Beautiful Kumeu wedding by Jess Sim

Oh boy do I have the sweetest of weddings for you today!! Jessica Sim's work has graced the insides of many a fashion magazine (I urge you to go and check out some of the fabulous shoots on her blog right now!!) and now we have the pleasure of seeing her capture the beauty of weddings... first up Aana & Jason's incredible Kumeu, West Auckland celebration. Inspired by the gorgeous location, this couple said their "I do's" surrounded by nature, and had a wedding day that was real and authentic and all about 'them'. With their two darling children their to witness, their big day was made all the more special with a haka being performed for them by the bride's father and brothers, followed with a waiata karakia (a prayer sung in Maori) to bless the ceremony.

Aana's advice to other brides... "Enjoy the planning process and make sure you have everything organised prior to the wedding so that when the day comes you can relax and feel 100% happy with how everything looks and the flow of the day. Surround your self with people you trust, so that everyone can have a hand in making your wedding memorable."

And that most memorable moment for them was the ceremony. "You spend so much time thinking about and planning the rest of the day, it was so nice to turn up and be reminded that actually, this is what we are all here for! Our celebrant, Sally Guest did such an amazing job – the ceremony really was something special."

Photographer | Jessica Sim, Cake | Aanas mum, Croquembouche | Ma Cherie, Florist | Devonport Flowers, Stationery | Jaimee Clapham from Pixels&Light, Venue | Vineyard Cottages, Dress Designer/Shoes/Jewelry | Chelsea Thorpe, Bridesmaids Dresses | TopShop, Caterer/Menu | Vineyard Cottages

New Zealand Weddings Style Feature

You know we have a copy of the latest New Zealand Weddings Magazine to giveaway right? And you know that you can enter from wherever you are in this vast world right? I know many of my readers are from far away shores so I wouldn't want to you feel you're left out!! So leave a comment here or over on this post and I will announce a winner on Friday (if it's the last thing I do before I fly out!). To tempt you we have a peek of some of the beautiful spreads they have on offer. This beautiful shoot at Alberton House - for which I contributed the stationery - was styled by the very lovely and talented Claudia Kozub from Style Etc. It's also chock full of gorgeous fashion shoots and gowns by top New Zealand designers, so to see all this and more leave us a comment.

And we named it Darwin

Well if I thought it was hard to come up with a name for an invitation myself, it was even harder to choose from so many great options!! Thank you so much for your input (perhaps this should be a regular thing?), I loved a lot of them, however Darwin struck a note with me. I think because I also think species when I see that butterfly so Darwin kind of fits the bill (do you think anyone would choose an invite called species?). So congrats to Nicole!! And just because it's totally different and it made me chuckle I like Wazoh, so Steph you're the second recipient of the NZ Weddings mag. If you girls would like to email me your addresses I'll send the magazines out to you this week. I may very well store these suggestions up for future designs.

This issue of NZ Weddings sees me published for the first time - well writing that is! I'm not much of a writer but I know stationery, so I put together an article on stationery etiquette and the like, and I also got the work with the photographer and styled the shoot with my stationery which was a lot of fun!! A big thankyou to the lovely Melissa Gardi (NZ Weddings editor) for the opportunity. And remember they don't only have a magazine, there's a blog to follow as well. The second and third spreads below are from a gorgeous styling story by Claudia Kozub which uses the Jardin Invitation/Menu and the Beaulieu Invitation/Lined Envelope from our Signature Collection Classic Album. Great job Claudia, it looks fab!

Be in to win: NZ Weddings Magazine

Wanna win a copy of the latest NZ Weddings mag (there's even an article written by me in there - my first written publication!!)? You need to get your creative thinking caps on and come up with some name suggestions for this invite design. Leave comments on this post or the original one. Winners will be announced next week....there are two copies to give away so get brain storming. What better is there to do on a Friday afternoon. Yes I'm having you do all my hard work for me :-) There's some great suggestions already lined up so it's going to be a tough call.

Have a fab evening everyone!
Kx

Magazine giveaway

The latest issue of NZ Weddings magazine hit the shelves in the last week, and it's full of gorgeous summery wedding inspiration. And we have a treat in store for a couple of lucky readers as we've got some copies to giveaway. So if you want some beautiful wedding eye candy to laze around with over Christmas, leave us a comment here and we'll pick the random winners (yes we have more than one!) next Tuesday.

NZ Weddings Spring Issue

If you haven't already got your hands on a copy (and really there are no excuses :-) get to your local newsagent and grab the Spring Issue of NZ Weddings magazine. It's full of stylish inspiration, some stunning bridal fashion shots and drop dead gorgeous real weddings! Best of all NZ Weddings will now be available 4 times a year rather than 3 so you only have to wait until December for the next issue. Go on, check it out....