Otago Bride of the Year Rebecca Watt says one of the special moments of her big day was when her usually "manly" groom whispered "you look beautiful" as she joined him at the altar.
Mrs Watt (nee Clarke, 31) smiled at the memory when Prince William greeted his bride at Friday's royal wedding.
She admitted tears had welled up a few times as she watched the London wedding and the spectacle made her even more keen to reprise her own big day for the inaugural bridal contest yesterday at Forbury Park.
An executive assistant at the Ministry of Health in Dunedin, she married Joseph Watt in the North Taieri Church on October 2 last year.
Second in the contest was Adele Dawkins (nee Sellars, 27) and third was Lorna Meddings (nee McCormack, 36).
Otago Bride of the Year organiser Bev West said she decided to incorporate a bridal contest into the annual one-day wedding exhibition she had run for 11 years.
The contest helped prospective brides prepare for their big day and added a sense of excitement to the exhibition.
Mrs West was delighted with the 15 brides who paraded down the parade runway to the accompaniment of the New Edinburgh Quartet.
Mrs West said she had not envied the role of the four judges as they chose the top three, because the brides all looked lovely and held themselves well.
This being the event's first year, she had not known quite what to expect. She hoped to make it bigger and better next year, and would be encouraging brides from outside Dunedin to enter.
Mrs West said that aside from the excitement of the new contest the exhibition was "a bit quieter" this year. This was probably because the event was so close to Easter and during the school holidays.
