We wanted to incorporate earthy, wild, fun and whimsy elements while keeping the overall feel cohesive and polished.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Mark is a pilot, and we made the move to Dubai from Auckland in 2018 so he could further his career and so we could both travel the world, which we are very passionate about. I am in the short-term rental industry, but I have a background in sleep psychology and aviation.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
We met in 2016 when I had just returned from travelling to North America and was starting my career with Air New Zealand as a flight attendant. Mark had advertised for a flatmate online, and I took the room as it was close to the airport. I thought he would be a good flatmate being in the Aviation industry and familiar with shift work! Within four months, he spontaneously joined me on my three-night Honolulu work trip and surprised me with a first date, which was a helicopter ride around the island!
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
From very early on, we knew we had found something special in each other. When our days off on our rosters aligned, we spent time exploring parts of Northland and the surrounding areas of Auckland. We both have a spirit for adventure and love the outdoors, and we talked about getting married one day from very early into our relationship. Not long after our one-year anniversary, we moved across the world to the United Arab Emirates and relied on each other for support, being so far away from our friends and family. In true adventurous fashion, Mark spontaneously proposed to me one sunny morning while hiking in a mountain range with our dog Wilbur, just a few hours from Dubai. I was completely surprised but so excited to make it official and marry him.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding.
We were both very intent on being married in an outdoor location that was both unique and special to us. We wanted to incorporate earthy, wild, fun and whimsy elements while keeping the overall feel cohesive and polished. I had dreamt of getting married in a forest since I was a child, and Mark and I both wanted to be married in Central Otago, which is an area that we love, I have family ties to and an area we felt would be exciting for Marks family to visit who were travelling from the UK for the wedding. We looked all over for a suitable wedding venue with a forest near Queenstown or Wanaka and could not find the perfect spot! When I had almost given up, I got on Google Earth, found a forest in Wanaka that looked perfect and sent a letter off in the mail with my fingers crossed. Not too long after, I received a letter back from a lovely couple who were happy to lend out their special forest to us for our wedding ceremony! W
What styling and visual elements worked best for you?
The stunning scenery that our venues provided, which was both a dense green forest and the sparkling blue water of Lake Wanaka, provided the perfect natural elements that we were looking for. We built on this by using a clear marquee with black frames and decorated it with pine garlands draped from the ceiling to not only detract from the stunning backdrop but also to draw together the elements from the forest ceremony. We also used dark walnut wood for the tables and chairs to tie in with the wood from the forest and decorated our tables and cake with bright wildflowers. We wanted to bring in an “adult school camp” feel to the weekend, so we went with long dining tables, a fabric bar sign that advertised our signature cocktail, the “Woodland-Tini”, pennant flags for table numbers and seat names, the seating chart made from wood rounds with each guest name burnt onto the front, a s’more station and film cameras on the tables for a vintage feel! We really had fun with the camp feel in as many ways as we could! Our guests stayed in canvas tents that night, and we had personalised camp t-shirts and mugs for everyone to use on Sunday!
One of the most special elements of the design was a market stall with fresh flowers. We had a lovely lady curating the most amazing wildflower crowns for our guests all evening!
What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?
We loved letting our imaginations run wild and pouring our personalities into the planning process. We wanted our guests to have a fun, unexpected experience, and since the majority of our guests were travelling to Wanaka/ New Zealand and many of our friends and family were meeting for the first time, we wanted it to be a full weekend event. Our advice would be to not be afraid to do things that are different from the other weddings you have been to and instead create something that feels like you both as a couple. The other big thing would be that if it is within your budget, get a day of co-ordinator. Speak to a few until you find someone that fits your vibe, ask lots of questions and make sure you are on the same page about what they will do for you to make your wedding day run smoothly. Then spend your wedding morning having fun with your loved ones, you can let all the wedding planning stress go and soak up the excitement of the day ahead!
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
I found my dream wedding dress very quickly and unexpectedly in the first shop I looked in! I knew it was the one because there wasn’t a single thing about it that I wanted to change or alter, which is very unlike me! We then spent about 6 months searching for the perfect shade of green for Mark’s suit; it ended up being finished a week before we left to head back to New Zealand! However, the star of the show for me was my veil, which I had custom-made with embroidered wildflowers along the edge to match the flowers in my bouquet.
What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on?
