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y ROBYN EGG YARNS

The traditional church wedding is becoming increasingly rare as couples head to beaches, quarries and even tents to find new locations to get hitched.Celebrant Erin Sullivan says weddings are becoming more informal, and couples looking for something a little different are heading into the wild to celebrate their nuptials.“Couples are being much more inventive and they are finding some amazing venues,” Erin says.One of the best weddings Erin has held was also one of the most unusual, she says. “I held a wedding at Te Arai quarry and it was just incredible. The way they had decorated the place was amazing. It was absolutely stunning.”Kate Watkinson and Liam Robertson had 60 guests staying on location in 18 luxury tents at their wedding beside the Mahurangi Harbour. They even spent their wedding night in a tent.The couple are New Zealanders but live in Melbourne, so with half the guests coming from overseas, it was great to make a weekend of the wedding and have everyone close by, Kate says.“It looked magnificent. Everyone had a fantastic time. It was such a blessing to look around over the two days and see everyone you love in the world in one place having a good time,” she says.They hired Auckland company Wildernest to set up the tents and cater for the wedding. The trend is known as glamour camping, or “glamping”.“We wanted the site to look incredible and adventurous. But because it’s a wedding you still

Church weddings becoming a thing of the past

want an element of elegance, and the Wildernest tents provided that,” she says. “It was just like a magical retreat. We wouldn’t

change anything for the world.”Staying in a tent didn’t detract from the romance of the occasion at all, she says. “We stayed in a luxury suite tent. Some of our friends had slipped in and decorated our bed with flowers. It was really sweet.” The tents even had showers with an open roof, so you could wash under the stars.Auckland-based Wildernest started two years ago and founder Anita Rogers says the Mahurangi region is becoming an increasing focus for the business.“It’s just such a great area. It’s a bit of a favourite for us,” Anita says.New Zealand has many great sites, and having friends and family camping together makes for a more relaxed wedding, she says.“A lot of the time if you don’t get to see the bride and groom on the night, you miss out. This allows everyone to have a bit more time and relax. It’s quite a magical experience. No one we’ve met has experienced anything like it.”Celebrant Dave Parker’s most unusual wedding was held under the sea, for two marine enthusiasts.“We all donned snorkel gear and communicated through sign language. We worked out a range of signals and then you either nod or you don’t.”Afterwards they surfaced and continued with the ceremony on the beach, he says.Another wedding had him clad in leathers on the back of Harley-Davidson. The couple were motorbike enthusiasts and that was their dream wedding, he says.

Celebrant Erin Sullivan says this wedding at Te Arai quarry was one of the most amazing she’s done.

weddings > FEATURE

Mahurangi Matters March 19, 2014

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Opulent weddings are out, replaced with a move towards nostalgia, romance and pretty, rural settings according to local wedding celebrant Melanie Kerr.Melanie says this is reflected in everything from a preference for soft lace wedding gowns to more relaxed makeup and floral arrangements.“Old style bicycles, bunting and flowers in recycled jam jars are popular, coupled with a more informal style of photographs,” she says.Melanie has officiated at three same-sex weddings since the law changed to allow this last year and says what struck her most was that they were

just the same as any other wedding – a celebration of love and family.“It wasn’t a political statement for those couples, it was about their love for each other and a joyous family occasion,” Melanie says. “There was spontaneous and heartfelt applause during the vows at one ceremony.”“None of the same-sex couples I married had chosen to have a civil union and there was joy at being able to be legally wed. I know some people struggle with this but to me love is love and I’d be surprised if even the opponents of same-sex marriage were not moved by the feelings expressed at those weddings.”

Romance of a bygone era the latest wedding trend

Meg Nicholas (right) and Victoria Walker’s wedding was full of laughter and love. Celebrant Melanie Kerr of Little Manly is pictured rear. Photo, Doug Cole.

