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My wedding story began when my husband Jason, proposed to me after a Wonderful evening out. The setting he chose was on the beach, close to our house, where we had enjoyed many a time together. I of course said yes and my mind immediately went into overdrive as I began to think about planning my perfect day.

I wanted to have a relaxed day and most importantly, be surrounded by the people who mean the most to Jason and I, our close family and friends.

We choose the wedding date, March the 10th, as March is a special month for us. During this month we have our 6 year anniversary, my birthday and also my dad's birthday (who passed away when I was 19).

I really wanted to have a beach themed wedding so we found the perfect venue, The Pines which over looked Houghton Bay, on the south coast of Wellington. While flicking through the hundreds of wedding magazines I must have scoured, I fell in love with frangipani flowers which became an important part of our overall theme.

Next came THE DRESS! I found my dream dress on the cover of New Zealand Bride and Groom Magazine. On the day exactly one year from my wedding I made my first visit to a bridal shop. The first place I went into happened to have the dress. I was nervous, but I tried it on and it was perfect. I didn't even look at another dress.

That same day, I also found the most amazing bridesmaids dresses. When the store owner brought the dresses out, I admit, I wasn't sold on the chartreuse colour but as soon as my bridesmaids tried them on I couldn't imagine them wearing anything else. I tied in the green with orange and these colours became a central theme for the wedding. Everything from the table settings to the invitations carried the colour scheme, accompanied frangipani flowers. All these elements were perfect for this summer, beach themed wedding.

The actual day was amazing! The sun was shinning, the sky was blue and there wasn't a breath of wind (which is almost a miracle for Wellingtonians South coast). I had a great night sleep the night before and got up with no doubts about the big step I was taking.

My hairdresser and make up lady had a great feel for how I wanted to look on the day, and did a fantastic job. My wonderful husband spent the morning delivering the cake and decorating the venue with hundreds of frangipanis which we had spent ours stringing together in the days before.

I had planned on being a few minutes late but stretched that a bit far being 20 minutes late. When I did eventually arrive at the ceremony I found out that a lady I work with had brought 5 children from my class of five and six year old primary school children. It was such a lovely thought and it made me a bit teary.

My brother gave me away, which I really appreciated as he seems to have an amazing calming effect on me. I was nervous about walking down the aisle but as soon as I saw Jason all of my nerves were gone.

My mother gave a reading and did a great job, even though she was very nervous. The ceremony went fantastically and while we signed the register our friend Kim sang Songbird by Fleetwood Mac. We also used a lot of Phil Collins music as it was one of my dad's favourite musicians. Jason's parents surprised us at the ceremony by handing us a large gold box. We were asked to open it and inside were two white doves. It was such a romantic touch. I should also mention that Jason's dad had been bitten by a white tail spider the day before and had a very nasty case of cellulitis, so he should have been spending the night in hospital instead of at the wedding.

We took photos down at the beach and at The Keep, which is a bed and breakfast that Jason and I stayed in on our wedding night. It is very rustic and looks like the turret of a castle.

Our MC was a school friend of Jason's who works on the Rock Radio station, Bryce, who kept the night moving along really well. The speeches were a highlight of the night, Jason's best man, his brother Darryl had everyone in tears with laughter and Kim kept everyone crying when she sang a song as a tribute to me dad (Celine Dion's Because you loved me).

Many of our guest have said that our wedding was the best they have ever been to and I really believe it's because we were so relaxed in our planning. We didn't sweat the small stuff and tried to keep everything simple. I had the best night of my life, surrounded by the people who mean the most to me. I wish I could do it all again!