Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
My husband works in Finance and is an absolute sports nut. I work in Marketing with a degree in Design and am passionate about being creative. We are the true definition of ‘opposites attract’ however we’re often told we work well as a team and complement each other. We share the same values, have a huge love for family and love exploring/ traveling the world.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
H: We met on our OE 5 years ago when we were living in London. The blossoming relationship between our great friends and bridal party members, Jessica and Julian, essentially ’set us up’ just after they started dating.
On our first actual meeting I was on a boozy night with the girls when we ran into the lads who were also having a ‘big one’. Mark had not a hair on his head as he’d been challenged by the boys to a bet for who could look more like Thomas Shelby (from Peaky Blinders).. Succeeding in the bet it was months before the hair grew back and I decided to take him up on a date offer. The rest is history!
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
H: For me, it was on my return from London. Mark and I had been doing long distance for about 5 months (as his visa was going to expire) and after a teary goodbye not knowing what the future would hold the moment came when I was greeted at the airport with a big bunch of flowers after a 20 hour flight.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
H: Our proposal was simple, beautiful, and a complete surprise to me. Mark had been putting me off for months and I had got to the point where I thought it was never going to happen. However, after returning from Easter weekend in Twizel with family, we had planned to do the Hooker Valley walk in Mt Cook. The weather conditions weren’t exactly clear, but we donned the Kathmandu windbreakers and trekked our way up. When the bridge was closed due to bad weather Mark quickly thought of a ‘plan B’ and we wandered up to Lake Mueller Lookout where he dropped a knee on top of a boulder. Taken by complete surprise I burst into happy tears and Mark had to say, ‘What do you say?’. To which I responded ‘YES!’
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
Having mood-boarded a vision for the day/theme we really wanted to keep the style minimalistic, sophisticated and not over the top, as we wanted to let the location be the hero on the day. We focused our colour palette on black and white with clean lines which would end up contrasting nicely against the golden hues of the surrounding hills and mountain tops. We were pretty set on keeping everything consistent. Every detail turned out as planned and I thoroughly enjoyed creating the stationery and vibe for the day.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
This is a hard one. Probably alcohol and other details. We bought some nice champagne and also chose to use varietals from local producers such as Akarua and Mount Difficulty for the day of and the next day ‘Wedcovery’. The Fireball shots were also a hit, and we had these on each attendee’s placement.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
To us the wedding was really about having all our loved ones in one place (minus a few extras who we would’ve loved to have been there). One of the things that did happen (which was funny in hindsight) was straight after the kiss, the music started playing and I completely forgot to turn around to my MOH and collect my bouquet – instead, we strode off without it!
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Not really. I had tried on dresses at various bridal stores around the country and found the one and the style I loved however really wanted to make it unique and one of kind. With the help of a local seamstress, we were able to remove a feature from the dress to expose the sheer boning and add a couple of small details, including adding buttons to the back. For guys it was easy, simple black Barkers suits and shirts and bowties that were also purchased in Australia.
Ceremony + Reception location: Lake Hayes Pavilion | Videographer: Alpha Visuals – Sam King | Photographer: Black Feather Studio – Stan McDowall | Celebrant: Our close friend – Stephanie Arnerich | Entertainment: The Cellar Doors Band | Styling/Planning/Stationery: Bride | Signage: You Gather | Signage printing: Timaru Wedding Design | Décor: QT Wedding Hire | Tables, chairs, fairy lighting: Party Plus | Marquee & lighting: Prestige Marquee | Flora: Family friend – Rach McDonald | Catering + Beverages: Chef Brendan Catering | Cake: Zest Cakes Queenstown | Registry: Honeymoon wishing well | Pre drinks for the boys: JMR & Co | Wall decal: Wall Art | Bride Attire: Lovers Society gown customised bought from Sphere Bridal | Veil: Brides of Merivale | Groom: Barkers | Ring/s: Bride rings – Zoe Porter Jewellery | Groom: Pascoes | Shoes: Alias Mae | Brides earrings: Natasha Schweitzer | Makeup: ByKendal | Hair: Andrea Eden hair | Fragrance: Bibliothèque EDP by BYREDO | Bridesmaids: Various from The Iconic | Groomsmen: Barkers
