I had the pleasure of being a part of the bubbly Kate’s wedding recently and gosh what a fun morning we had. Kate is one of the sweetest and kindest brides I have ever worked with. Her whole attitude for the day was relaxed so everyone around her was relaxed. The morning was filled with so much laughter and excitement. The entire bridal party were a joy to work with and I had a blast.

Kate’s wedding was set on the stunning Waiheke Island with her wedding ceremony and reception at Mudbrick. I love hearing from brides after their wedding and sharing their day on my blog. I highly recommend you read Kate’s advice to brides currently planning their wedding because its gold!

Firstly how did you and your husband meet?

The Plews/Handsome Dan (there are so many names for him!) and I met through a mutual friend, Jennie, who I met when I first arrived in New Zealand seven years ago. I only knew about her friend Dan 4 years later, and we briefly met in Takapuna Macs bar amongst a large group of work friends. Apparently as soon as I walked through the door, Dan immediately knew he wanted to get to know me but given the hustle and bustle of that night we didn’t get to chat much at all. A few weeks later, it was Rugby World Cup and he had a spare ticket to the France versus England game – so he asked Jennie to preferably bring along a single friend hoping she would bring me along. I rocked up to his front door wearing a French outfit…not sure that was the best impression given he is a Yorkshireman, but despite that we simply had the best time that day. Most of all, he made me laugh and his Micky Blue Eyes were dreamy!

How would you describe the overall look/feel of your wedding day?

We were going for a rustic glam feel. Rustic to make all our guests feel right at home, but we of course wanted to make the day feel a bit special so tried to add little bits of glam here and there in the detail. Given the two countries we are from, we tried to incorporate England and South Africa into our overall theming.

How did you find the planning for your wedding day?

Given that I work in the sports event industry, to be honest I would have been very happy for someone else to organise it and sit back and not do the planning! With that said, I think doing it ourselves really gave our day the character and personal touch that we wanted. I was a pretty laid back bride (up until the night before when all the panic set in on the details) but would definitely recommend getting all the details done in advance because time sure does creep up!

What was the hardest part of putting your wedding day together?

I think the most difficult part was delegating and accepting people’s help when they asked.

That would be my biggest tip, in that when friends offer to help – take them up on it and earlier rather than later!

I think the most difficult thing is if you have the personality that wants to keep everyone happy, you start over-thinking things like seating plans and food choices, but I think what really helped us get over these obstacles was bringing it back to what reflects us as a couple and what do we want because it really is the only day that we get to have a day just for us.

Tell us about the food/decorations?

How can you sum up Mudbrick Restaurant’s menu…there are now words! We really appreciate great food, and Mudbrick over-delivered as always! After the ceremony everyone got to enjoy some gorgeously presented canapes with some Pimms, beers or bubbles. For the main meals, every mouthful of the entree, main and dessert was a taste bud adventure! We covered all bases with fish, vegetarian, poultry and meat dishes and offered the choice of a dessert or cheese platter to finish off.

For our decorations there was a lot of DIY involved! The big thing for me was that everything served a purpose or had some meaning. I also wanted to bring warmth to the decorations to compliment the rustic, homely feel. Our flowers included the protea (South African flower) and white roses (to represent Yorkshire rose), which were housed in glass bottles that I collected for a good few months (and have never drunk so much water before!) and that my mother in-law spray painted white and gold.

We made over 60 soy candles in mason jars to accompany with Coconut+Lime and French Pear fragrances.

Each table was represented by something that represented where we were from, with wire centrepieces brought over from South Africa placed on a wooden log – Teapot, Teacup, Bicycle, Giraffe, Elephant, and Zebra.

Mudbrick did an amazing job at placing all the candles, accompanying chalk boards and flowers around the venue to make it feel magical once the sun when down.

One of the highlights for a lot of our guests was the individual letters we wrote to them as their place settings. It was a lot of time and effort to write the individual letters, but completely worth it. We wanted every person in the room to know how special they were to us and how grateful we are to have them in our lives, and thought in the case we didn’t get to chat to them for very much during the night we could still go away from the evening being at peace knowing what wonderful friends and family they are to us.

On the day what was your favorite moment?

