Rachel and Matt’s Wedding

‘Matt tried surprising me with a weekend away, but in typical Rach fashion I like to be organised and ruined the surprise. So, I found out early on that we were going away to Queenstown for my birthday weekend. He had so many beautiful things planned including going on the Shotover Jet, a bungy-like swing over the Nevis Valley, and then a magical helicopter ride.

‘After about 20 minutes or so we landed in Earnslaw Burn. I was just in awe of how beautiful it was. The pilot took photos of us in front of a beautiful big waterfall but I was keen to move around the area a bit so all the backgrounds were different in the photos, but Matt pulled on my hand. I turned around and he was down on one knee with the most beautiful ring. I was so shocked and surprised, I didn’t know what to do! Of course, I said yes.

‘When we got back to the apartment I had to have a lie down because I was exhausted. All the heightened emotions had drained me over the afternoon. We then rang our families and told them the exciting news before heading out for a yummy dinner, lots of drinks and a ride on the mechanical bull where Matt later found out that he had broken a couple of ribs!

‘I took my mum and nana dress shopping with me. We went to Wilkins Bridal and To Cherish Bridal Boutique trying on all sorts of styles, it was lots of fun! I had it down to two dresses but couldn’t decide so the following weekend I took my two bridesmaids with me to help. It was obvious when I put it on which one was my dress – my bridesmaids both got quite emotional too. It fit so well I barely needed any alterations.

‘The weekend after getting engaged I booked us in to have a look at Trent’s Estate Vineyard. I knew the style of venue I liked and Trent’s was absolutely perfect! My favourite flowers are peonies so I knew we had to get married during the peony season, but I also don’t like the cold so wanted our big day to be as close to summer as possible. We asked the venue which dates they had available and decided on 2 December.

‘We wrote our own vows. Neither of us wanted them to be too serious, so we had fun taking the mickey out of each other. Our celebrant did a fab job on the wedding script. It was every bit funny and sweet, and my mum did a lovely reading and Matt and I asked our dads to be our witnesses and sign the register.

‘The food was incredible. The chef at Trent’s really outdid himself! We had Matt’s sister as our MC and our dads both did beautiful speeches. My maid of honour Katherine, who I’ve been friends with since we met at intermediate school, did a speech that was equal parts funny and emotional, bringing me to tears. It was so special. But Matt’s brothers – they absolutely owned the evening with their joint speech, everyone was in fits of laughter. I laughed so hard I cried, multiple times! Then the band brought the tunes so our guests had a great time dancing and listening to them play.’