Are you sitting down? Because this is one of those weddings where you really need to be sitting down to handle the gorgeousness that is going to be coming at your eyeballs. The bride wore not one, but TWO fabulous gowns – and one is in the prettiest shade of lavender (or is it lilac?). Either way, it is ridiculous. And all of the pretty DIY that she did to make the wedding personal makes it very Oh Lovely Day. I sort of want to live in this New Zealand wedding, post #4 of travel week. And I love this little snippet from the bride about the proposal:
Luke and I met in New Zealand five years ago. Whilst living in London, we took a trip to Sri Lanka where Luke proposed on the beach at the Mt Lavinia Hotel, where my parents had been married some 30 years before.
In London, I started the hunt for my wedding dress. I found ‘the one’ at the Vintage Emporium in Brick Lane, a gorgeous silk satin 40s number that fit like a dream. Whilst there, I also fell in love with a romantic 30s lace gown that I decided to wear to the reception. The dresses really influenced the vision for our wedding and I started thinking about an art deco theme.
We wanted a small intimate event (so an art deco ballroom was out) and a location that would showcase the beauty of New Zealand for Luke’s family and friends, who would be making the long trip over from the UK. We found just what we were looking for in the Mudbrick Vineyard and Restaurant on idyllic Waiheke Island. The lavender bushes matched the lace gown to a tee and we loved the cosy Potager room with its beautiful surrounding kitchen gardens and stunning views out across the Hauraki Gulf. Something about the Potager room reminded me of an old French country estate and I liked the idea of combining slightly more rustic vintage elements with art deco glamour. We took pointers from the gardens and my gowns and chose lilac, lavender, ivory, green and blush pink as our colours.
My favourite memories from the wedding included walking (skipping!) down the aisle to Billie Holiday’s ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ and saying our vows in front of our closest friends and family; walking into the Potager room and seeing the room set up and all the DIY touches in place; and dancing all night with my handsome new husband.
To achieve a really warm and personal feel, several aspects of the wedding were DIY – from the hand stamped save the dates, to the programs, the sugared almond favours, the fabric seating chart, embroidered table numbers, the cake topper and the metres of bunting I made to decorate the room – hard work at times, but so worth it in the end. I gleaned a lot of DIY inspiration from the blogosphere and would regularly search wedding magazines for inspiration and DIY instruction. In the lead up to the wedding we bought a lovely old sewing table, to sign our license on, a 30s Imperial typewriter for our guest book and a working gramophone along with selection of records our guests could play.
We were also lucky to find some amazing vendors. The customised wedding invitations were from Hello Tenfold (via Etsy). Vicki at Wildflower did an incredible job of decorating the Potager room and the ceremony area with sweet, nostalgic bunches of dahlias, lisainthus, tweedia, and garden roses, tea lights and vintage vases. We danced the night away to a live jazz band, and had a dessert table set up for guests where our delicious mango curd and vanilla wedding cake was served alongside other sweet treats on gorgeous vintage crockery. The whole day was perfectly captured by the lovely Jo Wickham, with her warm, light filled romantic reportage photography.
I think you already know how obsessed I am with the gowns, but add the color palette and all that DIY, plus those fab florals (I just LOVE dahlias!) and this wedding is pretty close to perfect in my book. Isn’t Suani the most beaming and beautiful bride?
