Aylish & Ryan

After being together for eight years, Aylish and Ryan were married on beautiful Hahei Beach, before celebrating at a rustic, carefree and relaxed reception on the bride’s family estate. Aylish tells us about their day…

‘We got married on a beautiful day in late February, my favourite time of year in the Coromandel. Our ceremony took place on the beach beneath Pa Hill, Hahei, where Ryan had proposed to me the summer before.

The hardest part of wedding planning for us was writing our vows – both quiet and private people, we struggled to come up with a way of expressing how we felt about each other publicly so we only wrote our vows the night before! In the end though, the ceremony was our favourite part of the whole day. Our amazing celebrant made us feel so comfortable, and it was very emotional and moving.

Our wedding was homemade by our family and close friends from the Hahei community, everyone helping to make the day what it was, including putting together our flower arrangements, making our wedding cake and catching the fresh seafood we ate on the day.
We couldn’t thank everyone enough for making the day so special.

After photos, the bridal party made our way back to my parents’ property and joined our guests under the stretch tent, which was decorated simply with festoon lighting and succulents in wooden boxes as our table centrepieces. My dad created the boxes, and my mum cared for the succulents for the months leading up to the wedding. They looked great!

We ate canapés of fresh seafood. It was incredible and overwhelming to see all of our beautiful friends and family under one roof, and it was so enjoyable catching up with everyone.
Later in the evening, Ryan and I escaped with our photographer at sunset to capture some special photos of us. It was nice having this time alone to reflect on the day so far. After dinner and speeches the band started and we danced the night away. Around 3am we cleared the stragglers off the dance floor and walked to our little cottage where we stayed up for another hour talking about the day’s events and how, in some way, we felt so much closer as a couple. It really was an incredible day!’

Photos by Katie Cook Photography
Makeup: Rouge Beauty NZ
Others that made their wedding special: Grace Loves Lace, Michael Hill Jewellers,
Alannah Tagg, Sugar Fish, Sarah Cowley Ross, Stretch Tents, Suckerfish, Fuller and the Empties