The florals were very important to us as we wanted to bring a colourful element into the deep browns and greens of the earthy colour pallet. The brief was for wild flowers that looked like they had just been scooped up from a meadow, and our florist did the most amazing job curating the most dreamy bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids. I have since had them preserved in glass so I can keep them forever! We incorporated the flowers in other ways, for my hair, the boys’ pin holes, corsages for our mums, the flower crown station and along the dining tables.
The second element that was important for us to get right was the photography and videography. We felt that after the day had passed, one of the key things we got to keep from the event itself was the photos and then the memories. We chose our photographer and videographer for their modern, natural style and because we knew we would feel comfortable and at ease with them on our wedding day. They perfectly capture the magic, and we look through our photos and videos and are transported straight back to the feelings and special moments of the day. We then had a close friend photograph our second day at The Camp, and now have a “wedding-zine” on our coffee table to look back on forever.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
We had the usual share of things being forgotten, like the audio phone book never being switched on! But the two most memorable and now funny to look back on are a vase of flowers for the flower crown station that got knocked over and created a damp spot in the boot of the car. One of my bridesmaids placed her bridesmaid dress into the boot and didn’t realise it was wet. By the time she got the dress out again. The ink from the tag had been transferred from the label onto the satin material and would not come out! She had to wear the dress with a barcode printed onto her for the whole day!
The second was, my wedding planner and I had spent hours looking for the right arch to go at the end of the aisle, I had specifically wanted two dark wooden triangles to represent two mountains, one bigger than the other. We finally found one that hadn’t even been listed online yet and secured it for the day! When I came around the corner to walk down the aisle, the second thing I noticed (my husband-to-be was the first!) was that the two triangles were placed inside each other. For a mili-second I seriously contemplated asking someone to correct it before I walked down the aisle before realising it really didn’t matter now! You can see in the ceremony photos that it was corrected after the ceremony before the bridal party photos took place!
BRIDE Lucy Hudson, @lucyintheesky_ GROOM Mark Howson, @mark_inthesky LOCATION Ceremony – Private forest in Wanaka; Reception – Dublin Bay Weddings, @dublinbaywanaka; Second Day – “The Camp” Lake Hawea, @thecampnz PHOTOGRAPHER Luisa Apanui, @luisaapanui; Second Day Photographer – Taihuka Smith, @taihukaphotography VIDEOGRAPHER Apiata Apanui, @luisaapanui STYLIST & PLANNER Samantha Stout, @tregoldweddings CELEBRANT Nathan Walker ENTERTAINMENT Reception Band – Freefall Entertainment, @freefallentertainmentnz; Ceremony Singers – Chad & Pol HIRE Furniture & Glassware – Flock Events, @flockevents; Wanaka Wedding Hire, @wanakaweddinghire; Major and Minor Hire, @majorandminorhire; Wanaka Party Hire, @wanakamarqueepartyhire; Table Linen – Olive Linen, @olivelinen_nz; Marquee – You Gather Events; @yougather_events CATERING Queenstown Catering, @queenstowncateringnz CAKE The Country Cakery, @thecountrycakerynz STATIONERY & SIGNAGE Designed and made by the bride ENGAGEMENT RING & BRIDE’S RING Fergus James, @fergusjamesdiamonds GROOM’S WEDDING BAND Etrnl, @etrnl.rings BRIDAL DRESS Alena Leena, @alenaleenabridal BRIDE’S SHOE Forever Soles, @foreversoles BRIDE’S ACCESSORIES Custom Made Veil – La Voile Rose, @lavoilerose; Earrings – Grace Loves Lace, @grace_loves_lace MAKEUP Liv King, @livkingmakeup NAILS Glamorous Nails & Beauty, @glamorous_nails.beauty HAIR Beautiful Bridal Hair, @beautifulbridalhair BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE Libre – Yves Saint Laurent, @yslbeauty SUIT Studio Suits, @studiosuits GROOM’S SHOE R.M. Williams, @rmwilliams GROOM’S ACCESSORIES Cufflinks – Man & Bear, @manandbear_ GROOM’S HAIR Ali Barbers, @alibarberswanaka GROOM’S FRAGRANCE Myslf – Yves Saint Laurent, @yslbeauty BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES Billy J, @billy_j_boutique; Evolution, @evolutionbridesmaids; Baltic Born, @balticbornclothing TANS Skye Beauty, @skyebeautywanaka WEDDING WEBSITE Bliss and Bone, @blissandbone WEDDING NIGHT ACCOMMODATION Crosshill Domes, @crosshillgeodomes
