Helen + Richard by Jesse and Jessie

Helen ——Rich and I both spend most of the working day staring at screens — I’m a lawyer and he’s a quantity surveyor — so on the weekend we love to pack up our outdoor cooker, go to one of our local beaches and cook a slightly upmarket fish and chips for our friends.

We only met a couple of years ago (in our mid/late 20s) so we both had established groups of friends. Richard’s group are kind-hearted, hilariously fun people and they welcomed me in like family. We go to the same church and have an amazing community of people there as well. Most importantly, our families have shaped us, andI think Rich and I decided to combine our surnames because we both hold our families so closely.

Richard ——Helen and I met on Bumble (she super liked me). I found her confident, intelligent and witty from the start which I found very attractive — she is funny as! It was a plus that she happened to be very sexy. We had a bit of banter with our waitress and asked her how long she thought we’d been dating. She said 10 years because we looked super comfortable with one another.

Our relationship developed slowly. Helen likes to tell people that it took me three long months to kiss her; I say good things take time. I saw how we kept growing as a couple. We never stopped having fun together.

Helen ——Rich proposed on a Monday night when Auckland was still in the“picnic” stage of lockdown. We picked up a pizza and Rich had hidden a bottle of red in his backpack. As soon as we sat down to eat he asked me to stand up and he got down on one knee and proposed. There was no one hidden in the bushes taking photos, no people jumping out to celebrate with us, just us on a hill deciding to spend the rest of our lives together. We had a really short engagement (three months) because the most important thing to us was getting married.

We both have a strong faith so we wanted to get married in a church. A lot of our friends have never set foot inside a church so we didn’t want something too intimidating. We loved the Bishop Selwyn Chapel because it is modern and light.

I always wanted a simple wedding dress and fell in love with the sleeves from Hera because they added a uniquely bold look to a timeless dress. All my friends know that I love something a bit dramatic and like to be different (or as Rich likes to say, I like to be the main event). Because it was still semi-lockdown in Auckland, I had to rent dresses from Hera to try on at home. My dress (the Scarlett v1) was one that was sent tome by mistake. But I felt amazing in it. I could be happy in a lot of dresses, there was no “perfect dress” moment, but my dress made me feel confident and I could picture myself walking down the aisle to marry Rich in it.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jesse and Jessie, @jesseandjessieweddings / BRIDE’S DRESS: Hera Couture , @heracouture / GROOM’S SUIT: Barkers, @barkersclothing / CEREMONY LOCATION: Bishop Selwyn Chapel, @holytrinitycathedral_nz / RECEPTION LOCATION: Hotel Britomart, @thehotelbritomart / FLORA: Isadia, @isadiafloral / BRIDESMAIDS’ DRESSES: Maggie Marilyn, @maggiemarilyn / CELEBRANT: Reverend Ivica Gregurec / BRIDE’S SHOES: Loeffler Randall, @loefflerrandal / RINGS: The Diamond Shop, @thediamondshop / BRIDE’S JEWELLERY: Tiffany & Co, @tiffanyandco / HAIR & MAKEUP: Lipstick & Co, @lipstick_and_co_team / FRAGRANCE: White by Elie Saab,@eliesaabworld / CATERING: Kingi , @kingi_britomart / REGISTRY: The Lovely Registry, @thelovelyregistry / CAKE: Claire Moore (sister)