Chloe + Johnny by Estrada Weddings - Together Journal

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

Our joint love for the ocean and adventure have both always been a huge part of our relationship.

Johnny is a painter by trade and I work in retail. Johnny and I started dating when we were teenagers I was 14 and he had just turned 16. He was the hot surfer boy that lived down the road and I was the young American chick that had just moved into the neighbourhood…. And we have kind of been inseparable ever since. Throughout the years we have travelled the world together 5 times over, sometimes travelling together and sometimes apart but we have always come back to one another. Now 11 years down the track here we are Mr & Mrs Hicks and I cant wait to see what the future has in store for us.

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?

With a compilation of rattan furniture, rugs, and vases collected together from mine and my nearest’s homes. Flowers foraged, Protea, Toi Toi’s, Thistle and Palm leaves dried from months on end it all came together to create our perfect bohemian ambiance by a log cabin that sits on the clifftops overlooking the east coast of New Zealand. This has to be my favourite detail about our wedding.

I was born in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California. I grew up in a similar styled home and many of the houses that influenced my childhood were log cabins. Johnny grew up here in Gisborne on the east coast of New Zealand. His childhood and adult years have been spent surfing this whole entire coast line as an avid ocean lover. When we first went to look at the cabin as a prospective wedding venue we both fell in love. Like it was meant to be. A piece of me and a piece of Johnny brought together like magic on this cliff top where at a later date we would marry each other, with all the most important people in our life, and dance under the stars until the early hours of the morning.

Tell us about your main outfits?

My wedding dress has always been the wedding dress of my dreams. Everyone knows I don’t mind a bit of tassel so to be draped in sheer lace with tassel covering all the right places was an absolute dream come true. When I would move a sea of tassels would follow. I truly felt like I had stepped off a set from a Stevie Nicks music video. Johnny isn’t one to like standing out. He tried multiple suits which all left him feeling uncomfortable and un-like himself. His one request was that he was able to wear jeans. So with that in mind he went for a new pair of his favourite jeans, a white linen shirt and a felt hat to create a point of difference between him and his groomsmen. Classic, simple, a little hip but very much him.

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

It’s hard to sit back and pinpoint one or two memorable moments of such a magical day. The whole experience of getting married is so humbling. Having everyone important in your life from all different parts of the world their to celebrate your love truly is one of the most unique experiences we have ever been a part of. In saying that once our speeches were over Chayde, one of Johnny’s best friends and most of our male friends stood up and performed a Haka for us. It is an indescribable feeling having had the experience to have a Haka performed for you. The mana that a Haka holds displaying a tribes pride, strength and unity. A feeling of friendship so deep that if you ever needed them these men would fight for you, that we were all connected.