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24 Mahurangi Matters March 19, 2014 weddingsfeature

When it comes to organising weddings, the first thing that is usually booked is the venue. Then there’s the dressmaker and the photographer. But the florist is often well down the list.That’s a shame, says florist Estella MacIntyre, as the right flowers can be more than just the “icing on the cake”, so to speak.“What I really love is being able to capture who the bride and groom are and their love and their story and being able to translate that into beautiful flowers to make their day even more magical.”A few years ago, the trend for wedding flowers was tight bouquets of roses, often all the same colour. That gave way to the rustic, bohemian look, in which almost anything goes.“The trend at the moment is towards each wedding being quirky and unusual and different,” says Estella, who recently took over Bloom Saloon in Matakana Village.“With flowers, that can mean they’re all over the place, and having colourful flowers in your hair.”Estella is personally fond of the style, because she believes it gives the couple getting married the chance to fully express the type of people they are. But she has noticed that in the United

States, in the big cities, a new trend is emerging towards a more romantic and luxurious look.“In LA and New York it is going a bit more towards white and pink and luxe gold, with glassware and a bit of a geometric influence.” It’s perfect for lovers of soft pink peonies, she notes — which is just about everybody.While the budget for flowers will obviously depend on a couple’s circumstances and how traditional they are, Estella knows of a few people who have timed their wedding around the type of flowers they want. One person she knows was determined to have peonies, and his wife receives a fresh bunch on their anniversary each year.For Estella, weddings exemplify why she chose floristry as a career. “What I love about it is that I get to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s a bride’s special day and they’ve been dreaming about it since they were six.”She hasn’t yet got married herself, but doubts very much that she’d do her own flowers. There will be far too many other things to worry about, she thinks.“I’ll probably be hiring a florist.”

Saying it with flowerson your wedding day

For Estella MacIntyre, flowers add to the “magic” of a wedding.

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Photographer Gaia Mikosza has dealt with some true bridezillas in her time.When she was living in Europe, she had one bride who wanted one of the horses in a carriage composition painted to match the others. “There was some banging of heads on walls,” she recalls.And she’s never forgotten another bride for whom nearly everything seemed to go wrong. “The bouquet got stuck in the chandelier, the DJ put the wrong first dance on, there were thunderstorms, and renovations in the hotel. She had so many things go wrong, but she still did a great job of keeping it together.”Gaia, who is now based in Mahurangi, specialises in weddings and has called her business “Fairy-Tale-Wedding”. She says most are still deeply moving, despite the odd hiccup.A romantic at heart, she has witnessed “many, many beautiful unions” and is convinced she “just knows” when a couple is meant to be together.“It’s just nice to be able to keep in touch with some of them and see them having kids and having lovely families.”She personally enjoys a blend of documentary-style photographs and specific compositions.

Capturing those precious moments

Her favourite moments are when the formal part of the marriage ceremony ends, and the bride and groom hug their guests “and all the emotions around that”. And she always enjoys watching the bride getting ready.“It’s always really special. I love that. It’s fantastic to be part of it and to be documenting it and giving people something to remember for the rest of their lives.”See also Fairy-Tale-Wedding on p13.

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26 Mahurangi Matters March 19, 2014

When planning a wedding, make sure you meet the people you’re doing business with, and always check the music.Carlie Blanchet-Burton has planned over 200 weddings at Ascension Winery, and has almost seen it all, from absent celebrants to dance floor emergencies.She says dealing with reliable businesses and thorough planning should remove a lot of the stress of getting married.The biggest thing is to try to meet everyone you’re working with, Carlie says.“You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars working with people who aren’t going to be accommodating or are going to be rude,” she says.“It’s especially important to make sure you meet your celebrant. Sometimes it feels like they don’t have any sense of romance left. One celebrant recently had the bride and groom standing about four metres apart.”It’s also important to find a reliable celebrant. One near-disaster Carlie experienced was when the celebrant failed to turn up.“I googled wedding ceremonies and held the ceremony myself. None of the guests knew anything was wrong. It turned out the celebrant had gone to the wrong venue and was an hour-and-a-half late,” she says. The legal side of the wedding was sorted out

Ascension wedding planner Carlie Blanchet-Burton once had to hold a wedding ceremony herself after the celebrant failed to show.

Planning the key to preventing a bridezilla

once the celebrant arrived and it was still a great day, she says.

Sound problems are also very common. “Always check your CDs.

