Welcome to the gorgeous, cute and quirky wedding of Naomi and Jake. What a couple! And what a wedding! We loved it so much we popped them on the cover of our last issue (you can still buy it here, guys) and we think you will, too. “To tell the truth, I wanted to elope and Jake said no,” laughed the bride. “The compromise was an eloping-style morning on the wedding day before we joined the rest of our family and friends.” A brilliant idea and lucky for us caught on camera by Cameron Thorp of Chasewild…
THE PROPOSAL “We had already found the ring together in an antique shop in Takapuna so it was just a matter of time really. We had a weekend planned away with some friends of ours to Waitomo but I thought, surely not, it won’t be that weekend. It was haha. Jake had secretly planned the whole proposal with them. We stopped at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge to ‘stretch our legs’ before we were supposed to meet our friends at the accommodation. While we were walking on the track, Jake stopped on this little swing bridge, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. It was magical. The weather was moody, drizzly, and misty, there was no one else around, and just around the corner, our friends had set up a gorgeous late morning picnic for us. So dreamy.”
THE VENUE “We knew we wanted to get married in Matakana as that was the region that Jake was born and grew up in. I discovered St Andrews chapel online and knew it was the one. When we visited it, this was only confirmed. My family is Scottish and St Andrews is the patron saint of Scotland so it was meant to be. We wanted the reception to be really relaxed and low key and loved the idea of a house-party type vibe. We both used to live in Birkenhead while we were dating so when we found the house in Birkenhead point we thought, yes, that was it.”
THE VIBE “We both love simplicity, minimalism, and nature and sort of just followed these elements to create the aesthetics of the day. Also, it’s not really a theme but we both love hiking and coffee so we knew we wanted to somehow sneakily get those elements into the day too.”
DIY “The bouquets, which turned out gloriously. It was such a special moment unpacking them from the wool-lined box I had been storing them in for months. Everyone who was involved in our wedding in some way or other were our closest family and friends.”
THE DRESS “I was actually going to make my dress and was all set with the fabrics I was going to buy when I happened to be walking past the window of Seed Heritage when I saw it. It was EXACTLY what I had planned to make for myself, so thought I might as well save some time and just get it, there and then! It was a very, very simple process. With a tiny bit of altering in the bodice and the addition of a mesh long sleeve top underneath, I was good to go!”
FAVOURITE MEMORY “Along with our amazing friend and photographer Cam Thorp of Chasewild, we scoped out the Kitekite falls bush walk out at Piha. We got up at 6 am, dressed in our wedding gear, and drove out west while the rest of Auckland was still rising for the day. In the morning mist, we trekked out to the falls and made coffee on a tartan rug, under the gushing water. To say it was magical would be an understatement. It is such a precious memory and was a GREAT way to start our wedding day that was to be filled with all our favourite people. For those few hours, it was just Jake and I (and Cam capturing it magically with his discrete and non-intrusive camera skills).”
A WORD OF ADVICE “Take a deep breath and take it one step at a time. My amazing maid of honour sat down with us not too long after we got engaged and helped us to break down all of the tasks we needed to do into manageable monthly chunks. We then colour coded the tasks and delegated. We then set aside one evening per week to tackle wedding stuff and for the most part, stuck to this!”
This wedding was originally published in issue 21. If you’d like to check out more from this issue, limited copies are available via our online store.
CONTRIBUTING VENDORS Photographer Chasewild Ceremony St Andrews Matakana Reception Private Property via Airbnb Hire Items Kings Plant Barn (Indoor Plants & Pots) Furniture Hire Hawke & Hyde (Benches & Beer Crates) Wedding Bands HooDooLouLou via Etsy THE BRIDE Bridal Gown Seed Heritage Shoes Clarks THE GROOM Jacket Topman Shirt Huffer Pants ASOS Bow Tie JuneParade via Etsy Shoes Clarks via Hannahs Grooming Gentlemen’s Approach