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

Nathan is originally from the US and moved out to NZ in 2013. He grew up in Chicago and then moved with his family to the Upper Peninsular of Michigan. NZ is now home and he says regularly that New Zealand beaches and scenery has ruined him for living anywhere else. Kate was born and raised in Wellington, studied in in Dunedin and Christchurch and eventually migrated North to Tauranga for work.  Kate works in healthcare as a doctor, Nathan works in construction. Nathan is fun, warm and a steadfast sort. He has a quirky personality yet is someone who has a deep thinking mind, wisdom to share and is a great communicator. Kate is a kind and passionate person and has a big heart to care for vulnerable or hurting people. She has more of a driven and competitive  personality but is a lot of fun. We are similar in many ways but our differences complement and this makes life good. We are both serious food lovers – cooking and eating all things good quality and true to the authentic recipe. Nathan makes a great burger (food bringing out Nathan’s more obsessive qualities) and Kate more into baking/creating (bringing out her more perfectionistic tendencies). Cooking for people and discovering local good eats brings us both a lot of joy. We have strong connections and love for our families, which we discovered pretty early on in our relationship. We both are deep thinkers and like to learn and are currently trying to establish our home library. We believe in community and love walking with our friends and family in life. We like being outside and have spent many of our days swimming the beaches in the Bay of Plenty or finding a new walking trail. When borders open, we will be excited to travel again as both of us love to explore other countries and cultures.

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…

I think as we got closer to the wedding we realised the main ‘theme’ that we wanted was more of an aim for an underlying feeling/sense for our day – that of love, celebration, thankfulness and family. We were so blessed with the weather, turning out a warm 25 degree day in the Wairarapa without any strong wind. In terms of style, florals and aesthetics, our aim was to keep things minimalistic, with clean lines but with an elegant vibe. I had a vision for whites with subtle blush tones and really wanted to accentuate and use the natural wood and light from the venues to add to the setting. Our ceremony was held in Burnside church, a beautifully preserved church established in 1875 in the outskirts of Pirinoa township.

Tell us about your main outfits:

Kate – I wore the Le chic gown  designed by Katie Yeung, Hera Couture – this was a dream to wear.  Initially, I had difficulty deciding which gown I would choose from Katie’s collection as they were all such treasured pieces, but the way that this gown felt on was beautiful and I loved all the elements of it. With this, I wore the minimalistic pearl veil, also by Hera Couture. My earrings were drop pearl earrings by A.B.Ellie |HDWR and shoes were by the amazing Chaos and Harmony. For Nathan, we chose the Princeton tuxedo with a tailored white shirt from Barkers. He paired these with a black woollen bow tie and black dress shoes to match.