A DIY Vintage Wedding in the Marlborough Vineyards

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Everything about this sweet Marlborough celebration was made sweeter because their people were so intimately intertwined throughout the day. Close friends and family took care of almost everything, including the cake, rings, flowers, music, Amelia’s hair and make up — and between Amelia and her mum, they even made her wedding dress! Keep reading to get to know this incredible couple and see more photos from Ana Galloway photography.

 

Tell us about your proposal. Jono was super sweet. We both had haircuts booked one morning, and he took ages coming home from his, but when he did he walked downstairs to my studio and asked me to come and see what he had upstairs. He had spent the morning zooming to all my favourite cafes and collecting all of my favourite treats, and a newspaper to do the crossword, and put them all in a basket. He said he thought we could have a picnic lunch, and that he had chosen the food so I could choose the location. We drove up to a water tower near our house with a gorgeous view of the hills around our suburb, and proceeded to eat lunch, and work on the crossword, slightly nervously on Jono’s part, until he finally asked if I would marry him! Jono had spent the previous 6 months working with Anna Nalder, one of my best friends and a super talented Jeweller, to design a ring I would love.

How did you know your partner was the one? We met at a BBQ at my flat 3 and a bit years ago, Jono came along invited by a mutual friend and we had a spark from that day. My best friend Emma even asked me the next morning over brunch “so Meals, when are you and Jono getting married?” and we have been together ever since. I think the realisation came through late night talks about what we wanted in life, we discovered we were in the same place and cared about the same things in our future, and we were so comfortable with each other and excited talking about such serious things. It feels like a huge stroke of luck that we found each other and so seamlessly fit into each others lives.

What do you love most about your partner? I love that we can be really honest with each other, that Jono has let me get three fur babies since we’ve been together and loves them heaps, that he’s super thoughtful and does sweet things all the time to surprise me, whether thats buying a bucket of m&m’s while he’s out or secretly sanding the kitchen oh his day off to save me doing it, and I love his great legs. Jono says that he loves everything about me, but most of all he loves how we communicate, how I have turned our house into a home, and how much I care for animals and the environment. We have supported each other through huge sporting feats, been on many road trips and last year travelled to India for a friends wedding and 3 weeks of touristing, we both love spending time together taking trips and exploring our country, and the world beyond.

What was your favourite part of the wedding day? The special moments that stuck with us were really to do with the guests. We were both so ecstatic at how many special people made the trip to spend the day celebrating us. I remember holding Jono’s hands and looking around at our guests during the ceremony and grinning at everyone I hadn’t yet seen in the lead up, and I had a really cool moment playing badminton with my cousins, young and not so young, who had come down from Auckland. I also really loved having Ana, our photographer and my school days best friend, being there with us for all of the special moments, knowing her made us feel really at ease having a camera around, and she actually helped so much with planning the day.

 Jono’s special moments were when the bridal party all got up and mingled at the tables, catching up with people we hadn’t seen in ages and having some great yarns, and his most awesome memory is the jam session he had with the guys, we planned it so that all our musical friends could jump up and have a play or a sing during the reception, with Mitch being a mate too it all worked out so nicely, my dads 86 year old pal even had a go on the tambourine! Jono also loved having his dads vintage cars be a part of our wedding, and that he got to drive all his groomsmen to the wedding in the 1937 Chevvy!

The very best thing though, was how much our family and friends were able to help us out and be intimately involved in the really important parts of our day. We had close friends and family doing our cake, rings, flowers, music, my makeup and hair, and mum and I made my dresses. Our celebrant, MC’s and photographers were our besties too! The couple of days before the wedding were a flurry of beautiful moments, lots of instructing from me, but so heartwarming to see everyone’s care for us, and talents manifesting into such a gorgeous happy event.

Describe your wedding theme/style. The vibe was based on a list we came up with, filtered from our priorities as a couple. We wanted a relaxed atmosphere with great music and food, a focus on spending time with friends and family, and the opportunity to create an awesome visual experience. The theme was initially pared back, black and white with greenery, but after visiting our flower growers and my mum and aunties gardens in the couple of weeks before the wedding, I was lured by tangerines and dusky deep pinks so in they went! Tying in beautifully to the amber glass we had used and brought a lift to the bouquets and our photos, and we used block lettering in contrast with natural elements like frayed fabric, linen and eucalyptus.

We brought all our favourite foods together for the day and served our guests in a super casual way throughout the day, our beautiful cake was a dreamy coconut salted caramel concoction that we cut and ate right after the ceremony, my Maid of Honour put together a lavish grazing table with homemade dips, baked olives and gorgeous cheese, the main meal was a Mexican feast with snacks and tacos on big share plates along the tables, and I spent 2 days in the lead up to the wedding making 26 cherry pies, inspired by the pie at our favourite Wellington cafe, which jono included in our proposal picnic.

We pulled in help from so many friends and family members, it’s astounding how much talent surrounds us, and it gave the whole process such a feel of community that is now a huge part of how I remember our wedding.

What is marriage to you? I grew up with unmarried but very much in love parents, and Jono’s parents have been married 40 years, so we come from different view points, however with the same commitment clearly having influenced us both. But tradition versus new-age aside, for us to be married is to let each other and the world know that we are a team and we’ll always have each others backs. It’s both a support and a safety net, and while we’ll always need our community around us, we have a special bond that’s just for us.

Carly Tia

Credits

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Carly Tia