Adam Kirkman and Aleisha Kirkman (nee Davidson)
Ages: 35 and 23
Occupations: Arborist/stonemason and baker/barista/waitress
Region: Dunedin, Otago
When and where did you meet?:
We were both students at Otago Polytechnic's Cromwell campus in 2009. Adam was completing the stonemasonry course and I was studying cookery. I was doing an assignment on foreign cookery in the computing room, lost all of my hard work and started cursing and swearing about it with my friend beside me in a fit of giggles. Adam piped up from across the room that he'd been to the Czech Republic and that I should start again and base my assignment on Czech food. He lent me a cookery book and it pretty much took off from there.
Soon after seeing each other we were greeted with a "surprise" pregnancy, which definitely put a whole new spin on our world. Up to then it had been that of typical student life!
We had Kaden (now 3), followed by Sasha (15 months) and Adam's eldest boy from a previous relationship Koal (now 11) who stays over most weekends. They are all outgoing and fun children, just like us.
The proposal:
Adam took me out for a really lovely dinner on the eve of my 21st birthday at a local restaurant. We got home and as we were heading to bed Adam said he wanted to give me my present. I jumped into bed and he was fumbling around in the drawer pretending he had lost it. Then he presented a white gold, sapphire and diamond ring and popped the question. Obviously I said yes! My 21st party was at our own house the next day so all our family and friends were told the news then.
Where was the wedding?:
RiverRidge Retreat, 10 minutes out of Owaka.
Why did you choose the venue?:
RiverRidge Retreat is amazing! Situated beside the Catlins River in native bush and rolling hills. It really was "Nature's Paradise" and it had everything we required, within our budget. Our family and friends are dotted all around Otago/Southland. RiverRidge Retreat had accommodation for all our guests so we made a whole weekend of it.
Friday night we had our close family, friends and bridal party there to help set up. We did all our own catering, so much of our time was spent in the kitchen and function centre, and also on Saturday morning. It was great to have use of the commercial kitchen facilities.
We provided all our own beer and wine for the weekend and there was no shortage! Amongst all the preparation we had some chill time. Adam and the boys had a few hours clay-bird shooting on the Friday afternoon and me and my girls had an evening of wine, cheeseboards, massages and manicures from the lovely ladies at FACE mobile hair and beauty, who came out to us at the Retreat.
The dress:
My dress was a beautiful champagne-coloured silk satin Maggie Sottero gown. There was intricate beading detail on the bodice and straps. Pleats lined the bodice, and it had a lace-up back. The gown fell from my waist with a medium-length train trailing behind.
The flowers:
Peonies are my absolute favourite flower by far! I love all the different colours they come in but the coral ones bud a little earlier than other varieties so we had them as our main feature flowers in the bouquets and on the tables. My mum did all of our flowers, apart from my bouquet, which was done by Flowers on Mornington.
Adam's dad crafted a lovely archway by weaving together branches, which we placed under a large beech tree by the river. We threaded coral peonies and hawthorn flowers through it, which created a lovely backdrop with a pop of colour that stood out from the natural greens and browns that surrounded us.
The caterers:
We did our own catering with the help of family and friends. Our best man was to drive Adam's truck from Dunedin to RiverRidge on the Friday bringing most of the food and equipment we were using for catering. Unfortunately as he was leaving Dunedin he filled up but put petrol in, and diesels do not agree with petrol! So they had to spend most of the day at the garage getting it drained and fixed, putting us behind with the catering. We were in the kitchen at 6am on the day preparing everything for the evening's dinner, which was to be served buffet style.
Our feast included crayfish, battered blue cod, paua patties (all of which Adam and his family caught), pig on the spit (my nana's and uncle's wedding present to us), accompanied by a selection of salads, fresh vegetables and stuffed mushrooms. It was a "hunters and gatherers" type of feast, all laid out perfectly by bar staff, a few family and friends. The meal was followed by dessert which included pavlova, ambrosia, fruit salad and chocolate wedding cupcakes.
The wedding cake was made by our friend Sharon Davies, who did an absolutely stunning job. We had a chocolate cake top tier with bottom tiers of cupcakes for guests to help themselves to throughout the evening.
The finer details:
I made all our invitations myself! It was a mission, as I handmade pocket folds for all our info to be slotted into which included accommodation, directions and an RSVP slip. It took a while, but I got there.
As table numbers we had a photo of Adam and I at that particular age. We started at 0 because we couldn't miss the cute first baby year.
I made apricot jam for favours, which sat on the tables at each place with my handmade place cards.
I walked down the aisle to Pearl Jam's "Elderly woman behind the counter", we signed the registry to Stone Temple Pilots' "Interstate Love Song" and we walked out to the Foo Fighters' "No way back".
Highlight of the day:
There were many highlights of the weekend.
While I and my bridesmaids were getting ready in one room, Adam and his groomsmen were getting ready in another. I sent my maid of honour with a gift for Adam which was a pounamu, with a card explaining that the single twist symbolises the joining of two people for eternity; it tells how the strength of bond, friendship, loyalty and love will last forever. He sent back a beer. How thoughtful!
My sister exclaimed that her bridesmaid's dress was still in Roxburgh with only just over an hour until the ceremony. I found it rather amusing because it is just so typical of her to forget things. Nevertheless, we got it just in time with someone travelling from Roxburgh to meet her boyfriend halfway.
Megan McKenzie did an amazing job as celebrant for the ceremony, and we had Brett, our closest friend of both me and Adam who we knew from polytechnic in Cromwell read Dr Suess' "Oh the Places You'll Go".
As the photographer had everyone ready for a large group photo, Kaden (2) declared he needed to do wees. With no toilet nearby he dropped his trousers and started taking a wee on the grass.
Amazing places very close to the Retreat provided fantastic photo opportunities. We weren't away from our guests too long at all, but had fun with our bridal party and our extra friend "Herpe" who joined us on the best man's lip.
The meal was amazing. The highlight was definitely a toss-up between the crayfish and the super-succulent tender pork that had been cooking away on the spit all day.
The atmosphere created by everyone socialising throughout the evening. There was no cellphone coverage and since we were in the middle of nowhere and everyone had a bed no one was in a rush to go anywhere.
Heading off to our suite in the early hours of Sunday morning with two magnum bottles of red wine, and waking up to a cooked breakfast prepared by RiverRidge Retreat's chef.
Once all our guests had gone home on Sunday afternoon, after having a lunch of leftovers, it was just Adam, myself, Koal, Kaden and Sasha. it was nice unwinding and having the whole place to ourselves after such a memorable weekend!
The photographer and favourite photo:
Photos are courtesy of Nicola from Kelk Photography, Dunedin. Our favourite is the black-and-white standing under the canopy of native trees looking at one another.
