Jasmine + Sam by Jinal Govind Photography

Our vision was to create an elegant, timeless aesthetic with whimsical florals and a muted, romantic colour palette.

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

Five and a half years ago, I boarded a one-way flight from my seaside town in the UK to Wellington, New Zealand, on a one-year working holiday visa, with nothing but the bag on my back and an eagerness for adventure.

Sam was originally born in London, where he attended grammar school until his parents decided to move back to New Zealand, settling in his Father’s hometown of Napier. Sam later moved to Wellington to study at university, where he eventually made the move permanent after graduating.

I work in the environmental sector, and Sam works in telecommunications. Outside of work, we love to go to gigs and festivals, travel and explore the outdoors. You can often find us foraging for seashells at the beach or pinecones in the forest, collecting little treasures to bring home and remember our adventures together. I love all things creative; I am passionate about interior design and styling, and I love to paint nature-inspired paintings of landscapes, florals, seashells and botanicals. Sam is passionate about music, great coffee and craft beer, making Wellington the perfect place to call home.

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

Jasmine – We met at a mutual friend’s gathering in March 2020, the first thing that struck me about Sam, was his piercing blue eyes and incredible head of dark brown curls.

Sam – As soon as I laid eyes on Jasmine, I thought she looked like a sun kissed beach babe. I remember thinking she was way out of my league. I was drawn to her carefree nature and adventurous spirit; I had never met anyone like her before. If I could have described her in one word, it would be sunshine.

Just three weeks after we first met, New Zealand announced a nationwide lockdown following the global pandemic. Despite being unable to see each other in person, we continued to date (virtually) and before we knew it, we were spending countless hours on the phone each day.

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

Jasmine – After four weeks of virtual dating, we were finally able to spend our first long weekend together. We spent time in the garden, enjoyed the sunshine, laughed, walked, talked and cooked, and it finally solidified all those hours spent on the phone, not entirely knowing if our relationship would translate into the ‘real world’ outside of lockdown. I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh, I’m falling for him’.

Sam – I don’t remember a definitive moment, instead it was an accumulation of moments that lead me to want to spend the rest of my life with Jasmine. Her kind heart, caring affection nature and values were just some of her qualities that I fell in love with.

With an impending end to my working holiday visa in New Zealand, Sam took a leap of faith in our love and asked me to move in with him just four months after we first met. I had absolutely no hesitation about moving in together, as I just knew he was the one. Five years later, we are embarking on our biggest adventure yet as husband and wife.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

We chose our wedding venue, Tironui Farm because it was connected to the outdoors and celebrated the surrounding natural beauty that New Zealand has to offer. When we first visited Tironui, we loved its rustic simplicity and green open spaces paired with the stunning backdrop of the Wairarapa Hills. We could instantly visualise exchanging our vows and eating dinner under the olive grove in the dappled sunshine.

We chose an incredibly talented local singer and guitarist to play live music on our day. Will sang me down the aisle to a beautiful instrumental version of our favourite song, Coldplay – Yellow. He played live music throughout our reception and created the perfect relaxed vibe to set the tone for the rest of day.

Our vision was to create an elegant, timeless aesthetic with whimsical florals and a muted, romantic colour palette. Our florist created the most stunning floral arrangements using homegrown flowers, wild foliage and whimsical, trailing stems in tones of antique pink, cream, white and green. I designed our signage and printed them on linen fabric to bring an element of texture and create that effortless elegance.

We wanted to incorporate two of our favourite things in our styling: the countryside and the ocean. To merge these two elements, we chose to use tree fruits and seashells throughout the venue. We hand-picked apples and pears from a local orchard to decorate the tables placed clam shells filled with pears on the outdoor bar, and sourced local oyster shells to use as placenames.

The champagne coupe glasses, flower vases, cake stand, and candle holders all echoed the same ribbed glass texture, combining a hint of vintage with a modern twist. We scattered the tea light candles and candle sticks on the tables and strung fairy lights between the olive trees, turning the olive grove into a magical, romantic garden party in the evening.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

As my bridesmaids live on different continents, I decided to give them the creative freedom to choose their own dresses in the colour palette ‘muted pink’. Although they had shown me photographs of their dresses, it was quite difficult for me to visualise. Seeing them all together for the first time on the wedding morning was one of my favourite visual elements. The mismatched styles and varied tones of pink gave each of their dresses personality and uniqueness, all tied together with their whimsical bouquets.

