Vibrant Pauanui Wedding // Leah and Bryn

18/03/2022
bride and groom taking pictures in the middle of nature and having fun in their bridal pictorial

THE SLIDESHOW

Leah & Bryn

PLAY

Leah and Bryn tied the knot on a private property in Pauanui in the Coromandel, where they share precious memories of summers spent surfing the days away. The bridal party arrived at the coastal venue in classic convertible cars, where they did a first look and had photos taken against a stunning backdrop of tropical palms, tree-covered hills and ocean views.

Their aesthetic for the day was ‘just a bit of fun’, and they brought their vision to life with disco balls, festoon lighting and colourful bouquets of peach, pink and yellow wildflowers from Wildly Madly Deeply. The festival style wedding had a relaxed atmosphere, bar leaners and outdoor seating for cocktail hour, with an outdoor dance floor under the stars, and a white festival style tent where dinner and speeches were held. Their simple decor was striking with white tables, cane chairs, white neon signage and vibrant floral table arrangements.

Leah stole the show in a strapless, mermaid silhouette wedding dress from Trish Peng, with a sweetheart neckline and trailing floor-length veil, and she swapped the removable off-shoulder straps for embellished off-the-shoulder sleeves later in the evening to accentuate the glam look. The colourful silk bridesmaid dresses in pink, yellow and burgundy popped against the modern black and white groomsmen suits, which had cropped trousers, unbuttoned collars, and were worn with black leather loafers. 

Their festival themed styling, celebratory party vibe and focus on fun meant that Leah and Bryn’s day perfectly encapsulated their vision for a super relaxed day with an extravagant high-end vibe about it too.

THE GALLERY

MY PHILOSOPHY

I SEEK THE STORIES THAT WEAVE US TOGETHER, THE UNSCRIPTED MOMENTS, INFUSED WITH A HINT OF NOSTALGIA TO REMEMBER HOW IT ALL FELT.

Throughout our lives, we experience connection, learning, different cultures, good food and wine, music, sorrow, love … and it’s beautiful. It’s all these little things that when bought together create the tapestry of our lives and our memories.

If you’re planning a wedding or would love some beautiful photos of you and the people most special to you, I'd love to hear from you.

Tell us about The Beginning!

We have been friends since about 15 and 16 years old. Our friendship grew over the years and eventually we crossed the boundary between friendship and romance. After that, it was all go. We went travelling within the first year of our relationship and this created a bond between us stronger than no other.

Tell us about the aesthetic you’ve chosen for your wedding day?

The location is the most important thing to us and that’s Paunaui on the Coromandel. We have both grew up there and have a hugely special connection there. We spend our summers in Pauanui for as long as we can get away from Auckland, we love spending our days in the water surfing together. It’s the place we feel happy and free so it was a no brainer to have our special people come down to watch us get married in our happy place. Our aesthetic for the day is just a bit of fun. We’ve taken inspo from places we’ve travelled and there’s just a lot of our fun loving personalities tied up in our styling, like bright flowers, cane chairs, festival style tent and disco balls. We haven’t really stuck to a specific vibe (or maybe I have and I’m just unsure what to call it) we’ve just had so much fun choosing bits and pieces I love and marrying it all together, in the hopes that it turns out beautiful and uniquely us!

What were you most looking forward to on the day?

Marrying each other, in our favourite place with our favourite people. Having everyone travel to Pauanui to witness our love is testament to the fact that love, Pauanui and friendship are our three favourite things and we can’t believe we got to have a day with it all in one!

Share your top 3 tips for planning a wedding

1. Have fun with it! The day is YOURS and you aren’t bound by any rules or traditions. Want to have a man in your bridal party like me? Absolutely do it! Uneven wedding party numbers? Go for it who cares. Want your ceremony to be silly and fun instead of romantic and traditional, that’s epic. You can literally do anything so my advise is to do what best represents YOU and your person.

2. Definitely create a new email addy for all things wedding. I wish I did this! I was so distracted from work when a reply to an enquiry would pop up and excite me….next minute I’d lost 3 hours of my day. WHOOPS! So create a separate email and check it during your designated wedding planning hours so avoid any unnecessary stresses!

3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Be versatile and open minded that things may not go to plan…and that’s okay! Let go of any perfectionism because even if you stumble over your words, even if it rains, even if you have to postpone due to Covid, these moments will get written in your life story and be part of the fairytale. Roll with the punches and you’ll have the most incredible day.

"We didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun"