Emma and Brett were lucky enough to get married just two weeks before New Zealand went into lockdown, celebrating at a romantic and fun-filled wedding with personal touches and gorgeous wisteria colour theme…

Our vision for the day was to have fun and laugh – a lot! Our celebrant Matt was the perfect person to help us achieve this. He made our guests laugh all the way through our ceremony and is still one of the most talked about people of our day.

It was also a family and friends affair. My Aunty Carolyn who is a florist in the USA, had flown in specially to create all of our beautiful flower arrangements. My dad had built and painted the arch/ structure where we got married in front of, as well as our wedding post box. We tried to include as many of our friends within the day itself, having the husbands of the bridesmaids become ‘flowerbros’ and throw rose petals as we were walking back down the aisle. We had others sign our wedding license and Brett’s uncle was our MC. It meant a lot to us to have everyone part of the day.

Choosing the wedding colour was really hard as we wanted something a little different, and we were so happy with the colour wisteria we decided on. The bridesmaids were able to mix and match dresses to create what they wanted for the day, and we were also able to get matching bowties and pocket squares for the boys and sashes for the flower girls.

The wonderful three-layer cake included chocolate, lemon and butterscotch flavours. The cake was cut with a sword after a friend of ours had mentioned: “Will you be getting a family sword now that you are getting married?” It was then that the idea blossomed and became a thing – of which not many people believed until they saw the photos – it was a lot of fun.

The panda and otter on top of the cake came from Brett’s flatting days when each member in his flat had an animal name when playing board games together. He was a panda and when I came along I was made an otter – something we have continued on with to this day.

Overall it was a truly magical day and we feel so lucky to have been able to share it with those closest to us. Brett and I are best friends and we feel very fortunate to have found each other.

Photos by Kate Little Photography

Emma’s gown: Jessica Bridal

Bridesmaid dresses: The Stockroom

Brett & groomsmens’ suits: Frank Casey

Abbeville Estate / Matt Warman / Skizzors Hair Design / Celebration Cakes