Sarah Jane and Dylan

Our Love Story

Dylan and I met at 17 and 18 at a random house party and we locked eyes across the room. I didn't even know the person throwing the party, it was just pure luck I was there. Our friend groups ended up being connected so we hung out quite a bit. We liked each other but I was going to university in Wellington the next year so didn't really want a boyfriend. We ended up doing long distance for the year before I moved back to Christchurch and have been hanging out, travelling and joking around ever since.

We don’t have a big proposal story because we have been together for so long and for us, marriage was more about having a conversation about our future together. We had that at home (our happy place) with our dog Cookie and we announced the news to everyone on Christmas Day.

Our Wedding Planning

We had been putting off the idea of marriage and a wedding because we just didn't want to go through the stress and pressure of it all. Dylan gets stage fright and I have major anxiety around hosting events - I think it is just the idea of people having these expectations and then I also put a lot of pressure on myself. It all just scared the crap out of us! We knew if we were going to have a wedding, we wanted it to be an enjoyable time for everyone, but we also didn't want to spend too much money. We love to travel and we are renovating our home so we couldn't comprehend spending large amounts on a wedding. After having a think about it all, we decided a surprise would be the perfect way to do it and we ended up spending under $10k across the day!

I had actually photographed a surprise wedding for my best friend's brother a year or so earlier and thought it was so magical. There is something about the element of surprise being that you exceed everyone's expectations. Everyone was just so happy and it is all so pure, I can’t explain how magical it was!

Starting with our venue, we had just months before been to a Greg Johnson concert at The Shelter (a venue owned by a friend’s parents) out in Lincoln and we loved the space. It is a big shed filled with fairy lights, lamps, rugs and couches and it had everything we needed. It had the cosy vibe we were looking for and we brought a few things into the space from our own home and from friends. It was so much fun decorating the space, we made lots of little nooks with couches and lamplight.

Following the venue, we asked my friend Ella to do a grazing platter and we had heard great things about Fed by Ged who brought their Wood-fire pizza oven and cooked pizzas right in front of us. I think there were always 5-8 pizzas out at a time and it was so easy that people could just pop up and grab a slice. For drinks, we just stockpiled lots from supermarkets and hired a couple of my sister's friends to help work the bar.

The rest was so easy given that I have two very talented friends; one being Alex of The Flower Press and the other being Dee who is an incredible photographer. One of my favourite things about the big flower piece Alex made was that it was fresh, then she took it home and has it drying so we can have it in our house! I also cannot give enough credit to my sister. She was the biggest help with organising the days and we couldn't have done it without her. She booked the food truck, organised everyone and even came to the photoshoot the day before.

It was such a great choice for us having our photoshoot the day before and relieved us of time constraints which took the pressure off the actual day. It also meant we could get to Godley Head which is a huge distance from our venue and wouldn’t have been an option had we chosen a more traditional timeline. We also got to bring our dog Cookie to the shoot which was so special, and we didn't have to leave our guests at the wedding the next day which gave us more time to enjoy the day with our guests. The fact that it rained on our actual wedding day didn’t matter at all!

When it came to our wedding day we wanted it to be about our love and our family and friends coming together to have some fun, be low stress and zero pressure.

Planning our wedding was the best experience because nobody knew it was a wedding! It was fun sneaking around and we were so excited to surprise everyone. Once we found our dream venue everything came together. We got engaged late December and were married late February so we didn't have too much time to think and stress about the small things.

Our Wedding Day

Everything came together perfectly, apart from the rain which changed our plans slightly from initially wanting to have it in a forest space, to indoors. It had been a super hot Friday then all good on Saturday morning, then it pissed down when our guests arrived. The weather made no difference as we had a beautiful shed space, with fairy lights, lamps and couches and it felt very cosy and wonderful. So many of our friends had thought it was going to be a surprise wedding but when they saw me in a regular dress, they decided it wasn’t. We enjoyed drinks and ate from the grazing table, then after a couple of hours, I disappeared with my Dad and got dressed in my wedding dress, which was actually also my mum's wedding dress that she wore 30 years ago! It was just incredible that I didn’t even need to alter it in the slightest.

Bon Iver soon started blasting on the speaker and we walked in from the back door making our way through the crowd to Dylan who was on the stage. Everyone, shocked, made way for us when they realised what was happening! It was one big blur but oh so magical. Our ceremony, held up on the stage, was one of the most special moments from the day. The words we spoke to each other were so pure and we are normally jokers - definitely not big into expressing our love, especially in front of people! Following the group photos we ate, we danced and we hung out with our favourite people. It was all so awesome and organic and essentially just fell into place!

Our Advice

Don't sweat the small stuff, and don't lose sleep over the weather report like I did! What will be, will be, and at the end of the day what matters isn't about all the small details, it is about you coming together with your family and friends.

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

I read a lot of the Real Wedding blogs to help gain inspiration. The Directory was also super helpful!

Stand out vendors and why?

Everyone! Firstly Alex from The Flower Press - she is just so wonderfully talented. Our flowers were amazing, my headpiece was perfect and also Dylan's dried flower bowtie which was a collab between Alex and Harry from Blue Line Workshop was epic. Dee, our photographer was just incredible and made our photo shoot so relaxed and enjoyable. Fed by Ged who did our pizzas were amazing, they did so well working around the rain and everyone raved about the food. My friend Ella made an insane grazing plate and of course our venue The Shelter was utterly perfect.

Our Vendors

Venue | The Shelter

Photographer | Daniela Aebli Photography

Florals | The Flower Press

Catering | The Grazing Plate and Fed by Ged

Celebrant | My Uncle Jeff

Nails | Shape of Elegance - Millie drew my star sign on one hand and Dylans on the other

Lashes and Brows | Queen B Artistry

Tan | Sunkissed Tan

Dress | Vintage - It was my mums

Brides Accessories | Flower headpiece by The Flower Press

Grooms Attire | Dylan’s Bowtie was a collaboration between The Flower Press and Blue Line Workshop, Clothing from Hallensteins