TONI AND LAURA’S INTIMATE WELLINGTON WEDDING
TELL US ABOUT THE DAY! WHAT WAS THE THEME, INSPIRATION, THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST FUN PART FOR YOU?
Laura writes: “The whole point of the day for us was not to make a whole set of decisions for everyone else. All we kept hearing from other people was that they regretted making the whole day about keeping everyone else comfortable and ended up losing sight of the fact the whole day and event was about them celebrating their love for each other. We’d had friends who had actually had a private registry ceremony a year or two earlier and we’d found out via facebook. At the time we didn’t understand, but as we got into planning and all of the pain and suffering that comes with it, we totally understood why they did it and then adopted the idea as ours.
We debated eloping to Vegas (seriously) for about a year, before finally settling on doing something small, private and intimate locally.
We also didn’t have a gift registry, and we didn’t ask for gifts. We both believed that the whole day was about people being with us and not about collecting material items from people we love. The people who wanted to buy us gifts did, but we respected that some people felt that was important to them (and obviously, we were grateful either way!).
We didn’t really have a theme, and that was quite a conscious decision. Given we didn’t want to spend much, decor and favours weren’t on the priority list. It just ended up that I (Laura) wanted a dress that was a vintage style and complementary to my figure, and Toni wanted a well tailored suit she could re-use. The flowers were handmade silk flowers from an Etsy seller and we picked them because we enjoyed the colours. It was seriously that simple. The cake was the same – we picked flavours we liked and colours we liked (that were different to the flowers). Controversy!
Our favourite part of the day was our photo session! It was a lot of fun and we were still riding the ceremony adrenaline. Posing around the city and capturing those moments was wonderful, and we got so many unexpected encouraging and complimentary comments from the public that it really kept our spirits high.”
Laura: Don’t anticipate your wedding day to be stressful. Sounds stupid, but neither of us treated the day as a giant stressful monster before it happened, or on the day. Despite elements of the planning being stressful, we both ran into the day being excited and anxious to be with each other and make that commitment. Changing the mindset really helped – the feeling was akin to being excited as a kid about christmas, not like being stressed as an adult about mortgage payments. Given we bought a house the month before we got married (to the day), we were both treating the event as a break and a celebration. We made a conscious effort to ensure everything we did was for us, and not to focus solely on pleasing our guests. Neither of us had any guilt at all about being selfish about the day, and everyone respected our decisions. It made the day a lot more chill and happier for everyone and meant any little thing that happened was not a big drama.
Photography: Toni Larsen Photography
Laura’s Dress: Chi Chi Clothing
Laura’s Shoes: Miss Sofie
Laura’s Jewellery: Lovisa
Toni’s Suit: Barkers
Toni’s Shoes: Maher
Hair: Le Garage Hairdressing
Make Up: Hair by Lisa (Lisa Impey)
Flowers: blueorchidcreations
Cake: Sweet Bakery and Cakery
Ceremony: Department of Internal Affairs Registry Office, Wellington, New Zealand
The Reception venue: Logan Brown Restaurant, Wellington
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