AYLA + SAMMY by Jesse & Jessie Weddings - Together Journal

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

Sammy and I met three years ago through the miracle of modern day dating – Bumble. Sammy runs a painting company and I’m an account manager recently made redundant thanks to Covid 19.

We would never have crossed paths if it wasn’t for dating apps and I am forever grateful that I was able to find him in this way. Sammy was born in Bahrain and I was born in Bulls we come from very different backgrounds but quickly realised our values were very aligned. After spending most of my twenties single and wondering if I would very find the one, Sammy brought a sense of calm and commitment I had never had in a relationship before. He was the first guy to buy me flowers, take me on an overseas holiday, ask me to move in with him and let me get a cat – He was the one! We laugh a lot and can be completely ridiculous and silly with each other and then sit down and plan out future on a spreadsheet. I can turn to Sammy for absolutely anything.

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…

From before we were even engaged we both spoke about what style of wedding we would want to have Sammy wanted a no fuss backyard BBQ and I wanted something slightly more..Fussy? We both agreed we wanted the event to be fun, relaxed and inclusive of everyone we loved. We had also been told by so many people that the day goes by really fast, so we wanted to have our wedding over a whole weekend and make it last as long as possible. We had been to a wedding at an Airbnb before and thought it would be fun to have the ceremony and reception at one location large enough for our family and friends to stay with us on site. We settled on a private property in Kumeu Auckland (Sadly no longer available for weddings as the property is set to be demolished for development RIP ) Our family and friends arrived on the Friday and it was all hands on deck to pull together every detail from sourcing flowers, to ironing Sammys shirts – We were told do nothing but relax, everyone worked so hard to make our dream day come together which is something i’ll never forget. For the styling and decorations, again we wanted to keep it lowkey and not too overly decorated so took lead from the architecturally designed modern house and kept it simple with bar leaners and tables from Arcade Hire and mis- matched vases of my favourite flower ( Dahlia) doted around the place. Last minute due to the weather forecast we also hired and set up on the huge front law a clear marquee which my dad assisted by our friends hung lanterns and festoons lights from the ceiling. Some old Moroccan style rugs were the perfect dance floor.

For food we wanted to keep it casual and instead of a seated meal we found Carmel and Tom at the Point Chev street food market, they created the most delicious middle eastern inspired street food menu for us and even set up their market stall on the lawn so guests could come and order food as they pleased, everyone still talks about the best pitas they have ever had to this day! Instead of wedding favours we donated to a our late friend Josh’s memorial fund and had the Quick Sketch Gang some and do caricature style portraits for the guests. Sammy wasn’t too keen on having a ‘photo shoot’ and neither of us wanted to leave our guests and go off site for our photos. Jesse from Jesse&Jessie was great and would come and grab us for quick 10 minute shoots around the property in between dancing and mingling, he totally let us enjoy our day and produced amazing photos which we will always treasure.

Tell us about your main outfits:

I’m one of THOSE girls who had a Pinterest board full of dream dresses since before I even met the man I was going to marry, I had my heart set on a very expensive designer dress and eventually found Sue Barrett who took that design and custom made something similar for me. I highly recommend Sue, she made the process so fun and I got exactly what I wanted. She also created a custom veil similar to the one my late grandmother wore on her wedding day – I’m just sad I only got to wear it for a day. Sammys Suit was from Barkers.

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?

For me it was the fact that so many of our family and friends had a role in the wedding. Our good friend Libby was our celebrant, Sammy’s mate Danny was the MC, My mum put together all the florals including my beautiful bouquet, Sammy’s parents organised dinner for everyone staying at the venue the night before. We had a huge gang of children as flowers girls and page boys which were the girls I used to nanny plus our nieces and nephews. My cousin Bilha made our wedding cake, and my girlfriends created a huge grazing table. My dad spent a long =me hanging lights in the marquee on top of a very wobbly ladder – anything for his girl. Ayla – My favourite moment of the day was walking down the aisle and seeing Sammy waiting for me, you can’t prepare yourself for that rush of emo=on and pure happiness. That was something I had often daydreamed about as a young girl and it felt even better than I ever imagined. The happiest moment of my life. Sammy – I know it’s cliché but seeing Ayla walking down the aisle and seeing her in her dress for the first time – she looked stunning, her vows were very touching as well and defiantly tugged at the old heart strings and chilling out with friends and family the day after at the venue – and of course saying our “I do’s”

Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?

Sammy – Open communication is the best thing you can do for your relationship, deal with those little things before they become bigger things. As long as you approach conversations from a place of wanting to make your relationship better and not blaming then you’re much more likely to have a constructive conversation.

Ayla- For couples who are seriously considering spending the rest of their loves together I think you must at least have shared values and ideas of how you want your future together to be like. Life always throws curve balls at you but if you have each other and that support from your partner you can get through anything!

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