparatory holidays in advance. Long Beach Island was our home for multiple weekends. We made day trips, spent full weekends at the Fornaciari house and even one weekend where we went camping too.

The first preliminary winter trip occurred in January for just a day trip with the future in-laws Diane and Ted. The mission was to lock in the venue mostly, and secondly sort out some rental houses. We had an idea of a few venue locations, but Aunt Margaret Fornaciari had recommended the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, so after a look online, and a talk on the phone about prices, we were pretty certain that this was our place. We walked around the venue, we loved the view and the flexibility they offered. That they are a non-profit foundation was a plus too, rather than just money grubbing wedding scammers. We found houses and had time for a quick lunch and a minute walk in the sand on the mild but cool winter day.

February was the visit where Amy made appointments to meet with a caterer, a bakery, photographer, florist and tent rental company. She had put good effort into sussing these different vendors out throughout the previous month, so she knew basically the ones we wanted to use. We had an incredible dinner tasting 10 different items at our food tasting, and locked everyone in. Making a good weekend of it, I brought the water sport equipment, however it was a tad cold. Thankfully there were no waves, as I probably would have gone in, and likely frozen solid. We were also celebrating our 6 year anniversary that weekend, so we popped open a bottle of champagne that we were gifted at our engagement party back in 2014, and made some fondue.

In April, Amy and the ladies made a day trip down to LBI for a Wedding Roadshow. Although most things were all booked in by then, it was good for them to walk around and check out all the other vendors on offer, and to talk again with the ones we had booked in, trying the free food and drinks and enter some contests. They looked at the reception site again, and talked over set-up and on the way home learned Amy had won a basket which came with homemade blueberry thyme simple syrup which we used for our mimosas at the wedding.

 

During this time, Amy spent almost every weekend wedding dress shopping with her sisters and mom. It seemed like a never ending process, which was becoming more stressful by the day. She looked at almost every shop possible in Connecticut, and even a few in NYC, but was unimpressed with the prices, although her mother was willing to pay. She also became frustrated with how ornate some of these dresses were, and how even after the crazy price tag, you were expected to pay more in alterations. Finally, she tried on a dress in the wedding dress line of the casual/preppy store of J.CREW, and fell in love. She ended up ordering 5 different versions online, and returning them to the store in Connecticut, just to get the perfect fit.

With a few months following with no trips, it was nice to see warmer weather arriving and a long weekend in June was a good time. We booked this trip in to have our cake tasting, but also because we were invited as VIPs to the Long Beach Island Foundation's summer kick-off cocktail party. We planned to meet with our caterers again to go over tiny details and hand over more money, and to talk to the photographer. On our first morning, I caused us to be late for an appointment, as I was out surfing and getting some good waves. Luckily, Amy managed to reschedule for later in the day. And hey this is why we sorta like this place, they couldn't blame me, its the beach remember! We had our cake tasting that day, choosing from the four pages of options we did eventually narrow it down. We then left a bottle of Two Roads' Unorthodox Russian Imperial Stout for them to make us a dozen cupcakes to take back to work, which we were completely blown away with. That night was a big fundraising event for the LBI Foundation. Lots of wealthy sorts giving big bucks after being schmoozed with liquor and food, good plan! It was good to see the space we were going to use all set up and it looked good.

We decided to head down the last weekend in July to finalize all the last details. Unfortunately, the Fornaciari house was unavailable, but we found a campground just about 20 minutes away on the mainland. We baked in our little tent, however it was interesting staying off the Island where we could explore the surrounding area a bit more. We were happy to enjoy some local beers from the Pinelands Brewery in Little Egg Harbor Township. Their dirty hazy Pale Ales were not my thing, however they made a dank ass Brown Ale and Oyster Stout. The downside to being off the island was having to get onto it across the causeway. We ended up being 45 minutes late for our first appointment, because everyone arrives to the island on Saturday in the peak season and we were with them. At the foundation we were shocked to see construction machinery all over the beach where we were planning on having our ceremony. We talked to the project manager who said they weren't going to be gone anytime soon. A bit freaked out, but knew we would work something out. After several location changes, we settled last minute for a beach just north of the original location, which worked perfectly. 

Sunset from the LBI Foundation