Wedding Zen MARK & KIM'S MAGICAL BIG DAY

He didn't want to be wrangling pets on the occasion, but somehow they snuck in!

- Carly Gibbs

When world-renowned animal behaviourist and trainer Mark Vette was planning his wedding to long-term partner Kim Morresey, he had one nonnegotiable: their rustic golden retriever Awa, two, and ragdoll cat Zen, seven months, could be in their wedding photos but not part of the ceremony.

“Over the years, I’ve taught dogs to bring rings, fly aeroplanes and drive cars, but this day was not going to be a training exercise!” laughs Mark.

Kim agrees, “Mark needed a bit of a break from animal wrangling,” she smiles.

The couple’s romantic Coromandel Peninsula beach ceremony, held on Mark’s 70th birthday, was the “absolute idyllic wedding”, says the animal psychologist and zoologist turned TV personality and author.

And their beloved pets were eventually included. After waiting patiently in a camper during the ceremony, they were let loose to party with the bride and groom, and their guests, afterwards.

Mark had hoped that an orca or dolphin might make an appearance in the water nearby, which would have topped off the perfect day. Instead, Mother Nature gifted them a rainbow and some monarch butterflies, which was particularly special given that Mark’s mum Heather, who passed away at age 48, had told him that monarch butterflies would always be a reminder that she was present.

“There was a lot of magic,” reflects Kim.

The couple, who met in 2010, began celebrations the night before their wedding with family and friends at a local campground for a swim, pizza and drinks.

The next day, they exchanged vows in front of 120 guests in the dappled sunlight beneath pōhutukawa trees on a reserve Mark and Kim know as the “front paddock”, directly across the road from their house overlooking Castle Rock at Hot Water Beach.