April 2024

From the moment I met Mel, I knew this would be an epic wedding to be a part of. Their wedding was nothing short of unique, with the ceremony at the Sanctuary Hill Yoga Retreat, followed by a lively reception at the New Plymouth Golf Club, where breathtaking views of the Fitzroy and New Plymouth coastline set the perfect backdrop. Adding to the magic, their bridal shots captured the urban vibe of the town’s cityscape. This uber-cool day will undoubtedly inspire many to think outside the typical box of wedding venues in Taranaki and start dreaming up possibilities for an inner-city wedding.

Read on to see how their day unfolded

Were there any important details that were special to you as a couple, you wanted to incorporate in some way? 

We didn’t have many items or anything overly sentimental that we incorporated. However, one of the most special things we did was having one of our good friends, who Nathan has grown up with, as our celebrant, and it was epic! We also didn’t tell Nathan’s family about this, so they were so surprised to see him standing there.

Tell us a bit about yourselves and how you met?

We met through mutual friends over 10 years ago and started dating not too long after. We were 20/21, practically still children, haha. We have grown and done life together ever since.

What was your vision for the day and how did you choose your style?

I found this so difficult to start because I had so many ideas. I originally was going to play it safe, go for a beautiful, crisp, timeless wedding... but the more and more I looked, I realised that it just wasn't really our style. I was so worried about things dating, but Rebecca and I had such a good conversation around this. Your wedding is a moment in time, your photos are memories, so why not remember what you loved at the time? I think that's such a good point to remember. After I let go of the fear of not being timeless, I just went wild. I realised I wanted to create art. Everything was so much easier because I genuinely loved and was excited about what I was booking and ordering. I started by putting my bridesmaids in my three favourite colours and then finding the right florist who could capture my vision. Rebecca created a mood board for me, which I found so helpful to use throughout the process when booking other things, and it just flowed from there. If you can find the right vendors who understand you and also get excited about your day, the magic just happens.

How did you find and select your (two) venues? What were you looking for in a venue?

We had two main requirements. Number one was that our wet weather plan was our plan A. I wanted to get married indoors so that I wouldn’t be absolutely stressed watching the weather leading up to the day. (Newsflash: I still stressed about it anyway. Did you know that you can check the weather forecast a few months in advance? Turns out it’s highly inaccurate, so I wouldn’t recommend it, but I still checked it anyway haha.) Number two was location. We wanted our guests to be able to enjoy themselves and be able to get Ubers home ( we wanted to save money by not having to put on busses) so we wanted to be close to town. We ended up using separate venues for our ceremony and reception because we fell in love with both venues for separate reasons and we just altered the timeline of our day to cater for this, and honestly, it wasn’t far for guests to travel between both. We had our ceremony at Sanctuary Hill Yoga Retreat. The big beautiful window had us sold straight away and was just perfect for our intimate ceremony. Our reception was at the New Plymouth Golf Club. The space and view are just amazing, and honestly, they were a dream to deal with! No regrets.

How did you go about choosing the vendors you booked?

We had an almost 4-year engagement, so I had done a lot of research. These days, through social media, we have access to so much. You can see people’s work and style before even inquiring. My biggest piece of advice is to go with your gut! Remember that these people are going to be around you on one of the most special days of your life, so you want to make sure that they are people that understand you and bring good vibes, especially your photographer and videographer as they are literally in your face all day! Nat and Scott were like having extra people in our bridal party, and that’s what you want.

The planning process: Did you love it? What was your plan of attack? eg, Budgets, making decisions, choose who to invite as guests?

It was so difficult to know where to start, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing and was so out of my comfort zone. I didn’t know at what point to reach out to vendors or what to say to them etc., but after I had reached out to the first few, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was also so hard to set a budget when you have no idea how much anything costs. We were lucky that we had a few friends get married before us, so we were able to set a bit of a loose budget by that, but you really have no idea.

We started with a rough guest list, which was far more difficult than I first anticipated. We roughly budgeted per guest and that covered canapés, dinner, cake, alcohol, chairs, plates, glassware etc (if you're hiring, you have to pay for all this stuff per person, which is easy to forget about). It adds up pretty quickly and we made our guest list smaller.

Once we had an idea on numbers, we could then look at venues and dates. We had a couple of what I called non-negotiable vendors we wanted to check in with first before locking in our date with our venue, and then from there, things started to roll on a bit easier. Most of my vendors I booked in around two years in advance and booked them in order of what was most important to me until the budget was gone. All those little things that we thought might be nice to have went out the window quite quickly, but remember your guests will remember how they felt on the day… I bet no one could tell you what their place card looked like.

Was there one key moment in your day that you will never forget?

There are soooo many! But if we could only pick one key part, we both picked the same, and it was the golf carts! We were able to use the golf carts to head down to the other side of our venue for our sunset photos. Not only was it so much fun, but it was the first time all day that we were alone for 5 minutes to actually take in everything that had just happened. All the formalities were over, and we were so relaxed. We were also so lucky to have the most incredible sunset, it was just perfect..

What’s some advice you would give to couples, reading this, planning their day?

Trust your vendors…. They are experts in their fields, and you should be able to leave things in their hands.

Your photos will be the thing you take away and last forever, so pick your photographer wisely! I still look at mine every day <3

Also, if you can reduce spending elsewhere to afford the videographer, do it; you will not regret it.

The set up the day before will most likely take longer and be more stressful than you think. Plan for this and have lots of helping hands. ( Also, don’t let the groomsmen get too happy on the beers during this time, or they won’t pay any attention at the dress rehearsal haha )

Most of all, do what makes you happy. Don’t worry about trends and things dating; go with your gut, enjoy it, and feel all the emotions along the way. The day will be worth all of it x

Looking back on your day, is there anything you would do differently?

Honestly, I’m pleased to say I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, there were things that went wrong on the day, but nothing major. I think this whole process has taught me not to sweat the small stuff. But if I could relive it again exactly the same, I would!

Dream Vendors

Venue (Ceremony) Sanctuary Hill

Venue (Reception) New Plymouth (Ngamotu) Golf Club

Photography Natalie Waugh

Catering Elixir

Videographer Scott Anderson Visuals

Furniture Dobsons and TLL Events

Bridal Dress Trish Peng

Reception Dress Caitlin Crisp

Makeup Jess Ellis

Hair Kirsty Gavin

Cake The Cake Diary

DJ/Band Seismic Events and Hemi Coates

Signage Etsy