The wedding reception was held at Jon’s mother’s home. Zilla says  “Margaret Campbell, Jonathan’s mother is a powerhouse and very generously agreed to hosting the wedding at her 7.5 acre property. We had expected her to mow the lawns and mop the floor of the living room but what she undertook was 5 months of hard labour. There isn’t anything Margaret can’t do”

Zilla says “The entire wedding was DIY however most was DIY ring ins. Both Jonathan’s sisters are artists and worked to create the rustic loved look we were after but incapable of DIY ourselves.

Kate lives on K Road and must know everyone in Auckland as she pulled together the most incredible team. She some how managed to sweet talk Renee Coutler who owns Coco’s Cantina to cater the wedding. The food was exceptionally delicious. Hot smoked whole salmon and beef with the best ever horseradish cream I have ever had the pleasure of eating.” Guests also enjoyed a cake from City Cake Company.

Zilla says “Everyone pitched in, but the day could not have run as perfectly as it did without Rachel Turner who performed her role as wedding coordinator with generous gusto!”.

Zilla says of their first dance “Oh dear, this would have to go down in history. We took some lessons from Sally Clarke who is an exceptional choreographer and we had such fun learning the routine.

danced to Angus and Julia Stone’s song “Just a Boy”. Mother of the bride Helen Turner, attempted to steal the brides thunder god love her by cutting in for a dance with ‘oooh my new son in law’. Needless to say said bride was none impressed however Sally taught us well and the dance continued and I didn’t stalk off to my trailer in a huff. Although i did contemplate this for one nanosecond.”

Guests were keep on the dance floor all night says Zilla ” Music was by the brilliant Henry and Amber who also own and run a great bar on K Road called D.O.C”

I could sum up today’s wedding by telling you that the guests partied on all night, or that they lived happily ever after. But Zilla ended her written story so perfectly, I’m going to leave it all to her.

“To sum up the wedding I would have to say that it was a true reflection of our personalities and i think that was the most important thing for us to achieve. We had a ball and and are great advocates for marriage. AND using Jonas Peterson as your wedding photographer. He will capture everything you could have dreamed of and then so many other beautiful and surprising moments that will melt your hearts.”

Congratulations Zlla and Jon on your marriage and thankyou for sharing your words with us today! May you have a lifetime full of laughter together. Thankyou also to Jonas Peterson for sharing this wedding with us today!

Photos by Jonas Peterson.

Zilla and Jon

I was so excited to receive this wedding! I’ve been wanting more New Zealand weddings on Polka Dot Bride for a long time (if you have one to submit, please visit our submissions page) and then this gorgeous celebration landed in my inbox by none other than Jonas Peterson.

ZIlla and Jon met Through Zilla’s friend Glen Cooney who moved into a house with Jonathan. Glen was the best man at the wedding and flew all the way from London.  Jonathan first said I love you to Zilla on a park bench outside the hepatitis centre on Crown Street in Surry Hills.

The wedding took place out on the West Coast of Auckland at Bethells Beach (the same beach where award winning movie The Piano was shot) at the family home where Jonathan grew up. Zilla says ” It is a truly magestic place and we couldn’t have imagined getting married anywhere else.”

There is a lot to love about the land of the long white cloud.

Zilla and Jon’s wedding day was filled with work from family & friends. Their stationery was designed by Zilla’s dear friend Phoebe Glasfurd (who also sent the link of Jonas Peterson to Zilla) and her fiance Aren Walker who own Vancouver design company Glasfurd & Walker.

Zilla wore a gown by Collette Dinnigan and shoes from Kate Spade. The bridesmaids wore gowns by Wayne Cooper.

Zilla’s sister Zoe and brother- in-law Masaru are Pearl Technicians. All the pearls featured were generously on loan from them

The groom wore a suit from Calibre.

The ceremony was held at Jon’s childhood church. Zilla says “Jonathan attended the little Anglican church at St Mark’s in Swanson while he was growing up so it seemed fitting. Plus it was a white weatherboard structure with rosebushes running down one side of it so I didn’t need anymore convincing.”

Zilla walked down the aisle to “Canon in D Major” performed by the Berliner Philharmonic. They walked out to Florence and the Machine’s “You’ve Got the Love”. The flowers were arranged by Jon’s Nanna’s floral Art Club, headed by Lois Gerrad.

