Naturists lift wedding veil with nude nuptials

Wendy and Nick Lowe tied the knot last weekend at a wedding conventional in every way but one - they were not wearing any clothes.

The two ex-Hawke's Bay naturists held their ceremony, attended by about 120 people, at the Wellington Naturist Club.

It was there the wedding crowd gathered, half of which was naked, the other half clothed.

"It was absolutely perfect," Mrs Lowe said.

"The weather was great. About half our guests were not naturists, the other half were naturists. Everybody just mixed and mingled so well."

She admitted to having a few pre-ceremony nerves regarding the reaction the naturist-styled wedding would receive.

"I was, but we had warned them when we sent the invitations back in August.

"We made it quite clear at that stage it was going to be a naturist wedding."

Mrs Lowe, who said she had been a naturist since she met Nick about six years ago, described its appeal as akin to the sensation of walking "barefoot through the grass" and said the sun and breeze on your skin was "fantastic".

Mr Lowe agreed that the wedding ceremony went like "clockwork".

"The most impressive thing really was how the guests who were not naturists pretty much just mingled and got along with everybody and didn't give a damn."

In 2009 Mr Lowe was fined $200 for cycling nude on Akatarawa Rd, near Upper Hutt.

He made headlines the following year when his objections over the fine went to the High Court, where his conviction and sentence was quashed.

Mrs Lowe said that in light of the successful court case, it didn't seem right for the two to get married any way other than as naturists.