Sitting in her New Plymouth home, surrounded by her many medals and trophies, ultramarathon runner Lisa Tamati is having her hair done and make-up applied as she prepares to slip into her gorgeous lace gown.
Looking at a vintage picture of her mother on her wedding day, she sighs, “I’ve got some big shoes to fill. I don’t think I’ll be this beautiful.” But she’s wrong. Lisa looks stunning and her mum Isobel cries tears of joy when she sees her daughter all ready to walk down the aisle.
It’s a day neither of them thought they would see. It wasn’t until three years ago that Lisa, now 48, met her future husband, firefighter Haisley O’Leary. “I ran the length of the country looking for a decent bloke,” she jokes, referring to her 2200km run from Bluff to Cape Reinga in 2009. “I had to kiss a lot of frogs!”
Then, soon after Lisa got engaged, 73-year-old Isobel suffered an aneurysm. “She was very close to dying,” her doting daughter tells. “She was in a coma and then a vegetative state for a long time. It’s been a rocky road, but she’s beaten the odds and it’s so important for me to have the centrepiece of my family here for this special day.”
Lisa, who has been her mother’s main carer for the past year, pushes Isobel’s wheelchair down the aisle when she arrives at Taranaki’s Barton Estate to the tune of John Legend’s “All of Me”. The weather is unseasonably cold and wet, but the beaming bride’s smile lights up the entire room.
“She looked so beautiful,” her groom Haisley, 39, later tells Woman’s Day. “I had to try very hard not to shed a tear. I’m a very lucky man.”
Lisa has no such luck controlling her emotions, her eyes welling up. She later recalls, “I couldn’t help but cry. He was so handsome and it was just so wonderful to have Mummy giving me away. But it didn’t help that she was bawling her eyes out!”
The tears keep coming as the celebrant speaks of the struggles, including a tragic miscarriage, that Lisa and Haisley have overcome together. “Through the tough times, they have been able to grow ever closer,” she says before the bride and groom exchange rings and vows.
Dressed in flapper and gangster costumes to suit the wedding’s 1920s theme, the guests cheer as the beaming newlyweds share a kiss to the tune of Ella Fitzgerald’s “At Last”. Then it’s on to the reception at a beachside bowling club, where the weather clears just in time for us to take wedding photos amid the driftwood and black sand of the wild west coast.
In the speeches, friends and family tell how Lisa and Haisley – who did a 50km run on their first date – have a “symbiotic relationship”. She has pushed him and made him a better man, while he’s helped her realise it’s OK to be vulnerable sometimes.
A professional public speaker, Lisa takes to the microphone to declare, “I’m so lucky and proud to call this man my husband. It took me 45 years to find him, but I’ve never felt so at home and so loved. This year has been the toughest year of my life. Doctors didn’t expect my mummy to survive, but we fought hard, which is something I’ve learned from ultramarathons, and we brought her back from the brink.
“All this time, Haisley has never complained about me spending up to 12 hours a day with Mum or researching how I can help her. Now, my darling, you’re stuck with me for the next 50 or 60 years because I’ll probably live a long time. And because you’re my toyboy, I expect you to look after me next!”
After a hearty wedding feast of salads, crayfish, pizza and sushi – all brought by guests – Lisa has a surprise in store. Following months of secret singing lessons, she returns to the mic for a tear-jerking rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.
After a standing ovation from her guests, the sports star jokes, “I’ve always wanted to be a diva. You heard it here first – I’m giving up running to be a singer!”
But there’s one more surprise in store. Shortly after Lisa and Haisley take to the floor for their first dance, a waltz, the music suddenly switches to Pharrell’s “Happy” and the newlyweds bust out some choreographed moves, with Isobel wheeled between them for her own special spin.
“This has been a long time coming – better late than never!” Lisa later concludes with a smile. “This wedding is a celebration of finding love and the fact that my family is still intact. I’m treasuring every moment of it.”
Lisa Tamati’s Wedding
It wasn’t until three years ago that Lisa Tamati, now 48, met her future husband, firefighter Haisley O’Leary.
“I ran the length of the country looking for a decent bloke,” she jokes, referring to her 2200km run from Bluff to Cape Reinga in 2009. “I had to kiss a lot of frogs!”
The happy couple say their ‘I do’s’.
“She looked so beautiful,” her groom Haisley, 39, later tells Woman’s Day of seeing Lisa walk down the aisle. “I had to try very hard not to shed a tear. I’m a very lucky man.”
The wedding had a 1920s theme, with guests dressed up in flapper and gangster costumes to match.
Lisa, Haisley and the wedding party pose for photos amid the driftwood and black sand of the wild west coast.
“I’m so lucky and proud to call this man my husband. It took me 45 years to find him, but I’ve never felt so at home and so loved,” Lisa told guests on the big day.
In the speeches, friends and family tell how Lisa and Haisley – who did a 50km run on their first date – have a “symbiotic relationship”. She has pushed him and made him a better man, while he’s helped her realise it’s OK to be vulnerable sometimes.
Lisa poses with her beloved mum Isobel.
Lisa, who has been Isobel’s main carer for the past year after she suffered an aneurysm, had her mum by her side as she walked down the aisle to the tune of John Legend’s ‘All of Me’.
“This has been a long time coming – better late than never!” Lisa later concludes with a smile. “This wedding is a celebration of finding love and the fact that my family is still intact. I’m treasuring every moment of it.”
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