Roses are Red, Violets are blue.
You are quite pretty and I like you too.
You are quite pretty and I like you too.
A family weekend away to help celebrate some amazingly intelligent and loved-up friends? Well okay then!!
Rosie and Matthew are cute. They like board games, Latin dancing, a vast array of smart literature, cats, mathematics, and red wine. I like them both and it was a pleasure to be asked to officiate their wedding in the Marlborough Sounds. A small gathering of their nearest and dearest travelled from across NZ (and the globe) to Bythells Bay in the Queen Charlotte Sound to eat, drink and be merry and celebrate love and whanau, as well as partake in a midnight wedding swim!
Rosie and Matthew, you know that you’re two of my favs and it was a pleasure for my family to be included in your special day in paradise. I love the way you interwove your own personality and yearnings into everything and how embracing your loved ones were. The photos that David James Photography took make my heart sing and perfectly mirror your love in the ‘real’ world! Wishing you all the love and good fortune that the years may bring, and remember we always have cats for you to cuddle when you return to kiwi-land. xx
Given this was an out-of-Wellington wedding, we have a whole list of recommended vendors:
– Rings: The Village Goldsmith, Wellington. Their rings were custom-made and they were easy to communicate with, had a wide range of good options, both traditional and modern. Everything was provided on time and beautifully presented.
– Dress: Annah Stretton, Wellington. Wow. They were actually great. The ready-made Baby Didion Genevieve dress was beautiful, it fit the bride right off the rack, and the staff were really helpful with suggesting styling tips. [Tip – Annah Stretton also have a super cool hire option ($350 inc. shipping + cleaning).]
– Hair: Hair on High, Picton. Hair on High did a good job of an unusually vintage hairstyle for both the bride and bridesmaid.
– Catering: Posh Nosh, Marlborough. They catered the wedding dinner on-site for a party of around 45 and it was delicious. They provided the couple with an extensive list of delicious dishes to choose from, then were willing and able to customize them for the guests and their dietary requirements. They are clearly passionate about food and didn’t want a single guest to feel they had a less-than-excellent meal. They arrived on time, meals were well presented out of their mobile kitchen, the staff were well presented and very helpful. Everything was left clean and tidier than when they arrived. Finally, and most importantly, the food was absolutely delicious!
– Beverages: Liquorland, Blenheim. Good selection of stock, allowed full boxes to be returned, and were very helpful.
– Photographer: David James Photography. David was a total star when he captured their special day, he had a great energy and really helped everyone feel at ease. Rosie and Matthew had lovely chats with him ahead of the day to make sure that everyone was on the same page. When the day came, he was on-time and very professional, he managed to capture a very large number of stellar shots without interrupting the flow of the day. I’m told that the bride and groom really enjoyed taking some time away from the party to smooch in front of the camera.
– Equipment Hire: EventRent, Blenheim. Affordable and easy to communicate with.
– Decoration Hire: GotItCovered, Blenheim. Excellent way to transform a house into a beautiful wedding venue. Festoon lights, crochet table cloths, mason jars and shepherds hooks for the aisles.
– Cakes: CakesByAnna, Christchurch. Great selection of interesting flavours which can be adapted to tricky dietary requirements. They liked them so much that they got another cake from CakesByAnna for a wedding celebration that they held in Christchurch!
– SoundSystem: Sound Hire Solutions, Blenheim. Quick, easy and simple to communicate with. They provided an excellent versatile sound system which was used for the ceremony, background ambient music, and to create an adhoc dance party.
– Florist: The Wild Bunch, Auckland. The super-amazing florist (Amy) works at The Wild Bunch in Auckland and daaaaamn that girl is good. Bride just suggested some colours, some ideas and that she wanted at least some roses. Amy made something epic and also set up all of the different points of interest around the place and turned some of the least impressive rooms in the bach into something epic.
Testimonial: “Miranda has been the celebrant for a couple of our friends, and we’ve regularly been impressed with her humor and professionalism. We were even more impressed with how much effort she has put in to create a unique and different wedding ceremony tailored to each couple. After seeing her in action, we knew when we were planning our own wedding that Miranda was absolutely the right choice for us.
From start to end, Miranda was a total star! She sat down with us and spent the time to learn about us, what was important to us, what made us click as couple, and our vision for the ceremony. She crafted the ceremony based on us – she clearly cared deeply about doing the best things for us and making sure that the ceremony was a reflection of us and not just a ‘cookie cutter’ wedding.
She quickly presented us with a draft and was enthusiastically welcoming of feedback (even when we were being pretty pedantic about one or two small details). She gave us suggestions and templates for writing our own vows and she checked in with us to make sure we were all on the same page when it came to schedules and timing.
On the day itself we knew exactly what to expect and she walked us through giving us exactly the information we needed without information overload. The ceremony itself was, well, perfect. It felt as deep and meaningful as we had hoped, the jokes, hidden meanings, and emotion all bubbled to the surface. Miranda really made our special day the most excellent day in our lives to date.
In addition to being a rockstar of a celebrant, Miranda gave us all sorts of helpful advice on how to source decorations cheaply and recommended us a truly great photographer. She was so great that we can’t recommend her highly enough – if you want a day filled with laughter, tears, love, and a celebrant who really cares about the details of your wedding then you should definitely ask Miranda to be your celebrant.”
