Wedding Recap: January 8, 2011 (Photo overload)

So here's a wedding recap for far away family and friends (& lovely brides to be) before I forget! I'll post more details, photos and talk about what happened in each part of the day, but here's a start:

Please do not take these photos without crediting.

Hamish and Ally made our invitations! We loved how they turned out. :) Funny fact, Hamish used to be in this amazing Kiwi band called the Electric Confectionaires. I saw their music video on Youtube and was blown away. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNy1zTDZxo
The song is a bit indie, jazzy and funk sounding.

We made our wedding website with Ewedding.com
Since we've lived together for years we decided a Honeymoon Registry would be perfect for our trip to Singapore & Cebu, Philippines. Our honeymoon registry is HERE. We did it at www.buy-our-honeymoon.com/ Don't worry, you get to choose your website URL, and no one can see the horribly tacky name. (A word of caution, when you're requesting items for your honeymoon registry, don't ask for ridiculous things like money for shopping or any freeloading items.)


Kristen, Leslie and I stayed at the Hilton Hotel on the viaduct the night before the wedding. Obviously Chris & I stayed there on the night of our wedding. Thanks to Regan's extremely thoughtful and generous wedding gift to us. It was such a beautiful hotel and had excellent service! We had a deluxe harbour view. :)

Photo by Kristen K.



Of course our little sweetie Build-A-Bears we made for each other were going to be included! We got their cute outfits at Build-A-Bear in the States! (Dre gave me the small bear when I visited Channel 13 some two years ago.) We originally wanted to have them sitting on a chair at the wedding reception, but we were worried they would have been drooled on, ruined or just stolen. :(


Photo by CG.Wing Creations


Our flowers were made by florist and landscape artist D. Booth from the church.


Photos by CG.Wing Creations and Carmen G.


My shoes were actually brand new given to me by my boss' boss! Her sister never wore them and nobody else had the right shoe size to take them. It truly worked out for me :)

Photo by CG.Wing Creations


My Dress and veil: by Vinka Design


Photo by CG.Wing Creations
The dress was couture, basically one of a kind, and it was a miracle that it fit me! It was actually the first dress I even looked at, and I noticed it all the way across the room. I knew it was the one! Too bad wedding planning wasn't that easy. :)

My beautiful bridesmaids came from overseas! Seattle, USA/Seminole, Florida and Scotland, UK
What an amazing effort! Photo by CG.Wing Creations

Dresses and shoes were by David's Bridal in USA.
A floral jacquard champagne coloured dress! David's Bridal have a selection of colours, and they can even dye any pair of shoes to match the colour scheme. I just told the girls to wear their hair however they would like. For bridal gifts, I gave them gift cards to Cotton On and a bottle of red NZ wine!


Chris' nieces Jodi and Caitlin and (my friend from work) Carmen's daughter Mia were cute adorable flower girls. The dresses were from Farmers. And the shoes were from #1Shoe Warehouse. Carmen bought the cute flower headbands for the girls! Our florist David made the cute flower baskets.

Photo by Carmen G.

Our groomsmen were also international :)

Photo by CG.Wing Creations
Chris' brother is a Kiwi currently living Melbourne, Australia. Two are Americans living in NZ and one South African also living in NZ. Our wedding party was so fun! We rented classic suits from Frank Casey. They wore skinny ties. We bought them their Dan Carter shirts from Farmers and shoes from #1 Shoes as gifts.


Limo service from Hollywood Limo picked us up in front of the Hilton






Photo by CG.Wing Creations



At the church...

Photo by CG.Wing Creations



Chris anxiously waiting at the front :)


Photos by CG.Wing Creations


My brother gave me away

Photo by Melissa S.


Our vows




wedding party
Photo by CG.Wing Creations


We did it!


Photos by CG.Wing Creations


We had photos in front of the church





Photos by CG.Wing Creations



And then we took our wedding party photos at Bastion Point




HAHAHAHA, Phil cannot defy gravity
Photos by CG.Wing Creations



"You and me, equality..."





Photo by CG.Wing Creations


Cute candid of Caitlin

Photo by CG.Wing Creations


We had our reception party at the Tamaki Yacht Club! The venue was on the water, and it was exactly what we were looking for. We couldn't believe what a beautiful day it was! It was raining everyday before it!

Photo by Gabby B.


Photo by Jeremy P.


Photo by Gabby B.
On the inside, each side of the room had a seaside view. :)


Rangitoto
Photo by Steph T.

Our entrance

Photo by CG.Wing Creations


Tricia introduced us and emcee'd at the start

Photo by Jeremy P.

