Newly married Cheryl Nesbit has to be New Zealand’s most patient fiancée, having waited an incredible 26 years from engagement to wedding.
Back in 1982, she was just 18 and over the moon with happiness when her boyfriend Rowland de Bruin popped the question.
“It was so exciting. We had a massive engagement party with a live band and fabulous food. It was better than most weddings,” says Cheryl (45).
Cheryl started planning for her big day, but it took almost three decades for her to finally make it to the altar.
“We were young and we wanted to do our big oE so we didn’t want to get married then.”
After spending 10 years travelling around Europe, the Tauranga couple returned to New Zealand and focused on getting their life in order.
“While we were away, all our friends got married, had homes and were having children. We didn’t want to spend money on a flash wedding – we concentrated on kick-starting our lives instead,” says Cheryl.
They went on to have two children, Lennox (12) and Floyd (11), and started a successful building business. In the end, it was the kids who pushed the idea of the couple tying the knot.
“They kept asking why we weren’t married, and I knew it was time to get hitched,” says Cheryl. “Also, I was thinking about what would be written on our headstones when we died. I would rather be called a ‘wife’, than a ‘de facto’.”
So last month, on the 29th anniversary of their first meeting, the couple finally got married and Cheryl was able to trade her engagement ring for a wedding band.
To surprise their 60 guests, they staged the event as Rowland’s 50th birthday. Their friends and family only caught on when they heard the band play Here Comes the Bride and Cheryl appeared holding a bouquet of flowers.
“I wasn’t going to be a virginal bride with a big, white meringue dress,” laughs Cheryl, who wore a simple evening gown instead. “There’s so much stress that comes with a wedding, and we wanted our guests to feel relaxed, so we didn’t tell anyone.”
Rowland (49) says he will never forget the look on everyone’s faces when they realised what was happening.”It was a great day. It was priceless,” he chuckles.
As for Cheryl, she believes it was well worth the wait. “Seeing our sons there, as our best men, made the day very special,” she says. “Rowland and I have been committed to each other for so long, and it’s now set in concrete.”
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