We got married at Goldie Estate on Waiheke Island. Waiheke has always been a special place for Dan and me, and we wanted to get married somewhere we could return to in years to come. We chose Goldie specifically because it is so beautiful! It is very peaceful, and also has many different elements (an olive grove, a huge pohutukawa tree, a beach, a cellar door, a pavilion), that you can use for various parts of the wedding. We loved that we could have “chapters” to our wedding and move through the spaces throughout the day and night. It is like having lots of venues in one! Because Dan and I got married slightly later in life, and since we already have a family of our own, we decided that it felt right to have a bridal party made up of just family members. So my bridesmaids were my sister and Dan’s sister, and Dan’s groomsmen were his cousin and my brother. And our children and our two nephews were our page boys. It felt very special to have all those people standing beside us during the ceremony. My favourite florist is Sue Cameron at Floral Stylist Co, and she created the most beautiful flowers for us. We decided to go with pastel shades, and she created installations in such a way that we could use them both for the ceremony and for the reception.

Because our wedding was big (160 guests) we couldn’t fit inside Goldie’s main pavilion for dinner. So instead we used the indoor space for dancing, and we engaged Platinum Hire to erect a bespoke marquee for us, one that wrapped around two sides of the pavilion. La Lumiere designed and installed pendants, vintage bulbs and fairy lights, which were so elegant. Overall it was an elegant, timeless and very beautiful look, we couldn’t have been more thrilled. For dinner we chose to go with a sharing style. Guests were served chicken, lamb, new potatoes and salad greens. For dessert we had petits fours and the most delicious chocolate mud cake from Lilith Waiheke Cake Studio. Luckily there was some left over so we have frozen it to enjoy on our first anniversary!

I was lucky enough to have two Hera gowns, one formal dress for the ceremony and canape hour, and then a super fun mini dress for the reception and dancing. The first dress was my “main” dress, and this is the one that Katie created for me. In terms of the process, I have been engaged for 6 years, so I have had a long time to think about my dress!

Over the years I had gathered images of the kind of thing I liked, and when I went to meet Katie I showed her what I had collected. There were quite a few different looks in there, so we decided to try on a few current Hera designs to see what felt right. I think the third dress I tried on was the Gracie, and this suddenly felt SO right. I knew that was the direction I wanted to go in, and it was similar in style to one of the images I had brought in. So Katie and I used that image as our inspiration and designed the dress together. I love that the design is elegant, timeless and has both a strength and a delicacy to it. The detailing of the scalloped lace neckline and the buttons all the way down the back are also so gorgeous. It was such a fun, easy and smooth process! Once the dress was made I had three fittings, to refine a few elements, and by the third one I really did have my perfect wedding dress. Wearing it made me feel so elegant and confident – I couldn’t wait to show Dan.

And with my second dress, I wanted something really different, a contrast to the first dress. The Jet mini was perfect for this, still elegant but with a bit of rock’n’roll in there too! I wore it with puffed sleeves for the reception, and then took the sleeves off for the dancing, so it was actually kind of like three changes, which was so fun.

In terms of advice for brides, I would encourage you to go through the same process that I did: try on lots of different styles until you find one that just feels like you. What ultimately feels right may be different to what you had imagined!

I would say start early and know that organising all the various elements of a wedding generally takes longer than you think! I tried to be very organised but still we found ourselves finalising our vows the day before the wedding, and writing our speech the morning of the wedding! I would also recommend delegating tasks to friends and family, particularly in the lead up to the wedding – that final week is so busy and people do really want to help.