Joel Timothy Cairns, 27 years, Roofer, Dunedin.
When and where did you meet? I met Joel, seven years ago at a mutual friends house just after new years 2006. He was on a south island road trip over the Chrismas and new year period with his mates all coming from Hamilton.
I didn't know Joel and had only met him for 10 minutes before they left to travel back to Hamilton, in that time he asked for my number and that's where it all began. We started calling each other every day, got to know one another and then before I know it he's moving down to Dunedin.
Three months later at Easter 2006 Joel packed up his car and moved from all his family and friends so we could start dating.
The proposal: Five years later, Joel popped the question when we were on holiday in Te-Anau. We were on our way back to Te-Anau from an amazing day at Milford Sound. We stopped down a very long road at a place called Gunn's Camp/Hollyford Valley "The home of ledgens, tall stories and laughter"
We brought each other a greenstone that came from Milford out by the tasman sea, then walked down a track that is on the banks of a stunning glacial stream surrounded by the Milford mountains and bush. This is where Joel got down and one knee and asked if I would marry him, without a doubt I said "Yes!"
It was raining but it was just beautiful , and just the two of us. We then celebrated with wine and beer which he had already prepared earlier that day.
Where was your wedding? Planning the wedding was awesome, I loved it!
The wedding was out at Grandview Gardens on the 02.02.13. We choose this venue due to the fact it was a farm, rustic, had an inside, outside option (never know with dunedin weather), relaxed, was stunning and very us. Also Jo Lindsay was great, from day one and made everything a breeze. As soon as we saw the place and met Jo, we didn't even consider other venues. we knew that was the one we wanted.
The dress: I got from the House of Kavina, they were fantastic! I think i had tried every dress on in the shop. I couldn't choose between two dresses, they were both beautiful but very different. I decided, with the help of my mum and cousin (bridesmaid) to go with the grecian style as it was just more me.
The bridesmaid's dresses: We had done a lot of searching for the bridesmaids dresses, and we couldn't find anything that they both liked or suited. It did make it harder with my sister living in Perth.
But Sam (bridesmaid) and I were out for lunch during a weekend and walked through Farmers to get to our car. There they were just calling our names, two Harlow dresses that were the right colour and sizes. Sam tried one on and loved it! We posted the other one to Emma (sister) for her to try on and she loved it to. Perfect!
The Flowers: I got my flowers done by Rebecca Cameron Flowers, she is a very talented and lovely person, she really payed attention to detail and created what we wanted for our bouquets, corsages and tables. I had a mixture of open roses, hydrangeas, stock and dahlias for our bouquets and on the tables we also had those flowers including gypsophlia and lavender, in little glass bottles which i had collected from work that used to have IV paracetamol in. They looked awesome.
The Caterers: We got our catering done by BB catering, everyone at the wedding commented about the food and how great it was.
We decided to go with a buffet style menu with a huge selection of fantastic food that everyone would enjoy. while the wedding party went to get photos our guests got to nibble on canapes, which were delicious and no one went hungry.
Highlight of your day? There were so many highlights to my day, it couldn't have gone better. From seeing my dads face when he saw me in my dress, and seeing Joel's face when he saw me walking down the aisle to having all of our favourite people with us at a gorgeous venue, My dads and grandads speech were so special and joel's brother really got everyone laughing and crying in his speech. It was all perfect.
The photographer: Our photographer was Craig O'Neill from O'Neill Photographics. Craig and his lovely wife Sarah were great to work with on our day, it was easy, fun and relaxed.
He took some great photos that we can cherish forever. He did an awesome job.
