CORINNE AND AUSTIN'S WEDDING CLASSIC ROMANTIC Corinne Dukeson and Austin Brooks were married at The Elms, Tauranga on September 16, 2006. Corinne tells their story: Water skiing brought us together when we met through mutual friends at our favourite lake. Any girl who owned and drove her own ski boat would have a head start with Austin who was a NZ champion barefoot water skier! But he proposed on land – at the top of Mount Maunganui at 6.30am. Mum’s last wish. We set the date for January 2007 and, being my usual highly efficient self, I got onto the organizing immediately. When my mother became very unwell with cancer we brought the wedding forward to December, 2006. Mum then deteriorated rapidly and her only wish in her remaining months was to see her baby girl get married. So in mad panic we brought all our arrangements forward to a month out. Some guests must have wondered when they received their invitations with a “reply urgently” note on them! Much to our grief Mum passed away 12 days before our wedding but made me promise that the day would go ahead and be a happy one. If I cried she would find a way to trip me up. Chocolate with cream inside. I knew straight away that the theme for our wedding would be my favourite colour, chocolate brown. Luckily Austin never argues and did not even mention wearing his wet suit. He looked very handsome in his chocolate textured waistcoat under a black suit. Everything from the metallic brown invitations with our names embossed (and personalized stamps) to the bridal party’s clothes to the table decorations followed the classic theme of variations of chocolate and cream. Continue...