Dawn Geeson and Neil Yaxley May 31, 2008

There are two stories of the relationship between Dawn Geeson and Neil Yaxley. There is the romance edition: “Neil and I met in 2002 through a friend I shared a house with. Neil came over to Bermuda for a vacation. For me it was love at first sight, Neil has the most amazing blue eyes.”

And then there is the uncut, unbridled hilarity edition: “I had lived here for a year and shared a house with two guys. One of the guys best friends was Neil and I had mentioned about six months before, ‘if your friend wants to stay in my room, he can.’ I was house-sitting at the time and I popped home one night and I saw this guys stuff in my bedroom.” When she went to find her roommates to ask what was going on (assuming that the roommates would’ve accepted the offer earlier if they‘d intended to have a friend stay over), her roommate quipped “do you want to get in to bed? I’m sure he won’t mind.” That Sunday the roommates, including Dawn, and Neil went out on the town and that evening the couple’s chemistry sparked. After that night, Neil would call Dawn to get to know the lovely woman he’d shared a room and a romantic connection with. Over the next year he flew back roughly five times and the two spoke immensely over the phone. “His credit card bill must have been massive!” Dawn notes, half kidding, half cognizant of the extreme lengths Neil went to court her.

Five years after they met, the couple became engaged. From the beginning, Dawn wanted to take a no –fuss approach. An experienced flower designer of 14 years, Dawn insisted that she wouldn’t need a wedding planner as she had seen so many weddings planned before. And given that the couple wanted a smaller and more intimate size to their wedding, their final invitation list included only 38 guests, Dawn sought to manage the event planning herself. “Plans came together very quickly and with ease. We both wanted an informal, small wedding with close family and friends.” As a result, Dawn picked the conveniently located Elbow Beach and Lido Complex for the site of the ceremony and reception, respectively. “We knew our time in Bermuda would come to an end within a year or two and we both wanted a beach wedding on the Island where we had met and lived.”

The inspiration was no challenge for Dawn to come by either. “I’m a big pink freak – and I know Neil didn’t want me to overkill on the pink.” So as a compromise, Dawn incorporated her love for pink, and the couple’s shared love for beach motifs in the décor, Bermuda’s pink sands provided a convenient overlap. Dawn incorporated the pink theme into the attire of herself and her attendants. “I wanted my maid of honor and bridesmaid to feel
comfortable so I just gave them the color pink and let them get what they wanted.” Dawn found her dress when she flew back to England to shop with her mother. She found a dress that suited her perfectly: a strapless satin gown with embroidered pink flowers and crystals on the bodice and side panel, and pink buttons on the back. At the reception, tables named after the couple’s favorite beaches in Bermuda were decorated with tall glass fluted vases with pink beads, twisted willow and a cascade of white dendrobium orchids designed by Sally Sedgwick at El Shaddai Florist. A pink taxi contracted from Cecil Lewis transported guests from different locations to the ceremony.

The week before the wedding, the couple took off from work to welcome their international guests at the airport. “On arrival we gave everyone an information pack with bus tokens, time tables for the bus and ferry, activities and sites to see while in Bermuda and a Bermuda shell and starfish coaster to go along with the theme. On the Thursday evening two nights before the wedding, they held their rehearsal dinner at Mad Hatters restaurant, a location with special meaning, as the chef and owner Ben is a personal friend of the couple.

The ceremony paid homage to their love of the Bermuda pink sand beaches, by taking place on Elbow Beach. “We both wanted to get married on the beach, we both wanted bare feet and we didn’t want people wearing ties.” The couple were married by Reverend Alan Garity under a chuppa (bamboo canopy) on the beach. Neil wore a casual outfit of linen pants and a nice white shirt. As they had hoped, nobody in the audience wore a tie, underscoring the casual and intimate nature of the affair. Dawn carried a bouquet of white phalaenopsis orchids, lime green dendrobiums and white with pink centered cymbidium orchids with starfish and crystal accents that she designed herself. Rachel Smith of Demco Florist, also her bridesmaid, designed flowers for herself and the maid of honor and the decorations for the Chuppa. Neil’s boutonniere was a matching white phalaenopsis. Dawn’s hair was styled by Margot Clarke, her maid of honor, with a phalaenopsis orchid and crystals. Indeed natural beauties were at a premium for the Yaxley ceremony.

After the ceremony, the guests went from the beach up the stairs to the Lido Complex – where they had cocktails at the Marina Terrace while they waited for a few photographs to be taken of the wedding party by Wayne Todd. The cocktails were followed with a reception in the oceanfront St. George’s Room of the main restaurant. Although Dawn and Neil tried to stay away from typical formalities, including speeches, Mr. Geeson insisted that he do a speech on his only daughter and only child. Although Dawn was originally weary about this, her father’s speech turned out to be articulate and emotive, and did indeed get her crying. This special moment and many others were facilitated by the staff at the Lido Complex, who helped the event run smoothly, especially Karen Stroeder, who “made us feel at ease and took care of everything so professionally.”

Guests were treated to a party favor of glass pink and blue honeymoon hogs from Dockyard Glassworks. Those guests who had flown in from overseas made a short trip to the Elbow Beach Hotel, where the couple also stayed for two nights after their wedding to spend time with their families. Dawn praises Tamsyn Breanon at the hotel for her help: “she made our stay so special!” Months after their wedding, things are still moving along swimmingly for the couple. They still reflect on their special meeting and their small intimate wedding on the beach, but most of all these days, they get ready for the newest addition to their family: at press time Dawn is roughly seven months pregnant.