Real Wedding: Petra & Dave – Photography by Wild & Grace

Categories: Weddings-Real Wedding: Petra & Dave - Photography by Wild & Grace

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…

I am an Aucklander born and raised and a jeweller by trade.  Dave is originally from South Africa but moved to Auckland at 12 with his family and is a plumber who along with a friend has successful plumbing business.

We are both very family oriented people and are both very close with our parents.  Our relationship has moved pretty fast.  I always swore I would never go on Tinder but I’m so grateful for my girlfriends and red wine for pushing me to give it ago.  Within a day or two Dave and I were chatting away and sussed each other out pretty quick.  I knew within a few weeks that I was going to marry this man.  He made me sparkle again when I thought I had lost my sparkle, we have a lot of fun and both were on the same page and same stage of life. I think on our one month anniversary we pretty much planned our life together.  We dove straight in and in 3 months we were living together, 7 months we had brought our first home, 11 months we were engaged, 1 1/2 we got married and we have now been together just over 2 years but if feels like we have known each other forever.  It has been a huge two years for us and our families but its been amazing. And we have a jam packed few years a head of us with our big honey moon to the USA mid next year and then hopefully starting our little tribe after that. So watch this space 🙂

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Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…  

Our first birthdays together were our 30th and Dave organized an amazing surprise trip away to Wanaka. We had the best time and to top it off Dave proposed in the Japanese Onsen hot pools looking out at the snow dusted mountains.  it was perfect.  

We didn’t want to drag the planning out so with our parents we decided to smash it out and get married in 6 months. It was intense but I think the best way to do it. The planning process consumes your lives, every spare night or weekend meeting vendors and planning, so we worked really well as a big team and we got it done in about 4months once we got the ball rolling and the champagne flow had slowed a bit.

Our day was perfect.  We wanted a relaxed fun day that was focused on having our special people around us with good food, music and the perfect backdrop. We chose to get married at my parents amazing house out at Piha.  It has the best view out  across the whole beach and it has been my happy place since I was a baby.  Piha is very special to me and my Family and it set the perfect scene and backdrop. 

The day started bright and early.  It was a stunning day warm and calm.  Music flowing through the house and people buzzing around getting jobs done.  I of course had the best hair and make up team in NZ. The dream team of Grant Bettjeman (my dad) and Sasha Lenski on hair. Actually mainly Sasha on me Dad was too busy shooting everyone else. and then Deb Tan on make up.  We didn’t have a bridal party but still had our besties get ready with us.  My three best girlfriend are like my sisters and do so much for me they organized the best hens do weekend away i could have asked for and they all made sure i had fun and danced my butt off to the likes of spice girls and Backstreet boys all morning.  we all had so much fun as the day got going.

Dave has a big family with lots of nephews and a neice so he had a great relaxed morning with his sisters and parents and their families, and his close mates who came from far and wide to be with us.

The nerves started to kick in when everyone was down stairs and Dave arrived.  Once I was in my AMAZING Hera Couture dress I was ready to go and the wait was killing me. the emotions started to well up when it was just my parents and me. But once I turned that corner with my parents on my arms and I saw Dave at the end with that stunning view behind him I felt so at ease.  Our ceremony was over in a blink and the party began.  We did want to be away from our guests for long so our Photographers Wild & Grace were amazing and got incredible shots so fast.  

The night was kicked off with our amazing MC my gorgeous girlfriend Georgia who flew in from LA and people just loved.  She has a way with words and just did the best job.

We had the best night of incredible speeches, insane food and service and sore feet from so much fun on the dance floor.  

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Our day was over so fast and if I could go back I wouldn’t change a thing. It was perfect and everyone came together and we couldn’t have done it without our amazing family and friends and our awesome vendors.

All of our vendors were just amazing. They all made the process so smooth.  We were so lucky that our friends at Cibo said a big YES to doing the food because it was the best food ever! The canapés and mains were unbelievable and of course their famous Pavlovas down the tables for dessert went down a treat. 

Our Dj was amazing I’m so glad we invested in a well recommended DJ as he just read the crowd so well and mixed the music we wanted with prefect tunes we hadn’t even thought of.  We all love a good boogie and especially our parents and their friends and you know its a success when pretty much every body was on the dance floor.

