When we first started dating, I got very carried away one day saying goodbye and embarrassed myself hugely by saying “see you later, love you”. Maybe this was a sign because since then everything was history.

I am American and he is British, so it was going to be a destination wedding for either his or my family. We decided on selecting somewhere that was “neutral ground” but also that we knew people would be keen to travel to. Italy is just that.

After just a week of hanging out together and cruising around California, I was definitely falling in love. Flying back to Auckland, I realised I would be a very lucky man to spend the rest of my days with Emily.

As I am a singer-songwriter, instead of saying a small speech, after James had said his piece, he then ushered everyone to the dancefloor to listen and dance to a song that I wrote and performed all about how we first met.