Mat and Jane

Mat and I got married on Oneroa Beach on Waiheke Island which is a 40 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland in New Zealand. Most of my family lives on Waiheke and it is a really special place for Mat and I. Getting all our Australian friends to my hometown and having them meet all our New Zealand friends was amazing. All our wedding invites were sent via email, using Paperless Post cards. This was great as it meant we had a link to our wedding website on the card so guests could RSVP and also find out all the info about the wedding day, registry etc on the website.

My mum’s hairdresser on the island squeezed into mum’s closet to do my hair. It was the only place we could fit a seat that had a full length mirror! One of my bridesmaids did my makeup for me. She was a bit nervous at first but she did a fantastic job. It still looked great at the end of the evening.

The flowers were mostly local, picked from family friend’s gardens and wildflowers growing on the side of the road. We also got some loose bunches from the local florist including the peonies that I used as my bouquet. I just wound some vintage lace (‘something old’) around the stems and tied it with jute twine. My mum had collected hundreds of old vases and jars which my bridesmaids filled up with flowers and placed all around the reception.

We had ‘unofficial’ groomsmen and bridesmaids as we just wanted it to be Mat and I standing up there on the day. But they did everything else that official men and maids would normally do – from setting up the venue to ushering duties, readings and moral support.

My dress was from Carla Zampatti in Sydney. My shoes, not sure if I should share this, but they were gold sandals from Rubi shoes! As the wedding was on the beach and then at a barn I didn’t want to wear expensive, uncomfortable shoes. I wanted to be able to dance! The only jewellery I wore was my antique engagement ring and a borrowed gold band from my mum (for my ‘something borrowed’). I had a simple gold band made at Michael Greene Antiques in Woollahra, Sydney and had it engraved with our names and the wedding date. I also had a beautiful floral/vine headpiece that I had bought on etsy.

I walked down the aisle to Impossible Beauty by Nathan Haines, a New Zealand jazz musician. Our celebrant was a family friend – Libby Dykes. I have known Libby most of my life so that made the ceremony extra special.

I bought a wooden embroidery hoop at Spotlight and cut strips of fabric, lace and tulle to tie around the hoop to make a fabric ‘chandelier’. Mat then hung this from the tree at the ceremony.

My dad and I made wooden signs which directed people to the ceremony, reception, toilet etc.

 

The reception was held at a friend’s barn which was just a lovely, leafy walk from the beach. We woke up early the day after the wedding, ready to head to the barn in the rain and do a massive clean-up before our post-wedding lunch. When we got there, it turned out that lots of family, friends and my in-laws had turned up at 7am and it was all cleaned up and ready to go. It just shows how keen people are to help out in any way they can. It was so so lovely and quite a relief really. We could just relax and enjoy the lunch.

We chose the venues – the beach and the barn as they were really laid back which suited our personalities and as they were pretty much blank canvases we were able to decorate to our own style. We set up the barn so that it had lots of different areas – inside was the bar, photo booth and a couch area then we had the band outside playing on the hay-strewn dance floor, we had tables set up in the marquee for anyone who wanted to sit down and then we had picnic rugs and games of boules and quoits out on the lawn.

Did we DIY?? We did everything ourselves! Basically we had an empty barn to do with as we liked so every decoration, light, table, chair, plate etc had to be organised by us. There was a point, about 1 month out from the wedding when I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into – vendors kept getting dates wrong, things that we thought were organised fell through – but it all came right on the day. We were really lucky to have so many people to help, especially my mum and dad, my in-laws and my bridesmaids. We couldn’t have pulled off all the little details without them.

We had bought a large blank puzzle for our guests to write on in lieu of a guest book and we now have it made up and framed on our wall. We thought this was so much nicer than having a book that you look at once and then put away on a shelf.

I brought the kraft paper bags and striped bakers twine over from Australia (from my shop) to make the nibble bags. Mat had designed the nibble stamp and then we had it made. I then cooked kilos and kilos of spiced nuts which my bridesmaids and I packaged into the bags.

I sewed together lots of my great aunt’s old doilies to make a table runner for the table. We then replicated this with other doilies as we were using pieces of calico and old sheets etc for the tablecloths and they needed a bit of decoration. My mum collected 60 cushion inners and then cut and sewed covers for them all. We had my mother-in-law stuffing cushion after cushion into their covers the day before the wedding.

One of my bridesmaids made our most delicious chocolate buttermilk cake with cream cheese frosting. She is an absolute inspiration as she managed to make this amazing 3 tiered cake whilst looking after her newborn baby and her 2 year old boy. She and her husband then had to carry it over on the ferry along with the kids and all their gear. It was proudly placed on an enormous tree segment that my dad had cut himself with a chainsaw the day before.

Having both our dads do speeches was great.

We really wanted a casual, informal day where people could just mingle, dance and generally have fun so we organised local food trucks to come along and people could just help themselves when they were hungry. On arrival there were spiced nuts in nibble bags that I had made and finger sandwiches on vintage plates. Later in the night there were wood-fired pizzas, paella, salad and a gelato cart.

My sweet 4 year old niece was a very serious flower girl in a floral Cotton On dress but she did her duties very well and ended up staying at the reception til late, dancing up a storm with all the guests. We had a great local band called Chocolate Fish. They played the whole afternoon and into the evening, until noise patrol turned up!

We didn’t have an ‘official’ photographer – my brother, a family friend and my father-in-law took all the pictures as we wanted a really casual atmosphere and didn’t want to spend hours away from our guests having posed shots. They did the most amazing job and it has been so hard to narrow down the picture selection.

Okay so this will probably sound clichéd, but please please please make sure you enjoy the day! Take 10 minutes during the reception where you grab a glass of bubbly each, step back, spend some time together and just watch all your friends and family enjoying themselves. Also really soak up all those lovely compliments people give you, you may never get so many at one time again!

Ms Gingham says: We’re delighted today to have the gorgeous Jane of one of our favourite online stores Emerald + Ella share her beautiful handmade beach wedding with us!

Jane says: “The wedding ended up being more perfect than we could have hoped for. Having all our close family and friends together celebrating with us, especially all the kids, was probably the most special part of the day.”