Onewhero Bay Wedding
Wedding films have this way of making me feel like I've truly experienced the day. Like I can feel the emotion poring through my computer screen. So when we're talking about a wedding from BubbleRock Studios - AKA the masters of film making, I basically get giddies all over. They documented this adorable New Zealand couple who tied the knot after 11 years together, and it's sooooo worth a watch.
From the Bride... Our story is extremely special. We have been together 11 happy years despite the trials of years of illness. Our wedding was the most amazing celebration of us as a couple as well as a celebration of the people who love us. We also stayed true to our values as Christians and as vegans and animal lovers and included our cat Jetty in the day too.
We are both from the North Shore in NZ, but our wedding was held in Paihia (over three hours away from our home town). Our reception was held on Onewhero Bay which is a beautiful beach and farmland owned by Sophie's family in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. There is no electricity or running water there so it was a big logistical challenge - we had to bring in generators, water tanks, portable toilets etc. We married on the 9th of February 2013 - the same date Sophie's parents married (they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on the same day as our wedding) and we married in the church Sophie's parents and sister married in, Sophie and her siblings were christened in, and where family funerals have been held. The church is the third oldest in New Zealand.
Our wedding was a true labour of love. We organised and planned everything ourselves. Sophie designed and made the cupcakes, lollipops and treats for the lolly buffet and wrote every single guest a personalised, hand-made card telling them what they meant to us. She brought dozens of candelabras, jars, vases and signs and we styled the wedding ourselves. We made our own napkin holders and gift bags. We used dozens and dozens of Etsy retailers and loved that we did this and helped support independent businesses - we literally made well over a hundred transactions on Etsy for our wedding! We used white, ivory and light pink as our wedding colours and used lace everywhere (lace runners on our lolly buffet, our handmade cards featured lace, we made our own lace napkin holders, our save the dates and invitations used lace etc). The flowers/foilage we used included dahlias, tuber rose, lamb's ear, tea roses, fresias, ornithogalum and lizzianthas.
We really wanted to spoil our guests. These were people who had loved and supported us over the years and we wanted it to be a day celebrating them too. So along with the personalised cards and lolly buffet, each guest was also given vegan chocolates and beautiful wildflower seeds, as well as a gorgeous pashmina to keep them warm later on in the night. We also made up special giftbags for our groomsmen, bridesmaids, MC and some special family members who were going above and beyond for us! Our guest gifts were quite a large expense for us, but we were so glad we honoured them in this way! :)
We incorporated our Christian beliefs on marriage by using Bible verses on love as table names, and had a beautiful Christian ceremony.
We squeezed our budget to include videography and it was one of the very best decisions we made! We had a fair few family and friends who couldn't attend our wedding, including Sophie's friends from her dysautonomia support group, DYNA. A lot of them couldn't make the trip because of illness and we wanted to have a video of our special day to show them, as well as our other friends and fam that couldn't make it. We are so glad we hired our videographers and would highly recommend hiring them for your wedding!
We are both from the North Shore in NZ, but our wedding was held in Paihia (over three hours away from our home town). Our reception was held on Onewhero Bay which is a beautiful beach and farmland owned by Sophie's family in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. There is no electricity or running water there so it was a big logistical challenge - we had to bring in generators, water tanks, portable toilets etc. We married on the 9th of February 2013 - the same date Sophie's parents married (they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on the same day as our wedding) and we married in the church Sophie's parents and sister married in, Sophie and her siblings were christened in, and where family funerals have been held. The church is the third oldest in New Zealand.
Our wedding was a true labour of love. We organised and planned everything ourselves. Sophie designed and made the cupcakes, lollipops and treats for the lolly buffet and wrote every single guest a personalised, hand-made card telling them what they meant to us. She brought dozens of candelabras, jars, vases and signs and we styled the wedding ourselves. We made our own napkin holders and gift bags. We used dozens and dozens of Etsy retailers and loved that we did this and helped support independent businesses - we literally made well over a hundred transactions on Etsy for our wedding! We used white, ivory and light pink as our wedding colours and used lace everywhere (lace runners on our lolly buffet, our handmade cards featured lace, we made our own lace napkin holders, our save the dates and invitations used lace etc). The flowers/foilage we used included dahlias, tuber rose, lamb's ear, tea roses, fresias, ornithogalum and lizzianthas.
We really wanted to spoil our guests. These were people who had loved and supported us over the years and we wanted it to be a day celebrating them too. So along with the personalised cards and lolly buffet, each guest was also given vegan chocolates and beautiful wildflower seeds, as well as a gorgeous pashmina to keep them warm later on in the night. We also made up special giftbags for our groomsmen, bridesmaids, MC and some special family members who were going above and beyond for us! Our guest gifts were quite a large expense for us, but we were so glad we honoured them in this way! :)
We incorporated our Christian beliefs on marriage by using Bible verses on love as table names, and had a beautiful Christian ceremony.
We squeezed our budget to include videography and it was one of the very best decisions we made! We had a fair few family and friends who couldn't attend our wedding, including Sophie's friends from her dysautonomia support group, DYNA. A lot of them couldn't make the trip because of illness and we wanted to have a video of our special day to show them, as well as our other friends and fam that couldn't make it. We are so glad we hired our videographers and would highly recommend hiring them for your wedding!