Often people don’t check and they have blank CDs in the stereo, or have a scratched CD, or have it set on the wrong song. We always completely check the sound system before a wedding.”Also check there is no feedback from microphones, and test them thoroughly, she says.And, like building a house, allow for a 20 per cent budget blowout as costs often creep up. If you are planning a DIY wedding, find a checklist online that you can use, and delegate as much as possible. There is often a lot more to plan than you realise, so DIY weddings often cost as much as hiring a professional, she says.She has never seen a bride or groom stood up, but once a bride was 45 minutes late after her car broke down. “Most grooms get quite nervous anyway, but he got a phone call from the bridal party so it wasn’t such a disaster.”Celebrant Erin Sullivan recommends working with local businesses. Many of the problems she encounters are with Auckland businesses who underestimate the travel time and are late. “Keep it simple and deal locally. When people deal locally they know they are going to get good service and we can recommend businesses we’ve worked with,” Erin says.

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27 March 19, 2014 Mahurangi Matters Local Life

Sweets have moved out of the realm of the candy store and children’s parties and now take centre stage at Kiwi weddings, with candy buffets in big demand.The idea of creating a spectacular table of sweet treats, designed to your wedding theme, came from America (of course) and has been growing in popularity here for around five years.Couples can create their own lolly bar, or bring in the professionals.Kimberley Hay of Hey Hay Candy in Gulf Harbour has been creating candy buffets via her online service for three years and says ‘you name it’, she can source it from suppliers in the UK, Canada and America.Custom-made candy includes lollipops or chocolate in any flavour or colour imaginable, with a logo, names or pictures on them.Imported treats include champagne bubbles, personalised M & Ms, sweethearts with names embossed on them and lollipops in a wide range of shapes.The buffets are designed depending on the theme, environment or colour palette of the wedding, as well as budget, and can be anything from vintage to decadent and glamorous or simple and pretty.They can double as a backdrop and often include keepsakes for guests.

Sweet sensations for memorable weddings

Candy buffets like this one, created by Hey Hay Candy, add sweetness to weddings.

A combination of canapés, followed by a candy buffet makes for a nice, easy flow.Among the more bizarre requests Hey Hay Candy has had was a Narnia themed wedding with lion-shaped lollipops at each placesetting and a medical theme chosen because the couple met in a hospital. The candy included fake blood made of cherry syrup, gummy plasters, ‘chill pills’ and even candy made to look like a urine sample.Kimberley says the most popular style at present is romantic, outdoor or vintage.

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Couples from around the world are jetting over to tie the knot in the Mahurangi region, as the number of overseas couples marrying in New Zealand reaches a 30-year high. The number of overseas couples getting married in New Zealand has more than tripled in the past 30 years, going from 740 in 1980, to 2422 in 2012. In the same period, the number of New Zealand couples getting married has declined from 22,241 to 20,521. This has meant that weddings of overseas residents have quadrupled as a proportion of total weddings, rising from 3 per cent in 1980 to 12 per cent in 2012.Algies Bay celebrant Dave Parker has been in the business for 28 years and says this has been his busiest year yet. About a third of the weddings he holds are for overseas couples.“The economic impact of these international weddings is tremendous. The cost of a wedding isn’t cheap and there are friends and family coming from all over the world,” Dave says.He recently married a Texas couple at Omaha Beach with over 100 guests.“They just really wanted to be married in this beautiful country,” he says. “The whole family came over and they were dressed to the nines in their cowboy boots and hats.”Another couple travelled from California to be married overlooking Mathesons Bay.

Celebrant Dave Parker married this Californian couple who travelled around the world to be married overlooking Mathesons Bay.

Mahurangi the wedding venue of the world

Ascension Winery wedding planner Carlie Blanchett-Burton frequently works with expatriate couples from Australia, and couples from the UK, the US and Canada are also common. People want to get married in the most beautiful place possible, and for some, flying to the other side of the world is not a deterrent. New Zealand’s marketed as a bit of a paradise, but I think it’s true,” Carlie says.One Chinese couple decided to tie the knot at Ascension without ever having

visited New Zealand. The whole family was flown over and arrived a few days before the ceremony. “I met them for the first time a few days before the wedding and they were extremely nervous. But they still had a happy wedding.”Mahurangi celebrant Erin Sullivan says she regularly works with overseas couples, and it’s a real boost to the region.“There’s a huge number of couples

coming from overseas. It’s interesting how well known the area is for weddings,” Erin says. The legalisation of same-sex marriage has also attracted tourists. Of the 238 same-sex marriages in New Zealand in the last three months of last year, nearly half were overseas residents.Prior to the legalisation of same-sex marriage, couples were still travelling to New Zealand for civil unions, with overseas visitors making up nearly one-third of all civil unions in 2012.

