Rebecca + Din by Wild Souls - Together Journal

Din — To me, it wasn’t a single moment but as time went on anytime I thought about my future she was always part of it. You suddenly come to the realisation that life without this person won’t be what you want it to be, so I dirtied my knee and popped the question.

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

We both work in healthcare, I am an acute Orthopaedic Physiotherapist and Din is a Pharmacist and now COO of Zoom Pharmacy. We studied together in Dunedin and then moved back to Auckland where our families are based. Din was born in Kosovo and moved to New Zealand with his family as war refugees when he was five. We both value family so importantly and spend a lot of time with both sides of our families. We love creating new memories and exploring new places. Our love together for the outdoors has really grown over the past few years, and we have found common interests we love doing together. Our best memories are some of the road trips, camping, hiking and snowboarding trips we have been fortunate enough to do. We have a lot of similarities in our perspectives and humour, Din never ceases to make me laugh.

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

Rebecca — We first met in high school through friends, we initially had no interest in each other. Din started catching my eye in year 13 and I told myself I only wanted to go to the ball with him because his height could match my platform heels. But Din’s charisma and confidence soon had me hooked.

Din — It is hard to miss Rebecca’s beautiful blue eyes and stunning smile and as we got to know each other more her radiant positivity was the thing I fell in love with. Tramping and camping around with Bex and no matter the weather, his positive outlook on everything we do makes everything that much better.

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

Rebecca — It was our 9-year anniversary and we decided to go for a walk and picnic at Mahurangi Regional Park. We had talked about getting married, but I had no clue he was going to propose then. He was acting so strangely and I thought he was just being extra affectionate because of our anniversary. He was barely touching the picnic and I kept asking him what was wrong (for anyone who knows him that is really off). I had to tell him to calm down as he was getting so impatient with a lovely elderly couple walking slowly down the beach. He wanted it to be just us and didn’t want anyone else watching. I just couldn’t believe he had been so sneaky and organised an engagement ring right under my nose!

Din — I had been storing the ring at my parents for a month already at this point and was not exactly sure when or where I was going to do it, but when we decided on the day (our 9^th year anniversary) I suddenly lost all my confidence I am known for and became a bit of a mess! Gladly Rebecca didn’t pick up on it and surprisingly said yes!

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

Rebecca — We envisioned our wedding style to be modern, fresh and outdoors. We hadn’t looked into many venues when we visited Deer Valley and were blown away by their garden, marquee and beautiful landscapes. The owners, Tania and Greg, are truly the kindest people and were just as passionate as us about creating our dream day.

We have been to a couple of Eastern European weddings, which is where Din’s family is from, and we know a bit of European flair can really spice things up. Add in your classic Kiwi culture and you’ve got yourself one hell of a party.

Din — This was more Rebecca’s field, but we both went venue hunting and the one that stuck out to both of us was Deer Valley, the outdoor spaces were definitely us and we made the decision very quickly that it was going to be the venue for us to tie the knot.

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

Rebecca — My dress was designed and made by the very talented Lulu Jackson, based in Mt Maunganui. She is the most gorgeous person. I was initially after something quite basic but decided on a very unique design that she created for me.