Iris Gown – Laura & Zac
COUPLE’S NAMES
Laura Silk and Zac Robinson
WEDDING DATE
29 March 2019
LOCATION
We had our reception and ceremony at Zac’s family home in Whitford which is just on the outskirts of Auckland in the countryside. They have a beautiful Tuscan style home with a big front lawn overlooking pine harbour perfect for setting up a marquee. We both could not really have imagined getting married anywhere else and wanted all parts of the wedding to feel like there was a touch of us in it. The year before Zac and his Dad had actually built an arch for Zac’s sister’s wedding but unfortunately, it was raining too much for them to us it. The arch stayed there until our wedding the following year and Zac’s mum planted wisteria which had grown up the arches that added to the floral arrangement on the day.
GUEST TOTAL
126
PHOTOGRAPHER
Patty Lagera. Both Zac and I have met Patty at 3 previous weddings. She was my sister’s videographer and my best friend’s photographer and so we both felt we already knew and felt so comfortable with her. This is one of the best things about her, very quickly you feel you have known her forever! But as well as this we love her style of photography which is very natural and captures the mood of the day. We wanted a lot of photos of the guests enjoying themselves and not too many staged photos. Patty just felt like another friend at the wedding.
BRIDE’S DRESS
Bo & Luca Iris Dress. When Zac and I got engaged my sister immediately began discussing wedding and dress plans! She pulled up the Bo & Luca website and said that she had imagined me in of these dresses since she came across them a couple of years earlier when she was looking for her wedding dress and she was right – Bo & Luca is completely my aesthetic. I was living in London and I searched all over Europe but no one stocked the IRIS dress and initially, I was hesitant to buy a dress without trying it. But after trying quite a few other dresses I just kept coming back to the IRIS dress. I loved the simple silhouette, low back, and delicate straps. It felt classic and effortless yet so special and unique with the detail and beading.
BRIDESMAID’S DRESSES
Shona Joy Cowl Dress in Porcelain. The dresses were a simple classic shape that complimented my dress.
WEDDING THEME
We didn’t have too much of a theme although I guess we were inspired by the Robinson’s beautiful home. It feels a bit like it could be in the middle of Tuscany, and Zac’s mum Felicity has created beautiful gardens around the whole property. We wanted the wedding to feel like an extension of the gardens. We knew we wanted the wedding to be based outdoors as much as possible, so we choose the Twelve Tables beautiful clear marquees. This was perfect as it still felt like we were outside under the stars.
WEDDING RINGS
Zac being a designer, always wanted to design the engagement ring himself. He sourced a diamond in Hatton Garden then created the final design in CAD, then got it made in a jewellery studio in London. He also designed my wedding band and his wedding band, which is made with gold from his Dad’s original wedding band. We love there is a small story linking our rings to our family and where we were living in the world.
FLOWERS & BOUQUETS
As mentioned above we wanted to feel that the flowers we used were part of the property and were an extension of Felicity’s garden. My clever mum created some hanging foliage decoration inside the marquee and we did some of the flowers on the tables and in the marquee ourselves with flowers and foliage from the garden. Our florist Sue was so amazing and I was actually I blown away by the incredible floral arrangements she made us! She created stunning bouquets for myself and the bridesmaids, a flower crown for our flower girl Ayla, an arrangement to go at the bar and the most beautiful flower bower for our arch. Sue created loose, modern bouquets in using roses, tinted orchids, and wildflowers. The soft watercolors she used were perfect with the bridesmaid dresses.
WEDDING SONGS
During the cocktail hour, we had an acoustic singer entertaining everyone and keeping the mood of the day special. Our first dance was to Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. The second song/ first dance floor song was Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel of course! We had such a good DJ, and for the rest of the night, the dance floor was packed.
HONEYMOON
We had 2 mini-moons straight after the wedding. Since we had our wedding in New Zealand and made the trip back over from London we wanted to make the most of our time there with family and friends. So we had a short trip to Aitutaki which is a lagoon in the Pacific islands. The island of Aitutaki is really small with less than 2000 residents and it is literally paradise! You have to fly to Rarotonga and then take another 40-minute flight to Aitutaki. We stayed in the Pacific resort which I couldn’t recommend more. After getting back to London 2 weeks after the wedding we had also booked a weekend stay at a boutique hotel outside of London called The Pig. It was so nice to have this weekend away in the English countryside as well to extend the feeling of the wedding when we first got back to London.
MEMORABLE MOMENT
The whole day and night was incredible and was the happiest day of our lives. It was just so special to have everyone we love in the same place celebrating with us. One of our best memories of the wedding was right at the end of the night, our DJ had finished he showed Zac’s best man how to use the DJ system. So the dance floor continued for another couple of hours with Campbell as the second DJ of the night and for his last song there was just a small group of some really close friends and family and we danced and sang with arms around each other to We Are the Champions, and it was such a good way to end to the best dance floor ever!
ADVICE FOR BRIDES-TO-BE
There will always be more to do than you think in the few days leading up to the wedding so delegate some jobs if you can and try to find some time with your partner to get excited together in the lead up to the day. And we weren’t sure if we should do our mini-moon but I am so glad that we did! Even if you don’t have time to do a proper honeymoon I would definitely recommend getting away for a few days on your own straight after the wedding to reflect and bask in the happy memories.
VENDORS & SUPPLIERS
Photographer: Patty Lagera
Videographer: Joshua Kirk
Wedding Dress: Bo & Luca
Marquee & Furniture hire: Twelve Tables
Florist: Floral Stylist
Caterers: No Biggie Catering