Vintage meets Rustic meets Industrial. AH-MAZING. Any wedding captured by Nita Meyer Photography is extra fancy pants but the styling of the reception 'shed' in today's love story is too cool for school! I LIKE IT A LOT. Brook and Laura married in the Waimauku on their 8 year anniversary (after originally bonding after a game of zip zap zoom!) and their small quirky wedding is chocca with unique inspiration. Enjoy!
Photographer Nita Meyer Photography | Flowers Marissa Bradley (my beautiful cousin) | Venue Private residence in Waimauku | Catering Maldito Mendez (Sarah and Nico) | Hire Company Insphire, Auckland | Stationery & Signage Georgie Armstrong (bridesmaid) | Hair & Makeup Lipstick & Co | Cake No cake - family/friends made dessert pies | Celebrant Justine Russell-Cowan | Brides Dress Vintage dress from Etsy | Accessories Own jewellery including my Nana's wedding rings | Shoes 19 Black | Bridesmaids Dresses Modcloth | Grooms Suit & Accessories Munn's, Barkers and Merchant Man | Rings Carats in Vulcan Lane | Music We had a few playlists
Who Brook & Laura
When 31 October 2015 (Our 8 year anniversary)
Where Waimauku
Guests 68
We met through a mutual friend, Brook took up an invite for drinks at my flat in Auckland when we were both 19. I was in my first year at Auckland Uni and he was in his first year at MAINZ. We became best friends straight away after an epic game of zip zap zoom and then got together later that year.
In three words describe your wedding style... Natural, relaxed and fun.
We always knew we wanted our fave restaurant Maldito Mendez to be our caterer and I guess with our small budget, it would have been our splurge (even though it would've been better value for money than most caterers) and totally worth it! Our second splurge were our rings from Carats. Phil was awesome with his advice. I had my ring made using diamonds from my Mum's wedding ring and Brook had his made from scratch.
Save items: we decided on no cake, and saved on the flowers and our outfits - my mum found my vintage 1950s dress on an etsy store and Brook wore some items he already owned, but bought the waistcoat and nice shoes. But the clothes and the flowers were also completely perfect on the day!
We never realised how many decisions were involved in planning a wedding. Doing it yourself is pretty time consuming and I think trying to meet expectations of others was hard. Trying to find the balance of a small wedding was also difficult, but I think everyone understood what we wanted in the end. Although the set up was exhausting, watching all of our closest friends/family all coming together to help out was phenomenal, we had a fun couple of days together. Also sitting down and coming up with our ceremony and vows was really special and it was fun adding our own personalities to it.
Yes everyone pitched in! Especially our bridal party for a few days of setting up and the clean-up. I had a few DIY sessions with my mum Kerry and friends Mel and Georgie making napkins from fabric my mum sourced from the USA. They had Mexican style patterns on them including Dia de Los Muertos. We also used left over fabric to make flags which we had hanging over the pie table, which some of our talented guests donated for dessert.
My dad also made the most amazing wooden frame around one large fabric print which we hung up behind the head table and that was a major talking point. My cousin Marissa did all the bouquets and table flowers, Brook's mum Karen made beautiful hanging baskets for the shed veranda. And then brook and some amazing friends designed and executed all the lights and sounds for the reception. I think we both trusted in others talents and just let them do whatever and it all worked out for us.
I walked down the aisle to Queens of the Stone Age's "Make it wit Chu" which has always been one of our songs. Brook's best man Eli also played it on guitar as we signed the register. We had an unofficial first dance to the Arctic Monkeys song "I wanna be yours".
We wanted to keep to a pretty small but realistic budget, so we did a lot of shopping around and hopefully made the best choices for us. I get paid monthly so I just made sure I saved away money every time I got my pay check, plus random amounts whenever we had spare money. We spoke about what things were important and where we were comfortable cutting costs. Also getting away from a few traditions such as a wedding cake saves money.
We just got back from a week in Fiji at the Westin Denarau. It was lovely to head off the day after the wedding to unwind. Hopefully we will get a longer holiday in next year too.
CREDITS
Photographer Nita Meyer Photography
Flowers Marissa Bradley (my beautiful cousin)
Venue Private residence in Waimauku
Catering Maldito Mendez (Sarah and Nico)
Hire Company Insphire, Auckland
Stationery & Signage Georgie Armstrong (bridesmaid)
Hair & Makeup Lipstick & Co
Cake No cake - family/friends made dessert pies
Celebrant Justine Russell-Cowan
Brides Dress Vintage dress from Etsy
Accessories Own jewellery including my Nana's wedding rings
Shoes 19 Black
Bridesmaids Dresses Modcloth
Grooms Suit & Accessories Munn's, Barkers and Merchant Man
Rings Carats in Vulcan Lane
Music We had a few playlists
Founder and editor of P&L. Self-proclaimed shoe guru and lover of bogan chic (wtf!) Wife of a butcher, mother of 7 dogs and a cat. Bonkers.