We had a stunning day and it was beautifully hot.  It had been horrible there few weekends before hand but I knew that that was one thing we couldn’t control so I wasn’t stressed about the weather.  We had an amazing Schuepepe Marquee stretched right up to the top story of the house sweeping down and across the back lawn. My amazing brother lit up the surrounding bush which created an amazing feature of the turns and native trees surrounding us.

Jess and Jarrad from Two Foxes were our rockstars. I met this dynamic duo doing wedding fairs so it was always a no brainer that we would use them.  I can not recommend them enough to anyone getting married or just having a special event. They really helped us and kept us at ease and thought of everything in such detail.

Our photographers really did an amazing job capturing our day beautifully.  We really didn’t want to be away for too long and they did an amazing job in the time frame we gave them.  We love our photos.

And two pieces of advice I would give is write your speech a few days in advance I left it to the day of and I wish I hadn’t so I could have been a bit more present and make sure you get a video done. We were so lucky that Dave’s very talented friend Seb could do ours and I watch it all the time as it captures our day perfectly in a short glimpse.  It also shows you things that you might have missed.  Totally worth it!

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Tell us about your main outfits:

My one thing that I found really stressful was finding my dress.  There is a lot of pressure to find the right one and that you will know when you have found the one.  I was so stressed that I wouldn’t find it.  I had a couple of not great experiences with dress shops and the style of dress I loved wasn’t going to suit me like it did the stunning girls molding them.  One thing we did learn pretty quick at these shops was that I didn’t suit white. So I found Hera Couture on line and I thought I have to go and have a look at least.  Mum and I went in and I started trying on dresses, I wasn’t feeling ‘the one’ feeling so I started to stress when mum asked the lovely girl (who was so patient with me) and she showed me one that I instantly said no way I’m not wearing a big dress until mum told to ‘just try it on for me so I can see the color’. And it was stunning I cant say I had the overwhelming “the one’ moment but it was pretty close.  I knew it was the dress I wanted and I met with Katie and we customized her beautiful Lavant dress to make it my perfect dress.  Those girls did the impossible and turned that dress around for me just in the knick of time and made all sorts of alterations for me.

And I have never felt so amazing and so special as I did in that dress.  From the moment I put it on I felt incredible.  Your wedding dress is the only dress you will probably wear that is meant to be over the top and wow. I wanted a very simple dress and I am so so glad that I didn’t and I went bigger and detail and color.  I seriously cant put in words how much I loved my dress.  I cant wait to find a reason to wear it again because I was so sad at the thought that I might not get to wear it again.

Dave surprised me and went for a white linen jacket with black pants and white shirt from Rembrant.  They were so helpful and amazing and Dave looked amazing on the day.

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What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?

I would have to say getting ready and also mum and dad getting me into my dress were pretty special.  Seeing Dave at the end of the aisle. 

I was dreading going off for our photos but it was actually really nice to have that time to catch up on our mornings getting ready with our friends and family.  We also had a lot of fun taking our photos.

I love a good speech and all of our speeches were so amazing and all made me cry.

And then once the speeches were out of the way we got the party started.  

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Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?

You know when they are your person, they should bring out your sparkle. You need to be able to laugh and talk about everything. Communication is so important and we can all be a bit crap at it at times. It’s ok to argue for something you are passionate about but make sure you pick your battles. Remember the love you have for each other and make sure you make the most of this extremely special time as being engaged and planning a wedding is such a precious fun time to have fun and celebrate and plan with your loved ones.  Have fun with it and I would say each write down 3 things that are really important to you on your big day, and try and make sure that you can stick to that list. Lastly always remember that your wedding day is about the two of you and you will NEVER please everyone so stop trying. Have fun and relax its meant to be a fun time. It will be stressful but as long as you  have each others backs you will be fine.

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Photographer: Wild & Grace | Ceremony & Reception location: Family Bach, Piha, Auckland NZ | Entertainment: Mix it DJs | Styling, Flora & Hire: Two Foxes Styling | Marquee: Schupepe tents | Catering: Cibo| Cake: The Caker | Bride’s dress & veil: Hera Couture | Groom’s attire: Rembrandt | Rings: Petra Bettjeman Jewellery | Shoes: Kathryn Wilson | Makeup: Deb Tan |Hair: Bettjemans