Wedding guests put to work planting trees before couple tie the knot

Tom Maxwell and Camilla Gardiner’s wedding guests swapped suits and dresses for boots and spades to help create a lasting legacy before the couple tied the knot.

On the day before their wedding, the couple and about 40 guests planted close to 300 trees in Lincoln’s wetlands.

“It actually turned out really well because now we have an area we can walk by whenever we want, and we know that was planted by all our family and friends that came,” Maxwell said.

The planting was supported by Te Ara Aki Greenway Trust and Lincoln Envirotown Trust, which supplied plants, tools and advice on the day.

Maxwell said they were “amazed” at how good the trusts were to work with.

The couple have lived near the wetlands since 2021 after meeting at Lincoln University in 2015.

“Camilla came to New Zealand to study at Lincoln, and I was a postdoc, and we actually met at the Lincoln University gym.

“I was one of the fitness instructors, and she came to the class, so that’s how we first met.”