Emma and Matt

Our Love Story

So our love story is a little wild! As I mentioned we are very curious people and love learning and pushing the limits and trying things out for ourselves which must account for us both going raw vegan before we met. Matt was basically a fruitarian (ate only raw fruit and some greens) and had moved from Perth to Cairns for the tropical fruit. I had been a raw vegan for three years, was living in Newcastle just north of Sydney and had booked in to go to the one and only Australian Fruit Festival in Cairns that Matt was helping to run. We met on the first night next to a pile of coconuts. He came to sit next to my friend and me and had a chat. We got onto the topic of music and he asked if I would sing with him the next night as he was in charge of organising the music for the festival. I was feeling game so I agreed. There was no talk of practice and he showed up mere minutes before we were meant to go on stage. (He actually didn’t recognise me as I had curly hair at the time but had worn it up with a headband on the night before.) In the end, he clicked it was me and whisked me out the back and asked if I knew a bunch of songs. Thankfully I knew a couple of them, so onto the stage, we went.

He’s damn lucky I could actually sing! However, once we were in the groove the sparks started to fly. The next day I Facebook stalked him and discovered he had grown up in Zimbabwe just like I had and I knew I wanted to hear his whole story. Later on, during the festival, we got our chance. We talked literally from dusk to dawn, something I’d never experienced with anyone before. Prior to the festival, I’d been journaling about the type of guy I wanted to meet and how I wanted him to treat me and he basically recited every line I’d written back to me unknowingly. I know it's all kinds of cheesy but I felt like I’d found my home. It still feels like that five years later despite multiple lifestyle changes, career changes, music projects, and world travels.

Our engagement is a story for all the divas out there! Let me just preface this by saying that I am notoriously hard to surprise. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been given a genuine surprise. Matt absolutely nailed it for the proposal though. We were living in Bulgaria at the time on the Black Sea coast. Matt later told me he’d found "the spot" in the huge park along the seaside months ago. He lured me out by saying we should get some good photos for our music. We’ve done that many times so I had no idea what was coming. I proceeded to have various meltdowns as to not finding anything to wear, having uncomfortable shoes on and I even managed to legitimately break a nail. He’s got a couple of shots testing out the settings on his camera and my face is so dark! I feel for him, he persevered like a true champion. Luckily I enjoy a good photoshoot and started to loosen up and have fun. In the photo of him dropped on one knee you can see my jaw on the ground almost. I was so shocked. We’d talked about getting married but I had no idea that he’d planned to ask me then. If you look at the photos before he proposed and the ones after, the lighting is completely different despite the fact he didn’t change one setting. I know it was probably just the sun or something but the whimsical part of me believes it was my aura lighting everything up. After that I could have broken every nail I had I couldn’t care less I was so stoked. We celebrated in a fancy restaurant in the park and I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face.

Fast forward to this year, after living in Europe for the last two years we decided to move back to New Zealand to be near my family and to get married. Matt had never been to NZ before so it was a bit of a blind date of a move for him but he’s been loving it since we arrived in January.

Our Wedding Planning

For me, our wedding was about gathering and celebrating with my people. For Matt, it was not having to worry about things on the day. Consequently, he planned and organised a lot of it and I worked through more of the people side of things. We had a lot of friends and family flying in from all over the world so there was plenty to organize in that regards.

I honestly didn’t love the planning side of our Wedding. It may in part have been because we were living overseas the whole time we were planning everything. I don’t really love working on my computer and I couldn't go and meet anyone face to face so it felt a little frustrating for me. Matt functions fantastically like that though, so he ended up organising a lot of the main things with my input along the way. I’m very thankful he was so involved. It would have been a very different wedding otherwise!

Our Wedding Day

As we had the wedding out in Malvern Hills we had hired a couple of baches for the wedding party. We had the boys in one and the girls in the other and everyone arrived a few days before the wedding so we could spend some time with them all. The day of the wedding started with coffee, chilled tunes and hair and makeup for the girls, while the boys headed into town to My Fathers Barber to get their hair done. We decided last minute to do our main photos before the actual ceremony as sundown was right in the middle of the reception and we wanted to be able to enjoy that time with our guests. We also decided to do a first look where we got to see each other for the first time and Nathan, our photographer could snap some photos of the moment for us. After some prep photos we did the first look photos, then took off to do the rest of our main photos with the help of my maid of honour and Matt’s brother and groomsmen. We then came back and the boys and the guests set up while the girls got freshened up and ready to walk down the aisle. At this time the guests were arriving. I had written a poem of our story and my bridesmaids had painted it on banners to set the tone as you read it walking into the venue. My dad, (who had flown all the way from the USA) walked me down the aisle. We’d joked for months about whether or not Matt would cry when he saw me, he was actually getting nervous that he wouldn’t, but he ended up crying the whole ceremony almost. His dad told him he cried through his wedding too so it must run in the family. I, however, giggle when I get nervous so there was Matt tearing up and me giggling. Not exactly what you generally picture but it was perfectly us. Matt’s Grandmother, who we call Gigs did a gorgeous reading for us with the recipe for a happy marriage. We chose to do traditional vows. We both felt that they were just what we wanted to be saying to each other. The traditional vows have a lot of depth and weight to them that we love and find really meaningful. After the ceremony, we had about an hour before the reception started where we took photos with our friends and family and the rest of the bridal party before enjoying the reception and the fantastic speeches that followed. We had an incredible MC who I’ve known for over a decade and who was absolutely perfect for the job. He had us and our guests in absolute stitches.

