Sam and Tayler’s wedding
Sam Levi, 25, is an influencer from Auckland, Tayler Morgan, 29, is an apprentice electrician from Christchurch
This episode sees the show’s final two couples get hitched and the tone is set with an opening shot of a bubbling brook at Bridgewater Country Estate.
It’s Sam and Tayler’s wedding day and we’re anxious to see how this will play out because Sam seems very particular about how his groom should be dressed and Tayler is an electrician.
While the guests are arriving Sam is back at Lichfields Cottage freaking out.
“This has got to be one of the most silliest things I’ve ever done,” he confesses.
“You will be fine,” his maid of honour Tessa assures him.
His other friends tell him to be himself which must totally freak him out because he lurches for a glass of wine and says “can I have a skull?”
We quickly cut to Tayler getting ready. He is worried that his groom won’t like him.
Then we’re in the car with Sam and Tessa as they travel to the estate. Tessa is wearing white and for a second you think she could be a bride. Sam’s nerves turn to excitement as they pull in to the estate but quickly revert back to nerves. This guy is really tense.
Sam has opted to wait at the foot of the aisle so he waits and then Tayler emerges to advance at lightning speed towards his groom. We’re frantically scanning for Sam’s reaction but the cameras keep showing the guests’ faces. Tayler is all smiles and Sam gives him a big smile back so it’s looking okay… but then Sam looks away. Uh oh.
“I don’t know if the physical attraction is 100 per cent there. He would be someone I would possibly go for but he wouldn’t be my first pick,” Sam divulges.
Knew it.
But Tayler is enamoured with Sam.
“[He has] amazing eyes. I didn’t really know how to turn around and say you’ve got amazing eyes,” he revealed.
In their exchange of vows Sam promises to let Tayler know if he makes a slight error in fashion judgement.
Tayler promises to be patient and trusting, do crazy and spontaneous things with Sam and keep him safe and pick him up when he is down.
When they’re announced husband and husband they shake hands. Tayler lets Sam know that he is not a PDA kind of guy and Sam agrees that he’s not either but Tessa reckons Sam actually is, so she’s a bit shocked.
During their photo shoot Tayler refuses to kiss Sam for the photographer because as he said he’s not a PDA kind of guy but then they do anyway and Tayler discovers that Sam has quite soft lips.
Back at the reception Tessa is worried.
“Are you happy, is everything okay,” she asks Sam but Sam suddenly sees someone he absolutely must talk to and gaps it. Tessa is not going to let this go and corners him in the garden. He confirms her worst fears with the words, “the spark wasn’t there”.
Well, something needs to be done so the newlyweds slip away to talk in private and Tayler reveals that he has had three open heart surgeries and has a lot of love to give, he has just never met anyone who could see that.
We’re not sure what’s happening now but suddenly we seem to be watching a whole new ball game.
Sam decides that actually he is feeling quite a spark. “I don’t know why it’s happening now,” he smiles, “Tayler has grown on me and there is 100 per cent hope.”
Body language mirroring (which you know is a great sign) is happening all over the place and the rest of the wedding reception goes swimmingly. They go to Rydges Hotel to spend their first night together and on the way Sam says he is open to moving to Christchurch. But if Tayler thinks that’s a precursor to some intimacy tonight – and he looks keen – he can think again.
“There’s 100 per cent going to be no action, I can tell you that now,” declares Sam.
For all the times Sam mentioned his social media following throughout the series, click here.
Julia and Dave’s wedding
Julia Malley, 32, is an account manager from Christchurch and Dave McClelland, 44, is an entrepreneur from Dunedin
To be honest, Julia sounds a bit scary because the first thing we hear about her is “she’s quite unfiltered isn’t she”. That’s from the show’s new expert Stephanie Dowse.
“Big personality,” Dr Trisha Stratford agrees. Yikes.
We cut to Julia getting her hair done and bossing the hairdresser round and then she’s speaking to the camera saying she’s had a lot of rejection because men find her intimidating. Actually, can the producers cut that part out “because that’s going to make me look desperate” but obviously, they don’t.
Julia usually goes for older entrepreneurial types that remind her of her dad. She wants a man who is taller than her and has a great sense of humour and won’t let her walk all over him and if he doesn’t like cats that will be an issue.
Now we meet Dave. Dave bottles and sells liquor and when Julia’s mum finds this out later at the wedding she can barely contain her excitement. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Dave has found it hard to “get things rolling” with women because he travels so much for work but he’s keen to meet someone he can curl up on the couch with and watch movies.
The experts usually like to challenge people’s “types” but in this case they seem prepared to give Julia what she’s asked for.
They are nervous, though, that when you put two extroverts together and especially when they’re older things can go downhill quite quickly. How will Dave feel if Julia takes the dominant role and will either of them tolerate each other if things don’t feel right? But if they can get through that early “storming stage” they have potential, Dr Trisha announces and we all feel reassured.
Next we see Dave telling his friends he’s getting hitched and they all seem pretty happy for him, although his best man Nathan says he never thought Dave would get married.
At the wedding dress fitting Julia frets that her dress is not forgiving around the stomach area and she’ll have to suck her stomach in all day. We relate.
Then it’s the morning of the wedding and we find out that it’s six years to the day since Julia’s dad passed away. Flowers arrive for Julia with a note from Dave and with them a stone. Dave explains in the note that the stone will attract good luck and drive away bad, and that he has the exact same stone in his hand. Julia LOVES this idea.
In the car on the way to the venue, Auckland’s Hunting Lodge, Julia begins hyperventilating and her mum reminds her to hold on tight to the stone.
Waiting at the Lodge Dave suddenly realises that he’s left his stone back at the hotel room. “Shit,” says his best man.
Anyway, onward and upward. Waiting at the alter Dave nervously peruses the room full of guests and his best men note that they’ve never seem him “shitting tacks” like this before. The bridesmaids arrive and Dave seems reassured that they’re from “good stock” which means his bride must be too.
When Julia, all afluster, makes her appearance Dave is stoked. “She is stunning,” he says. Julia seems happy enough too. “He seems really cool and like a really calm person.” But she does worry that she might be a little taller than him.
She definitely cheers up when the marriage celebrant tells them they both like food and cooking, and Dave’s best men nod in approval when Julia’s vows are full of cocktail recipe puns.
“Comedy was in there,” Dave says. “I was actually thinking about doing something really similar.”
His vows are romance epitomised: “Seeing you now for the first time is like listening to a song for the first time and knowing it will be my favourite,” he says, and Julia’s heart melts.
During the wedding photos Dave confesses to Julia that he left his stone behind and that doesn’t go down too well.
But life goes on and they get on with the photos and discover they quite like kissing one another. Back at the reception Dave tells Julia that he and his dad are both aviation nuts who used to drive to Christchurch Airport just to watch the planes take off and Julia’s heart melts again because her late dad was a pilot.
They cut the cake, do a bit more kissing to the delight of their wedding guests and then head off for their first night together at Rydges Hotel. They look just like a handsome Shrek and Fiona, Julia’s bridesmaid announces and we wonder how much she really likes Julia.
Julia’s not sure about intimacy and Dave says he’d like to take it slow. But when we catch up with them again the next morning they look super-cosy under the covers. Julia is not even fazed by Dave’s mouth guard to stop him snoring and Dave seems equally un-bothered by Julia’s ear plugs.
Tomorrow, we catch up with all of the couples on their honeymoons in Bali.
Married At First NZ airs Sunday’s at 7pm and continues Monday’s and Tuesday’s at 7.30pm on THREE.
