We have known of each other from Cambridge High School. I flatted with his good friends through university and Michael would come down when he was living and working in Auckland for the weekend to catch up with his friends. It was the last weekend in my flat before we all moved out we had a house party and Michael came down for the weekend. The whole party ended up going into town and Michael and I ended up by ourselves in Hamilton town. I took him to a gay nightclub which he was oblivious to - busting out his "incredible dance moves" getting a few looks and other keen dancers moving in he looked around and finally released where we were - from then on there was a little spark that grew and 9 years later it is still growing.
Michael came through the door with a large bunch of flowers and some very nice champagne - I had assumed it was date night. Michael was a tad nervous, got down one knee beside the dining room chair which I was on at the time and started splattering out a bunch of words - he then put a tiffany box on the table - I had no idea what was going on and thought he was acting a little strange but had assumed he had just bought me a nice necklace - then moments later it clicked - that, wow this is happening. Let's say it didn't all go to plan - I didn't understand a word he was saying - Michael didn't remember what he was saying and I didn't say yes straight away he had to ask a second time - in my defense I was in utter shock, although we had been together for 7 years at this point I hadn't thought he would propose - it would just be a mutual decision that lets do this, and because I am the least romantic person and would have killed him if he did it in public there was no build up or hints what was coming.
Simple, relaxed, modern and we opted for the easy option that would provide the least amount of stress. Since we live in London and have done for the past 8 years we were really looking to make our wedding more of a great catch up and to spend time with family and friends in one place at one time. We decided to do the first look and get photos done before the ceremony to maximize the time we had to spend with family and friends on the wedding day. We also made a weekend of this by having pre-match drinks on Friday, wedding Saturday and big bunch/BBQ on Sunday where everyone was invited.
Table names I just spray painted old wine bottles blue and printed off pictures of our favorite places to provide names for each table. We also did not have any cars because we were having photos before hand at the winery and us girls stayed at the winery accommodation we didn't need cars for any grand entrance.
I splurged on the dress as for me this was the one day I could wear an amazing couture dress and thing you dream about when getting married. Also, the suits where all tailormade again the one day when you want to look your best and our thinking was suits will be worn again for other weddings, events or work.
Stick to what makes you comfortable - you will get a lot of advice but ensure you are not swayed into doing/spending on something that doesn't mean anything to you, concentrate on aspects that mean the most to you both.
People love to help and are honored to help - use their expertise, provide them with tasks they can do and let them run with it.
Make lists and go through the list one at a time to limit yourself getting overwhelmed with the number of tasks you have to do.
If planning a wedding from aboard as we did from London pick a venue which does everything - this helped immensely with the planning we didn't need to source caterers, hire, drinks, a ceremony site and reception site.
