Kendall + Paul by Levien & Lens Photography - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship:

I’m a registered nurse and Paul is a Project Manager. We have known each other since kindergarten, our parents being good friends. We were mates at school and went to the 5th form ball together. We went our separate ways after high school, with me moving to France and Paul joining the army.

However, clearly you just can’t fight amazing chemistry because after reconnecting in our early 20’s, we realised there was more than just friendship in our future. I was studying nursing in Wellington and Paul was living in Christchurch at this point, so after completing my degree, I packed up my car, jumped on the cook-strait ferry and started a new adventure together in the South. We had been together seven years before Paul bought an engagement ring on his way home from a deployment and proposed in our favourite city, Queenstown in autumn 2019. We had started planning our wedding when we found out I was pregnant through IVF, so we felt incredibly lucky knowing our daughter would be with us on our wedding day, she was 6 months old when we said ‘I do’ on the 6th February 2021.

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:

I love flowers and am a details person, while Paul loves music and good food. So those were all high on our must-have list. We wanted a venue where the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception were all in one place, as many of our friends and family were travelling from all over New Zealand. The Narrows Landing provided the perfect garden setting and a reception room big enough to fit us all comfortably with a good dance floor. They also had the perfect stair case just waiting to be dressed in florals.

Our daughter spent a number of weeks in NICU when she was born, so it meant a lot of time sitting in the hospital during lockdown, scrolling Pinterest for wedding ideas. That’s where most of the styling ideas came to life. I had seen half arches on Pinterest but couldn’t find anywhere in our area that had quite what I was looking for, as I wanted to play around with sizes and configuration. So, we decided to make our own! Paul and his dad made the arches while myself and Paul’s mum did the painting. Running with the beautiful terracotta, blush and peach colours, we brought these colours through the flowers and table decor. I found the florist of my dreams and Chloe was an absolute delight to work with. All I can say is, find a florist who is excited about your vision as you
are. I let her run with the ideas I gave and she provided the goods!

I sourced the terracotta pots and saucers myself for the tables and was surprised to find they were in incredibly short supply due to being manufactured in Italy, which was heavily effected by Covid. But I am so glad we persevered with finding them, because they tied our colour scheme together beautifully.

Tell us about your main outfits:

I had always thought I’d wear a very simply silk gown. However, I was 12 weeks pregnant while finding my dress and knowing I would be 6 months post baby at the wedding, I didn’t want the pressure of everything ‘being in the right place’. So my second choice was the beautiful leaf lace, elegant boho-inspired gown by Essense of Australia. I loved the train and matching veil was one of my fav parts. It’s your wedding day – buy the veil!
We wanted the men in black because its timeless and sophisticated. Having a brides man, I didn’t want him to be dressed in a completely different colour to the bridesmaids, so having everyone in black worked perfectly. It was important that the bridesmaids liked what they were wearing and felt comfortable. Having different dress styles looked so amazing.

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day:

One of the best things I remember (aside from every single part of the day!), was our bridal party entrance to the reception. We played ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by Queen and each danced down the stair case while everyone was up on their feet clapping to the music. The bridal party got so into it, even our shy groomsmen, and there was cheering from everyone. It was pure happiness to see all our loved ones as happy as we were and just set the tone for the rest of the night. We had our bridal party photos taken before the ceremony. This was the best idea ever! It meant we could be with our loved ones to catch up for a couple of hours before heading inside to the reception. If anyone is considering a first look, do it. Paul and I took a moment together after our first look and travelled by ourselves to where we had photos. It was the only time we got along the entire day and it was magical. It took nothing away from the ceremony, emotions were still high throughout.

Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together:

Plan to the best of your ability but don’t get hung up on things that don’t go quite right on the day. Good communication with your wedding party/support crew and delegating tasks for the big day lets you enjoy yourselves. Loved ones are happy to have a job so they’re involved. Invest in the things that are important to you both. In theory, you get one chance to include the things you want – prioritise it. We noticed in the weeks after the wedding that our relationship hadn’t changed at all. This was the most refreshing realisation. After eight years together, we were already each others best friend, confidant, rock and critic. We highly recommend marrying your best friend.

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