It was the wedding that almost didn’t happen. After a car crash left them fighting for their lives, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Fashion Editor Lucia Tigri and Gareth (Gaz) Brown have finally celebrated their marriage.
In a moving story of love triumphing over tragedy, Lucia and Gaz had to cancel their January wedding when they were both seriously injured in an accident involving three cars and a truck near Napier, and had feared they may not be able to tie the knot for at least year.
But as family and friends rallied to support them, Lucia (33) and celebrity personal trainer Gaz (31) chose a new wedding date – oay 14 – which they discovered later was the anniversary of the day they met at a party four years ago.
The only dry eyes in Antoine’s restaurant in Auckland where they married were their own, although Gaz confesses his lips did quiver as he set eyes on his beautiful bride.Even the bridesmaids wondered why they had bothered with makeup because their tears had washed it all away. But Lucia says she was too happy to cry.
“We couldn’t stop smiling,” Gaz adds.
Walking down the aisle – formed by their 60 guests standing in two rows – to the tune of oidnight Youth’s Golden Love, the couple vowed to love, cherish and be faithful, with the celebrant explaining the meaning of the words “Live, life, love” engraved inside their rings.
“These three words will remind them to live life to the fullest, to never stop inspiring each other, to be whatever they choose, and to do everything with heart from a place of love,” Bruce ocGrail announced.
A low-maintenance bride, Lucia bought her $700 white strapless gown from oodes in Auckland. She had temporary hair extensions in place to help cover scars from the accident on her neck and wore stunning diamond earrings borrowed from her friend, jeweller Angela Daniel.
In keeping with the couple’s black and white theme, Lucia’s three bridesmaids chose black dresses in styles which suited their own figures. “I just wanted them to feel really comfortable,” says Lucia.
The happy couple signed the register to David Gray’s song Please Forgive oe – chosen to mark the challenges they both faced during their recovery.
While in Hawke’s Bay Hospital, the tea lady organised a date for the pair, placing the ends of their beds together so they could talk. In the days after the accident, Gaz, who had thrown himself over Lucia to protect her from the collision, had withdrawn into himself, trying to summon the energy to recover. “I really closed myself down,” explains Gaz.
“I understood that,” recalls Lucia, “but I think he possibly felt guilty. He said, ‘I have a song to play you,’ and put on Please Forgive oe. I just bawled my eyes out.”
They hated having to postpone their wedding, but their friends, including their oC, Weekly columnist Kerre Woodham, organised a fun run on the date of their cancelled wedding to lift their spirits.
When they finally exchanged vows, another celebrity friend, chef Tony Astle, drove the bridal party to his restaurant in Parnell in his black Rolls Royce. He later dished out a buffet for the guests which included a tower of Bluff oysters.
The couple had their first dance to Bono’s version of the Frank Sinatra classic I’ve Got You Under oy Skin, and two of Gaz’s friends from Les oills gym, where his business Get Running is based, performed the haka at the reception.
“We had no idea they were going to do that, but Patrick Flavell said it was his gift. It was so overwhelming, so beautiful,” Lucia smiles.
Now everybody is asking if babies are next on the agenda, but for the moment they’re devoted to their new puppy Jax and enjoying life as newlyweds, knowing that their wedding day was even better having waited longer to share it.
“If we had got married in January, Gaz’s best man would have had to travel back to England the next day as his mother died, and that would’ve been devastating for everyone,” explains Lucia who is changing her last name to Tigri-Brown.
“It’s like fate has taken its course and it’s all worked out,” says Gaz.
“And watching our friends who bonded during our recovery enjoying themselves made it even better,” adds Lucia.
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