Poppy & Cameron

Cameron and I met in 2012. We’ve both been competitive cheerleaders from a young age and met the year we were both placed on Team New Zealand. We’ve been competing on Team NZ together ever since! Cheerleading is our passion and we both coach and run competitions. Besides that, Cameron and I recognised early on how in synch we were. We share the same mindset, life goals and sense of humour. We sometimes joke that we are the same person!

Cameron proposed in 2018, on our OE, under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I had always hinted that a dream of mine was to be proposed to somewhere in Europe in summer; Cam nailed it! We couldn’t wait to get home to share the news with friends. We started to plan our wedding during the pandemic in 2020 and were lucky to have everything go ahead at Christmas. It was a risk that paid off.

We married at our family home in Whenuapai, Auckland. I had a clear idea of the vibe I wanted to create; relaxed and minimal with an outdoors ‘winery’ feel. We went with a summer wedding but in December when the weather wasn’t too hot.

I would consider the theme of our wedding to be minimalistic. We wanted to keep our decorations simple as the furniture and tableware we hired was so beautiful.

Cameron and I have an obsession with the TV show Friends, so the theme tune played as we made our entrance for the reception! The whole bridal party danced too.

We’re both foodies so having great food was important to us. Instead of a buffet, we arranged for sharing platters to be placed on every table, including three meat dishes along with multiple sides and salads. Dessert was a small wedding cake with mini cheesecakes, tarts, slices and more. We had 110 guests.

I wanted white flowers to tie in with our neutral theme, and lots of greenery. For the music, we hired a DJ. We gave him a list of songs we like, and he created a playlist that matched our taste, plus songs that got everyone dancing!

My dress had a detachable overskirt, which I loved as it created two different looks. My two bridesmaids wore simple white dresses, and the boys donned beige linen suits.

The night before the wedding, I stayed in an amazing waterfront apartment in the city with my bridesmaids. We got ready with a view and breakfast on the Viaduct.

The whole day was just perfect. It was like my Pinterest board had come to life right in front of me! I wouldn’t change a single thing. We couldn’t travel overseas for our honeymoon due to Covid, but we rented a cute bach on Waiheke for three days instead.

My advice for brides-to-be would be to spend time with your partner on the wedding day! You often feel as if you should be making conversation with all the guests but don’t forget to make some special memories with the most important person.

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