Coromandel Wedding By Joanna Walker

By Magnolia Rouge

The Hahei location was a given for Raquel & Olly as the groom's family have spent countless holidays in the seaside location and it holds great memories. They were offered the use of a family friend's Macadamia Orchard for the wedding and seeing some photos of it taken over winter whilst they were still living in London secured this option. On finally visiting it when they came back to New Zealand it exceeded their expectations and gave them a unique canvas to transform for their big day. Joanna Walker Photography was on hand to document it all.

In regards to styling, it was really important to both of us that the day totally reflected us. At the end of the day we just wanted it to be laid back, & fun filled! We had lots of ideas around what we wanted but it wasn't until we talked to Claire & Elayna at So August Custom Stylists that our vision for a 'festival' wedding really came to life. They just had this real knack for being completely in tune with us and at translating what was in our head in to reality. Nothing went wrong at all. We loved every moment and we got so many comments on how perfectly it reflected the both of us. I cannot recommend or thank the So August girls enough, we really wouldn't have been able to do it without their expertise!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: We were living in London when we got engaged so I always thought I would trawl through the shops over there to find my perfect dress. I'd done a lot of online searching but never actually got around to visiting any shops before we decided to leave London and head home. Before getting home, I knew there was one shop that I really wanted to visit in Auckland - Rue De Seine. I'd seen their dresses online and had fallen in love with Michele's style - I knew the classic bridal look wasn't for me and Rue De Seine had everything I was after.

It was my second week back home when I happened to walk past the shop and decided to take a quick look. From the moment I walked in I knew I would end up getting my dress from there. All the gowns were even more gorgeous in person and the staff were so lovely and not at all pushy! I was lucky enough to try on a range of dresses that day and made a booking to come back and try them on again with my mum and bridesmaids. After visiting a couple of other shops around Auckland and four visits later at RDS, I couldn't decide between 3 very different yet equally amazing dresses. It wasn't until Michele worked her magic with the styling (after somehow deciphering everything that was going on in my mind), that I managed to decide. I absolutely love my dress and got so many comments on they day, I can't stop looking at it. I keep trying to think of excuses to wear it again. I just love it!

Any DIY/Budget elements? It was really important to us that we made whatever we could for the day. It was also the perfect excuse for Olly to buy tools! We made the table centre candle-holders, giant games for people to play with during the day (Connect 4, Jenga), plus the 'I do' sign along with whatever we could feasibly make. We also set up our own photobooth /dress up area which worked out well and was a whole lot of fun. It was such a good feeling seeing everything we made come together on the day and made it feel all that more personal.

Describe your wedding flowers: Like everything else, we didn't want the flowers to be at all traditional. We wanted rustic, loose, wildflowers incorporating our colour scheme of raspberry, dusky pink, mustard yellow, blue and sky blue. So August did a fantastic floral brief for us that allowed us to articulate perfectly the style we were after for the day. We sent the brief off to Floral Stylist whose style had stuck out when searching online. Sue at Floral Stylist was amazing! She understood exactly what we were after and was so easy to deal with. Not once did I ever question that the flowers would be anything less that what we wanted and even then I was truly amazed at what we got on the day. Sue captured the vision perfectly! The flowers were so good that we now have a dried bunch hanging on our wall - the colours still look awesome.

Most memorable moment? While it seemed to fly by, the ceremony has to be one of the most memorable parts of the day. We wrote our vows and incorporated a few jokes throughout which seemed to get the group going as well as us. In so many of our ceremony photos we seem to be laughing, we look so happy! It felt really great to say something that is 100% accurate and fully from you.