We wanted our day to be a reflection of our style and personalities, therefore opted against anything too traditional. Willâs mother found a picture of Parihoa (our venue) in an architecture magazine and we knew it was perfect. It has such a modern, masculine feel about it, set upon rolling hills of farmland and overlooking the surf. We wanted our guests to laugh, dance, eat and be merry with us like a really good dinner party â and everyone did exactly that. Many of our friends and families contributed to making the day unique and memorable: one of our MCs said a Maori love charm for us, our mothers both said a kaupare and a poem respectively and a friend even become a celebrant especially for us! One of my bridesmaids sung a Fijian lullaby with her parents at the end of her speech. They have always sung this as a family when celebrating important life events so it was such an honour to have them sing this at our wedding. Lots of little things didnât go to plan: The festoon lights we had requested werenât there, the gate to the venue was locked so some guests had to climb the fence in their wedding outfits to let people in, the event organisers forgot to send a car after our bridal party photographs were taken so we were stranded without water (or bubbles!), I had an espresso martini spilled down the front of my wedding outfit shortly after they were served in liue of cake. In hindsight cake would have been a much safer option! But all of these things were insignificant. We got married and that was our goal. When reception time hit Nathan Haines and his wife Jaimie were the dream-duo to start the dance floor. They played the exact music our friends like and had everyone up dancing from the minute they started. We particularly loved how Nathan incorporated instruments into his DJ set… there was even a sneaky bit of Beyonce in there jazzed up with the saxophone! Being married to us means unconditional love and encouragement. It means always having a companion to adventure with. We wanted to declare this in front of the people who have made us who we are today and we feel so grateful to have found ourselves in a position to find and celebrate love in amongst the chaos of the world.
Photography – Danelle Bohane | Bride’s top and skirt – Lola Varma | Groom’s Attire – Crane Brothers | Groomsmen’s Attire – Rembrandt | Bridesmaid’s Outfits – Selection from Fashion BNKR (mostly Cameo Collective) | Flora – Lucy Houghton, Lu Diamond Flowers | Celebrant – Friend, Donogh Rees | Rings – Anna Sheffield |  Catering – Little Wolf | Entertainment – Nathan Haines and band | Makeup – Abby Black | Hair – Kerry Irvine at Stephen Marr | Special Song – ‘My Baby just cares for Me’ by Nina Simone |