27 July 2022
Jetting into Love
Ngā Mārena. Rural Weddings.
Writer: GEORGIA MERTON
Photographer: SARAH CLEMENTS
Kate and Edward Hobson have never been ones to do things the conventional way. From holding their wedding on the rugged banks of the Waimakariri River to jumping into their own West Melton strawberry farm without any horticulture experience, life is a challenge this couple faces together.

"We wanted biodegradable confetti so we could leave the mānuka trees how we found them. We used dried petals from our garden. The petals were coloured, so that made them look more like leaves."
Kate and Edward’s relationship has always been shaped by a shared love of adventure. For Kate, heading overseas in 2016 meant nursing in the Middle East for ten months, and when Eddie visited her, his trips included six-week solo bike tours through the United Kingdom. So the fact they used jet boats to transport everyone to their wedding ceremony shouldn’t have been a surprise to their guests – even though they had no idea it was coming.
Kate and Eddie’s story starts at a BYO in Christchurch, where Kate remembers the two “definitely got along well.” It was the end of 2015, and Kate was set to head off to Abu Dhabi early the following year. “But then we met again not long after at the Young Farmers Christmas Party, and it was obvious. It just clicked. It was so easy, and we got along so well. When I went overseas, we just knew we would make it work. We didn’t even really have to talk about it,” she says. Eddie, who was working in agriculture sales for Integrated Packaging at the time, went over to visit her. The rest, according to Kate, 32, is history.
A jet boat motors along the Waimakariri River for the wedding.
She eventually returned to home soil, where the pair continued to date - Eddie living at his family beef and sheep farm in Rakaia, and Kate flatting with her dad in Woodstock. They kept travelling, exploring Sri Lanka, India and Canada side by side. "We absolutely loved the culture shock of India," says Kate. "The people, the camels and the food! And through everything Eddie was just the calmest, most laid-back person and I felt like it makes me calmer, too." Their bond was formed through the whirl of adventure, but also, as Eddie says, through shared values and similar simple upbringings. "We're both from big families, farming families, so it works," says Eddie, 30. The pair eventually bought their first home in Ashburton.
Come 2020, neither their love nor appetite for adventure were deterred by the Covid-19 pandemic. On Easter weekend of the first lockdown, Eddie proposed. "She cooked a mean dinner - spare ribs - and I chucked her the box and said, 'Shall we do this thing?'" he says with a sly grin. Kate laughs. "The story depends on whose version you want," she says. "First he said, 'Let's go away!' but we couldn't, obviously, so we set up the tent in the backyard. He lit candles and bought Champagne, and while we were having dinner out there he popped the question."



The wedding went ahead a year later at Kate's family farm, Woodstock, on the banks of the Waimakariri River. "We wanted to have it in the mānuka forest right on the edge of the river, but the track out there is no good, so we used the local jet boat tour company. We had three jet boats to take everyone up the river where we had everything set up. We'd been out to cut back the mānuka, but it's still in the wops so people were mostly standing," Eddie says. After the ceremony, it was back on the jet boats to the woolshed for the reception.
Even their grandmothers made it out to the spot, which was especially important because they were the couple's witnesses. "Eddie's granny, who is ninety-three, got boated out, but my granjan, who was ninety-five, had recently broken her spine so she got choppered out there. She was absolutely stoked because one of her bucket list items was to go in a helicopter," says Kate. "It was really special having them as our witnesses. It was almost a driving factor to get them out there, too - it may have just felt too hard otherwise."
Kate and Eddie's adventures together don't end with jet boats. Six months into their marriage, life in Ashburton felt a little too settled so they decided to buy Hauora Produce, a hydroponic strawberry farm in West Melton. Why strawberries? According to Eddie, with Kate's family in dairy and his own in sheep and beef, horticulture was the only thing left to dip into. "I've got a real green thumb," he says. "I've always been good at growing things - I've always had veggie gardens and things like that." Despite having no experience in the industry, Eddie quit his work on a beef farm in Ashburton and, together with their dog Prue and their cat Wayne - who, according to Kate, acts like a dog - they made the move.
"It was six weeks between when the listing went up and when we moved in, and Kate had just had surgery on her ACL so it was pretty crazy," says Eddie. Still, Kate knew their life together was always going to be farming of some sort. "Farming's in the blood, but strawberry farming was actually a childhood dream for Eddie," she says. They've just spent their first summer in the house next door to the hydroponic shed. And so far, so good: as it turns out, they managed to buy a strawberry farm just before a nationwide strawberry shortage.
"We're just pinching ourselves, it's been amazing," says Kate. "The previous owners have been incredible. They were there every day for the first ten days, and they're always just a phone call away. The whole thing would have been impossible without them there - they taught us how to grow strawberries! We learnt everything from the previous owners when we arrived - the ins and outs of packing, how to weigh strawberries, plant health, the irrigation, minerals and fertilizers. How to harvest, of course!"
"We use a controlled pest management system," explains Eddie, "which includes ordering boxes of bumblebees and releasing them into the shed for pollination. And we're spray-free, so no chemicals." Kate still works as a nurse during the week but jumps in for one day of picking on the weekend. The farm is mostly strawberries but includes some raspberries in tunnel houses on the side. For Eddie, it's been a change from the male-dominated agricultural industry. "It's funny because usually on farms it's a real father-son dynamic, so I'm used to working with men," he says. "But it's different in horticulture, there are way more women. So now I'm working with Kate, Kate's mum and my mum."
"Yeah, our mums, Andrea and Helen, both come and pick," says Kate. "They'll be in there, nattering away together, they just love it." The couple had their hands full until the season ended in April, but there's always energy to plan for the future. "We're thinking about expanding on our raspberry production," says Kate. "And we've got that van to kit out," Eddie adds, referring to their work vehicle, which will no doubt double as an adventure wagon.
The little details. "My diamond necklace was the one my granjan had given me for my 21st, many moons ago. My earrings were borrowed from Eddie's mum for the day and the bracelet was given to me by my mum on our wedding morning."
KATE & EDWARD
20 March 2021
Bride Kate Turner, 32, daughter of Helen Turner & Doug Turner, Waimakariri Gorge
Groom Edward Hobson, 30, son of Andrea & Trevor Hobson, Rakaia
Wedding Location Waimakariri Gorge, North Canterbury
Ceremony On the banks of the Waimakariri River, near Horseshoe Bend
Reception Woodstock Farm woolshed
Celebrant Hamish Stace
Photographer Sarah Clements Photography
Bride's Dress Brides of Merivale
Bridesmaids' Dresses Witchery
Jewellery Kate's grandmother and Edward's mother provided special pieces
Shoes Head Over Heels
Hair Kate's friend, Anna Tonks
Makeup Bloom Boutique Medispa
Catering Canterbury Country Spitroast
Coffee The Coffee Shot Expresso, from Rangiora
Cake Made by a friend, Di Philpott
Styling Kate's sister, Ella Kelly
Flowers Ella Kelly, who is a florist at Samantha Rose Flowers
Transportation Alpine Jet Thrills
Music The Black Velvet Band
Honeymoon A trip to Great Barrier Island, including a climb of Mount Hobson
Living West Melton, North Canterbury

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This story appeared in the Takurua Winter 2022 Edition of Shepherdess.
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