THE weather was perfect and the event was dubbed as the “wedding of the year”.
The year was 1991 and the union was between Harry Dugdale and Adi Litia Mara — the third youngest daughter of the late president and former prime minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.
According to a report in The Fiji Times on September 2, 1991, shortly after 11am the previous Saturday as guests were seated and the groom and his best man waited at the altar, the bells tolled at the Sacred Heart Cathedral signalling the arrival of Adi Litia.
She arrived looking radiant and to applause from a crowd gathered near the entrance of the church. What she wore was a well kept mystery and it just about took everyone’s breath away.
Certainly different, the figure-hugging gown was made entirely of masi.
Designed by top New Zealander fashion designer Annie Bonsa, it featured a plunging back and flowers and bustles that extended into a train of about a metre.
In front of an audience of about 500, the couple were guided through a ritual of matrimony with leading celebrant the late Archbishop Petero Mataca.
The reception at the Atholl Hotel at Pacific Harbour was anything but staid as the hotel ended up having to cater for more than the original 500 bookings.
When the speeches were over, the guests helped themselves to a rich menu of suckling pigs, lobsters, prawns and seafood, roast beef, chicken, ham off the bone, pork and traditional dishes.
They watched the couple cut the wedding cake and take the floor for their first wedding waltz before breaking out into Lomaloma and other local tunes.
“The champagne’s flowing, everyone’s happy,” the hotel’s managing director Ian Murray said.
Even the bride’s father was looking relaxed during the official photography session in the penthouse above the main reception area.
“I’d never seen him so relaxed before,” said the official photographer for the wedding, Peter Henning.
“The bridal couple was just looking happy, I don’t feel any pressure.”
About 250 guests — VIPs, Tonga’s Princess Pilolevu, Cabinet ministers, diplomats and others dined inside with the bridal party and happy parents.
With about 100 staff members — waiters, waitresses, chefs, ushers and security men running around and the official video team and photographer trying to keep up the bride’s mother — the late Adi Lady Lala Mara confessed she was “feeling very overwhelmed”.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed but very happy and ecstatic, everything’s going well and running according to schedule,” she said.
