Sam + Francesca by Jesse and Jessie - Together Journal

Sam & Francesca envisioned a 60’s Italian film set that meets a fluffy, beautiful fairy tale.

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

Sam is a writer and director. He makes commercials for a living. Writes film and TV scripts on the side, with the long-term plan of making it his main thing. His work is quite funny.

Francesca is a Naturopath and Skin Therapist. She’s really into the skin – fixing it from the inside out. And hormones – she’s into hormones too.

He grew up in the Devonport bubble. I popped it and made him move to the city.

She grew up on Waiheke Island. Didn’t wear shoes until she was 10, horse was her main form of transport.

He’s an Aquarius.

She’s a Gemini. Apparently, that means we’re compatible.

She loves delegating.

He loves doing jobs. See what I did there?

She loves being social, yoga, reading, studying the latest health and wellbeing research, and Love Island. He loves cooking, golf and getting lost in a movie.

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

He flatted with a friend of mine.

She saw me in a 2-second Snapchat video and said, “Who’s that guy?”

He got my number and asked me out to dinner. Gave me three restaurants to choose from, which I thought was quite a good move. After consulting with the girls, I picked the middle-priced one. I’m an expensive gal, but I didn’t want him to know that yet.

She was 20 minutes late. But she was cute and had an infectious energy.

He was interesting, and put together, into food and wine.

You know it’s a good date when you look up, and you’re the last ones in the restaurant.

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

She said, “I love you”

He said, “I think I love you too”

She said, “What do you mean, you think you do?” He said, “Now I’ve thought about it, I love you too.”

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

He had the ring for months, hidden on his bedside table.

She was never going to look in there. It was too obvious.

He was planning to propose up at Matapouri Bay on the 4^th anniversary of our first date. But we ended up in lockdown with my Dad on Waiheke.

She was a total grump the day I was meant to propose. Her Dad and I were laughing to ourselves behind her back “It’s like she subconsciously knew something wasn’t right.” Anyway, we have this morning ritual where we take turns bringing the coffee into bed. And when I say turns, I mean I do it.

He came back to bed and handed me a coffee cup with bubbly liquid in it.

She thought I’d put kombucha in her mug as punishment for letting it go flat in the fridge.

He told me it was Champagne, and I was like, “I can’t drink that at the moment”

She was on this intense gut diet protocol and couldn’t drink any alcohol.

He told me he’d checked with my Naturopath, and it was okay to have one glass. And then he dropped a knee, right then and there in his hotel-style dressing gown. She said yes and then remembered she had to go and drop her car at the mechanics, so she went and did that real quick.

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

The vision was a 60’s Italian film set meets a fluffy beautiful fairy tale. We were relying on a sun-drenched Waiheke Island summer’s day, as we didn’t have a wet weather option, being a big gamble in summer 23’ luckily, she delivered. We wanted lots of colours, blush, lilac, yellow, peach, and magenta. The vibe was intimate, fun, playful, and eccentric. We splashed out on all the food, wine and cocktails. There were a lot of cocktails.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

F: Flowers & photos! I feel like flowers make or break the look of a wedding, and after, the venue is SO important to the look and feel of the day. We wanted bold sculptural florals that were wild and whimsical, perfectly framing our backdrop looking out over the sparkling Hauraki Gulf on my mum’s lawn. Isadia Floral was the most AMAZING team to work with, all of our ideas were incorporated, and they ended up arriving at Waiheke in a massive white truck, it was so exciting seeing them all put together for the first time on arrival. The flowers were more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. I could not recommend them enough! The photography was a no-brainer for me as the day is such a whirlwind, it’s so special having a mix of film and digital photos to remember the day.

S: Flowers. They’re your production value when it comes to photography. And I reckon they make you look hotter than you do normally.

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

There were a couple of fantastic Grandfather moments that will stick with us:

F: Sam’s Pop wrote a cute poem about love, and then when he was reading it, he went off-book and started talking about how “very, very, very, very” beautiful the bridesmaids were.

S: Francesca’s Grandad thinks aloud, so when the aisle song kicked in (Honne’s remix of My Baby Just Cares For Me), everyone heard, “Oh, this is a fantastic track!”

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

F: My dress was a custom design by Kenny and Harlow Bridal. Megan was incredible to work with, I arrived with exactly what I wanted in mind on my Pinterest board, and she literally started building the dress on my body immediately. I ended up doing 5 fittings and had a perfectly fitted white silk dress that was more beautiful than I could have ever hoped for. I wanted a classic dress with a low back, and a huge train because when else do you get the opportunity to wear such a statement?

S: Suit from Rembrandt. The photos say it all. Brilliant. The shoes, however… The shoes have a story… I’d ordered them from a shoemaker in Mallorca, of all places. My buddy Arizona got me onto them – he knows his stuff. Anyway, they arrived after a month or two, and they’re stunning, right, we’re talking incredible quality and craftsmanship, and the boujiest shoe’s I’d ever worn. But… they were a size too big (turns out the sizing is a little different over there, and my UK 9 was more like a UK10). So I send them back (not cheap to ship to Mallorca) with the promise that they’ll send the correct size back to me when the others arrive. One month passes… two months pass… three months pass… no shoes. They were stuck at the border in Spain. And the only people who could get to them are the shoemaker, but they’re radio silence… Then, the big pair of shoes arrived back in New Zealand, and I’m freaking out. Long story, several photo calls to Spain, and way too many swipes of my credit card to courier companies short, I bought a second pair, which arrived just in time, and sent the other ones back again… and all was well in the world. The learning for anyone ordering shoes online: Draw your foot on some A4 paper, scan it, and send it to the shoemaker.