Courtney & Stephen - Our Dream Wedding
Wedding Day: 24th January 2020
Courtney and Steven created a classic dream wedding surrounded by 100 of their closest friends and family earlier this year at Markovina Estate.
Steven and I met 15 years ago through my best friend, who also happens to be Steven’s sister. After four years of trying, she finally got us together and we have been now together just over 11 years. As we already knew each other so well, we never really had a first date as we had already been hanging out for many years before officially dating.
On our six-year anniversary, we were getting ready to go away for the weekend to visit Steven’s family down in Mt Maunganui. Whilst packing our bags, I left the room to grab some things as he built up the courage to drop down on one knee. Steven called me back to the room and as I walked in, he said “will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me”. Those words were then used in our vows to each other as they are so special and will never be forgotten.
Ever since we got engaged, we came across many photos of Markovina Estate and fell in love with the venue and wanted to create our dream wedding. It took us a while to get married as we ended up having quite a long engagement due to doing lots of extended overseas travel and once we decided that 2020 would be our year to get married, we decided to go have a look and booked in as our first venue viewing. We instantly fell in love and any other venue after that did not compare.
The fact that we could have our ceremony, reception and photos all together and in one place and at such a local location for our family and friends, was key. Also, the combined price per head for all food and beverages we couldn’t look past. Raewyn from Markovina was so amazing helping us plan our special day and made sure everything was perfect for us.
I would say our wedding style had quite a classic look. I am a sucker for everything black and white and have always loved the look of bridesmaids in white. All our signage and name tags were white with black writing and the florals popped with pastels to brighten it all up. Being a summer wedding, we also loved the look of the soft colours.
Our photographer was a family friend Lisa Fisher Photography, and has grown her passion of photography over the years. When we decided on a date to get married, I knew I had to lock her in as I absolutely love her style. We are all about in the moment and she really captured that for us. The photos are amazing, and we have so many beautiful ones to look back on from our day. She captured all of the special moments and was so easy to work with. I couldn’t imagine our day without her there to capture our dream wedding at Markovina Estate.
After a few months of begging, I finally managed to get Steven to agree on having a videographer. Steven is shy so having someone there filming him seemed a bit daunting. We decided on Jetmo Project as loved their style we saw online and that they had the voice over for the vowels and speeches which seemed so special to incorporate into the video. Jet and his team were so easy to deal with and on the day they fit right in and you hardly noticed they are there. They captured everything so perfectly and our video is so amazing. We have already watched it many times and each time notice something else. It is such a treasured piece of our day to keep forever and watch back on.
It is so hard to choose just one memorable moment of our day as I feel like it was all so special. Everything about the day was perfect but if I had to choose one, I would say that first moment of seeing each other at the aisle. It was overwhelming arriving to the venue and getting ready to walk up to the aisle, but the first moment of locking eyes with my soon to be husband at the end of the aisle was so special. In that moment you hardly notice anything else around you and you feel a sense of calm, happiness and excitement that you are moments away from marrying your soul mate and your forever. It is just so special.
For our reception, we chose the sharing platters menu because we love having options for our dinners and always want to try a bit of everything. We decided to incorporate this style into our day for our family and friends so they too could try all the amazing food Markovina offers. We also liked the idea of everything being relaxed and able to stay at their seats to eat, drink and socialize.
We had the most amazing wedding party of our beautiful best friends, we had all of our closest family and friends there to celebrate with us who all played such a special part in our day. All of our vendors we chose were perfect and helped us create our dream wedding. Markovina as a venue topped our day off as it was such a perfect place to get married, and the service and food was better than we could have ever expected. After the first dance when we saw every single one of our guests up out of their seats on the dance floor partying to the band with us was so amazing. It showed so much love around us which was just so special.
Our advice for future brides and grooms is to take in every single moment leading up to the day and on the day itself. The planning is so exciting, so try not to get too overwhelmed by it all. When you see your vision come to life on the day, it is such a great feeling. The day does go by so quickly, so enjoy every single second. Don’t sweat the small stuff on the day, and don’t feel like you need to get around every guest to personally say hello as nobody is expecting that, plus you will no doubt get to boogie on the dance floor with everyone as the night carries on. Also, take a moment with your now husband/wife and sit at the main table together, just the two of you and watch your nearest and dearest having the best time on the dance floor.
Vendors:
Venue: Markovina Vineyard Estate
Photographer: Lisa Fisher Photography
Videographer: Jetmo Project
Florist: Jardin Bell
Cake: Rosie’s Kitchen
Favours: Our friend Jack
Celebrant: Lyal Gilmour
Bride’s Dress: Kellylin Couture
Bride’s Shoes: Billini
Brides Accessories: Earrings: Meadowlark from Walker and Hall. Bracelet: Michael Hill
Make-up: Carla Sayers
Lashes: Mama G’s Beauty Boutique
Groom and Groomsmen’s Suits: Tarocash
Groom’s Shoes: The Iconic
Rings: Bride: Diamonds on Richmond. Groom: Michael Hill
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Blak Bridesmaids
Photobooth: HotShotos Photobooths
Band: Family friend Keiran and friends
Accommodation: La Petite Maison Luxury Country Villa
Transport: Auckland Limo Services
Hire: Plain White Table Cloths: Insphire. Matte Black Cutlery: The Pretty Prop Shop
