Loren & Simon's New Zealand Wedding

Today on the blog we are showing off our beautiful bride Loren & hubby Simon's gorgeous wedding in New Zealand. Loren was in love with the design & beautiful fabric in her stunning Wendy Makin bridal gown. I can still remember when she tried it on in store. We loved the silhouette on her figure it accentuated her waist and she looked amazing. We completed Loren's wedding dress alterations on her dress a few weeks before the wedding in-house in our boutique and it fitted Loren perfectly! Enjoy these photos and Lauren's gorgeous wedding & her own love story. I am just going to follow all her suppliers on their Insta! It is a beautiful story Xx

THE DRESS "I really wanted a dress that I felt 100% comfortable in, so that on the day I would feel relaxed and it was easy to move and dance. I also wanted a dress that I felt beautiful in and was a little bit fun! I had only tried on about 5 dresses before I arrived at Samantha Wynne and didn't really have a set idea of the style I wanted. Samantha was amazing right from the start... we sat and chatted about our wedding day and where it was being held, which meant that as soon as Sam started to pull out dress options she had a picture of what I wanted and she hit the nail on the head, matching my dress with what would go well amongst the ceremony location (in a forest) and the reception (in a barn). Thanks so much Sam xx"

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU KNEW IT WAS THE DRESS? "I knew it was the dress when I couldn't stop myself swishing in it and my smile was huge from the moment I put it on! It was light, comfortable, beautiful and unique."

HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET? "Simon and I first met at a Uni party thrown by mutual friends, when we still lived in New Zealand. We then kept on bumping into one another at the gym (I've never been to the gym more in my entire life!) and finally went on a date... we spent our first year together doing long distance across the North Island of NZ and then shifted to Perth where we've been living for 7 years now - we love it here!" 

THE PROPOSAL "I'd been working on secondment back in New Zealand for 4 months, so we hadn't seen each other too much over that time. The weekend after I returned Simon had planned a surprise night away down in Margaret River and I didn't know where we were staying until we pulled into Cape Lodge (which is beautiful!). When we got into our room, there was a platter and bottle of champagne on the balcony and he got down on one knee straight away to ask the question. Despite being together nearly 7 years at this point, I was really quite surprised so he did a great job!"

FAVOURITE MOMENT "I loved our ceremony! We had written our own vows which made them really meaningful, and also wrote surprise vows for the other person to read out on the day which had a more humorous feel to them - these were really fun! I also made sure to look out at all of our guests during the ceremony and this made it even more special to see everyone's faces while we were making it official."

THE VENUE "We were living in Perth, but wanted our wedding back in New Zealand where we are both from. This meant many hours researching venues online, then when we went back to NZ for another friend's wedding we went to each of the venue's that we had "short-listed" for a look around. I am so glad we did this, because as soon as we walked into our venue, L'Orangerie, we were absolutely sure it was right for us! Also, things are so different in person compared to online and my hot favourite before the trip turned out to be very different to what we wanted in the end." 

FAVOURITE DETAILS "The arch for our ceremony was pretty special, as my Poppa had made it for us and attached a surprise plaque that had our names and the date of our wedding on it. The flowers at our reception were also a family affair, put together by my Aunty and grandma the day before our wedding. They did such an amazing job, and their flowers fit right in with the bigger floral arrangements our florist had put together too. Lastly, my dress really was a favourite detail - I felt beautiful, comfortable, sexy and completely myself wearing it. I felt like I could do anything in it and it would still look amazing, which was great for pics and dancing!"

ADVICE FOR FUTURE BRIDES "One of the most lovely things we did leading up to our wedding was go away for the weekend to write our vows. This took us out of our normal routine and meant we could have a relaxing weekend away, drink wine and talk about what we wanted to say to each other on the day without any distractions. We also made sure we only did the traditional wedding things we actually wanted to do and arranged the day how we wanted no matter how many people told us we shouldn't e.g. we had a first look and bridal party photos before the ceremony (which was really fun, reduced the nerves, and meant we had heaps more time with guests at the reception) and we didn't cut the cake or have a first dance, so we just found alternative ways to approach those moments in the day e.g. we had a funny group photo on the dance floor right before the band started up! Finally, a friend of mine recommended that my husband and I take a moment together to step back and admire all of our guests at the reception - mingling and talking and laughing - and I distinctly remember this moment of the day, which is awesome when everything else seems such a blur now."

BEST WEDDING SPEND "We definitely don't regret spending money on the venue we loved! The venue set the tone for the day, and we would have been happy with L'Orangerie even if we hadn't added any other decorations. We're also totally in love with our wedding video so I'm so glad we decided to spend the money on this too. It really captured the feeling of the day, and I have shed a tear or two re-watching our day and seeing the happiness on everyone's faces." 

Loren & Simon - Wedding Film from Side Project Films on Vimeo.

VENDORS "Our vendors were amazing - there was absolutely no issue planning our wedding from overseas because everyone communicated so well with us, and spent the time to chat over the phone even if we couldn't meet in person. If you happen to be getting married in New Zealand too, I highly recommend each and every one of these amazing people."

Photography Krystle at Bespoke Photography, Taupo NZ Videography Ben and Cat at Side Project Films, Auckland NZ Dress Samantha Wynne Celebrant Jason at Whitelaw Weddings, Tauranga NZ Caterer Bridget at El Mono Loco, Tauranga NZ Venue Rebecca at L'Orangerie, Ohauiti NZ Hair Juanita at Hair by Juanita, Waihi NZ Makeup Mary at Estelle's Makeup and Hair, Papamoa NZ Flowers Milly at Primm Gardens, Pirongia NZ Band Matt at Coachella, Auckland NZ