Matt, Phil and Jeff emcee'd :)

Photo by CG.Wing Creations



Our decorations...
We had fairy lights installed, and bought tons of candles at shops and on TradeMe, Melissa graciously provided us with tons more candles and candle holders.




Photos by CG.Wing Creations


The yellow rose petals are from Forever Petals in Auckland.

Photo by Jeremy P.



Chris' sister Andrea said grace



Regan's speech made me cry. LOL! It was so sweet...and when he started talking about welcoming me into the family...and how hard it's been missing my family/friends, that totally got me.



All of the groomsmen spoke too, which was really touching!

This is Phil


Kristen's lovely speech



And Chris also did a speech thanking our family and friends, and the Flight of the Conchords and the internet. HAHAHA, it was so funny. I have a copy of the speech, here, so perhaps I'll post it for good times and memories sake.

Photos above from CG.Wing Creations
It made me cry a little. AH, why is everybody being too sweet to me?



Our cake was made by Eve's Pantry

Photo by Jeremy P.


cake topper and photo by TogetherForever on Etsy


Amazingly, I told Sarah at TogetherForever to find sunshine yellow for the cake ribbon. And we also told Eve's a bright yellow...and thankfully it all matched! We did not know until wedding day that it would. LOL!

Cupcakes and photo by Jess Bell

I cut up paper hearts on fancy brocade paper and we also had paper hearts on the walls




Photo by Gabby B.
Jess made these pretty cupcakes with her sister Elesha in record 3 hours. Aren't they so talented?!






Cake cutting photo by CG.Wing Creations


Food
On arrival: Avocado and salmon canapé, Crumbed prawns with sweet chilli and lime
Mini vegetarian spring rolls and samosas with dipping sauce

Dinner:
Seafood dishes- Fresh New Zealand salmon darnes and dill mayo, Lightly battered fish with tartare sauce
Carvery- Glazed ham on the bone with mustards and pineapple salsa
Mains- Chicken cacciatore – chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce, vegetarian lasagna, Chef’s selection of summer vegetables, Button mushrooms in a cream sauce, Gourmet jacket potatoes with green herb and red capsicum sour cream, Steamed white and wild rice pilaf
Salad- Baby spinach leaves , feta, bacon, pinenuts and garlic croutons with a citrus vinaigrette, Chargrilled vegetables salad of peppers, onions, eggplant, and zucchini
Baskets of assorted breads and rolls
Dessert- Kiwi Pavlovas with passionfruit topping, Fresh fruit salad or strawberries in season
Citrus cheesecake with cream, Freshly brewed coffee and tea



Photo by CG.Wing Creations



Photo by Bee P.
OMG THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD. :)


I made goodybags for the girls filled with toys, colouring books, crayons etc. It was so adorable seeing the girls playing together!

Photo by Melissa S.
Mia & Jodi colouring
Later that night Jodi told her mum it was the best day of her life. AWWWWWWW <3


Goody Bags
And we also made goodybags for our guests filled with chocolate bells, Reese's peanut butter cups and personalised M&Ms! They were placed on the tables also as part of the decorations.



Photos by Jesse E. and Steph T.



Bee, Tricia, Jason and Jeremy surprised me with an amazing acoustic singing performance of "Fools Rush In" by Elvis Presley.

I was so touched by it, I tried not to cry. HAHAHA. :)



Jess caught the bouquet!



Photos above by CG.Wing Creations


Tricia's husband Tui dj'd and the music was perfect. We made a mix and Tui played all kinds of dance, soul and good oldies inbetween.

Photo by Bee P.
We also asked for him to play a few of our favourites like Bob Dylan "Man In Me"
Sam Cooke "Cupid"
I'll post a few mixes we made for the wedding playlist later!


We took photos at sunset



Photos by CG.Wing Creations

Our first dance/song was to Jim Sturgess, "All My Loving" a Beatles cover from the Across The Universe film. I'll post video of the dance later!

Photo by Bee P.

The song we dedicated to bridal party was Taio Cruz "Dynamite"




We spent the rest of the night hanging out and dancing

I'm dancing with my new father-in-law :)




Photos by CG.Wing Creations



It was such a beautiful day, filled with so much love. I loved looking across the room seeing all our family and friends smiling. Especially my mum, brothers and cousin, who've never been to New Zealand before. LOVE!

Our mums enjoying the night :)

Thanks to everybody who helped us plan this special day together. It was an amazing effort, and we are so thrilled that it all came together. I have such wonderful memories, and I had SO MUCH FUN!