Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike – Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship… We’ve been together forever! 12 years (high school sweethearts) and we love a good party. We’re both social butterflies and looking forward to our wedding, we really wanted to turn it into one big celebration.I’m originally from England and love to travel, whereas Mike is a true, blue Kiwi who loves to spend time away from home at his family’s land up north – where there’s no power and the only water is the great, big ocean. So we’re polar opposites in that regard but have each been able to let each other in on the others passions and I guess you could say we now both love the opposite way of life just as much.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildTell us about your main outfit, what was unique, is there a story? The dress I chose in the end was the very first dress I tried on. As soon as I put it on I felt amazing but I was so worried it was too ‘plain’. So I searched high and low for something with more lace or something a bit different and I never quite felt how I did in that dress. My best friend from primary school, who I used to play dress ups (often featuring weddings) with, did my hair for the wedding and that was a really special moment for me.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildTell us about your special day… I spent the morning with my six bridesmaids, my flower girl and my parents and it was such an amazing start to the day. We chilled, drunk bubbles, ate naughty treats and just enjoyed being pampered. From what I hear, Mike and his six groomsmen were a little worse for wear after the night prior. The ceremony was truly amazing and I don’t think I ever felt so much love in one space. I’ve been to a few ceremonies before that are just so rigid and formal so we wanted to personalise it as much as possible and I think we really achieved that; people felt as though they knew our story, the people in it and how we came to that point. We celebrated straight after with prosecco and canapes and then we headed out for photos with our bridal party. James was incredible and took us around to some amazing spots that I didn’t even knew where in the CBD. The reception is a blur of happy tears, SO much laughter and plenty more bubbles. My bridesmaids surprised me with a dance to one of my guilty pleasures, Flo Rida and I felt as though everyone had gone the extra mile to celebrate us. We ended the night hot and sweaty with so much dancing to the Hipstamatics who didn’t stop with the 90s mash-ups; perfect for our friends. And finally as everyone tumbled out the door we made sure they all went home with a little mince and cheese pie – a kiwi touch after a very English inspired reception.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildWas there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details… The idea behind the styling for our wedding, was that it be classic and timeless. Through my love of styling and events, I often find myself trialling out a trend and whilst I love it at the time, it’s not long before I can’t look at it any longer. So it was important to me that we stay true to what we really love and keep things simple.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildWhat were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day? For me, the actual ceremony was so unique in all the emotions that it brought about. I’ve never been in a room filled with so much happiness and love – as cheesy as it sounds, everyone was absolutely radiating! Mike surprised me so much with the amount of emotion he showed and I’m pretty sure he was responsible for most of the tears from the rest of the room.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildWhat’s special about your relationship? What do you love most about each other? Other than the fact we both have the same birthday, I think we both share a real love for life and the people in it. As much as we enjoy spending time together we both reckon you can’t beat a big shindig with all of our friends.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildHow/where/when did you meet? We met twelve years ago now, I was at college and he had just finished. We had a few mutual friends and it was a typical teenage romance. We are so lucky that we’ve grown together and that we still share so many things in common.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildHow did you choose the location? At work I’m involved in a lot of events and you could say a lot of the typical Auckland venues had lost their sparkle for me; and I loved the idea of an urban setting. A friend asked me if I’d seen the Northern Club before and although I had drove past numerous times admiring the outside I’d never thought of it as a venue. Given my English heritage, as soon as I walked inside I fell in love. Mike, a lover of whiskey and a fan of the 1920’s style, felt the same. And once we saw the understated Gus Fisher down the road it all really fell into place.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by ChasewildSpecial song: I walked down the aisle to a cover of ‘Nothing Else Matters’ by Lucie Silvas (originally sung my Metallica). They’re Mike’s all-time favourite band and so I wanted to surprise him by included a song that would mean something to him.

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Ashley & Mike - Photography by Chasewild

Ceremony location: Gus Fisher Art Gallery | Reception location: The Northern Club  Photographer: James Broadbent, Chasewild Celebrant: Tracy Morgan Entertainment: The Hipstamatics  Styling: Eve + Gray (my own little brand) insta: @eveandgray Flora: Sue from the Floral Stylist  Food/beverages/catering: Jackson & Tea  Cake: Jackson & Tea  Gift registry: Honeymoon fund Main outfit/s: Ashley wore ‘Torum’ by Charlie Brear  with the back altered by Meg’s Tailoring  Ring/s: Both rings were custom-made by Louis the Goldsmith in Parnell  Shoes: Overland  Makeup: Chay Roberts  Hair: Anna Gaul

 

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