We both met in November 2018 in Hamilton while Kate was here from England on a working holiday. Kate is from England and Kerri is from NZ but we now both call NZ home together with our two dogs.
When booking our wedding we both lived together in Hamilton. We found this gorgeous little gem of a place online, i think on Instagram. As soon as we drove in and Su-an walked us around the grounds we both just looked at each other and fell in love. We chose our wedding date and booked it right there and then on the spot. Our original date was meant to be 15th April 2022 but we had to make the tough call to postpone due to covid and lockdown uncertainty. We got married on Thursday 6th April 2023.
How did you pick your celebrant?
Kelsey Jamieson was recommended on the OFS website. We met up for coffee with Kelsey and straight away loved her vibe and felt like we’d known her for ages. She really puts lots of thought and personal touches into the ceremony and made us both feel at ease throughout the whole process, highly recommend Kelsey!
We did all of our decorations, planning, made our own bouquets and table arrangements ourselves. We sourced most of these from facebook marketplace which helped us save some money. Tip is if you’re going to do it all yourselves make sure you have an amazing bridal party and family support behind you as it was a lot of work but we wouldn’t change a thing.
We chose to have Beacall Hospitality cater and also run our bar for us. They were hands down the best team for the job. On recommendation from them we had family style which worked really well. We didn’t want guests to be lining up for their meal, Beacall made this super easy.
We had Josh and Nick from Josh Pow Music. These guys were unreal! All our guests partied all night and said how amazing they were. Josh also played all of our aisle songs (we had 3), he played his own acoustic version of them and they were just perfect…goosebumps all round.
There were a few things that were really important to us so we spent more on these. Including: Our band (Josh Pow Music), Caterer (Beacall Hospitality), Photographer & Videographer (Lemon Photo & Film) and our amazing Make Up Artists/ Hair Stylists (Beauty Tribe) the girls worked their magic on 2 brides, 5 bridesmaids and 2 mother of the brides…it was a very busy but super fun morning with loads of laughter and bubbles. We saved money by getting our cake done through The Cheesecake Shop in Papamoa and they did an awesome job. Everyone raved about how good it looked and tasted. We provided them with dried flowers for it and they decorated it for us. This on top of creating, making and sourcing secondhand decorations and setting up ourselves (family and bridal party) saved us quite a bit.
We decided to get ready at the same beach house together with our mums and bridal party so it was easier for us and all vendors. It also meant it was lots of fun and we got some cool photos together throughout the morning.
We had a 2pm ceremony, this was our photographer’s recommendation due to daylight savings. It was just the right amount of time for photos before it got dark at around 6pm.
Because we all got ready in the same place and stayed together the night before we weren’t as nervous as we could’ve been. We also chose to do a ‘first look’ before we left Pukehina Beach so that got some of the tears and nerves out of the way. Definitely recommend doing this, we are both so happy we did.
We had 56 guests which we found was a perfect number. Kate’s family and bridesmaids travelled all the way from both England and Spain to share our special day. The rest of our guests were from around NZ, we chose to make it a long weekend getaway which was the best decision. We got to hang out with friends and family a few days before and also after the wedding.
Around 80% of our guests booked beach houses at Pukehina Beach, others in Papamoa and surrounding areas. We also chose to charter a bus through Go Bus Transport to ensure all our guests got to and from the venue safely as well as being able to all let their hair down. To help towards the cost of the bus we asked them to contribute a small fee each.
Our guests all commented on how stunning the venue was, how good the food and music was, our decorations and just the whole day in general. It was truly the most amazing day of our lives filled with so much love and we honestly wouldn’t change a single thing.
There are so many amazing memories…walking back down the aisle as wife and wife, listening to speeches, our first dance was unreal including dancing the night away under the gorgeous OFS lights. We took time to step away from it all together and watch on, this was something we would definitely recommend as it’s true what everyone says….it goes by super fast. So soak in every moment you can with each other.
Best part about married life…
Nothing has really changed but at the same time so much has. We’re just both looking forward to all of our adventures in the future as wife and wife.
All of our vendors were absolutely incredible…they all went above and beyond.
Celebrant – Kelsey Jamieson
Caterers and Bar Staff – Beacall Hospitality
Music – Josh and Nick from Josh Pow Music
Photographer & Videographer – Lemon Photo & Film
Cake – Cheesecake Shop Papamoa
Hair and Make Up – Beauty Tribe
Kate’s Dress – Alison Blain
Kerri’s Outfit – Made by Curvy Couture (Judy Moughton)
Bridesmaid Dresses – Pagani and Davids Bridal (England)
Guests Chartered Bus – Go Bus Transport Te Puke