Greenery Filled Rustic New Zealand Wedding & Outdoor Ceremon

A very warm welcome to Sian and Jono who are kindly sharing their stunning, rustic New Zealand wedding with us.

Their day truly was beautiful, with so much sentiment and meaning, not to mention a lot of emotion. There was a glorious outdoor ceremony, protea flowers, greenery everywhere, cool mismatched bridesmaid dresses and a rustic fairy-lit reception. What a dream!

Sian and Jono both looked incredible in their outfits and didn’t they just look so happy?

PIA Photo & Film, a big thank you for sharing these dreamy images with us. Enjoy every single one.

Rustic New Zealand Wedding

The Vision

After seeing so many of our friends and family going through the painful process of cancelling or delaying their wedding due to the buzz-kill that is COVID, we feel incredibly grateful to have had any wedding at all, let alone the best one we could have imagined.

Everything was just right for us – the venue, the flowers, the food.. even the weather held up its end of the bargain.

We are lucky enough to be surrounded by family and friends who each politely insisted on being given a job or a share of the load to carry. We never felt restricted or pressured to compromise on our day, but the extra hands made everything run smooth.

My (Jono) Mum is the queen of grazing tables, so she absolutely went to town with a mission to create a visually stunning arrangement of cheeses, honey, fruit, and yes: biltong (way to impress the Zimbabwean side of the family!).

Our family friend Kathy tracked down what seemed to be every protea flower in the North Island for our special day, with which Liz (Mother of the Bride) arranged into beautiful bouquets for the bridal party.

The Venue

Our venue was The Stables in Matakana, we fell in love with it as soon as we stepped inside. The rustic country decor was already so tasteful that we barely needed to decorate at all, we already loved the space. The dining area had big fireplaces, wooden wagon wheels, and lots of exposed timber rafters in the ceiling – from memory, I think we just put up fairy lights and called it done.

The Ceremony

Our Ceremony was just outside on the lawn, the moments before it all began were so exciting! I [Jono] remember jumping between guests, welcoming everyone and just absorbing all of their giddy eagerness for Sian’s arrival. By the time I had done the rounds, had a brief prayer-huddle with my groomsmen, and taken my place at the front of the aisle I was full to the brim with anticipation.

I (Sian) was on my way to get married! You could not wipe that smile off my face if you had tried. I was so happy to see my husband-in-waiting and all our friends and family who could be there. As I stepped out of the car my nephew gave me a hug and the chef’s kiss and said “perfecto” (this kid is 9).

My brother and my stepfather were waiting for me and you could not wipe the smile off their faces either! I am so blessed I tell ya. All my beautiful bridesmaids were waiting for the music to start so they could walk down the aisle. The casual background music was still going and all I could think about was “come on! I just want to see Jono! It’s marriage time!”.

These stunning bridesmaids of mine glided down the aisle so gracefully, with my twin sister trying to stop herself from balling her eyes out, and I just wanted to run towards Jono. I had my brother and stepfather on each side with my dad closest to me on my bouquet, such an honour. I was walking towards Jono and noticed that he was close to tears! Yuss! I didn’t think he would cry! I did not look at anyone else apart from Jono, I couldn’t. That is my husband right there!

The ceremony setup was beautiful, the bridesmaids were stunning, but I didn’t really care. I was only interested in seeing one person. As the bridesmaids were making their way towards me a funny thing happened; my wife has an identical twin sister who was also her maid of honor. Some of my side of the family were unaware of this, and as Lauren stepped outside in her forest-brown dress I heard one guest let out a quiet “oh wow, that’s a bold choice”. About two seconds later, there was an almost silent audible “huh?” of confusion followed by “ahh” of realisation as my wife stepped outside in her flawless white dress.

Before she stepped into the sun I remember having a brief moment of thinking “I wonder if she will be mad if I don’t cry?”. I would never know the answer to that question however. I assume that we locked eyes but I don’t really know, everything was blurry for some reason…

Once the ceremony was over and we were officially married (YES!) we began the endless rounds of handshaking, congratulations, and introductions to family members and friends that we had not yet had the privilege of meeting. There are few times in your life where all of your precious circles of important people cross over.