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The Proposal

We are an outdoorsy couple so we planed our first real camping trip to the Coromandel in our ‘house’ converted van that Ryan done just done up. On our second day, we took our time as we took in the stunning scenery of the coastline. Ryan seemed to stop at every lookout, without warning, he suddenly slammed on the brakes. He jumped out of the van and said in a shaky voice, “I got you a present, I got you a book”, which I thought was a little weird since I don’t particularly like reading. He clambered around in the back and then suddenly appeared holding this book. There was this intense silence as I took the book out of his hands and opened it. The pages were glued together with a square carefully cut out bearing the most gorgeous engagement ring! I burst into tears as I couldn’t believe my eyes. After about 15 minutes of ecstatic excitement, Ryan grabbed the camera, set it to automatic, and we took pictures of our moment with the beautiful scenery behind us.

The Planning

We are a young couple who started ‘going out’ in high school. We had 12 months to plan and had decided quite early on, that we wanted an informal relaxed wedding, a day that reflected our personalities. I also really wanted a DIY wedding as it would mean so much more to us. We are fortunate to have a wonderful extended family that all pitched in and offered their services. My mum quickly created ‘committees’ for different areas.

The Dress

I wanted something a bit different, so Sandra from Primadonna in Whakatane designed a dress that was off-white, gathered across the front which continued into a deep v at the back of the dress, it reveled most of my back and had shoestring straps that met across my back.

Bridal party

I had my best friend, Raili as the maid of honour, Jenna (ryans sister), Rongomai (another close friend) and Natalia (cousin) as my girls. They were absolutely fantastic! They got me excited, kept me sane, helped plan the day, hosted an unforgettable hen’s night and looked absolutely beautiful in their outfits.

The girls wore a dark chocolate brown strapless corset with a matching skirt which had black tulle underneath; I also wanted these dresses to be different and funky and to suit the outgoing personalities of the girls. Natalia wore a gorgeous white dress that had brown ribbons to match the girls. We found vintage green glass pearls which just suited the dresses perfectly. I wore two sets of white pearls to match them (one which my Grandmother got for her 21st and the other a wedding present from my mother) and matching pearl earrings.

Ryan had decided that he wasn’t going to have an official ‘bestman’ as all of his groomsman were all really good mates. He had enough trouble narrowing it down to three guys! However for the sake of speeches Clint played the role of best man, he also had Karl and Haeata (who came from Sydney especially for us). They also hosted the ‘stag do of all stag dos’ for Ryan, which has surfaced some questionable photos!!

The boys wore plain black trousers and black pinstripe shirts while Ryan wore black trousers and a plain white shirt from Colin Eagles. Ryan and the boys didn’t want to wear something just because it was ‘tradition’ so they wore jandles! (which got many giggles from guests). Our paige boy was Wharekooti (Ryans godson) and despite refusing to give up the dummy, he did a wonderful job! He wore the cutest pair of ¾ pin stripe pants and a white pinstripe shirt.

Table Settings

My mum, Shiona and Alice sewed all the napkins which matched the handmade flax napkin holders perfectly. My one bridezilla moment was over the square white plates that I just had to have despite the dramas involved with ordering 110 of them. I wanted the decorations to stay pretty simple. We decided to have a relaxed, beachey, paua and flax theme to suit the location of the reception, which was the Ohope Yacht Club. Decorations were left up to the decorations ‘committee’ to create. It ended up better that I imagined with fairy lights galore (including a chandelier made out of fairy lights and NO.8 wire!) and paua shells, weaved flax flowers and plants strategically placed around the venue.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was held in front of my parents house at Otao domain at Port Ohope beach. While we couldn’t quite get the timing of the high tide just right it was still the perfect location for our ceremony. We had a family member Shirley Ratahi as well as David McMeeking who sung a duet (More than words) as I walked downed the aisle which was a memorable moment. While we were away for photos, guests were invited to share light refreshments at our place while they continued to enjoy the performance from David.

The Cake

My nana made our favorite cake - a 2 layered banana cake with chocolate icing which had paua pieces around the base with a flax flower on top.

Cars

We had a canary yellow Charger for the girls and a blue Ford Falcon for me and my dad. The boys arrived in Ryans Nissan Skyline.

Catering

We had one of my best friends, Anna Vesey do the catering. She did an absolutely wonderful job! Not only did she receive many compliments from our guests but we also had so much left, we were eating wedding food for over a week! We supplied the seafood with the help of close Whanau and friends who spent a lot of time diving and storing the kaimoana over Christmas.

Most memorable moment

In the middle of his speech, my Dad sung a song to me which was one of the most special moments of the day; it was also my grandmother’s birthday which was nice. Another unforgettable and emotional moment was when our guests preformed a haka for both of us as we walked into the reception.