Just over a year ago, I had the honour of being MC at the wedding of my beautiful friend Amanda to her now husband Scott, at a stunning venue in Waiheki, New Zealand.
Amanda and I met at work at a publishing company in Sydney, where she was a graphic designer and I was an editor. We first bonded over being foreigners (her a Kiwi and me, a Pom!). She is one of my most creative and stylish friends and I knew her wedding would be super cool and non-traditional. Today, I have the pleasure of sharing her wedding styling with you.
Tell us a bit about the look and style of your wedding and your inspiration. The style came about quite unintentionally, it was just me thinking of all things I love really. Scott and I also joked around that it was going to be an awesome wedding on and it kind of stuck! My favourite colours are black, grey, white, gold and bright neon coral. They became the colour palette for the wedding (Scott was cool with whatever!). For everyone who knows me, this wasn’t a surprise. Even my engagement ring is a black diamond, set in yellow gold with smaller white diamonds and I don’t leave the house without wearing a pop of neon coral. Crazy? Yes.
Your invitations were amazing. Do you feel they set the tone for the rest of the wedding? I hope so, that was what I was after! It started with an idea I had of an invite revealing something as it’s unfolded. I had never wanted a traditional invite as it just wasn’t us. The folded idea took me to origami and I found the perfect fold online. I wanted to incorporate a bright neon coral colour, of course, so I began a search for neon paper and found the perfect fluoro red origami paper and bought tonnes of it. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but it was so perfect I couldn’t leave it!
I thought of a few things to create in origami, but the hearts were the obvious choice, and they slotted into the invite perfectly. The origami and invite ended up being the catalyst for the theme I guess, as I really love geometric shapes (although arguably the theme was just ‘Amanda’s favourite stuff’)! I ended up finding origami-style lanterns and some amazing geometric-shaped candles, so it all worked in nicely.
How would you describe the style of your wedding in 3 words? Bold. Geometric. Personal.
How important was the styling element of the wedding? It was important to me because being a designer it became my own little (big!) project. I didn’t want someone else to do the creative work, that’s the fun part.
How much did your job as a graphic designer and being a creative person impact on your ideas for the wedding? Probably a lot more than I had imagined. I probably went a bit more crazy over the detail. My invite turned into a more elaborate project than I had first imagined, and the favours became personally designed screen printed tea towels, with printed paper wraps! Every part of it grew as I had more and more ideas! It was dangerous!
What did you spend the most money on in terms of styling? What was the biggest bargain? I spent a lot on the geometric candles, they were through a local stylist and imported from Sweden. I accidentally ordered two boxes instead of one. Each box was over NZ$300. Yikes (I am now in the process of selling off the other box. Any takers?)! The biggest bargains were the table centres, as they were mostly homemade. And using succulents instead of flower arrangements was a huge saver. They were $5 each but looked amazing. I also didn’t have a cake made and instead ordered macarons to put onto a tower I found. I bought two chocolate mud cakes from a beautiful chocolate shop to put either side: $50 each!
Was anything really hard to source or to get just right? Making sure all the bits I ordered online were the right colour match was difficult. It was hard to get the right neon coral! It hadn’t all been put together until the day of setting up, as a lot was brought over to New Zealand with me from Sydney. I was so relieved when it all worked! The only sourcing issue was with the lanterns. I had them ordered through a local stylist, but then she couldn’t get them, as they they had sold out. So I began a hunt online, and eventually found them all to buy in various parts of the world. Way more expensive!
Did you enjoy doing so much yourself and making it very personal? I did but it did become a lot larger than I had thought. I think I bit off a little more than I could chew, and in the end, that became a race against time and quite stressful!
What was people’s reaction and what things did they notice? The first thing people noticed was the view, of course! But I think people loved to see something different, the colour and the detail. They thought my tea towels were a cool gift, and enjoyed the macarons!
Did the venue dictate the styling or do you think would you have had similar styling in a different venue? We fell in love with the venue ( I mean, who wouldn’t, right!?) and the styling was personal to me and luckily they suited each other. I think wherever we had chosen, I would have done the same styling.
How did the styling of the venue tie in with the dresses, jewellery etc? My dress had a black bodice with a strap on the back, and my shoes were black and gold. The girls had black dresses with a geometric crossover front and black crossover shoes. It all tied in nicely. In mine and the girls’ hair were bright coral flowers. The girls wore gold bracelets and their earrings were actually called ‘origami’ and were gold triangles overlapped! I know, I was a bit obsessive!
Anything else you’d like to share about your big day with our readers? It was an amazing day, it all came together so well and the sun was shining! We were so lucky to have all our friends and family there too, considering we are from different sides of the Tasman. The venue was such a find, it’s worth hunting out those gems! The styling was a big job, but so amazing to do. I would recommend getting in and doing it if you’re tempted, it’s so rewarding!
What a gorgeous day to be lucky enough to be a small part of! What do you think of Amanda’s non-conventional and very personal wedding styling? Would you like to see more wedding styling on Interiors Addict?
Amanda and Scott were married at Waikopou, a private house on Waiheki Island, New Zealand. They kept the venue a secret so we had no idea what to expect until we were bused there on the day. And wow, what a venue and view it was!
PHOTOGRAPHY: Captured by Keryn
