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A BRIDE SHOULD RIGHTLY expect to hear “You’re beautiful” on her wedding day. But when Martin Crowe and Lorraine Downes were married at a secluded Northland bay, the words meant so much more than a groom’s appreciation of his stunning wife-to-be. The lyrics to the James Blunt hit, sung by Martin’s old school friend Dave Morris after the celebrity couple exchanged wedding vows, were a poignant reminder of the night the cricketing maestro became a repeat offender for love. And the night the former beauty queen saw the personal – and very appealing – changes that had taken place in the worldclass batsman. During the wee hours of a November morning in 2005, smitten Martin had pumped up the volume and played You’re Beautiful seven times through his Clearwater Resort room wall – all in a bid to woo former Miss Universe Lorraine who was staying in the apartment next door.

Four years later, You’re Beautiful was being sung again – this time as the kindred spirits stood in front of 70 family members and close friends and declared their love and their intention to grow old together. The special day – the culmination of a love affair that had triumphed over a false start and two years of being separated by 600km – was peppered with other touches that had deep resonance for Lorraine, 44, and 46-year-old Marty. The stunning beach house where their informal and deeply personal nuptials were held was where the couple had spent their first weekend together. It was where Marty had sat by a computer and, as he watched Lorraine by the pool, composed an email outlining his feelings for her. It was also where Lorraine had presented him with a book, The Invitation by Oriah, which would become a cornerstone in their relationship. The book encourages the reader to ��

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embrace the real and abandon the superficial and Marty, who had already started on a path of self-discovery and self-renewal, was more than ready to accept that invitation. And today all the pivotal pieces of their pasts were being woven into the fabric of their new life together; a life the couple describe as being “in spirit” with each other. Until the morning of the wedding, everything had gone to plan: the couple had arranged for their favourite Auckland restaurant, TriBeCa, to provide the food; friend Daniel Kemp had chosen the wine; and another friend, Tim Roxborogh, was in charge of the music. Lorraine’s hairdresser from her Wellington days, her friend Carl Manderson, was travelling up from the capital, and other friends and family, including Marty’s Florida-based brother, Jeff Crowe, were jetting in from all over the world. The couple’s children – Lorraine has Hilton, 16, and 11-year-old Jasmine, and Marty is dad to Emma, almost six – would play key roles in the ceremony, Hilton as a witness and Jasmine and Emma as flower girls. And Lorraine, heart set on a beach wedding and wearing an exquisite oceaninspired Jane Yeh gown in melt-together shades of aquamarine, would be led by the girls onto the sand to meet her groom. But Valentine’s Day, which should

have looked kindly on a couple who had proved their love over time and distance, threw up one last hurdle – soak-to-theskin rain and a chill to the air. Not that it mattered one jot in the end. When it became clear the sun would not peep through the steel-coloured sky, the couple calmly moved their plans off the beach and inside the house. This was to be a low-key union and high drama was not in the script. The morning of the wedding had started in an equally relaxed way. Friends and family popped into Lorraine’s room as her hair and make-up were being done. There were jokes – even at the eleventh hour Lorraine’s friend from Los Angeles, Louise Calabro, was dogged in her mock quest to be a bridesmaid – and stories of the hen’s night which involved some serious salsa dancing and sore, tired feet at 2am. Marty, in baseball cap and shorts, was busy ferrying bar stools into the room so that the bridal party and Lorraine’s mum Glad would be comfortable as they were made up. The day before, Marty had ��

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enjoyed a round of golf with close friends and family, including his mum Audrey. “Mum shot a net 63 to be the star of the day,” said the groom-to-be. As the ceremony neared, the flower girls put on their white Jane Yeh outfits with crystals dotted around the neckline and waited for their big moment. “I’d said to Mum, ‘I’d like a halter neck,’ and she said, ‘Sure,’” explained Jasmine, who’d played a big part in the design of her skirt and top. While all the preparations were in full swing at the beach house, the guests were winding their way to the venue in a bus.

