Lisa and Sian

Our Love Story

Sian and I started out as online friends on Twitter. We had a lot in common and after about two years of swapping memes and bonding over the highs and lows of postgraduate research, I slid into Sian’s DMs a few days before Christmas 2017 to tell her I had feelings for her. I was expecting her to say something sensible, like “we live in different countries I don’t think this will work” but she did not, and we began a long-distance relationship between Christchurch and Adelaide. We first met in person at 1 AM on the doorstep of my flat the following April. We did 18 months of long-distance before Sian moved over to Christchurch, by which point we were already engaged.

We had already discussed getting married well beforehand and while I was in Vienna studying German I enlisted the help of a friend to buy Sian’s engagement ring. A few months later Sian dragged me into a jeweller in Adelaide and asked me to choose mine, so there was no secrecy involved in the process. She came over for my masters’ graduation in April 2019 and we took a weekend trip to Hanmer, where I proposed on the top of Conical Hill. I didn’t tell her what I was planning, but I was so bad at hiding it that she brought my ring up the hill with her and proposed right back!

Our Wedding Planning

When we took the time to uncover what we wanted our wedding day to look like, we wanted a day that reflected us with the people most important to us, without buying into “wedding culture.” Our theme, if we had one, was Autumn because it’s our favourite season, and we planned the day around making sure we spent as much time with our guests as possible and making the most of the season. We invested in the things that really mattered to us, like our venue and photographer, and ditched the expenses or traditions that didn’t speak to us.

We had a two-year engagement, so it started out very relaxed. We booked a lot of our important vendors 1-2 years out, and by early 2020 we had a lot booked and the guest list mostly drafted. Then COVID hit, and we spent the entire following year obsessively watching the news about the trans-Tasman bubble. We watched every post-Cabinet press conference from September 2020 through to April 2021. Six months out, we made the decision to postpone our April 17 wedding by six weeks in the hope Sian’s friends and family would have a better chance to make it over from Australia - which we’re so glad about because the bubble opened on April 18!

Because of all the uncertainty we honestly hated the planning process in the final weeks. There was the ever-present risk of outbreaks, we had so much to do because we couldn’t finalise anything until we knew who was coming from Australia, and we were constantly worried that something else would go wrong. The fact it fell into place feels like a miracle.

Our Wedding Day

We spent the whole day on-site, arriving at Riccarton House early to get ready. We’d been looking forward to having Posh Porridge on our wedding morning at the Market for two years, but we woke up to the tragic news that they weren’t running their market stall because of the rain and would be selling from their shop in town instead. Sian’s bridal party came through for us and picked up some porridge on their way in. We spent the morning in separate rooms getting hair and makeup done, occasionally sending bridesmaids down to organise things or pick up snacks from the market, and had our first look photos on the balcony between the two rooms upstairs. We spent the early afternoon having photos with our bridal party around the grounds before retreating back upstairs when our guests started arriving.

We weren’t able to do petals or a confetti photo in the aisle because we were indoors, but we had our “flower girl” (our 28-year-old flatmate Jono) lead the way throwing petals outside after the ceremony and got our confetti photo then.

After bubbles in the house and group photos, our Photographer Rebecca took us out to the bush for some spectacular rain photos whiles our bridesmaid and MC Amy hosted a scavenger hunt for our guests to get to know each other, which worked brilliantly! Going through the photos and seeing the different groups interacting was a lot of fun - it was the first time we’d brought any of these people together, so that was really cool.

We had canapes, bowl food and gelato instead of a formal seated affair so apart from the speeches and cake cutting, we spent the whole evening chatting and mingling with our guests. After dark Rebecca fetched us for another round of rain photos, which were spectacular before we hit the dance floor - Even my Nana who is in her 80’s had a boogie so we must have done a good job on the playlist!

We laugh now about how things went wrong before and after, but somehow not on our wedding day itself! The Tuesday before our wedding, the travel bubble was paused with Victoria and while we didn’t have anyone coming from Victoria, most of them were due to transit through Melbourne on their way to Christchurch. Sian’s entire bridal party had to reroute at the last minute via Sydney instead. One of her bridesmaids had to have a COVID test two days out, and it was pure luck that it came back negative in only 24 hours. I was also in so much pain from dental work that I thought we would need to postpone, but it had settled down by the day. It went perfectly, and then we left for our honeymoon the following afternoon bound for Twizel and promptly got stranded by the floods, spending our first two nights stuck in Temuka (which we found hilarious).

Our Advice

Trust your vendors because they know what they’re doing, and avoid planning a wedding during a global pandemic. Even though everything worked out, 0/10 would not recommend the stress!

How did you use Christchurch Weddings to help plan your day and what was your experience?

We found a lot of our vendors through the Christchurch Weddings Directory (celebrant, florist, hair and makeup) and after we booked them Riccarton House and Rebecca Claridge joined it, so I can safely say it’s the perfect place to find vendors! We won a consultation through a Christchurch Weddings Instagram giveaway quite early on, which was really valuable for putting together our plans. And I discovered Rollickin’ does events through a post shared on Christchurch Weddings’ Instagram Stories so that was a lucky find!

Stand Out Vendors

Before I answer this I should preface this with the fact that they were all incredible - we took our time picking each vendor and were really intentional with our choices, and I couldn’t fault any of them! But the big three - vendor, photographer, and celebrant - really stand out. We just wouldn’t have had the same wedding if we weren’t at Riccarton House - it set the tone for everything else we chose and how the whole day played out. It was absolutely perfect for an autumn/winter wedding with the autumn leaves on the grounds and the fireplaces lit in the house. They also put on mulled wine for us! It was really fantastic being able to do everything on-site from getting ready in the morning to the reception, and we got such a range of photos without once leaving the grounds.

The photos speak for themselves with Rebecca - we would have been stoked with the ones she captured of our bridal party, ceremony and reception but when the rain came along she really smashed it. She was wonderful to have around on the day, understood exactly what we wanted, and was incredibly upbeat for someone traipsing around in the rain for hours! We also love the photos she captured of our guests during the reception and have had so many comments from them about how amazing she was.

Hannah was exactly what you want in a celebrant - she was so lovely and warm when we met her and took the time to understand our relationship so the ceremony she wrote perfectly suited us. She also knew exactly what to do and took charge of everything for the rehearsal and on the day, and it was so calming having such a safe pair of hands to marry us! We received a lot of compliments following the ceremony and she really impressed everyone.

Also special shoutout to Rollickin’ Gelato - it was such a hit and our guests absolutely loved it.

Our Dream Team

Venue and Catering | The Quarters at Riccarton House

Photographer | Rebecca Claridge

Ceremony Livestream | Moore Media & Entertainment

Florals | Mrs Bottomley’s Flowers

Celebrant | Hannah Duder

Hair | Alex Hannah Hairstyling

Makeup | Kasia Stanicich

Dresses | Sian - Brides of Merivale, Lisa - Secondhand paired with a top from Novia Brides

Brides' Accessories | Lisa’s veil - Brides of Merivale

Rings | Sian - Sophie Divett Jewellery, Lisa - Good Gold