Laura & Matt by Zara Staples - Together Journal

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

Matt and I are sheep and beef farming just south of Gisborne City on the east coast of the north island, NZ. We have two children, James (3) and Ruby (1) and consider ourselves pretty lucky to be living our dream lifestyle!

We love to spend time together as a family on the farm, go hunting, play polo, visit friends and hang with our extended family. Matt’s parents owned a farm next to my parents so we had known each other for a few years before getting together and have been together for 7 years now. We have had busy few years having children and purchasing the farm, so getting married was put on the back burner until we had some time!

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 keep saying that we couldn’t have asked for anything better on our wedding day because we mean it! It was everything we wanted and envisaged. We just wanted to have a good party with all of the people we loved and felt very relaxed about the whole thing. Our theme was country/rustic and was set on our farm and neighbours beautiful old stable complex. We had our first look and photos before the ceremony around our home, farm and my parents home. We got married on our airstrip, under an arch we built together, then went 2 minutes drive away to ‘The Red Shed’ where we had an open marquee, hay bale seating around pallet tables, wine barrels with white umbrellas, white linen bunting, festoon lights and an outdoor bar. The upstairs of the shed has a bar and an inner sprung dance floor which our DJ lit up with his sound activated lights – epic! We had 200 guests and for dinner served meat sourced from our farm, locally grown lettuce leaves and avocados, locally made cheese, and buns, with all the finishings! We employed our local hunt club (horse and hound hunting) to do our catering and they absolutely out did themselves. Our cake and desserts were made by our beautiful Swiss family friend who is a pastry chef. The day ran more or less to time, the ceremony was at 3pm, dinner at 6.30pm, speeches from 7.30pm and the first dance at 9pm. We had nibbles, dinner and speeches all outdoors, then called everyone upstairs into the shed for the first dance and once that was over DJ Bruce kept everyone on the dance floor for the rest of the night and into the wee hours of the morning!

Tell us about your main outfits:

We were very relaxed when it came to our wedding day and felt that our money would be well spent on amazing catering and an even better drinks selection so we just kept our outfits simple. Matt wore navy pants and a white shirt from Hallenstein Brothers. He wore his grandfather’s tie, which was a special touch. I found my dress on Still White, it was the Madeline dress by Grace Loves Lace and I loved it! Beautiful, simple and most importantly comfortable.

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

We spent the night before apart and both really enjoyed the morning spent with our bridal party, we had 5 friends each. We had our first look above our home overlooking the bay and Matt met me with a yellow rose – my favourite colour and the same that he gave me for my 21st birthday! It was one of our favourite moments. I also had a first look with my parents, and the photos are to die for! It was really special.