Jess and Ryan

Ryan and I met in my home town of Brisbane. He was over on a work trip planting trees in North Queensland, and just so happened to know my cousin - who lived with us. Shortly after his arrival, Ryan made the move to live with my family and one night we got talking after I came home from a party. We totally hit it off, and the rest was pretty much history - but not before Ryan asked my dad if it was ok to date me! A year later I made the move with Ryan to his hometown, Christchurch.

I had always said that I never wanted a public proposal. Every night I meet Ry at the front door when he comes home, and all I wanted was for him to ask one day when he came home, in his work gear, with his hat on backwards (minor detail). Little did I know at the time, but the day Ryan proposed, he had organised for our friends and family to come around for celebratory drinks. I was running late home that day, and Ryan had to delay everyone. I couldn’t quite understand why he was making such a fuss asking me when I was going to be home! He stayed at work until he knew I was home, and when he arrived I asked what all the fuss was about. He got down on one knee and said “for our engagement party, will you marry me?”

Since we met so young it seemed crazy to get married early on but after waiting seven years it seemed perfect. Marriage is something we have both always wanted, So it just seemed natural to tie the knot and make it official. My nana organised our celebrant, a family friend all the way from Wellington. We decided to keep our vows traditional because both of our parents used the same vows at their weddings. Both are still happily married and reached their 30th wedding anniversaries. My something borrowed were my cousins earrings. At the time of her wedding she was a jeweller, and she had the earrings custom made for her own wedding day. They’ve turned into a family heirloom and each woman to marry is added to the register, and will someday become someone’s something old.

We wanted our family and friends to attend a wedding that wouldn’t be quickly forgotten so we really just wanted it to be a fun day full with lots of laughs, dancing and bubbles. Larcombs sure turned up the weather for us, it was almost a bit hot for dancing! Family & friends mean so much to us and to have everyone we wanted to attend come was the best gift anyone could ask for. It was so special to have both nanas with us on the day too, something we weren’t sure was going to be able to happen, and we had family fly in from as far as Canada. We will cherish our wedding day and all the special new memories made that day forever.

Our advice to couples going through the planning process is to never sweat the small stuff. If something doesn’t go to plan you are the only people who will notice, so all you can (and should) do is chill out, relax and enjoy the ride. Another thing we’d recommend to anyone is to meet all your vendors beforehand, get to know how they operate, and check out their previous work.