In the party were sports stars and broadcasters including Grant Fox, Ian Smith, Mark Greatbatch, Melodie Robinson, Marcus Wheelhouse and Andy Haden, not to mention the former boss of the Warriors Ian Robson and Lorraine’s Dancing with the Stars partner, Aaron Gilmore. In keeping with the wedding’s relaxed and fun theme, they were treated to a video made in 1990 featuring the bride and groom when they first met. In the in-house video for the National Bank, the two present and detail the bank’s new uniforms. It was the sort ��

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of presentation, says Lorraine, where Marty would say, “Over to you, Lorraine,” and she’d say, “Back to you, Martin.” Nearly 20 years on, Lorraine was truly back to Martin and she couldn’t be happier. “We are very compatible. Compatibility is a very important thing. Marriage we see as a commitment for the rest of our lives. We see ourselves growing old together,” said Lorraine as she snuggled up to Marty at home a week before the wedding. “You’ve got to have the same values, ideas, want to do the same sorts of things in life. “We have these little sayings: ‘To love well,’ from The Invitation, and ‘It’s not only marrying the right partner, it’s being the right partner,’ from The Art of Marriage by Wilferd Arlan Petersen.” Marty, who admits he wasn’t always in touch with his own emotions, explained what he’s had to do – and still has to do – to be a loving husband and partner. “As the cricketer I was a lost soul from the moment I was thrust into top cricket prematurely, from age 14 on. It became all ego and cricket … in the end I just surrendered and said, ‘I don’t want any more of it.’ “There’s so much work to be done, individually for me ... In the last three years I have only just discovered who I really am and I’m not the cricketer. ��WW

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“Then through therapy I learned that for a long time I was reading a script and it’s time now to be simply the real me.” And why marriage? “To me it’s an acknowledgment of our love and that we will grow old together. And that we believe in marriage and this is going to be it. We’re more experienced.” “That awareness,” Lorraine said, “that’s what makes us click, have that bond.” And now that bond was to be cemented, legally, in a beautiful series of connecting spaces full of Singapore orchids and frangipani arranged by Marty’s sister, Deb, an interior designer. As Lorraine and Marty, Hilton and the girls stood in front of a rain-streaked expanse of glass overlooking the bay, celebrant Julia Cameron recounted the couple’s love story and the synchronicity of their lives. Twenty-five years ago, she said, when Marty was scoring his first cricket ��

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�� century for New Zealand – at Lord’s in England – Lorraine was being crowned Miss Universe. Love, she added, “can sometimes manage to get a foothold” despite the odds. Though it did not look like love would survive after Marty and Lorraine’s first doomed date in 2001, when “after one movie and one kiss, Lorraine dumped him”.

� BUT THE FLAME began flickering in 2005 when in Christchurch Marty bombarded Lorraine with You’re Beautiful and asked her out for “just one more movie”. Then, after a three-hour lunch followed by the weekend at the beach house, love began to flourish. “This place has special memories for them both, so it was only natural they hold the wedding ceremony here, where it all started,” Julia said. After exchanging heartfelt vows (see page 27), Julia pronounced the pair husband and wife to rapturous applause. Lorraine’s friend from Wellington Frances Jones then read an excerpt from The Art of Marriage. In his speech, Marty said he could now throw away The Art of Cricket by Sir Don Bradman and concentrate on The Art of Marriage. “I’m the luckiest guy in the room, if not the planet.” He also admitted that his You’re Beautiful antics in Christchurch were not only designed to impress Lorraine; they were also an attempt to frighten off a blind date she had been set up with. “He had no chance with my Romeo act.” Marty then offered a tearful toast to the couple’s late fathers, Dave Crowe and Lloyd Downes. The couple returned to their chic new

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home of 16 months in a seaside suburb of Auckland and will honeymoon during the winter. “Moving here has been wonderful, we love our home. We’re real homebodies,” Lorraine says. “I’m grateful every day for my life, my children and for Marty.” They share their sleek, multi-level house with Jasmine, and Emma stays at least two nights a week. Hilton lives with his dad in Wellington but visits during holidays. “With our wedding, our children couldn’t be happier … A year ago when we were going to get married it wasn’t the right time,” according to Lorraine. “It’s been an adjustment for everyone. For me, I had not been in a relationship for six years. “When Marty came on the scene, it was a new experience for the children. “Where are we now? We’re in a great place. It’s a time thing. It’s about allowing the children to get to know Marty and me getting to know Emma.” “As Lorraine says, we’ve got through a big year of adjustment, we’ve all adjusted and we just want to rip into this home life,” added Marty, who has a new job as Sky TV’s executive producer of the Rugby Channel. Lorraine’s professional focus is building up and adding to her image consultancy. “I’m looking at adding something I’ve always wanted to do, something on a spiritual level.” In the meantime, the couple celebrate the everyday; the fact they are finally together after two years in a longdistance relationship between Auckland and Wellington, and that this marriage has the advantage of experience. “We’re older and wiser,” said Lorraine, with a smile on her face. �

wedding

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