Leo + Emily by Jesse and Jessie Weddings - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We live in Auckland, Leo is a builder and I (Emily) work in events.

During the week you’ll find us on the couch watching our favourite show with a glass of red and on the weekends spending as much time with family and friends, eating out at Auckland’s great restaurants or enjoying the outdoors.

We are both very family orientated and enjoy spending most of our free time with our family and friends.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met through mutual friends in 2018, Leo asked me out on a date to one of my (still) favourite restaurants Cotto and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

We have been together for just over three years – it surprises us each time we point it out as it feels like so much longer.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

LT: I knew Emily was the one for me pretty early on, we had instant chemistry and were always having so much fun together and I knew that she was someone I wanted to continue sharing my life with.

ET: During many of our dates (spent mostly in Restaurants), Leo just seemed to say all of the right things – we had the similar goals, same values and wanted the same things for our future. I think after only a few dates I knew he was the one for me.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

We were going away for the weekend to the Coromandel where Leo’s family have a Bach. We had been there plenty of times but we decided this time on the way down, we would do the Pinnacles walk. We reached the top and sat down to have some lunch, after we had finished we were checking out the view and I turned around and Leo was on one knee. It was such a perfect moment, we were alone with no one else around and managed to enjoy the moment together so high up with picturesque views – just the two of us. The Coromandel will forever now have a special place in our hearts.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…

We had an intimate wedding of around 70 guests, we didn’t follow many traditions and I think planned the entire day within a week. We really wanted to treat our guests and thank them for all of their support through our relationship so far, we made sure there was plenty of drinks, delicious food and fantastic music.

It was pretty special to have everyone you love all under one roof sharing a meal together.

Being an event manager it was in my nature to think of every last little detail, the one thing I didn’t want to worry about was the weather. We opted for an Auckland based venue as we had a short engagement and didn’t want to ask people to travel too far.

We dreamed of having an al fresco style reception with long dining tables and twinkling lights.

The Glasshouse in Morningside was the perfect option for us, the big trees still lush and green in April, towering over us at dinner creating that perfect outdoor experience without the stress of the rain. We had beautiful vibrant florals from Sue from Floral Stylist Co. (still one of my favourite parts) with fresh fruit falling from the vines and an Italian style shared feast for dinner from LittleWolf with bottomless Aperol Spritz and lots of champagne. Working in the industry meeting so many amazing vendors overtime, I had a clear idea of who we wanted to work with – we were just so lucky that they were all available and helped bring the vision to life, we are so grateful for each and every one of them.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

We had practiced our first dance a few times and actually nailed most of the practices however, when it came to dancing on the night I underestimated how difficult it would be to dance in a wedding dress – we had more of an upbeat first dance song (Thinking Of You – Sister Sledge) there was one move which slightly ripped the lining of my dress which created an extra train, we fumbled about a few times during some twirls but aced the last move, which was all that mattered.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

I wore a custom Kenny & Harlow gown, Meg was absolutely amazing to work with. Kenny & Harlow was the only place I visited. I had a fairly strong idea of what I wanted and Meg and the team executed it perfectly for me. The addition of the custom silk blouse was my favourite part, it just looked so gorgeous in photos and felt just like me. I’m patiently waiting until our Wedding Anniversary to wear the blouse again.

Leo wore a custom Crane Brothers Italian Traditional Tuxedo. John from Crane Brothers guided Leo through the process of tailoring his suit, he really put Leo at ease and made him feel so comfortable throughout his fittings. He looked so good!