Sarah & Doug
Sarah & Doug's Queenstown wedding proves that rain really can make a celebration spectacular! The couple planned a traditional wedding with thoughtful modern touches, and completely embraced the wild weather, dancing and partying into the night. Sarah shares the details from their day...
Doug and I love Queenstown and always knew we wanted to get married there, so planned an Autumn wedding in the High Country with a real focus on the breathtaking surroundings. Plus, Queenstown is a great place for a destination wedding, meaning we could spend plenty of time with our friends and family before the big day.
Doug and I were lucky enough to have both our outfits measured and made locally in Auckland. I went to my first appointment at Vinka Design thinking that I would walk out with a simple, strapless A line dress. Turns out that didn't suit me at all and I ended up getting a custom made fit and flare dress made with a low back, lace and beaded details. Basically, the total opposite! I felt amazing wearing it. I also wore a fragrance that I made myself and named "NZ High Country". It was a really fun and special experience making my own wedding day scent.
Doug wanted a classic, timeless tux and found Payne Tailors had a great eye for detail.
We wanted the style of the wedding to be traditional and timeless with thoughtful modern touches. The view from the venue was the focus, and we complimented it with lots of festoon lighting, simple decor and beautiful blue and white florals throughout.
On the morning of our wedding I was feeling pretty nervous and kept trying to figure out what the weather might be doing as it was forecast to rain and I wanted an outdoor ceremony! The moment I stepped onto the aisle and the music started playing the heavens opened. It didn't just rain but it poured! Luckily our guests all had umbrellas and we embraced it.
Doug's family is Scottish and so is my Dad so we wanted to bring in some Scottish flair to the food. For our canapés we had scallops on black pudding, and lots of lots of Macallan Whisky!
My bridesmaids all wore different dresses - I gave them a colour scheme and they chose a style that made them feel comfortable.
Eventually we decided the rain was holding off enough so we were ecstatic we could take our helicopter trip to Cecil Peak for photographs. It was freezing but so much fun to pop some Champagne on the mountain, have some canapés and time together just us two. My veil did fly off at one point and our videographer somehow managed to catch it before it fell off the side of the cliff!
We had a poster made and displayed by the entrance to the reception which showed our "Love Journey" from the day we met to our wedding day, which all the guests loved.
We also had handwritten notes for each guest on the back of their place name cards. These were just little Thank You notes for attending and little messages about our favourite moments with them and why we were thankful they could be there for us. There were also custom menus with each person's name printed on them, and our younger guests had activity books with pencil cases and stickers to keep them occupied.
We also had personalised cake toppers, which added a bit of fun to the cake.
Performing our first dance was one of our highlights. We had quite a few dance lessons beforehand and we were eager to show off some moves. I've never been the most confident dancer so this was a great achievement! Our first dance was Elton John's Your Song and then we mixed it up with Jess Glynn's Hold My Hand.
The reception was one giant party and we stayed on the dance floor all night!
VENDORS
Photographer: Lauren from Wildfolk photography
Venue: New Zealand High Country
Bride's attire: Vinka Design
Groom's attire: Payne Tailors
Florist: The Flower Room Queenstown
Planner/Stylist: Simply Perfect
Paige Shipstone Makeup / Beautiful Bridal Hair / Culet Jewellery / Miller Road Fragrances / Nicole Rebstock / Barkers / QT Wedding Hire / Pacific Linen Hire / Bella Designs / Cherry Blossom Cakes / Chef Brenden Catering / Queenstown DJ / Auckland Dance Company / Heli works / Surge Media / Andrew Bell Celebrant