Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…
We met on the glorious medium of tinder in September 2016. We had been dating for 8 months when we both went on separate trips to Europe (this was pre-planned before we met and neither trip had cross-over).
Travelling through Europe was amazing, but we realised it wasn’t as fun without the other. The day I got back to NZ Clark proposed, well technically we were planning a party, which turned into planning a wedding then we realised by proxy that we were engaged given we were planning a wedding. Does that make sense?
We are really into travel, food and wine (especially wine). There are always great new wine bars and restaurants popping up in Wellington. We always plan weekend adventures away in NZ.
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…
Once we had the venue the styling fell into place. It’s a gorgeous old house and we wanted the setting to match that, a small refined backyard wedding (we had about 30 guests). We preferred muted colours and picnic bench style tables, with greenery and foliage and wildflowers as opposed to big fresh arrangements.
We had lawn games set up as people would be spending a lot of time at the venue, vintage quoits and croque. We also wanted to set up chill out areas for guests in the shade with Turkish rugs, big pillows, and vintage suitcases. Those areas became our equivalent of a photo booth, perfect backdrop for photoshoots.
Given it was at a house we had to hire everything, I found suppliers whose aesthetic I completely trusted, gave them some guidelines and they worked their magic. We wanted festoon lighting over the dinner areas and wrapped the trees in fairy lights, it looked beautiful at night. It looked exactly like I had envisaged, couldn’t be happier.
Bernie Caravan Bar looked great and the staff were fantastic, they were a huge hit with the guests.
Our cake was delicious -strawberry and thyme, and we had giant jars of mini cookie time cookies (the groom loves them) there was a lot leftover and we lived on cake and cookies for the next couple of days, not complaining.
Tell us about your main outfits:
My dress is from Rue De Seine, as soon as we got engaged the dress was the first thing ticked off the to-do list. I really like Rue De Seine’s aesthetic and immediately fell in love with this dress on their website, it was the first one I tried on and I fell in love (again).
The groom wore a classic look charcoal suit tailored for a slim fit, combining a long thin lapel and double vent, this with a poplin white french-cuff suit, and brown leather belt and shoes, and no tie, for a less-formal feel.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
Groom – Leading up to the ceremony, having your best friends around, getting ready drinking beers and laughing created a great segway to the most perfect ceremony I have ever been to. When Jessie (our wedding singer) began singing the words to Wicked Game, and I saw Sheree in her stunning dress I have no word to describe what I felt. Magic. The Chopper ride to the mountain top was insanity – another experience that words cannot describe. Finally just how much fun we had with our close friends and family – dancing chatting and eating Cookie Time cookies into the early hours of the morning. Wouldn’t change a thing
Bride – Definitely just waiting at the door of the house, hearing my friend singing the aisle song and being very ready to walk down the aisle. We had a short ceremony, officiated by a friend I’ve had since I was 13 who made the guests laugh a lot, it was perfect.
Also, a helicopter ride to the top of a mountain for photos is pretty hard to top. It sounds cliché but it was all really memorable, everything went to plan and it was a super-fun day.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
Re: The wedding, we would say do what it is that you want as a couple and what reflects your personalities. It’s easy to get wrapped up in what may be expected or doing things because that’s how they’ve already been done, but in the end the day is about the two of you and that is why people are coming to celebrate.
For rest of lives – Having been married for 3 months not entirely sure we can qualify for giving rest of life advice, however for us, it is important that we want the same things, our life goals align well and we prioritise that. For us at the moment our priority is travel we’ve already got our next two trips lined up (one of them being a friend’s wedding in Vegas).
Photographer: Alpine Image Company | Ceremony & Reception location: Cedar Ridge Estate, Queenstown | Celebrant: Tim Shipton | Styling: So Sweet Hire & Tinker Tables | Flora: The Vase | Catering: Bernie Caravan Bar & Flying Trestles | Cake: Peppermint Kitchen | Bride’s dress: Rue de Seine from Paperswan Bride | Groom’s attire: Gibson Charcoal Suit from Man to Man | Rings: Bride –Meadowlark; Groom – Walker & Hall | Shoes: Number One & Aldo | Makeup: Eve Makeup Artistry | Hair: Muse Hair
