With a fresh and timeless aesthetic, Amie and Benjamin’s wedding was a beautiful blend of thoughtful details and personal touches, from the surprise message to begin the ceremony, to the DIY florals, gold accents, polaroid guestbook and musical chairs… their day was “like a Hallmark movie!” Amie shares their story….

When planning our wedding we wanted everything to look fresh and timeless. Beautiful, lush green backgrounds, lots of satin fabrics, sage dresses and bouquets of white orchids and soft pink roses – it was a vision of beauty.

Details felt important to us, and we tried to tie things together to create a cohesive style. Our wedding invitations and some stationery featured linen texture like Ben’s linen blazer. We were lucky enough to win a competition with Bride & Groom to create our own custom stamps with NZ Post, and these were a wonderful unique detail on our wedding invitations!

Choosing our wedding attire felt very seamless as we were both knew what we wanted style wise. For my wedding dress I went for a very soft and romantic ivory gown with a structured bodice and long train of tulle. I also went with a reception mini, which was incredible to be able to boogie with our besties and loved ones more freely. We also had a little moment on the balcony of our hotel room in the mini dress, with Ben looking a little more relaxed with his blazer off, which photographed beautifully.

Ben’s suit was very traditional - black and white with a linen blazer and polished black shoes. Ben and his groomsmen wore beautiful white spray rose boutonnières with black ribbon. We chose for only Ben to have the linen blazer to make him pop a bit more against his groomsmen.

Our wedding morning felt very relaxed and dreamy, and a late afternoon ceremony allowed us time to find soft special moments to ourselves to gather our thoughts and calm any nerves.

The boys had morning haircuts followed by brunch, bowling and beers, while us girls enjoyed some pampering while having our hair and makeup done.

Before I walked up the aisle, I surprised Ben and our guests with a pre-recorded message to play over the speakers from our three-year-old son Lennox, wishing daddy a sweet wedding day. It was a very special moment that tugged on the heartstrings of everyone!

The ceremony began with Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t help falling in love’ played on the violin – a special song for us that eased any nerves as soon as we heard it. My mum passed us our rings during the ceremony on a ring cushion that she had made when she was a little girl for her parents wedding, so that felt super special to have such a sentimental item incorporated.

Our cocktail hour included non-alcoholic mimosas beautifully decorated with a local company called providing dried citrus fruit slice toppers along with berry rim dust, which were absolutely gorgeous both taste wise and aesthetically.

We loved having our two gorgeous sons Lennox and Oakland as part of our wedding day.

We had our photos taken next to Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, which is beautiful setting full of greenery and willowing trees near to our venue. Traveling from the venue to photo locations with our wedding party was so much fun, listening to our favourite songs with bubbles in hand – there was no better feeling.

We chose to DIY our wedding florals. Our bouquets were made by us using faux florals, and a mixture of store brought and home-grown hydrangeas from Ben’s parents farm in Eltham adorned our tables at the reception.

Gold accents sprinkled around the venue included our welcome sign, candle holders, cake knives, and wineglass initials. We incorporated satin for our bridesmaid dresses, bows and ribbons on our ceremony flower plinths, as well as satin on our reception tables. Everything felt cohesive and danced beautifully together to aesthetically make our day look very curated with a stunning blend of old and modern style.

We chose to have a Polaroid guestbook at our reception, which was a great way to record messages from our loved ones. Now we have a little giggle reading the book and looking at the pictures because we can tell when extra wines were flowing later in the night!

We added the fun element of musical chairs, which broke the ice between tables and really got the party started.

Our first dance was to ‘I won’t let go’ by James Morrison, which we rehearsed small special lifts and turns in the upstairs of our home. It was so lovely practising and dancing every night together, making ourselves feel comfortable with our song choice for on the day.

Our wedding truly felt like a Hallmark movie – being married in a heritage hotel, walking up the aisle accompanied by violin music, surrounded by all our best friends and family. It was perfect.