Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship … We are a family of four, Hereward, Kate, Poppy and Ted. Our lives revolve around our beautiful babies and we put all our effort into creating a solid platform for our children to thrive and grow.
We are currently renovating our house by the sea and love that it is always filled with the most intense happiness and laughter. We want our children to be kind above all else and be capable of making a positive and beautiful contribution to this world. Everything we do in our lives is based around this one goal.
Hereward is a rural bank manager, passionate about helping his clients grow, farming, hunting and being an amazing dad and husband. Kate is a mother first and foremost, and has a side business called set & flora, helping people design their special events. Poppy has just started school and is thriving after a very hard start to her life, she was born at 26 weeks and shouldn’t have survived her first few days on this earth, let alone 5 years. We are so grateful for her and all she teaches us. She is pure joy. Ted is 2 and is deep in exploration, challenging us daily with his drive. He has an unbreakable spirit and cannot be tamed. Everything is perfect!
Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…
We based our wedding around one keyword which was ‘classic’. We didn’t choose anything that was on-trend, we wanted a day that would never date, and would be a beautiful experience for our guests to witness how much we love each other. We chose to have the day at Mudbrick on Waiheke island during winter because be wanted everyone to feel like they were on holiday in the most amazing place at the most hibernal time of the year. This really set the tone for the day and made for amazing moody lighting and energy. We didn’t do anything that hadn’t been done before, or that wouldn’t be done again, but our intense and undeniable love was the one thing that seemed to set us apart and make our day memorable.
Our goal for the day was that everybody felt like they were truly in the presence of an unbreakable love and were witnessing the joining of not only Hereward and I, but Poppy and Ted too. There will never be another time in our lives where our bond gets the opportunity to be completely and utterly on show and we really wanted every person there to feel the amazing love that we have for each other and our children.
We achieved this by absolutely baring ourselves to each other in our vows and speeches, making grown men cry and receiving standing ovations for our words. We received feedback like ‘I have never ever seen a love like this. It’s so honest and real. You two have what we all want and hope for in life. I’m so privileged to have witnessed it and to know you both.’ Mudbrick as a venue is so polished and completely faultless, it left us able to enjoy every moment without a worry.
We made sure all our guests felt personally included by giving them a personalised card stating why we wanted them there to share our day, and these well worth the effort, with people sharing and laughing and crying about them all night long. We wanted to be proud of our day, our love, our children, and the amazing friendships we share with all our guests, and that was achieved beyond belief for us both.
Tell us about your main outfits:
Hereward was dressed head to toe in Barkers. This was an easy choice for us and was the perfect fit for our day. The service was outstanding and the process was faultless.
I asked, rather begged my wonderful mum to make my dress which was decided on only 5 weeks before the day and continued to evolve right up until the week before the wedding. She did a phenomenal job of it and nailed every detail. She completely trusted my vision even though she didn’t trust her own skills and somehow made everything perfect for me. I have never felt so beautiful or so grateful in a piece of clothing.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
Our children were so amazing. They walked down the aisle with my bridesmaids Erin and Bianca to their anxiously waiting father and then were completely still and present with every moment of the ceremony. Even in the photos you can see them paying intense attention to the process of their mum and dad joining together forever. The fact that they were able to witness this, and be totally aware and present, is invaluable to us.
The wind and stormy weather drew everybody together inside and made everything feel warmer. We literally got all our photos done in 23 mins, a quick break in the weather that we watched come across the water from Auckland to the island. The wind made for amazing photos, every single one feels like there is movement and electricity in the air. It was also a bonus that Brooke and Gina (our photographers from the virtue) were completely amazing, have worked with children, and stayed all night and partied with us, they are now officially part of the family now!
Watching the way our bridal party were so solidly proud and supportive of our love, particularly Erin and Bianca, along with all our families and guests was an unreal feeling. Both Hereward and I felt completely overwhelmed by how much happiness was in that room, and so thankful we had chosen the right people to stand next to us on this very special day.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
My advice would be: This is your one shot to show all the most important people in your lives how much you love each other, DON’T be afraid to do that. Everyone wants to believe that they are in the presence of true unrelenting delicious love when they attend a wedding, so go hard. Make it known, shout it from the rooftops. Love that person with all of your might, and leave nothing unsaid. You will never regret it.
Hereward’s advice would be: don’t restrict your invites to people who you have known for a long time. Invite all the people who have made a positive impact on your lives regardless of if you have known them for 20 years or 2 weeks. Don’t underestimate how much they will appreciate it and how nice it is to honour their impact on your life.
Venue & Catering: Mudbrick Vineyard | Videographer: Mike Taylor | Photographer: The Virtue | Celebrant: Margaret Barraclough | Entertainment: Soul Rebel | Styling & Planner: Set & Flora | Hire: Set & Flora, & My Waiheke | Flora: Hailey Shaw | Groom’s & Groomsmen Outfit & Shoes: Barkers | Bride’s Dress: Bride’s Mother | Ring/s: Ringcraft Moana | Brides Shoes: Country Road | Brides earrings: Aliexpress | Skincare: R & Co Skin and Beauty | Makeup: Makeup by Annalee | Hair: Cindy Stevenson and The Oakura Hair Boutique | Fragrance: Fuego by The Virtue | Bridesmaid Dresses: Jimmi D c/o Et Vous
