This is an image of my son, Luke, and myself at an Easter weekend wedding. Luke is looking very smart in his role as a best man, a role that he fulfilled extremely well.

Spring is a lovely time to get married, although the weather can be unpredictable with the risk of April showers, although I have also known it to be really hot and sunny. Nevertheless, the weather isn’t important if true love blossoms.

In my book, Waireka: Sweet Waters, set in nineteenth century New Zealand, my heroine, Eliza, attends her eldest daughter Charlotte’s wedding to neighbouring dairy farmer’s son, Adam.

With the deepening friendship of Charlotte and Adam, now seemed a good time for them to marry and make good use of the new shed before it was filled with cows. Robert was happy to marry them, and a date was set for a December wedding when the Pohutakawa trees would be in full blossom as wedding confetti.

The day for the wedding began with a glorious blue, cloudless sky which bode well for the young couple. Eliza felt quite emotional as she saw her beautiful daughter escorted up the aisle on the arm of Alister to an expectant Adam. It seemed like yesterday when she had held the tiny Charlotte in her arms at the christening, just over seventeen years ago, thanking God that this child had thrived unlike little Alister. (Waireka page 186)

Being New Zealand, December is the height of summer when you can expect the best weather. I found I had to keep remembering a different seasonal calendar in the writing of this book! Waireka has just been reissued in kindle form for less than UKP2. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waireka-Sweet-Waters-Sheila-Donald-ebook/dp/B0BXT1VN51