Not even a devastating bushfire could stop one couple from saying ‘I do’ on the New South Wales coast on Saturday.
Sadness and and despair were replaced with love and happiness when Sam Dawson walked down the aisle to marry David Hutchinson in front of loved ones on the headland of Tathra, in the state’s south.
Just six days before, a bushfire ripped through the coastal town and destroyed 65 homes and 35 caravans and cabins.
Sam Dawson and David Hutchinson sealed their marriage with a kiss on the Tathra headland on Saturday, six days after a bushfire devastated the coastal town
Blushing bride Sam Dawson also posed for photos with proud dad Ray and an orange Kombi van on the Tathra headland
The couple had been planning their big day for six months.
But after the devastating bushfires hit Tathra on March 18, they only decided to go ahead with the wedding late in the week.
The blushing bride also posed for photos with proud dad Ray and an orange Kombi van.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will return to the Bega Valley on Monday to host a lunch to honour everyone who helped out in the bushfire in some way, the Bega District News reports.
Preliminary investigations have found that power lines were the likely cause of the fire, raising questions about the maintenance of power infrastructure by Essential Energy, which is owned by the NSW Government.
Sadness and and despair were replaced with love and happiness when Sam Dawson walked down the aisle to marry David Hutchinson in front of loved ones
After the devastating bushfires hit Tathra on March 18, they only decided to go ahead with the wedding late in the week
There are also suggestions of a turf war between the NSW Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW after the RFS declined at least two offers of help from their urban counterparts for a pumper when the fire first broke.
The captain of the Bega RFS said accusations FRNSW were locked out of the bush were a ‘load of rubbish’.
‘If the RFS said no then how did the Merimbula Fire & Rescue travel about 45 minutes to the scene and be with my crew on the same side of the fire line?’ he said on Facebook.
The blushing bride also posed for photos with proud dad Ray and an orange Kombi van.
Law firm Slater and Gordon is considering launching a class-action lawsuit if it becomes clear Essential Energy did not follow ‘stringent inspection and ongoing maintenance requirements’ that could have prevented the bushfire.
Esther Lodge owner Joanne Coulton, who will house displaced locals in her holiday home, says the town’s recovery will depend on getting tourists back
‘You’ve still got your beautiful beach and coastline even though, yes, the houses that burned down look devastating,’ she told AAP.
‘But if people want to come to Tathra to chill out – they’ll come. I know they’ll come back. I know they’ll return.’
After the devastating bushfires hit Tathra on March 18, Sam and David only decided to go ahead with the March 24 wedding until late in the week
The happy couple exchanged vows among blackened trees
Preliminary investigations have found that power lines were the likely cause of the fire, raising questions about the maintenance of power infrastructure by Essential Energy, which is owned by the NSW Government
The couple were a picture of happiness as they exchanged vows