Real Life

Here comes the bride: Tami Neilson (35)

Four Kiwi women reveal how life has changed since their big day.

Most brides wear their wedding dress for just one day, but country singer Tami wore hers three times – twice to marry husband Grant Tetzlaff and also at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards in 2009, where she wore her bridal skirt with a black Johnny Cash T-shirt and red boots.

Her big day was all about Tami – now the focus has shifted to looking after her son Charlie. PhotoMichelle Hyslop

The 35-year-old Canadian-born singer moved to New Zealand to marry Grant in a beautiful outdoor ceremony near Maraetai, Auckland, in March 2007.

She then tied the knot again a month later in Ontario, Canada, with her North American family and friends close by.

The dress has stayed in a rubbish bag in Tami’s garage until last week, when she put it on for the Weekly.

“There was probably a little more of me to lace into it this time,” laughs Tami, who is now mother to 13-month-old Charlie.

“I did get into it, but it didn’t fit quite the same as it did back then.”

Since having her son last year, Tami has gone from a size 10 to a 12. And although she stopped breastfeeding a few months ago, the three cup sizes she gained during this time have remained.

However, her lace-up dress allowed her to loosen the corset to fit.  Although she has always been curvy, the change in her body has come as a surprise for the charismatic singer.

“Everyone says [your breasts] will get smaller after having a baby and I was looking forward to that – but it turned out to be a lie.”

Wearing the dress, Tami recalls “how much fun” her two weddings were – both receptions had show business themes, complete with toffee apples and candy floss for the Canadian party and Jaffas at the Kiwi event – but it also reminds her how much life has changed.

“As soon as I put on the dress, I feel full of life and I’m a princess all of a sudden – even if I’m a princess chasing after a one-year-old. Now my number-one priority is being a mum.”

Emma Rawson & Kelly Bertrand



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