The florals were one of the most important styling elements for us, we both love flowers and always have them dotted around our home. They brought the venue and our outfits to life on the day.

Most of all, our absolute favourite visual element was seeing the dinner set in the evening, with the flickering candles and twinkling fairy lights. It was truly magical to see our vision come to life; it was everything we had dreamt of.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

The most exciting part for us was incorporating elements into our day that reflected our own personalities and our love for nature.

We divided tasks between us that we felt played to each of our strengths. Sam’s passion for music made him the obvious choice when it came to finding the perfect musician for our wedding day. With my passion for design and styling, I naturally gravitated towards tasks such as choosing the colour palette, floral arrangements and table decorations. Although, we never made any decisions without consulting one another first!

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

I always knew I wanted a timeless, elegant wedding dress, paired with a sheer organza top for a modern twist. I had two dress fittings, and the dress I chose was the first one I tried on at my second fitting and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it for the duration of my appointment (whilst trying on a number of other dresses).

My dress was a beautiful light satin fabric, featuring a cummerbund waistband, pinched straps and buttons leading all the way down the train to add a classic, vintage feel. My top was made out of a sheer silk organza, featuring a cropped waist, balloon sleeves and a wraparound bow, tied at the back.

I chose to wear my dress paired with a classic veil for the ceremony and swapped the veil for my top for the reception. I was so in love with my wedding dress that I just knew I wouldn’t want to take it off in the evening for an outfit change, so the top was the perfect addition to create a second look. My dress felt slinky and effortless to wear, and my top felt so ethereal with the floaty, trailing bow. For shoes, I chose white sling back pointed leather heels for a classic look. I also found a lovely lady on Etsy, who handmade my satin handbag in Ukraine.  

I knew I wanted to be able to wear part of my wedding outfit beyond our wedding day, and my wrap organza top was the perfect choice. It is reversible and can be worn in a number of styles; I can’t wait to wear it for date nights and anniversaries in the near future.

Luckily for Sam, his outfit choice was much less fussy. Sam chose a classic black tailored suit, paired with a white shirt with black buttons to add a modern touch, a satin bow tie and polished leather shoes with brogue detailing. Sam is a huge lover of watches and has a whole array to choose from, he chose to accessorise his outfit with one of his more classic Seiko watches that he has owned for over half of his life, paired with a black leather strap.

What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

The first most important element that we wanted to prioritise was the photography. As our families live on opposite sides of the world, we knew it would be a rare opportunity to have all our favourite people in the same place, at the same time. For this reason, we wanted to capture raw, candid memories that we, and future generations, will hang on the walls and cherish for the rest of our days.

The second most important element was food and drink. We are big foodies and love to host dinner parties at home with family and friends, so it was only natural that we wanted to provide our guests with delicious food and drink.

Martinborough is at the heart of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail, and home to over twenty family-owned wineries, best known for their exceptional Pinot Noir wines. So, it was especially important to us that we drank local wine as a nod to our surrounding environment, we sourced all our wines from one of our favourite local vineyards, Palliser Estate.

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

Moments before Sam was about to do his speech, he looked at me and asked, ‘where’s my speech?’ with a slightly concerned look on his face, to which I replied, ‘you have it, don’t you?’. We quickly realised that Sam’s speech was safely in our car, which was parked at our accommodation, a 20-minute drive away. After frantically searching our emails on our phones, we found his speech (in digital form).

What made it slightly more humorous, was that we had mindfully asked those who were doing speeches to print them on paper so that they weren’t reading from a phone screen, which they all very diligently did, however, the groom did in fact, have to read from his phone!

But the most important thing is that he pivoted and adapted, despite a slightly increased high heart rate, and his speech was absolutely beautiful, and had our family and friends in tears of joy and laughter.