1) How did you meet and fall in love?
Mathew and I met over 5 years ago. His little brother, Jonty, was in my medical school class and kept talking up his big brother and how he really thought we would hit it off, but I didn’t actually get the chance to meet him until about 6 months later when we had a chance encounter at their family bach.
I admired his ability to fly fish, and he somehow admired my ability to snag and lose all of his fishing flies in the brush alongside the river, and love blossomed from there.
Mathew was living in Rotorua at the time, and I was in Auckland, but we made long distance work for the next 3 years, and now are both finally settled in Hamilton (before we move across to Hawke’s Bay next year!).
2) Tell us about your proposal?
I started pestering Mathew about getting married a few years into our relationship, but he is a bit younger than me, so he kept saying we had ‘plenty of time’.
Finally, at the start of this year, I told him I wanted to get married the following summer, so he needed to get his act together... little did I know, he was already in contact with Cyril at Nolan and Vada, designing my dream ring!
About a month later (right before COVID hit), we set off to meet my family in Hawaii. Mathew kept insisting we climb this huge mountain the day after we arrived, because it was going to be my birthday and he wanted me to start the day ‘with a beautiful sunrise’, even though he knows I hate getting up early.
Somehow, he managed to convince me, and the rest of my family, to haul ourselves up a thousand steps to watch the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, where he then walked me a bit down the ridge line and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.
As my family was there, they saw the whole thing unfold and even managed to snap a few photos! It was the perfect proposal for us and it was so special to be able to share that with my family, who all live back in the States, especially as we won’t be able to see them for the foreseeable future.
2) Tell us about your Nolan and Vada engagement ring and why you chose it?
The ring came about after a lot of thought on what kind of stone I wanted, then trying to point Mathew in the right direction. I knew I wanted something with a bit of colour and in an emerald cut, and Mathew and Cyril were able to find the perfect peach sapphire, with two beautiful diamonds on either side, set in a delicate gold band.
I smile every time I look at it! Thanks to the Nolan and Vada team for helping to make the magic happen. I can’t imagine better people to have worked with, from Mathew choosing the stone, to me getting to be involved in finishing the design - it was amazing from start to finish!