Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…
I’m a researcher. He’s a writer. We live in Sydney. I moved to Sydney a year prior to meeting him, having only visited the city twice before. When we met we realised that in my first visit to Sydney we’d actually attended the same mutual friend’s wedding, the only person I knew at the time who lived in Sydney, and Dave was in my photos from that day. I don’t believe in ‘meant to be’, but it all felt very much that way. I was struck by his kind, gentle nature from the moment we met. We met online initially, and had some lovely conversations. During these, we jokingly agreed that if we ever met in person we’d kiss before we spoke to avoid the uncertainty throughout the date over whether or not we would kiss, as this was a gripe of mine. When it came to meet in person, I was pretty terrified- what if I saw him and decided I didn’t actually want to kiss this guy?! We’d agreed to meet for a picnic in the evening on the grassy area overlooking the beach in Bronte, Sydney. I drove past him with his picnic blanket as I looked for a park, and was relieved to see that he was quite kissable! Kissing before talking actually made for a really lovely start to the date. Highly recommended! ha. Dave had two daughters from a previous relationship- one only a baby when we met- and we’ve built our family into a lovely integrated unit. We have one daughter who was 18 months at the time of our wedding, as well as our older girls who are with us half 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 wanted a relaxed, intimate celebration and decided to have just our families there- our girls, and our immediate families. Dave is Jewish so we incorporated some Jewish elements into the ceremony, including the Chuppah you see in the images captured beautifully by Ana Galloway. We love NZ and selected the south island for its natural beauty. Our elder daughter was really wanting to see snow, and we were lucky that on the day itself the weather cleared to reveal the beautiful stark blue of Lake Pukaki, and that night we had snow which we all rushed out to see. Dave and I are very into vintage and sustainability, and the styling reflected the natural beauty of the place, making use of found objects (like the large branches for the chuppah), things thrifted as I travelled across NZ in the month before the wedding, and as many native floral elements as possible. We hired a beautiful homestead overlooking the lake to hold our ceremony and a post-ceremony dinner. We brought in caters from the fantastic Tinplate Kitchen in Tekapo to do all of the catering for our canapes and sit down dinner, who did an amazing job. It was a big family dinner around a large dining table in the venue, with beautiful food and such a lovely family oriented vibe. It was the perfect way to celebrate our relationship and the family we’ve created together.
Tell us about your main outfits:
My dress was my grandmother’s dress- she wore it 60 years earlier when she married my grandfather. I had it repaired by the lovely girls at CardtoCloth in Sydney, but it was otherwise as she had worn it. It fit me perfectly. I wore a brooch as my ‘something borrowed’ lent to me by Dave’s mother- she wore the same to her own wedding. I loved all the personal family touches throughout the day. The little girls wore dresses from a boutique in Melbourne. Dave wore a suit purchased in Sydney.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
The sky clearing just in time for the ceremony and the snow that fell after dessert were the perfect start and end to a beautiful celebration! At one point, our middle daughter, Mae, was upset that she didn’t get makeup. Ana got gorgeous photos of me consoling her and us running a makeup brush over her face (it didn’t have anything on it, but she didn’t realise that!) and her delight over feeling like she was one of the grown ups. Likewise, walking down the aisle, our 18 month old, Audrey, was quite bewildered and wouldn’t let me go. It’s a sweet memory in hindsight and the photos are rather cute!
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
Having children together before we tied the knot, we really knew that our relationship could withstand a lot. In some ways a wedding felt redundant, because marriage won’t change our commitment to one another- we made that commitment long ago, when we made the decision to enter each other’s lives knowing that Dave had children. That said, for us the marriage was all about celebrating what we’d found in one another. When I first met Dave, I went home and wrote in my diary that I’d instantly felt at home with him, and that I’d loved him from our first date. It felt like a ridiculous thing to admit at the time, but that immediate spark and comfort with each other has remained and grown stronger over our 4 years together. Having our wedding gave us the opportunity to celebrate our luck at finding one another, and to share with our families one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever visited.
Photography: Ana Golloway– Ceremony and reception location: Lake Pukaki- Celebrant: Penny Ashton– Bride’s gown: Grandmothers’ dress- Groom: Rembrandt Suits– Rings: Bride- art deco vintage ring, Groom- Platinum ring from Reems Sydney– Other jewellery: Brooch belonging to groom’s mother- Hair and Make-Up: Simply Stunning Wedding Hair and Make-up Tekapo; Kelda– Flora: Floral Harvest Timaru– Food/beverages/catering: Catering by Chefs from Tinplate Kitchen Tekapo– Cake: JustEatCake– Seamstresses- CardtoCloth
