On a hot March afternoon, Lauren and Xavier celebrated their wedding amidst beautiful, European-inspired gardens, radiating the romantic, summery, and fun vibe they dreamed of. Lauren tells us their story...

Our wedding day unfolded on a warm (28°C) March afternoon, in the most beautiful European-inspired summer gardens. Choosing a venue was a huge process for us but the moment we viewed Broadfield Garden, we knew it was the one. We wanted our day to feel romantic, summery and fun, with a hint of European influence to pay homage to our engagement in Paris.

Following our engagement, I spent a week in London where I visited a few wedding dress boutiques. I fell in love with the fitted strapless styles and envisioned exactly what I wanted. By the time I came back to New Zealand, I went to one boutique with my Mum and bought the first dress I tried on! I paired it with an ivory chapel length veil for the ceremony and swapped to a chiffon bridal scarf for our reception. I also wore pearl studs, a diamond tennis bracelet gifted from my Mum on the morning of our wedding and pointed toe kitten heels.

Xavier chose a black tuxedo paired with dress shoes, and gold knot cufflinks I gifted to him. His pocket square was sewn by my Dad, using fabric from the hem of my wedding dress. It was such a special touch, and I surprised him with it on the morning of our wedding day.

We each spent the morning with our nearest and dearest before our first look at the gardens. We always knew we wanted to take a moment before our ceremony to connect and take in the day. Seeing Xavier’s face as he turned around will forever be engrained in my memory and the pure disbelief that we were about to get married! We also wrote our own vows, which felt incredibly special. We spent months curating our story to capture the last five years of appreciation and love since we met at Pauanui Beach, during the summer of 2020. My mum also read The Art of Marriage during our ceremony, which her mum read at my parents wedding as well!

I grew the majority of our wedding flowers in our garden. It was a huge learning curve and a project I fell in love with. My Aunty and close friend helped bring everything together the week of the wedding, and the arrangements were more beautiful than I could’ve imagined. During cocktail hour, we had created a beautiful grazing table - a deconstructed cheeseboard with honeycomb, wheels of cheese, fruit, breads and crackers, which went down a treat.

Our rings were one of our biggest priorities as a symbol of our love and such a meaningful reminder of this season in our lives. Xavier worked closely with a jeweller, who we now have a very special relationship, to design my engagement ring and source the diamond. We also custom made our wedding bands with Julian, flying to Auckland for final touches to get them perfect!

After our ceremony and cocktail hours at the gardens, we moved to Odeon for our reception. I chose it for their incredible Mediterranean-inspired food as well as the aesthetic which suited our style perfectly. Peach lime-washed walls, greenery hanging from the ceiling and warm hues illuminated the space. It was a very dreamy setting, and our guests filled the space beautifully. Having everyone you love in one room is a very special feeling.

For our table numbers, we used the names of every street we've lived on together and it ended up being the perfect number! It was a great conversation starter and reminded us of so many happy memories over the last five years. During our sunset photos, I organised for our MC to hand out anniversary cards to each table. Every guest wrote in a card which we will open on our first anniversary all the way to our 60th!

We worked with the head chef at Odeon to design our menu. We chose four courses that complemented each other and incorporated our favourite flavours. Our highlights were the heirloom tomato with burrata and the grilled zucchini with black garlic glaze.

My cousin Sophie made our cake - it was simple, elegant and delicious! I’d originally planned to top it with raspberries, but as March was very late in the season, we swapped to edible pearls which turned out even better than I’d imagined. The top tier was lemon with lemon curd and raspberry coulis, and the bottom was chocolate with chocolate ganache and raspberry coulis.

We also love that we took a moment during the reception to sneak away for sunset photos. Walking hand in hand down New Regent Street and twirling under the rotunda by the river in my wedding dress and Xavier in his tux was so surreal.

One of our favourite memories was our first dance. It was one of the first things we planned after getting engaged. We choreographed the whole thing over the year - practising on the tiny deck of our townhouse at the time. The final lift was quite dramatic, and Xavier had been hitting the gym to make sure there were no issues on the day! On the night, everything was going beautifully until he lifted me so high that my head went right into the low-hanging lamp shade over the dance floor! Without missing a beat, he carried me at full height across the floor before putting me down gracefully. It was funniest ending to our first dance.

If I could give any advice to other couples planning their wedding, it would be this: when it comes to decision-making, you and your partner are the only ones who matter. It’s easy to get swept up in other people’s opinions, no matter how well-meaning. You only get to experience this day once so make it authentic to you, and enjoy every second.