By Mikey and I have actually been best friends since we were 15 years old. It wasn’t until we both lived in London that we decided to take a leap of faith and risk our friendship to see if there was something ‘more’ between us… thankfully it all worked out, and it didn’t take long for us to realise we were madly in love and had made the right decision!
To make it feel ‘effortless’ we used a lot of wood and greenery with hints of blue to reflect the lake. It was really important to us to do a lot ourselves.
It didn’t take us long to settle on The Bach as there is so much history for both of us and our friends and family. It’s a lakeside farm and Mikey’s family holiday spot.
I wore the Emanuela dress from Grace Loves Lace and loved it. Zero regrets! The dress had flowing off-the-shoulder sleeves and was in divine full lace with gorgeous detailing. I fell in love the second I put it on and didn’t want to take it off! I loved everything about the dress.
I wanted to make sure all my bridesmaids felt beautiful and confident, so I chose to dress them in different styles that suited their body types, but all in the same pale blue colour to complement the lake and natural surroundings.
Mikey and the boys all looked so smart in their tailored blue Barkers suit jackets and crisp white shirts with Industrie Clothing trousers. Mikey wore a pair of my dad’s Hugo Boss brown leather shoes and a larger buttonhole to set him apart.
Every detail meant something to us – we incorporated loved ones who have passed into our ceremony, offered our favourite cocktails, used special places as table names, collected crystal glassware and included a reflection corner for our guests to enjoy a whisky and cigar with my late dad post-celebration
We chose to have our wedding in summer because we both love the warmer weather, but we also wanted to make the most of the abundance of outdoor space we had at our fingertips.
I wanted to keep our bouquets small but bursting with different textures and heights using mainly white flowers and greenery. Small hints of blue viburnum also featured to tie all of our colours together.
We foraged for leaves around The Bach to use as part of our place settings.
Because of the rural location of The Bach we had to do our research so that we could enlist a caterer and know they could handle producing beautiful food from a makeshift kitchen on a farm.
We wanted our guests to feel surrounded by love – the love that we hold for them and for each other.
Our location definitely influenced our wedding style.
Consider the next-day ‘pack-down’ when organising and setting everything up. We allocated our budget to allow for our vendors to help with the process, so we could enjoy the next day with our friends and family. Everything you set up has to be taken down!
THE DETAILS:
VENUE: The Bach, Waikite Valley, Waikato (groom’s family farm); BRIDE’S GOWN: Grace Loves Lace; BRIDE’S SHOES: Country Road; BRIDESMAIDS’ ATTIRE: Shona Joy, Country Road; GROOM’S, GROOMSMEN’S ATTIRE: Barkers, Industrie Clothing; CELEBRANT: Kelly Rumens (groom’s sister); WEDDING PLANNER: Bespoke Events & Marketing; HAIR: Belles & Brides; MAKEUP: Laura Simpson; RINGS: The Village Goldsmith; FLORIST: XOX Floral; CAKE: Nikki Davidson (groom’s sister); CATERING: Hereford Kitchen; MUSIC: The Noodles; STATIONERY: Remotelea Creative; VIDEOGRAPHY Wild Souls; HIRE: The Pretty Prop Shop, Event Essentials, TopKata, Just Hitched Ltd;PHOTOGRAPHY: David Le
