Claudia + Jarod by Susanna Blatchford - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Claudia – We live in Christchurch and have a 2 year old son, Archer, and a Labradoodle, Beau. Jarod is in Real Estate and I do Social Media from home for my Dad’s business and also for Jarods Mum. It means I can do the majority of work from home, and go to the office when Archer is in pre school 2 days a week. We love to spend our weekends in Akaroa and both enjoy going out on fishing.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

I used to work in Real Estate also so we were familiar with one another, however one day we just hit it off and that was it really. It’s funny because I always had a secret crush on Jarod

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

Fairly early on in the relationship. There was no exact moment, however one thing I do remember was it was so easy from the start, it felt like we had been together for years

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

It was show weekend here in Christchurch November 2020. We went over to the Bach in Akaroa on Thursday night. I remember on Friday Jarod was acting a bit strange. In the morning he asked his Mum who was there with us if she could watch Archer while he took me for lunch. I thought it was a bit strange as normally she would come with us. Something about his demeanour was different, he just seemed a bit nervous and anxious and I remember thinking well now I feel nervous and anxious just being around him. I remember thinking to myself why are you nervous.. we are just going for lunch, also when you have a baby together, there’s no reason to be nervous. It never once crossed my mind he would be proposing.

We went to go to lunch but first he drove me up the top of the hill where we sat and had some drinks he’d packed in a cooler bag. Again, it didn’t cross my mind what was happening as we had often gone and sat up here and had a drink. I still remember being a bit nervous though. Then after a short while a helicopter lands on the hill, and I remember Jarod saying I think this is for us. At this point I started to get a bit nervous and wondered what was going on. We were in the helicopter and I thought, surely not… how does he know what ring I like? I also thought on the other hand if he didn’t do it this would be a very lavish lunch and I’d feel a bit let down.

We ended up landing at this beautiful quiet beach. We went and sat down and I remember thinking well, where’s the lunch? Expecting there to be a picnic set up or something. We had another drink and then he got down on his knee and proposed. It was so lovely and such a wonderful surprise. I was absolutely thrilled, and even more so when I saw the ring and realised he had absolutely nailed it. Jarod had dropped off the day before to the pilot some champagne and champagne flutes to celebrate. Tweezers our helicopter pilot was a friend of ours, and him and his wife very kindly surprised us with a cheeseboard he had packed in the helicopter. Tweezers joined us for the cheese board and a few celebratory drinks before we went for another scenic ride around in the helicopter before dropping us back. It was such a lovely day and I loved how I didn’t have a single clue, even when I was up in the helicopter I still didn’t think it was going to happen.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…

We initially were getting married locally in Waipara here in Canterbury. We were going with 100 guests, however about 10 months out from the wedding date we had a hiccup with the venue. It was actually a blessing, as it meant we could take the time to regroup and have a good think about how we actually want our day to look. It ended up looking very different. We decided to halve the guest list and do something much more intimate, but very decadent. Having the wedding at Eichardt’s meant a lot of the hard work was already done, as the venue itself was so beautiful, especially the views. It made our job a lot easier. I chose to utilise what we already had on offer at the venue and just add a few finishing touches. Overall I wanted a really elegant and lavish day, and I think we got exactly that.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

The wedding invitations. Though, in the scheme of things they weren’t a very large portion of the budget, however for an invitation they were probably up there in terms of costs. I wanted the invitation to give the guests a feel and taste of the weekend. I took inspiration from the Eichardt’s building itself and made the envelope and invitation tie in with the colours. I chose to keep the style very simple, yet elegant. Many of our guests commented on how beautiful the invitations were. The wonderful Rachel from Little Paper Store sourced the particular colour and style of the envelopes I was after.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

I actually can’t think of anything that went wrong on the day. We had a wedding planner, so her combined with the wonderful staff at Eichardts made everything flow seamlessly. We did however have a few hiccups in the week leading up to the wedding. Our MC’s daughter came down with covid which meant he had to isolate for a week. Luckily he didn’t catch it and was able to fly down the day of the wedding. We did however 4 days before lose our Celebrant as he came down with covid. We were very fortunate to find a wonderful replacement. In the scheme of things given the covid times we were very lucky to only have these issues.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

I had originally planned to go up to Auckland to find my dress. However, covid began to worsen and we were unable to go to Auckland until the end of the year, which left us little time to get a dress sorted. I ended up going to a local shop here in Christchurch which has international brands. I found a lovely dress here. Though it was ‘off the rack’, I felt it fit me really well. I did a few minor alterations such as make the straps wider and add some boning to the bust. Once covid calmed down, my Mum and I flew to Auckland in February to find some wedding shoes. I initially thought I’d buy a shoe that I would definitely wear again, however we went into the Jimmy Choo store and I saw they had shoes that I had been admiring online. They were the epitome of a ‘Wedding shoe’. I thought well I’ll just try these on for fun while we are here, however once I put them on I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, nor could my Mum. I remember saying to Mum, ‘how can a shoe make you feel this way’. She told me I wasn’t allowed to leave without them. I’m so pleased, as they really did make us smile. It was nice to get out of town with Mum to find the shoes, like we had initially planned to do with the dress. Jarods suit was tailored made for him at Working Style. We went in and he tried a few suits on. We saw a navy suit with beautiful silk lapels, so we asked them to make it in a black version. It is a gorgeous suit and Jarod looked very handsome. I was really pleased with the way our outfits turned out. I felt they matched the elegant feel of our venue.