With a new home, puppy, and wedding on the horizon, life was filled with joy and excitement for Michaela and Mackenzie. But Mother Nature had a different plan in store with Cyclone Gabrielle causing heartbreak and devastation just weeks from their special day. Here Michaela shares the story of their roller coaster wedding journey - a celebration of love that triumphed over the forces of nature!

After buying our dream rural home, welcoming our puppy Dexter, and getting engaged, we started planning our wedding for 25 February 2023. Before we knew it, we were only weeks out from the wedding. And that is when Cyclone Gabrielle hit.

We woke up to our emergency alert at 5am on 14 February (Valentines Day) telling us we need to evacuate, as the river is flooding. But unfortunately, by that stage it was too late. We got up out of bed and the water was already over the bonnets of our cars so there was no hope of driving anywhere. We grabbed Dexter, and our pet bunny and guinea pig, and opened the chicken coop and gates for the horses. Because it was still pitch black outside we couldn’t see any of the animals, but tried to give them the best chance we could. By this stage I had started swimming as the water was over my head. Realising the situation we were in we swam for the closest hill.

After what felt like a lifetime, we made it to the hill (unfortunately just with the two of us and Dexter, as we lost the bunny and guinea pig while swimming) and a neighbour took us in.

When the sun came up the next day we found our two ponies and two pet sheep alive and brought them to the house we were staying at. As soon as we could get home Mackenzie trudged across the silt to get to the house and see if he could find any of our other pets and to see if he could salvage anything from the house. He found my dress bag (with the dress inside) and decided to bring it back to me to see if it was salvageable. When he returned, I took the bag down to the neighbours' bedroom and miraculously when I opened the bag, the dress was bone dry inside and completely fine. The next few days were spent coming to terms with losing our home and pets, and also no longer getting married in a couple of weeks.

When the cell phone reception finally came back after a week or so of having no contact with anyone, Emma and Colin - the owners of our wedding venue - managed to get a hold of us to let us know that their home and the wedding venue had also been demolished by the floods. We were devastated for them, knowing that they were in the same situation as we were.

Months went by of everyone just trying to get back on their feet as much as possible, and after a while, Emma and Colin made the decision to fix up and reopen Meadowood. That was super exciting news for us because it meant that we could still get married at our dream venue one day. As soon as they had a reopening date, we rebooked for our new date of 2 December. We wanted to end the year the way we intended to start it!

The months between the cyclone and our new wedding date were a huge roller coaster; we were really tested and had a lot of healing to do. But we got through together. Emma and Colin worked so hard to get the venue back up and running and by the end of October it looked as good as new. We are still completely in awe of how they managed to get it looking as beautiful as they did in only eight months.

We woke up the morning of our wedding day in our separate accommodation to the most beautiful clear sky and sun. Mackenzie stayed with his groomsmen and I stayed with my bridesmaids, and of course Dexter was there too. We spent the morning getting ready, and singing the wedding nerves away.

Our wedding theme was very whimsical and using a natural colour pallet. I wanted the kind of fairytale wedding I had dreamed of as a little girl. The ponies arrived at lunch time, with their little flower crowns on. Before long, everyone was ready to go.

Our ceremony was at 3pm and it was perfect. I walked up the aisle to You are the Reason by Callum Scott. There were a lot of tears shed, by both Mackenzie and I, and our friends and families. Dexter was our ring bearer and he was such a good boy all day. He carried the rings up the aisle, attached to a little hook on his suit. He knew his job was very important. It took 10 months more than we expected, but we finally became husband and wife!

When the ceremony was over, we headed to the reception area, where our ponies Sunny and Scarlett were waiting to welcome everyone. The reception area was set up with tipis and fairy lights, and it felt like we were walking into a fairytale. We were quickly greeted with rosebud cocktails and canapés.

We had our bridal photos, which were set amongst the trees and gardens of Meadowood, shortly followed by dinner and speeches from our loved ones. I zipped out quickly after dinner for an outfit change, and then I was ready to dance the night away.

Our first dance was to Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran; it was such a special time to just be together dancing after such a big day. The rest of the night was spent celebrating with family and friends. It was so beautiful to be able to celebrate with the people who had been there for us throughout the challenging year we had.

All of our vendors were absolutely incredible and we feel so lucky to have had all of them. The most special part of the day (aside from marrying the love of my life) was being able to incorporate some of our fur babies into our day. It made our wedding feel like it was really our own, and for me, my pets are an extension of my family, so having them there felt so right and special.

I am still in awe of how perfectly our day went in the end - everything was just right and so easy, it is definitely a day I will remember forever.

Two weeks later we headed off on our honeymoon to Canada (which had also been postponed from July) and we have just spent our honeymoon having a very magical snowy white Christmas!