Kim + Mike by Misi Chan Photography

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

Mike and I met nearly 9 years ago at Mike’s best friends 21st, and we have been together for 7 of those years.

I’m a business operations manager/event manager, so I definitely took on the organisational role in the wedding planning. Planning is ingrained in me, and I absolutely loved researching, styling and putting together my own wedding. Mike’s a director of a digital agency and although loved being involved in the design and creative ideas for the wedding, allowed me to drive and create my dream wedding!

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:

There were a couple of important and special unique things about our wedding. Our wedding date, 27th February, was also the wedding date for my Mum & Dad, and my Grandma. This date will always be special for our family and means that Mike has no excuse to forget our anniversary! Our wedding was held at a very special place for us, Mangawhai, North Island of New Zealand. This small beachy town is where we spend a lot of time at Mike’s parent’s beautiful property. Our ceremony was on the front lawn, underneath the pohutukawa trees, overlooking the estuary. Our reception was at the Mangawhai Tavern – a truly iconic Northland establishment that also looks across the estuary and was perfect for our wedding reception.

Being a beachy location, we kept our styling simple, relaxed, using neutral colours throughout. The food was outstanding, simple but tasty and plenty of it which is exactly what we wanted. We wanted to involve people we knew and loved in our wedding day, so we had Mike’s friend and colleague design all our stationary, another friend and colleague of Mike’s was the videographer for the day and evening, which we now have an incredible visual snapshot of our favourite moments. My good friend’s sister made our wedding cake which was so beautiful and delicious! Our close friend, who was also MC on the day, constructed our wedding arch.

Tell us about your main outfits:

I found my wedding dress designer after scrolling endlessly through Instagram. When I met with Alice from Hayes bridal, I knew she would be perfect to make my wedding dress. The entire process was stress-free and I absolutely loved the end creation. I was unsure at first about having a veil, however, when I tried on a pearl-studded veil, it just completed the dress. My Mum gave me her gold and pearl earrings which she wore on her wedding day, and I wore on mine.

For Mike’s suit, it was super easy. We went into Working Style, tried on 1 suit, and it was perfect! Mike’s wedding ring is very special and unique, it is handed down from his Grandad.

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

My Grandma is just amazing, before the wedding for weeks she had been telling me she had a surprise on the wedding day. Just after Mike and I were married, my Grandma came up to me and she had on the dress she wore on my Mum’s wedding day and was even wearing the fascinator! My Grandma looked fabulous.

Our favourite memory would have to be seeing everyone have a great time, the smiles, laughs, happy tears and the dancing at the end of the night. We had guests from the UK, and so it was special for us to see everyone together. We had an incredible day after function, where we hired a food truck and brought over the umbrellas and bean bags from the wedding day. It was perfectly sunny with music, kids, dogs, lawn games, and everyone was in such good spirits. We didn’t end up serving our wedding cake on the night as we had smaller portions of cake served which was a hit, so we did a cutting of the cake the day after and served it as dessert. I also didn’t do a bouquet toss on the wedding night, so the day-after function was a perfect time to do this as we caught it all on film!

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

If you are planning a wedding, you have probably been told this before, but do take a minute with you and your new husband/wife by yourselves. During cocktail hour, Mike and I stood at the head table, watching everyone having the best time and it was really the most special memory. Our photographer, Misi Chan, took some snaps of us at that time and we really love those photos of us two.

The day really does go too quickly, so make sure that you are taking mental snapshots of your special times, and don’t worry about the small things, no one will notice if something isn’t quite right! Being an event manager, it was SO nice to pass the run sheet onto the Tavern Manager to let the day run, and not worry about a thing.

Ceremony location: Family property | Reception location & Catering: Mangawhai Tavern | Videographer: Friend | Photographer: Misi Chan Photography | Celebrant: Nicola Jessup | Furniture hire: Flock Events | Place settings: Carlton Party Hire | Glassware: Insphire | Linen: Tble. Linen Hire | Lighting: La Lumiere | Flora: Miss Botanicals |  Beer: Mangawhai Tavern  | Wine: Maison Vauron | Cake: Jaime’s Cupcakery | Bride’s gown: Hayes Bridal | Groom’s suit & shoes: Working Style | Grooms ring: Grandfather’s heirloom | Bride’s ring: Opal Pacific | Makeup: Beauty by Alexandra | Hair: Hair by Jade | Bridesmaids: Bec + Bridge | Groomsmen suits: Hallenstein Brothers