Oh my goodness, there were so many favourites! An expected favourite was seeing Dan for the first time – from the moment I woke up I was so excited to see him and don’t think I have ever smiled so much as I did when I walked down the aisle and saw his Micky Blue Eyes.

An unexpected favourite was towards the end of the night when Dan got up with the band on guitar and had prepared two songs to sing to me! It was such a surprise and made me fall in love with him even more!

 If you could do the day again is there anything that you would change?

Not one single thing. Everything was utter perfection and was completely us. I think we were having such a great time ourselves that everyone else had no option to but to join in too!

What advice would you give to a bride leading up to her wedding day?

When Dan and I first started talking about our wedding, we both wrote down our top three must-haves that were important to us for our day. We shared them and our top 2 were the same but he had entertainment as one of his and I had photography. It really helped us focus on these areas where we were comfortable spending most of our budget from the get go.

As a bride, it can be overwhelming getting different opinions from your parents and friends – but I think from the get go just think about what will make you happy.

I know it sounds simple but I think you can easily get caught up in thinking “It’s my wedding day so I have to do something WOW with my hair and do something fancy with it”, but at the end of the day that might not make you feel completely comfortable.

I tried to approach everything with, do I feel like me in this dress/looking like this because if there was any uncertainty it was going to come across in my confidence.

Surround yourself with people on the day who suit your personality. From make-up to hair to photography, I wanted to be surrounded by people who were calm, happy and gave good recommendations in their own area. I’m shocking with hair and make-up myself but gave the simple brief to Amanda and Christina, saying I just want to have a natural look and be the best version of me – what would you recommend? Also don’t be afraid to be upfront with what you do or don’t like – I don’t like my eyebrows being coloured in so told Christina that and she didn’t try convince me otherwise. We had the most amazing group of people making us feel like the best versions of ourselves, taking away the stress, and capturing our incredible memories and they were all genuinely such wonderful people – so shop around until you find the ones that fit your personality!

Kate’s Dream Team

Venue – Mudbrick Vineyard

When picking your venue, the biggest bonus for us was having such an incredible team at Mudbrick. They put your mind at ease about every detail, and went over and above to make sure everything was set-up. Don’t be afraid to ask silly questions, because they aren’t silly at all – if it puts your mind at ease it’s worth it!

Dress:

Jackie Dress, Jessica Bridal in Newmarket.

The dress…ahhh, I wish I could wear it every day. The ladies at Jessica Bridal are incredible! I didn’t have a eurika moment when I put my dress on and know it was ‘the one’, but I just felt my best version of myself in it and danced around in the boutique in the dress and knew I’d have a great time in it!

Hair:

Amanda Sands Hairdressing, Waiheke Island.

Amanda’s now back in California, but seriously, what a beautiful spirit she is. I didn’t do anything fancy with my hair, I just wanted it down and had a simple clip and Amanda just did it perfectly. She did the girls’ hair beautifully and listened so well to what they wanted or if they didn’t, she helped offer some suggestions to fit the theme and the overall look.

Makeup:

The lovely one and only, Freckles & Blush.

Book her now. No, really…you don’t need to look any further. That moment when she turns the mirror on you, you can’t help but smile – you really feel the best version of yourself. I don’t really wear lippy, so you can imagine the dilemma for me – but she took the reigns and gave me the reasons why one worked more than the other to make me feel completely comfortable with the decision. She’s simply amazing at what she does and is the most positive, sunshiney happy person!

Photographer:

Alice Doig, Waiheke Island.

Alice took onboard our brief 100% of wanting documentary style photography and capturing the moments as they naturally occurred. I do think the boys posed in far more photos than the girls did! We didn’t even know she was there at times because she was so inconspicuous! I think this is one of the most important person to get right because you’re going to have to feel 100% comfortable with them to get the right shots (if you are doing staged ones!).  Her work speaks for itself and she is utterly amazing and also had that beautiful calming presence on the day.

Flowers:

Syd Hensen, Hensen Florist.

My boquet = WOW! Syd came in to help four days before my wedding due to some unforseen circumstances and I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the flowers and especially the bouquets. I didn’t realise the beautiful detail on my bouquet until the next day, with an emblem ‘K’ tied around in something blue. ♥