Jayden knew I didn’t want a big fuss when it came to proposing so when he asked me to marry him on one of our beach walks, I said yes. It was perfect.
When I saw Hannah waiting at the door, I was so nervous when I saw her, I ran off and told my friends the girl of my dreams is here. This didn’t look good, as Hannah thought I wasn’t interested and ran away. But of course, I came straight back, and we danced the night away.
I spent most of my time on one knee trying to convince her that I wasn’t joking. The ring was on her finger eventually and it was no less special. But if we were to do it again, I probably wouldn’t pull that prank at the gift store or push the ‘de facto’ narrative quite so hard.
We wanted to create a beautiful but relaxed summer garden party. It was so special to have all our family and friends come together at our favourite places and celebrate with us.
We wanted our baby boy involved, so his godmother Aunty JoJo carried him up the aisle to one of his favourite songs, ‘Rubber Duckie’. It really was a true Italian family affair.
Our wine list consisted of wines that meant something, that we’d tried on date nights or visited the wineries and there was a good splash of French champagne in there too.
"The following day, he [Leighton] arranged a private boat to stay overnight in Ha Long Bay. This was his original proposal plan, but he forgot to tell the crew he’d already done it, so he had to pretend to propose again, as they’d set up leaves and petals in the shape of a heart on a beach."
We are bringing back an edit of our top-performing real weddings from the TJ archives. These are our very best weddings that our audience has loved the most, and the ones we think are still very relevant and aspirational…Sophie: I’m from Hawke’s Bay and Will is from Mount Maunganui. Will owns a design business with his friend, called George & Willy, and I run an art gallery, Parlour Projects. Much of our time together is spent reading, dreaming and talking about art and design.
Just as our friends started taking our photo Avon got down on one knee, which surprised us all. He had kept the ring hidden throughout our travels waiting to propose at the right time.
"I wore a classic black suit with a Samoan ula fala, a necklace made from pandanus fruit painted red. My boys wore the ula pu’a with black beads. It was important for us to have threads of our culture running through our day."
Things took a turn in our second year where we went on a beach trip with some of our mutual friends. We got to know each other better from there and quickly fell for each other.
We are bringing back an edit of our top-performing real weddings from the TJ archives. These are our very best weddings that our audience has loved the most, and the ones we think are still very relevant and aspirational…