Nathan, Matt and I snuck out for just a few golden hour photos during the reception before returning and dancing our first dance as husband and wife. I honestly loved the day so much, people kept telling me I was the most relaxed bride they’d ever seen, and I really felt that way. I felt like we had done all we could, and now we were able to just relax into each moment of our day with our people and soak up every last special drop.

When I think about the special moments from our day, something I’d love to make mention of is our wedding bands. I am incredibly sentimental, so they mean a lot to me. Gigs (Matt’s Grandmother) called us before the wedding and said she wanted to give us a special wedding gift. She explained that Matts Grandpa who is no longer here had given her a necklace with a gold bar on it that was made from Zimbabwean gold. She offered to have the bar melted down and made into our wedding bands. This just seemed so special to both of us, both being born and having had our childhood in Zimbabwe, and being such a special gift from Gigs. We said yes, of course, so she had them made for us and brought them from South Africa with her when she flew over for the wedding. Matts band is 11mm thick hammered gold, and mine is a delicate 1mm plain gold band.

On the day nothing too bad went wrong for me, I was pretty relaxed and happy to finally be having our wedding. I also had some incredible people helping me the whole day, Amelia, Russ, Emily and my bridal party, both our families and the whole Brunke family, but Matt definitely had some challenges between a few miscommunications with vendors which I didn’t find out about until much later on. All in all, I have to say we were pretty lucky with how smoothly everything ended up going.

Our Advice

From Matt: Hire a wedding planner, or at least have someone you can pass everything off to on the day.

From Em: Keep in mind when inviting your bridal party that those will be the people carrying you through the craziness of the day. Surround yourself with not only people who you can enjoy the day will but who are going to make sure you eat and drink enough water and who can help you think when your brain turns to mush. I promise you you’re going to need it!

Also, some great advice I got was to think about the top three things of priority to you on the day. This helped me prioritise people, moments and good photos.

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

I found both my Hair and Makeup vendors through Christchurch Weddings. It was so helpful being able to find a list of recommended businesses that I felt confident would understand my style and be able to deliver what I wanted. All of the listed vendors on Christchurch Weddings seemed to be the type of vendor I would happily book so I felt reassured in reaching out to both Ashleigh-Jane and Graceful Hair Art. Hair and makeup especially can be so personal but also so overwhelmingly diverse when you’re looking for someone. As I hadn’t lived in Christchurch for over a decade, I didn’t know anyone personally myself and I was so glad to find Christchurch Weddings and feel like I could trust their recommendations.

Stand out vendors and why?

Where do we start!? Our venue was such a magical place. Set alongside a bubbling river and in a little clearing with huge old trees, it felt like something out of the elf world in Lord of the Rings. It belongs to friends of ours and our wedding was the first wedding they have hosted, opening the door for many more to come.

Our Celebrant Jendy Harper was such a beautiful person to work with. She made us feel relaxed and comfortable and free to be ourselves while giving us helpful suggestions and direction. We were able to make the ceremony exactly what we wanted.

My hair and makeup girls Georgie from Ashleigh-Jane and Monique from Graceful Hair Art were absolutely fantastic. They made me feel so relaxed and at home and confident in their expertise. They got what I wanted straight off the bat and I felt like I could completely relax into their skilled hands. They are both such lovely girls and make you feel so at home and at ease and really help to set the tone of the day.

Our Vendors

Venue | Arybellas, Malvern Hills

Tent | Stretch Tents

Photographer | Nathan Lapham

Florals | Julia Crosson

Catering | Catering Collective

Celebrant | Jendy Harper

Hair | Monique, Graceful Hair Art

Makeup | Georgie, Ashleigh-Jane Makeup and Hair Artistry

Dress | Penelope gown from Kite and Butterfly

Bridesmaids Outfits | Forever New

Grooms Attire | Oliver Wicks, YD