Sarah and Daniel came home from Australia
to enjoy a stunning lakeside wedding in Wanaka.
When and where did
you meet: Daniel and I met at a party when I wasin
year 12 at high school. Friends of ours were seeing each
other atthe time and introduced us. We became friends, and
over time became a couple ourselves!
The proposal: We
had been living in Brisbane for a few years, when we had our
daughter Kalea. She was born on 25th September 2010 at
lunchtime. Seeing that we missed lunch, Daniel went to get us
some food and came back with a ring! I later found out that
he had rung my dad to ask for "permission" straight after
Kalea was born!
Where was the
wedding: We held the entire wedding at Edgewater resort
in Wanaka. The ceremony was held on the lawns, over looking
the lake. The reception was held in the pavilion, a
glass-ceilinged function area.
Why did we choose
the venue: We chose to have the wedding in Wanaka as we
were living in Brisbane in the early stages of planning (we
moved back to New Zealand in December 2011), and Wanaka is
our favourite holiday spot in NZ. Edgewater resort was the
perfect venue for us, right onthe lake with amazing views of
the mountains, gorgeous grounds for the ceremony and photos,
and we could have the whole wedding in one location.
Edgewater was fantastic, they helped organise the whole day,
the staff were so helpful, and the food was incredible. The
extra bonus for us was that we got a complimentary honeymoon
suite for the night of the wedding!
The dress: I
purchased my dress from Sugar & Spice bridal in Brisbane,
and brought it back from Australia as carry-on luggage. What
a mission, considering the size of it! So worth it though. It
isa gorgeous strapless ivory gown, with a fitted bodice and
''poofy'' bottom and small train. There is a wee V section in
the top middle of the bodice which has pearl and diamante
detail. I so loved wearing this dress, and considering the
weight of it found it to be comfortable . . . apart from
everyone standing on it all night!!
The bridesmaids'
dresses: I originally wanted green dresses, but couldn't
find what I wanted so had to change my colours. I eventually
found these gorgeous dresses at Sunnygirl in Brisbane:
full-length flowing chiffon in a light coffee colour, with
cream and pink panels in thefront. I had four bridesmaids.
Three were my sisters and my maid of honour was my best
friend. Four very different girls, but they all looked
gorgeous!!
The flowers: My
friend Aimee from Aimee's Floral Designs did our bridal-party
flowers. I LOVED them. We had hand-tied posies of white roses
and lisianthus with green buds, all tied with ribbon and
raffia. I pinned my great-grandmother's locket to the handle
of my bouquet. My parents gave it to me as a christening gift
when I was a baby. We also had centrepieces of pale pink and
white gerberas intall vases with river pebbles and bear
grass, put together by the girls at the Green Room florist in
Wanaka. Very simple, but elegant. Perfect for the simple,
elegant table settings at Edgewater.
The caterers:
Our food was done by the chefs at Edgewater. We had a
buffet main and dessert, lots of choices, amazing quality. We
had so many good comments on the food, and after hearing
horror stories about wedding food, we were pretty chuffed
with what we had! We also had a beautiful cake, made by
Rachel Jenkinson of Rach's Cakes of Balclutha. She did a
fantastic job of our three-tier cake covered in white
chocolate wrap. She also made us some cupcakes for the
children. These were a simple vanilla cupcake, with green
'grass' icing and little edible cow figurines on top.
Gorgeous!!
Highlight of the
day: That's a hard one! The whole day was amazing, but I
haveto say the most memorable part for me was during the
ceremony. Our daughter Kalea (18 months) was our flower girl.
Part way through the ceremony she yelled out "Mum . . . Dad"
and pointed at us as if no one realised we were there!
She then cried and cried until I picked her up, which gave
her the best view in the house for the vows, exchanging of
rings, and the first kiss! She then got her own ''first
kiss'' from Daddy. :)
Photographer and
favourite photo: Our photographer was Shelley Povey, from
Owaka. She had done wedding and maternity/newborn shoots for
people I knew, and turned out to be the perfect choice!
Shelley is very talented at capturing the magic in every
photo. She was amazing with our daughter, who hardly ever
lets people take good photos of her, and we got exactly the
sort of photos we wanted. And lots of them! Try cutting 970
photos down to an album!!! We struggled to pick a favourite,
but the one photo that people keep commenting on is the one
of Daniel putting the ring on my finger. All that is in
the photo is our hands and Kalea's wee foot! Very
cute!
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