Pretty garden wedding from Shine Studios...

Holy freakin' twister!!! Three words I didn't think I'd be saying around these parts but as many of you will have heard (either on TV or the insane amount of sirens on the North Shore yesterday) we had a freak tornado yesterday... for those of you in the US who have these on a regular occurence (oh how my heart goes out to you!) they are practically unheard of here, and I was about 2 minutes from being right in it's path. As I was driving through torrential rain, my car shook a bit but at that second I didn't think too much of it... then I saw people all pulled over on the road and figured there had been a car accident, then when I looked to my left and saw just a few hundred metres away the nasty black funnel well it all became very clear what had happened (a trampoline on the roof of the house in front of my eyes was kinda a big clue as well!!). I rang my husband who was all very nonchalant about it... I think he thought I was being a drama queen, then about an hour later he saw it on Fox news of all places (if a NZ event is on a US TV station is must be important right?) and called me to say 'oh that looks a bit worse than I thought', .... I mean it's not like I call him every day to say there's a tornado, so I'll be sure to be a little more dramatic about these things in future so he takes notice!

I feel I must apologise in advance for this post heavy on the dress images, but if you're anything like me you won't be able to get enough of the ruffly goodness of it either!! Sent in by wedding stylist Amanda from Rococo & Rose, Bailey & Simon got married at her parents place on the Hibiscus Coast. The gorgeous photos were taken by Lauretta Goode & Sacha Kahaki from Shine Studios, assisted by Celia Rankin. Amanda shares some details of the wedding with us...

This wedding was a joy to be involved with. Bailey is a girl after my own heart...she loved every minute of the styling and her spontaneous squeals of delight and excitement were infectious! Right from the start Bailey and Simon wanted to make the day about their friends and family so chose to get married at Baileys parents beautiful coastal home. The property is breathtaking with it's sea views and beautiful landscaped grounds, so we chose to make the wedding all white, light and lustre to make the impact Bailey and Simon wanted.

The starting point of our planning began after Bailey fell in love with an Oscar de la Renta gown on a trip to Sydney with her sisters and Mother. The bridesmaids were in beautiful white floor length gowns, Baileys Mother wore a stunning white beaded gown. The dress code was black tie as they wanted the day to be elegant but relaxed. Each of their 160 guests was greeted by both sets of parents and served a glass of champagne or fruit cocktail to sip on when they arrived.

The ceremony Tree was decorated in glass chandelier balls that glittered in the sun. The white chairs and white gowns set amongst the landscape made for a "take your breath away" moment. The photos were taken before the ceremony so that Bailey and Simon could spend the champagne hour with their guests, and in the background, four-piece band Club Manouche entertained everyone with live French jazz for that relaxed garden cocktail feel.

The Marquee was all white and tables ran with the "light and lustre" theme with a glass votives, Vintage vases and glass candle sticks. The room was filled with white bloomy Avalanche roses, baby's breath and lisianthus to name a few. The guests walked into a room full of warmth, light and sparkle. The evening only got better with amazing food, lots of laughs and great music.

From Bailey -, Amanda Fitzsimmons from Rococo & Rose, was there every step of the way, organising everything from the table settings and flowers to the bridal hairstyles. She was completely invaluable and through the process became a wonderful friend who was just as excited about the day as I was. The wedding was an amazing success and everything we had dreamed it would be.