Jenna + Jonty by Amanda Thomas - Together Journal

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

JR(Jenna) I am super organised in some areas of my life, and slightly chaotic in others, so Jonty helps centre and keep me on track. I am an active relaxer, as a ‘beach holiday’ for me generally involves anything but sitting on the beach! I love eating, drinking and travel – even better when both combined.

Jonty and I have been on some incredible trips and adventures around the world. Jonty and I have a good split in responsibilities on planning trips where he plans all the activities and logistics, and I plan the bars & restaurants we eat at.

JD(Jonty) I’m the casual one in the relationship and rely on Jenna to keep me on my toes. I’m a cricket tragic (just watching these days) and enjoy playing a bit of football and swimming in summer. I love good food from anywhere and my favourite thing is travelling, whether in our backyard or overseas. I work in operational planning and bring that home by planning and organising our weekends and trips.

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

JR We have been in the same wider friend group since we were 15 years old, so Jonty has always kind of been around and even went to the ball with two of my best friends and bridesmaids! I can’t remember a lot about him from our mid/late teens, but he was always known as super smart, a bit of a jokester and a total mother charmer… he was the guy all my friends’ parents were keen to have their daughters paired up with, so taking him off the market made me a little unpopular with some!

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

JD So much about dating is being able to do what you enjoy, but it being made even better by having the other person there. We enjoyed the same things – dining out and travelling. Early on in our relationship, when we had both started working, we decided to each put a small amount of money into a joint account weekly. This meant we always had the ability to do something together that we both enjoyed. I think that is when I knew, as wrapped up in this is trust in the other person and the mutual understanding that the things we wanted to do were made better done together.

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

JD On a trip to Lake Como, I came up with the great idea of walking a (steep) hill after lunch to Castello di Vezio. After a good 20 minutes of uphill, I let Jenna rest while I fumbled around looking for a good opportunity to propose. I didn’t want a crowd, and unfortunately other visitors kept interrupting. I suggested we take a less-trodden narrow path back down the hill. I found a great spot with a quintessential Italian setting and stunning view and proposed. Best thing was, Jenna had absolutely no idea!

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

JR Once we were engaged, we both knew pretty quickly that the wedding was going to be on Waiheke Island with the perfect blend of beach/wine and a destination feel under an hour from the central city. We fell in love instantly with mudbrick, with its incredible location and views and the grounds and venue itself were so well run and fit exactly what we were after for our day. With Mudbrick, we felt we didn’t need to do much in the way of decoration and styling, and instead used our florals as our decorative element. We decided to go with a classic white/green florals and colour scheme up at the lodge for the wedding ceremony, and then when the guests came down into the restaurant for dinner, we incorporated a mix of jewel tones and blush flowers to add a bit of colour, and it ended up perfectly reflecting the amazing sunset we got later that night!

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

JD I’m quite prudent, past the point of being boring. I am always happy to avoid spending where possible. However, the one thing I was happy to spend on was the engagement ring. It’s a classic design but I wanted it to be somewhat unique, and personal. It certainly isn’t extravagant, but I didn’t want to compromise. The process of ‘designing’ it was good fun and I am stoked with the result.

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

JR I was out shopping for wedding dresses not long after lockdown round 1 ended, and I had no idea at that point what type of dress I wanted. I quickly realised after trying on a number of different styles and fits, that I was after something quite simple, with a classic silhouette and fabric. When I went and tried on the Bella at Felicity’s I instantly knew it was the one. I love the simplicity but with classic little details with the one shoulder and bow. I wasn’t super convinced that I wanted a veil, but at my second to last fitting I decided to add a veil with little petal details on it, which looking back at the photos and how it paired with the dress, I am so happy I did!

Jonty was talking a big game about getting married in shorts and jandals (he wears his jandals all year round) but thankfully he came around to the fact a classic black suit was perfect for the day. We ended up getting a suit from his family tailor and he got to wear his shorts and jandals to the next day event!

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

JR The day went super smoothly thanks to the amazing Kim at Mudbrick, the one little moment we did have was trying to put on the rings, which were a perfect size but we discovered that there is a bit of technique to getting it on with ease, especially whilst a little bit shaky! Jonty’s was fine but he struggled to get mine on creating a nice lighthearted moment in the ceremony.

JD For me the whole day was perfect. Others kept telling me beforehand to make sure you take a moment to reflect on the ceremony sometime during the day because it all goes by so quickly. This was definitely the case for me.

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