We always wanted a timeless wedding.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Dan and I live in Australia (I am originally from NZ). Dan works in the agricultural industry, and I work in communications.
We love our food, wine, music and watching the rugby (when the All Blacks and Wallabies aren’t playing each other!). We host a lot at home and love having our loved ones over for dinner parties. I particularly love cooking – we do a fresh pasta night every Sunday evening!
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
At the beginning of the pandemic, after Dan had returned from living in Chicago, a mutual friend (turned Groomsman) decided it was the perfect time to press go on plans to set us up (he’d been trying for years!). I was living in Melbourne, and Dan was now living in Brisbane. One night (after a couple of negronis!)I was out for dinner with this mutual friend – one of my first clients when I moved to Australia and Dan’s childhood best friend – and he sent Dan a message to get the ball rolling. Dan and I started messaging and within 24 hours, he had booked a flight down to see me. As (bad) luck would have it, he was about to head into another lockdown, so he got the tests he needed to and jumped on the first flight down.
We were ‘official’ within two days of seeing each other face to face and already making plans on how to make this long distance relationship work by the end of the weekend. We honestly just knew – it’s like there was no choice in the matter!
I ended up getting stuck in Brisbane during another snap lockdown a few months later and never returned to Melbourne. We were engaged a little over a year later.
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
It’s cliche – but we knew immediately! I’m sure everyone around us thought we were crazy, maybe we were.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Being from New Zealand, it’s always been very important to me to weave in parts of my home to our love story – whether that’s holidays, milestones, or art in our house – I want to appreciate and acknowledge where I came from.
Knowing this, Dan organised the most perfect proposal in Queenstown. After flying over from Australia, we spent the morning with my family before taking a helicopter ride up the snowy Humboldt Mountains, where he asked me to marry him. We then spent the next few days at Blanket Bay looking back across the Dart River up to where the magical moment happened.
The designer of my engagement ring was a family member of the dear friend who introduced us – so that was very special too.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding.
We always wanted a timeless wedding filled with details and experiences for our guests that were personal, acknowledged our beautiful families and of course, who we are as a couple.
The brief to Alex and her team was a classic, formal (but relaxed), old English countryside wedding – think white florals, traditional tablescapes, candelabras and silverware, a portrait room, cocktails, oysters, lush green hedges – all making the perfect backdrop for our guests dressed in their finest black tie attire.
We also chose to get married over the ANZAC weekend as a nod to our New Zealand / Australian heritage and our families coming together. We had a small poppy hand drawn by One Mimosa Please on our marriage crest (which was used in all of our signage and stationery) and hints of red throughout the styling to tie back to the memory of generations before us.
Our wedding cake – a giant pavlova overflowing with seasonal red fruits – was a cheeky play on the Trans Tansman rivalry of the origin of the great dessert. We paired it with cones of french fries to soak up some of the dancefloor champagne which went down a treat!
Something we also focussed on for the mood of our day was the scent! We decided to fill different parts of the venue with a smoky, woody scent that evoked the time of year and overall vision using Diptyque Feu de Bois candles. Memories are inherently tied to smells for many people (us included!), so now, when we light the same candle, it takes us back to our special day.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
How the day was captured was very important to us. We agreed early on that we wanted to invest in photography and videography as a way to relive the biggest day of our lives.
We also wanted the day captured using film photography (as well as digital) to really bring our overall vision to life, and I’m so happy we did this! Working with Keryn was such a joy – I had been admiring her work for a long time so it was very special having her shoot our wedding.
Zac from Flatroc Films was also exceptional – not only at his craft but what he brought to the day – I think he was everyone’s favourite ‘guest’!
Looking back at our photos and video now, I really believe what set Keryn and Zac was that they invested the time in getting to know us. This ultimately shone through a little window into our love story for us to share for years to come.
An equal tie for something we wanted to invest in was the stationery and signage. I know many couples opt to save money in this area but the look and feel for the wedding really started with what Alex from One Mimosa Please created for us in our hand-drawn crest – which included a poppy for the ANZAC weekend we were married on, the Queenstown mountains we were engaged in and native Australian greenery to tie it back to where we live together now. We have this proudly hanging in our home now and always knew we would be so excited to use it in other ways after the wedding, so it definitely felt like money well spent!
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
The evening before the wedding there was a dusting of snow, which was very exciting (although a bit too cold for our Australian guests, I think!). However, it quickly turned grey the next morning, and like most brides, I was sitting in the makeup chair, dreading rain for our outdoor ceremony!
About 30 seconds before I walked down the aisle to our violinist playing ‘She’ by Elvis Costello, the sun came shining down past the clouds. I’ll never forget the feeling of my father and I turning the corner to see Dan and the warm sunshine on our faces – it was really special (and timely!).
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Dan was dressed in a custom suit by The Cloakroom. His cufflinks once belonged to his great-great-grandfather (dating back to the early 1900s), which was very sentimental.
My dress was by KYHA Studios, and I had a small patch sewn on the inside on the morning of the wedding with my Grandparents’ names on it. I also wore some of my Grandmother’s jewellery, including a very special locket bracelet my Grandfather gave to my Grandmother as a symbol of their love – I haven’t taken it off since our wedding day.
We wanted to find ways to acknowledge our family members who aren’t with us anymore, which we mainly did through what we wore.
Dan and I both chose Le Labo fragrances for the day. He went with The Noir 29, and I wore Lys 41. The matching bottles had our wedding date on the labels as a special keepsake.
BRIDE Lauren Selwood, @laurenkateselwood LOCATION Winehouse, @winehousenz PHOTOGRAPHER Keryn Sweeney, @kerynsweeneyphotographer VIDEOGRAPHER Flatroc Films, @flatrocfilms STYLIST & PLANNER Alexandra Kate Creative, @alexandrakatecreative FLORIST Little Botanica, @littlebotanica__ CELEBRANT Joshua Brosnahan HIRE Flock Events, @flockevents; Truly Yours, @trulyyours_events; Royal Laboratorie, @royallaboratorie; The China Cabinet, @thechinacabinet; Queenstown Wedding Hire, @qtweddinghire CATERING In2food (Queenstown Catering), @queenstowncateringnz CAKE Weeping Willow, @weeping.willow.cakes STATIONERY & SIGNAGE One Mimosa Please, @onemimosaplease_ RINGS Anthony Hansen; Diamond Coco, @diamond.coco.australia JEWELLERY Family Heirloom BRIDAL DRESS KYHA Studios, @kyhastudios VEIL Madame Tulle, @madametulle BRIDE’S SHOE Oxitaly – Issimo, @issimo MAKEUP Olivia Sellman, @olivia.jane.jenner HAIR Beautiful Bridal Hair, @beautifulbridalhair BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE Lys 41 – Le Labo, @lelabofragrances SUIT The Cloakroom, @thecloakroom
GROOM’S FRAGRANCE The Noir 29 – Le Labo, @lelabofragrances BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES Misha, @mishacollection BRIDESMAIDS ACCESSORIES Earrings – Raffinee, @raffineethelabel BRIDESMAIDS SHOE Zara, @zara BRIDESMAIDS FRAGRANCE Byredo, @officialbyredo