Abbie + Heiden – Captured by The Virtue

A beautiful wedding for these modern minimalist lovers, celebrated amongst the stunning gardens of Te Maru Farm in New Plymouth.

With an elegant minimal pallet of white, black and a hint of gold, we loved all of the dreamy modern details of this day captured so beautifully by The Virtue and put together by wedding coordinator Elizabeth Jean Weddings. Abbie and Heiden exchanged vows under an incredible floral archway by local florist Petal Pusher. Together they shared a magical day with family, friends and one of the most important guests, their dog Charlie. As the day turned to dusk, guests sipped on drinks from the Hello Audrey caravan bar and danced the night away.

THE LOVE STORY

We met when we were both at boarding school at a friendly game of boy’s vs girls netball game (I, Abbie didn’t even notice Heiden but he can still remember what I was wearing which is quite funny). We have been together 10 years.

We went on a getaway to Raglan in my Grandparents campervan when Heiden out of the blue popped the question. I knew he had got the diamond in South Africa when he went for rugby and got my uncle (who is a jeweller) to make it but it took quite a wee while before he actually popped the question so I was totally surprised still. We were planning on having a long engagement but decided a year was an enough time for us to get everything ready. We had an engagement party a few months after we got engaged which was a nice reason to get family together all at once to meet before the big day.

THE WEDDING DAY

Like most girls I had been planning my wedding day in my head since I was little. The words we used to our vendors were minimal, modern, elegant and crisp to describe the style we wanted to influence our day. Heiden and I had been to a lot of weddings the year before so we were able to get a feel of what we wanted and what was important to us as a couple. We are quite minimalist so we wanted that to be the overall theme, less is more. Our colour theme was black and white with aspects of gold throughout which isn’t typically a common colour pallet for a wedding but those colours really reflect our personal style as a couple. We also wanted little personal aspects throughout the wedding that represented who are and reflected what was important to us. We didn’t want heaps of decorations/clutter around all the tables and signing table instead using the venue as feature itself and just flowers.

MARRIAGE MEANS TO US

Being a team, each other’s biggest cheerleader and best friend. Someone that has seen you at your worst and still chooses you. It’s about committing yourself to someone you absolutely adore. It’s about supporting growth as individuals but also as a new husband and wife unit. It is having that special someone, who’s shoulder you can cry on and that whip to motivate when you need it.

THE DESTINATION

We originally decided we were going to go out of our home province Taranaki for our special day but with family being so important to both of us and wanting to make sure everyone had the opportunity to come we decided to stay in Taranaki where most of our family live. We looked high and low for the perfect match for both of us and somewhere we could fit all our guests comfortably and came across Te Maru Farm a new Venue done in a modern barn style that just stole our hearts. It was great because the venue itself is such a master piece you don’t need many decorations which suited or minimalist style. It was also somewhere where we could have the ceremony, reception and our photos all in one which was important as we did not want our guests to have to drive here there and everywhere. There was also accommodation at Te Maru which the groomsmen got ready at/stayed and just Heiden and I stayed the night of the wedding. This was nice as all the buses left with our guests, we were able to stop and reflect on the day when everyone had gone home.

THE DETAILS

Seeing all the people we love in one room coming to celebrate the love we had for one another and also the love they have for us too. Having all our favourite people in one place at one time is absolutely magical. We also had our fur child Charlie involved which was extra special having her there as we officially became a family.

We put a lot of time into choosing our vendors, this was a key aspect in how smoothly the day runs, most our vendors had already worked together before so knew how each other worked which made my job and their job easier. The catering, photography and wedding coordinator Lizzy were stand outs and made the day so memorable and enjoyable.

FAVOURITE MOMENTS

Heiden: Walking into the reception to George Ezra – paradise where all our guests were up standing clapping and dancing. There was something about walking into a room for the first time as husband and wife, filled with all the people you love and seeing them so happy for you a moment I won’t forget.

Abbie: The emotion the day brought not just with me and Heiden but with extended family. Heiden got emotion during the ceremony which was so lovely to know how much love he had for our special day. We also set up a table where our cake and special of bottle of wine sat with photos of our loved ones that had already gone to heaven. This meant the world to me and to all my family to have these people included and I know a lot of people shed a tear when they saw how beautiful Lizzy (our Wedding co-ordinator) had set the table up with all the beautiful candles.