Peta + David by Anne Paar Photography - Together Journal

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

Peta: I am a Clinical Coordinator/Dental Assistant at a busy, all female Dental Practice in Hamilton. I love lunching with my friends and trying new cafes. I love all animals but dogs hold a special place in my heart.

Dave: I am a plumber and business owner. Every weekend (and sometimes during the week) you’ll find me either game fishing or hunting, rain or shine.

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

Peta: I invited myself to Daves 21st after I saw it as a public event on Facebook. I even met his Dad that night (not that he would remember). At the time we lived in different cities, so a lot of messages back and forth and many trips over the Kaimai Rangers to catch up.

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

Peta: I remember the exact moment I fell in love; we were sitting in his car names ‘mini car’ and we just talked for hours getting to know each other. It was such easy conversation and the most simple date that has turned into 10+ years.

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

Peta: Yes, we had planned a trip to Queenstown for your 10 year anniversary. I had organised a helicopter ride as one of the lotions had been on my bucket list for years, he proposed on our first stop; Lake Erskine. We were lucky enough that pilot captured some phones. We always joke that he proposed to himself, because in one of the photos he is holding the ring box open towards himself.

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

Peta: We always intended to have a small ceremony, so eloping was an easy decision for us.

The hard part of eloping was who to have as witnesses, as naturally with family, things can snowball quickly. So, our only witnesses, our friends Amy and Trav, who had been together for 20 years but never married, were our witnesses and we swapped around and were there witnesses (a two for one wedding) It was so nice to take the pressure away and have the ceremony the way we intended it, filled with tequila shots and laughter.

Due to COVID we had actually cancelled our wedding (after party), but last minute our family and friends pulled together to have a celebratory BBQ and drinks later on in the afternoon. Looking back now we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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

Peta: We celebrated after our ceremony with tequila shots, even our celebrant and photographer joined in. While cutting the lemon I sliced my finger open, super stressful with a pure white dress on at the time but really funny to look back on now.

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

Peta: I didn’t realise how hard hard it would be to find a simple wedding dress until I started looking for myself. After months of looking and no luck, I stumbled across Lulu Jackson Bridal, a local Mount designer who I reached out to. The process was so simple, I showed her images of dresses I like, she designed it, we had one fitting and from there I collected the dress. I couldn’t recommend her enough.