DIY touches mixed with a summer color palette made Renee and James’ wedding absolutely perfect. This savvy couple chose to DIY most of their wedding in order to spend less and cherish the day more.
The Proposal
We had been together for almost five years so I probably wasn’t too subtle about dropping hints here and there, but the day he chose, surprised me!Â
It was just like any other Sunday, and he said to me in the morning to ‘get ready, we need to be at the place by 9:30’ and I said ‘well what do I wear?’ to which he replied with ‘walking gear’. This had me a bit confused because I was thinking surely he wasn’t going to propose walking around the park, but I complied anyway and got dressed. Turns out we were meeting the ferry downtown to take us to Rangitoto Island. I stopped wondering if he was actually planning it now, as I thought surely he wouldn’t take an expensive piece of jewelry on a ferry and then on a bit of a walk through the bush, plus I was with him all day the previous day and I know he can’t have got it then (little did I know it had been in the wardrobe hidden for weeks!) We walked around for a bit, he was ahead of me as if he was in search for something, so I just walked at my own pace behind him until we found a spot overlooking the Auckland city skyline and harbor in the distance.Â
He started reflecting on our time together and then said ‘we will get married one day, won’t we?’ and I said ‘what, now?’ and he replied ‘no, not now, but one day, will you marry me?’ so I sort of sat there a bit confused, because he wasn’t on one knee (there were a couple of walkers around who would’ve seen him if he got on one knee and I hate fuss so I’m kinda glad he didn’t know!) and then he turned to his bag and pulled out the ring! I can’t even remember if I said yes, I just hugged him and started crying, more because of the fact I didn’t know if he had actually just proposed!
Finding the perfect Stella York Wedding dress
I wanted my wedding dress to look modern, keeping it simple yet not too plain. I knew I didn’t want a princess-type poofy wedding dress, I thought I was actually going to go for something more casual than I chose. But after trying them on, I felt more comfortable in something a little fitted but with detail.Â
Then, I found Style 6648! I had taken notes of all the details I liked and didn’t like from the 14 or so wedding dresses I tried on previously, and 6648 ticked everything on that list! The back detail, the plunging neckline that wasn’t a deep plunge, the detail and the way it faded off down the hips. It was perfect!
The Wedding details
We had a summer wedding, at first we didn’t really have a colour theme, all I knew was I wanted pastel-peach bridesmaid dresses as I thought they would have looked amazing against the blue lake and sky.
I used stones from our driveway to create simple, centerpieces that fit in with our simplistic, modern wedding. As our table favors, we had $1 scratch cards in envelopes at our guests’ seats, we had a few small wins here and there but sadly no-one became several thousand richer!
People – family and friends – coming from all over to celebrate with us was by far the most special part of the day. Seeing everyone again, chatting with them and seeing everyone come together and have an amazing time is the best feeling, knowing they are all there because of you two as a couple.
Photos by Wanaka photography
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