Ashleigh and Joey
Our Love Story
While Joey and I both grew up in Nelson, we didn’t meet until we were living in London. It all started at a friend's house party and was a slow burn, but after eight months of being “just mates”, we went on our first date at Harry Potter World. Fast forward a year later and we were getting married at a courthouse in Hammersmith and Fulham in the U.K. A few days later we followed up our courthouse nuptials with a “white trash” themed wedding in our backyard with all our friends. Everyone dressed up and it was such a fun day. By the time we had wedding round three in New Zealand we had been married for four years, I was worried it wouldn’t feel as special but it was one of the best days of our lives.
Our Proposal
We were travelling around Turkey and got to a city called Cappadocia, it’s this amazing city that’s built into cliffs. At sunrise, hundreds of hot air balloons take off and fill the sky each day. We had already been hot air ballooning in Egypt so we decided to drive to the cliffs and watch them float up at sunrise instead. Joey has a bit of a love of photography and had his camera and tripod all set up to take some photos. He asked me if I wanted a photo together as the balloons were about to float up next to us and as we stood there dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him (again). He managed to capture the whole moment on camera and we have the most amazing photo to remember it by.
Our Wedding Planning
We had a while to plan this wedding which helped and I’d said at the start that I just wanted something low-key and fun. The last thing I wanted was to be stressed out and not enjoy it. We just wanted the occasion to feel like a big party with our friends and family, lots of dancing and just a damn good time!
Our Wedding Day
We got incredibly lucky and managed to escape the 100 people cap on events due to Covid by a day which was such a relief. The morning started off getting ready with our wedding party. My girlfriends had all written me little notes and gave me the coolest gift of a blue stud for something blue and a personalised white clutch with my new initials. The boys enjoyed some beers in the sun and what would have been a much faster dressing process than us!
With a classic sunny Nelson day, Gardens of the World was the perfect spot to say “I do”. Our friend sang me down the aisle, playing an acoustic version of Disclosure’s song Latch. It sounded incredible and made that moment just that bit more special. After the ceremony, everyone made their way to Spring Grove Hall where we had plenty of lawn games and drinks. We had a few different groups of friends and family, a lot of who had never met so this time seeing all our favourite people mingling and getting to know each other was lovely.
After the sun started to go down we went inside for dinner and some very memorable speeches, followed by one of my favourite parts, dancing to a live band.
Our Advice
Do your best not to worry when things don't go to plan, I promise you won't be thinking about how the flowers or table settings are different when you're celebrating with your friends and family. That mindset saved us a lot, I think.
Stand-Out Vendors
All of them! We were lucky enough to work with many wonderful vendors and I even got to have one of my super talented friends do our makeup which was so special, shout out to By Kendal. Our photographer Sophie Milson was amazing and helped us feel so relaxed the whole time (I can get super awkward in front of the camera). My bridesmaids and I had our hair done by Hair By Victoria Sifa, I honestly can't rave enough about her. Got It Covered created the most amazing floral ceiling installation, I had found inspiration on Instagram but what they made was next level. We also had our signage created by With This Sign, Hannah was so helpful and the results were exactly how I had pictured them. I even kept the welcome sign to frame when we move into our new home.
Our Dream Team
Venue | Ceremony - Gardens of the World, Reception - Spring Grove Hall
Photographer | Sophie Milson
Planner | Erin Brady
Florals | Got It Covered
Catering | Relish & Rhubarb
Celebrant | Our good friend Courtney
Hair | Hair By Victoria Sifa
Makeup | By Kendal
Dress | Trish Peng
Bride Accessories | Flo & Frankie
Bridesmaid Outfits | Bec + Bridge, Ruby
Groom Attire | Family Kilt, Shirts - Rodd & Gunn, Boots - RM Williams
Groomsmen Outfits | Family Kilts, Shirts - Rodd & Gunn, Boots - RM Williams
Rings | Engagement Ring - Naveya & Sloane, Wedding band - DB Jewellery, Eternity Band - Zoe Porter. Joey's Wedding band was from a random store in London after he lost his original playing in the snow.
Band | Summer Sons
Styling & Stationery Designer | With This Sign