Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship … I (Salila) am a Registered nurse working at Auckland emergency department and Errol is a qualified builder working on Waiheke island (worked as a qualified chef for 8 years prior).
Errol and I met whilst working in a local restaurant/cafe kitchen that no longer exists on Waiheke island called Island Thyme. I started as a dishwasher at 14 years old and Errol was training to become a chef. We worked together for over a year and our friendship/feelings for each other grew over this time. We started dating at the end of 2009 and have been together ever since. Our love for each other has grown with every year that has passed, having just celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We both love food, adventures, being on the water (sailing, fishing, swimming, diving), and love exploring different parts of the world, having travelled to multiple different countries together and counting. We love music and attending music festivals through the magical NZ summers and all over the world – Coachella was ticked off this year for our honeymoon and Glastenbury next year. We are both very relaxed people who love our friends and family and remain very close with them always. We are able to make everything we do fun and Errol has made me laugh every single day since the day we first met.
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 had always said if we were ever to get married we would have something low key and just a big party with all our close friends and family to celebrate. We had never dreamed it would be as beautiful as it was at Goldie Estate vineyard thanks so much to Heine and Leslie Storm!
Our inspiration for the wedding was fun, relaxed and lots of laughter with everyone involved, as this is how we see our relationship with each other. We have amazingly talented friends and family that were all happy to help where they could with the wedding. We had gorgeous friends design our wedding invitations, help organise the entire wedding day/decorations/set up the morning of the wedding/ all of our incredibly beautiful flowers and greenery arrangements, hair and makeup for the girls, and two of our beautiful friends sung me down the isle . We honestly could not have had the incredible day without the help of our friends and family and cannot thank them enough for their love and support.
One of our favourite unique details were the smoke bombs. we wanted to add our own touch to the traditional photos by adding a fun twist to a nervous photoshoot (Errol hates photos!). And they certainly did this! the entire bridal party were in hysterics at the beach, as our MC ran around us holding the smoke bomb in his kilt!
Tell us about your main outfits: Finding the perfect wedding dress was one of the easiest decisions (after saying yes of course!) about the wedding. I wanted something comfortable, that reflected my Personality/style and slightly hippy energy but that I could dance in easily. I only went to one bridal shop – Ru De Seine and tried on multiple dresses with one dress I saved until last as I had loved it since I first saw it on their website. It fit like a glove, I felt so beautiful in it and made sure I could sit and dance – then with the help of a couple of best friends, my older sister and of course my incredible mum I said yes to the Fox gown by Ru De Seine.
My beautiful bridesmaids were my four sisters, we had a colour scheme in mind but they had free reign with what style they wanted to wear – they all ended up choosing the same style in a beautiful oyster grey colour from Shona Joy in Australia and they looked so incredibly gorgeous.
Errol wanted to take some stress and organisation away from me and said he would organise the boys suits! I had full trust in him but was a bit nervous with such an important decision, but he wouldn’t give me any hints about what it would look like, colour scheme etc so I didn’t have a clue. No one except for the 4 groomsmen and Errol saw them until the moment we arrived to do the first look before the ceremony, and wow how great they all looked – Errol looked so handsome I couldn’t stop staring!
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day? There were so many incredible moments it’s hard to only name a few.
The moments before the wedding with just my sisters, family, grandparents and mum getting ready and helping me get into the dress is something I will treasure forever. Errol’s face when he turned around in a beautiful field just the two of us and then walking around the field both so excited, nervous and not quite believing we were about to get married was a perfect way to have a quiet moment together before the wedding.
However the most memorable part for not only the two of us but for all our guests was when we went outside after dinner for our first dance – everyone gathered around – my little brother Tomās sung an incredible original song he wrote for our first dance. Just as we started dancing a few raindrops fell from the sky, then a few more, until towards the end of our dance, the sky’s opened up, thunder and lightening in the distance, pouring rain and everyone had already jumped onto the dance floor embracing the rain, engulfing us into hours of rain dancing, soaked through dresses, ankle deep water and pure joy and love from everyone as we partied into the night all together.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together? Our biggest advice would be, enjoy the process of getting married, planning together for your perfect day is so much fun. don’t stress the small stuff, no one will remember what colour napkins you had or if the bridesmaids shoes are the same tone of nude.
Enjoy every moment together, life is a party and you are the perfect team. Lean on each other, encourage each other, learn from each other and love each other to the fullest always
Venue: Goldie Estate Vineyard | Videographer: Deer Light | Photographer: Wild and Grace | Celebrant: Irene Armstrong | Flora: Friends – Annie Sainsbury-Canham and Elle Fisher | Cake: Food With Flair | Stationery: Friend – Hetty Wheeler-Bowden | Signage: Friend – Renee Garrick | DJ: Patrick Thompson | Bride’s Dress: Ru De Seine | Groom & Groomsmen Suits: Barkers | Ring/s: Walker and Hall | Makeup: Rebekah Banks | Hair: Friend – Jackie White | Fragrance: Maison Margiela Replica – Lazy Sunday Morning | Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Shona Joy
