WEDDING DATE:
Saturday May 22th 2010 - chosen because we were engaged
in late May 2009 & we both love Autumn as a season.
LOCATION:
Ceremony: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Ponsonby
Reception: Fernz Restaurant, Birkenhead
HOW WE MET:
Through a mutual friend whilst we were both out in Auckland one
night.
THE PROPOSAL:
We had my engagement ring made by a jeweler in Ellerslie & as
such, I knew the proposal was coming - I just didn't know when or
where! We went for an early morning walk on the 31st of
May last year, around Mission Bay and Bastion Point & he got
down on one knee and asked me in front of the Michael Joseph Savage
Memorial, it was a gorgeous blue sky crisp Autumn morning and just
perfect!
THE WEDDING DRESS:
I am lucky enough to have married into a very talented family! My
dress was made by my husband's Nana - Anne, and she did a fantastic
job of turning my dream into a reality. It is an ivory, satin and
organza strapless dress with a mermaid style silhouette - it
was a dream to wear and I didn't want to take it off.
ACCESSORIES:
I went simple with my accessories and wore only my engagement ring
& some earrings that I had made to match our colour scheme. I
bought diamante hair pins from Nadia on Ponsonby Road and also wore
a vintage ivory fur stole - as it was May it did get a little
chilly during the photoshoot.
THE GROOMS ATTIRE:
We hired suits from Frank Casey in Newmarket, and Scott wore a
green tie to match my flowers, which was purchased from Farmers.
His Best Man also wore a suit from Frank Casey & wore a blue
tie which perfectly matched the blue sash of the bridesmaids
dresses.
THE BRIDESMAIDS:
My sister-in-law and Maid of Honour Lisa made all four of my
bridesmaid's dresses! They were chocolate brown, knee length and
had a tiffany blue sash through the middle. We decided to have two
different styles for the dresses so that each girl was wearing a
dress that suited their shape and their taste. The bridesmaids wore
black shoes that were their own or purchased for the occasion and
had simple jewellery - I bought faux pearls from Diva and some
diamante hair slides from Nadia on Ponsonby Road - to complete the
look.
OUR THEME:
We had a simple, classic theme - I wanted it to be modern and
refreshing without going over the top and our colour scheme was
ivory, tiffany blue, chocolate brown with accents of green as in, I
had green shoes and Frank wore a green tie and socks!
FLOWERS:
My bouquet was a round posy of antique green hydrangeas, whilst
the bridesmaids had a round posy of antique blue hydrangeas each.
My husband had a matching antique green hydrangea buttonhole and
the Best Man, an antique blue hydrangea buttonhole. On our head
table we had a long and low arrangement of both colours of
hydrangea set in front of us.
Guest table flowers were included in the package at Fernz, and
Jill set medium sized fish bowls of reed grass and blue and green
flowers on a mirrored board - they looked fantastic.
ABOUT THE CEREMONY:
The ceremony as a nuptial mass in a Catholic church and took about
an hour, including readings, a full mass with communion & the
wedding ceremony itself. It was important for us to be married in a
church & we loved the idea of the nuptial mass as it is part of
my husband's family's tradition. My mother walked me down the
aisle, which was a nice touch and half way down my husband came and
collected me from her - which was something different to the norm.
When we were signing the registry my younger sister and my mother
sang a Maori hymn, Mo Maria & then my sister sang an original
composition. This was in part a reference to my Maori heritage and
a chance for people to see the incredible talent that my sister
has! We also had our rings blessed in Maori.
ABOUT THE RECEPTION:
The reception was fantastic! The atmosphere was just amazing and
we both had the most wonderful evening, dancing, talking to our
guests, enjoying their perspectives and talking to them about the
day, it was amazing. Our speeches went off, my husband pulled one
out of the bag and was hilarious (he's not a public speaker), I
forgot my speech at home but managed to say what I wanted and got a
great response. We danced our first dance to When a Man Loves a
Woman, and the rest of the night was spent with good friends and
family enjoying the bliss of being newly married!
THE WEDDING CAKE:
Was a two tier creation crafted by my Mother-in-Law. The bottom
tier was her divine fruit cake and the top layer, chocolate.
Yum!
ENTERTAINMENT:
We chose to use an iPod for entertainment at the reception venue
and it worked very very well. We didn't have the money in our
budget for a DJ or band & decided that it was worth the risk to
have the iPod - and people danced! It didn't matter where the music
was coming from at the end of the day, people had a great time.
WEDDING CARS:
Our wedding cars were organised through my husband's uncle who has
great friends with awesome cars! We had a black Holden Senator as
our bridal car and two red Holden Commodores for the bridal party
and Scott's three uncles drove us around.
THE HONEYMOON:
We went to Denarau, Fiji for 6 nights on the Monday following the
wedding.
SPECIAL MOMENTS:
My dad's speech being played at our reception during speeches - he
was unable to be at the reception (though present at the ceremony)
because of medical reasons, but he recorded a speech that was just
lovely.
The whole day was incredibly special, I can't pick just one or two
moments!
TIPS FOR OTHER BRIDES TO BE:
The last few weeks will be stressful - don't try to fight it. My
best advice is to delegate, delegate, delegate to people you trust!
My Mum was a great help in the last few weeks, picking things up
and dropping other stuff off, doing all the little things that need
to be done in the final few days but stress you out when you have
so much on your mind!
Another tip would be to let your husband to be know if you need
help - Frank says that he felt bad towards the end because I had so
much to do and he was relatively stress free! So if he wants to do
help, great!
Finally, there is so much that seems so important before your big
day and during the planning. It is hard to get away from the
thoughts that niggle away at you as the day approaches as, if you
are like me; you've been planning your day for a year and want
everything to be just right. But I can say that on the day, you
don't care if the organist makes a mistake, or if you are five
minutes behind schedule because that all fades into insignificance
- what is important is that you are deliriously happy, in love and
getting married! So whilst it might seem very important now, rest
assured - no one knows but you if there are any little
glitches. I didn't listen when other people told me this, but
now it's my turn to pass it on!
Photographer: Diana Sanders
Photography
Shoes: Number 1 Shoe Warehouse
Flowers: Emily Sweden Blossom Wedding
Flowers
Make Up: Maza White (bride) Asrita Singh
(bridesmaids)
Hair: Amelia Motuliki (bride) Rosie Brown
(bridesmaids)
Rings: Rennell's, Ellerslie & Onehunga Jewellers