Check back this afternoon, I have more beautiful images to show you!

Photos by Jonas Peterson.

I love ribbon wands! They’re always such a fun touch at a wedding and I love how Mel made them her own! Here’s her tutorial for making your own ribbon wands!

What you need:
Dowel cut into 30cm lengths
Acrylic paint
Glue gun
Sandpaper
24mm wide stain backed ribbon in 3 different colours (I used 27 metres of each colour for 65 wands)

What to do:

Cut your dowel into 30cm lengths and sand the edges, then paint the dowels or just leave them as is. I painted mine ivory using kaisercraft acrylic paint.

Cut the ribbon into 40cm lengths and using the glue gun, attach three colours together at one end.

Apply glue to the dowel and wrap the ribbons around and secure with more glue.

To finish, heat-seal the edges of the ribbon so they don’t fray. To do this, carefully wave the edge near a candle flame so that the heat of the flame slightly melts, but doesn’t burn the ribbon.

Flatten with your fingers if it curls up.

For a touch of glam, add a little rhinestone to the top of the wand.

We’ll have even more of Mel’s fantastic Australian DIY projects in a few weeks, but in the mean time you can find our brilliant DIY’er at The Crafty DIY Bride and Paper & Ribbons! Thankyou for sharing your brilliant projects with us Mel!

The lovely and talented Mel from The Crafty DIY Bride and Paper & Ribbons is back today with two more fantastic DIY projects she’s written herself. First up this morning is something that fits right into Mel’s quirky theme- her DIY Bird’s Nest Cake topper!

What you need:
Bird’s nest, or nest makings
Little birdies
Tiny paper flowers
A small piece of felt
PVA glue or glue gun
Dried moss

What to do:
Start by shaping the nest so that it is the right size for your cake and has enough space for your birdies to sit comfortably.

Start filling the nest with some dried moss and secure using PVA glue. Note: You can use a glue gun here, but I find the “glue strings” hard to avoid.

Once dried, sit your birdies in the nest. It’s up to you whether you glue them in or not.

Pretty the nest up with some tiny paper flowers and finish by gluing a piece of felt on the bottom of the nest to avoid sneaky bits of nest ending up on mum and dad’s piece of cake!

Mel will be back this afternoon with another of her DIY tutorials- this is one she tells me she’s already had requests for so I can’t wait to share it!

An unexpected twist led to some of Katy’s favourite photoss of the day “During the photos, which were held around the convent site, we stumbled across an open door at the base of the convent and snuck inside for some more photos.  It was so nice and cool in there, that we all relaxed and the result was some of the most beautiful photos of the day”

Katy says “After our photos we were so hot we sat down at the Convent cafe, dresses, suits, flowers and all to get a cold drink.  Little girls kept running up to us and staring, and a few people came and wished us well – it was lovely.”

Instead of a typical ballroom reception, Katy and Ryan hired out a Melbourne restaurant- The Italian. Katy says “We wanted to let the beautiful and natural surrounds be our details for the day, so we tried not to overthink the small stuff, and let the environment speak for itself.  The tree was the standout detail for us, everything else was just decoration, so we went with simple white chairs and a red carpet.  The same for The Italian, it is of itself a beautiful space, so we kept our own influence to a bare minimum, simple , fresh, white roses for the tables, with candlelit lanterns in between (provided by The Italian).”

The three tier cake was created by The French Lettuce and topped with a cake topper from Pink Frosting. Katy has a background in graphic design and created all of the stationery herself.

Katy says one of her special moments was “The incredible, incredible speeches from Ryan and my sister, they had everyone in tears, they were beautiful and touching.” she also appreciated the help of her sister “The incredibly support I received from my sister and her fiancé – they dropped everything to help us in that week and I was blown away.”

The couple did away with many traditional elements including the first dance. (though Katy admits that may have been due to the fact is was 37 degrees (98.6 F) on their wedding day! Katy says “At the end of the night, the only people left were us, and my friend who’d introduced us all those years ago, and his partner – it was the most perfect and special way to end the evening!”

Thankyou Katy and Ryan for sharing your beautiful wedding day with us today! Congratulations on your marriage! Thankyou also to Adrian of Adrian Tuazon Photography for sharing the photographs with us!

Photos by Adrian Tuazon Photography.