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Men are taking the lead from women and are buying more extravagant wedding rings, a local goldsmith says.John Crockett has been a goldsmith for nearly 50 years and says men are buying rings that they wouldn’t have touched a few decades ago.“Men’s rings can now be extremely ornate. They are not averse to wearing large multicoloured rings. That never would have happened a few years ago,” John says.“I think guys are thinking, ‘If I’m spending all this money on an engagement ring, I want to get my money’s worth with the wedding ring’.”However, women are still firmly traditional when it comes to wedding jewellery, John says.Women still expect men to fork out three months’ pay for an engagement ring, but styles haven’t really changed much, he says.“Engagement rings have always been something girls want to be as individual as they are, and now they have a lot more choice. More are going for custom-made rings as well.”Amanda Eve of Amanda Eve Jewellery has also found men are becoming more adventurous with the rings they are getting.“I just made one for a fisherman with a snapper chasing other fish around

Men want more bling in their ring

the ring,” she says.“I’ve also just made a wedding ring for my father-in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary. He never had one before. It just wasn’t done that much 50 years ago.”When buying a ring it is important to buy quality, she says. New Zealand women tend to live a more active lifestyle, and often cheaper imported rings are not going the distance.There is a lot of business in repairing poor quality rings where diamonds have come loose and fallen off, she says. “Sometimes they only last a year before falling apart.”Rings that are thinly made and covered in a lot of small diamonds are often prone to having a few diamonds fall out. But if it’s done well, it shouldn’t be a problem, she says.John says there have always been low quality rings which don’t last, so it is important to deal with people who know what they’re doing.

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weddingsfeature30 Mahurangi Matters March 19, 2014

Moira Carley had only just returned from her honeymoon when she feared she might have become a widow.On the first night she and her new husband moved into their new home, a big storm hit.“Brian had to get up in the darkness to replace the tarpaulin over the chimney hole,” she recalls. “I looked out the window to see Brian and the tarpaulin slowly falling to the ground, followed by the ladder. I feared the worst.”Fortunately, her fears proved unfounded, and the couple, who now live in Warkworth, have since managed to spend 60 years together.The recent celebration of their diamond wedding anniversary was a chance for the couple to reflect on how times have changed.Moira (nee Bowen) was born in Waipukurau in Hawke’s Bay and moved to Auckland with her family at the start of World War II. Brian was born in Mt Eden.They met through shared interests in the Catholic Youth Movement and the Catholic Tramping Club. It took 18 months for Brian to get to the head of the queue and get a date with Moira, but after a year’s courtship they became engaged and exactly one year later they were married. The week they became engaged they bought a section in Te Atatu North

Moira and Brian Carley celebrating their diamond anniversary.

Warkworth couple mark 60 years of marriage

and spent the year of their engagement building their own house with the help of many of their friends.The couple recall that Te Atatu was just starting to open up in the 1950s. There was no motorway and just one working men’s bus in the morning which returned at night.When they moved into their partially completed home, it consisted of only a floor, roof, outside doors and windows. The power was connected after eight weeks and the hot water after 11 weeks, so their tramping club skills of “roughing it” came in handy.Brian has been a chartered accountant for over 60 years and Moira has worked in the Union Bank (now ANZ) and ASB.The couple have always believed that if you use something in the community then you must give something back, and over the years they have been involved with Plunket, Parent Teacher Associations, trust boards, church and Lions Club International. Brian is a past District Governor of the Warkworth Lions Club and remains a member.Their attitude appears to have rubbed off on their children — five girls and two boys. One daughter, Beth Houlbrooke, is a member of the Rodney Local Board, and another, Ruth Mills, is a swimming coach who has campaigned for a public swimming pool for the area.

Moira and Brian on their wedding day in 1954.