Our Wedding Story: Love blossoms from a bus stop in New Zealand

Richard Morrison and Yuko Yang

Richard, from Belfast, was on a dental elective in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 2014 and exploring the North Island one weekend when he met Yuko – there researching universities for a master's degree – at a bus stop.

The pair got chatting, ended up travelling around New Zealand together and while both returned to their home countries afterwards, they remained in touch.

Yuko moved to London to study and in 2015, the couple got engaged at White Rocks beach in Portrush.

The only prewedding nerves felt were waiting for Yuko’s “fiancée visa” to come through.

"We had to postpone the initial date in May," says Richard. "When Yuko got back from China everything was back on track . . . it was all greatly helped by my mum and dad, Anne and Patrick, who organised the wedding in Belfast, while I was working in England and Yuko was in China."

The wedding day, July 23rd, 2016, began with the ceremony at the Church of St John the Evangelist in the groom's native Belfast, followed by a stop for photos at the beach, before the reception at the Culloden Hotel where Yuko changed into a traditional Chinese-style red dress.

The bride’s parents Tonggen and Yong-Feng travelled from China with their daughter’s two wedding dresses.

“I can’t wait to do it all over again with Richard when we visit China the next time,” says Yuko who lives in east Belfast with her new husband.

Photographer: David Coote Photography, www.davidcoote.com