Grace + Thomas by Jonny Scott Photo - Together Journal

I love that in our relationship, we don’t hold each other to any expectations; we learn, grow, and meet each other at every phase of our lives.

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

Tom and I met as teenagers, and we have lived a lot in our not even 30 years yet. Both have started and run successful businesses, travelled, educated, and welcomed our beautiful children, Marigold and Franco, we are dreamers, ambitious and set pretty high goals, but we have always balanced each other out.

We love to celebrate every little thing in life, so we wanted our day to reflect not only the love we share but also to celebrate the family we had created, the life we had built, the people who carry us, and to top it all off, do it in the place that holds our hearts.

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

We met when we were just teens, one new year on the beach in Whangamata, we have quite literally grown up with each other. It is hard to remember first impressions other than thinking Tom was fun, kind, and hot, hahaha! While he is still all of these things, I learn more about Tom all the time – every day. I love that in our relationship, we don’t hold each other to any expectations; we learn, grow, and meet each other at every phase of our lives. Tom is a different person today than when I met him. And I am excited to meet the man he may become today, tomorrow and when we are crinkly and old!

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

It’s so cliche but almost immediately. Even while I was still in high school, I could see Tom being part of my everyday, in every future I imagined, that has never wavered.

What affirmed this was whenever I had a big idea, or plan – that to others seemed farfetched and crazy – he shared that vision with me. He has faith in me and whatever I believe in, even when it is truly quite outrageous. He challenges me to see me grow and is always the first to cheer me on. I hope I am the same for him.

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

I am someone who celebrates anything, and everything there is to celebrate, and Tom always said that it was never a question of if he would propose but when. We had just had a weekend away the week before, where we had taken a helicopter sightseeing, had multiple stunning dinners, and seen some incredible sights – my girlfriends were in my ear with questions about engagement, so every time I had my back to Tom I thought I would turn around and see him on one knee… but it turns out it was just a lovely weekend away! So the actual proposal was very unexpected, walking along the beach in Whangamata with our daughter, something we do all the time and when he really did get down on his knee, I thought he was playing around truly.

It was perfect. It was so very much us – so very Tom. The place we met, our favourite place to visit, just us, no fanfare… We saved that for the wedding!

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

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will say I have always had a taste for the extravagant…my parents used to say I had a Champagne taste on a beer budget… More has always been more! The initial conversations with our stylist were chaotic, and the mood boards were bursting at the seams. Thank goodness Sue got me immediately and we managed to refine the vision and have something that reflected my style, felt romantic, expressed our love for design, and was full of personality.

Having worked in the events industry previously, I knew I wanted to do something that was not your typical white and gold while still having the elements of feeling “traditional”

Tom is a very talented builder and had built much of the furniture we have in our home, so I had the absolute luxury of his talent to help materialise my grand plans! Together, we built pieces to use rather than hiring, opting for organic shapes and textures and splashing them with pink paint. I put a lot of thought into each element; my bridesmaids and I made every plate we ate off and gave them to our guests as wedding favours post-event, our signage was designed and painstakingly embroidered and applied by me, our head table was custom-made through our stylist Sue, each and every detail was carefully curated and thought out by the incredible team we had surrounding us. I wanted the guests to feel the love we poured into the day and for our personalities to shine through.

One of my favourite elements was the layout of our ceremony. Despite my appreciation for the formal traditions of a wedding, I hated the idea of being “given away” by my father to the groom. Tom and I had made the commitment to each other so many years prior and were entering our marriage as equal parties. So rather, we opted to have our aisle set out in a “Y” formation, our entire bridal party walked the aisle, and when the big moment came, Tom, our son Franco, and his parents entered from one side and from the other, Myself, our daughter Marigold and my parents. We met in the centre and completed the walk as a family.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

We had multiple conversations during the course of planning about perhaps where we might pull back to keep our budget in check. However – we always came to the same outcome!!! Nowhere haha. It was ALL important, and we only plan on doing it once.

Our venue could be considered the splurge when you factor in that we then had to hire every last thing we needed, the marquee, furniture, lighting, dining ware, and all our vendors had to travel (as opposed to a venue that has a function space and caterers?) but having such close ties to Whangamata, we never even considered nor looked elsewhere. We arrived at Hillbrook for a site visit and fell in love before we even got out of the car. And we wouldn’t change it. It was literally perfect.

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

Our day really went without a hitch. I had worked with each vendor for years with my previous business and trusted them implicitly. I chose each one of them because their work was phenomenal and they had our vision. After that, if anything happened, I trusted that they would make the best decision, so the look and feel of the day was exactly how I wanted it.

Something that we didnt “plan” But worked out perfect – we planned on doing a “first dance” with our kids before their nanny took them back to the house for the evening, we chose their favourite songs and the idea was to give them a little dance before we went on to the reception.

Our 4-year-old daughter Marigold loves the spotlight, though. She had been with her Aunty Ella, who was our entertainment, during soundcheck earlier in the day. So when her song “Girl on Fire” Started playing, she went straight to the microphone and sang the entire song to our guests. It was super sweet; everyone loved it! And so much better than just dancing along.

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

When we started looking at what we would wear, both Tom and I were rather taken aback by – (aside from basic colour, fabric choice and quality), there was not a huge variety in suits. We wanted to have a bit of fun with our bridal party look – our dress code to our guests was to go all out and wear the dress you had never had the occasion for before or the shirt you were told was too loud, so we chose to have the groomsmen and grooms lady wear pink linen, the bridesmaids wear varying shades of pink, and Tom, the kids and I all in white.

I made the groom’s party ribbon heavy brooches for their lapels, and my girls’ bouquets were dripping in ribbon too. It felt very us, maybe non-traditional, And we did have a few sideways glances and raised eyebrows when we told people before the day, but we love how it all worked together.