Fun-loving folk Ginni and Tom spent five years together before cruising their way down the aisle. Making sure the sweet memories would be forever immortalised, these lovers decided to go all out when it came to photography. Utilising the gorge natural surroundings, Ginni and Tom opted to jump aboard a helicopter to ensure their wedding day captures were out of this world. With the bride decked out in Rue De Seine (courtesy of The Bridal Atelier) and the golden mountain light….well you are just going to have to see for yourselves! Most importantly, photographer Bonnie Jenkins was there to capture these very happy snaps. Scroll down for the goods…
THE VENUE “We wanted to go on an adventure, so we chose New Zealand – where I had never been before – based almost completely on Toms love (re: obsession) of Lord of the Rings. For the actual venue, we wanted somewhere that was earthy, raw, rustic and reflected who we were as a couple. We wanted a solid connection to the outdoors, mountain ranges, wide-open spaces and to have grass between our toes. So, we gave our wedding planner a solid brief and all our trust and she found us, Buchanan Lodge. We actually kept the venue a secret from our guests and had a boat pick them up from Wanaka town and sailed over. To this day, I’m pretty sure the guests still don’t know where they were that day!”
THE VIBE “Tom and I are a very outdoors-focused couple. We love to hike, camp and swim; we love animals and the environment, supporting the conservation of our land, sea and air, so it was only natural that our vibe was based around this. We went with raw timbers, second-hand upcycling materials where we could for menu-stands and table-centre pieces, and lots of green. To accentuate our love of animals, I bought lots of little animal figurines, sprayed them metallic gold and subsequently themed each table to a continent. The result meant that amongst the rustic timbers and foliage, there was a golden Australia table, an Americas table, European table, Asia table and an Africa table – the bridal table! This was a wonderful way to make our party uniquely ours.”
THE DRESS “When I was looking for my dream dress, I didn’t hold back. I said to myself, “there is no budget, spend whatever you want, it’ll be fine – just don’t include it in the overall wedding budget!” I printed pictures from websites, cut photos out of magazines, and created a mood-board of what I wanted my dress to look like… without ever stumbling across ‘the one’. Then my best friend and my mum suggested we just go and have a look. I found a few bridal boutiques in Sydney, and we hit the street, strong coffee in hand. It was in the second boutique, The Bridal Atelier in Double Bay, that I stepped into the Avril dress from Rue De Seine. As soon as the stylist began to pull it up over my hips, I felt this wave of amazement and exclaimed “quick, put it on, this is the one!” Mum and my BFF did the perfect movie tear-up as I opened the curtain, and the rest was history. I didn’t once waver from my decision, there was no second-guessing, I knew it was ‘the one’ as soon as it touched my skin.”
REFERENCES “I actually found a lot of my vendors from Hello May! I obsessively scoured the HM blog, reading other brides stories and purchased every magazine – including back issues – so that I could use my colour-coded post-it note system to mark all possible options. Blue for any items related to Tom (so he could easily see his pages without messing with the rest), yellow for vendors, orange for accessories… you get the idea. Other than Hello May, I put my trust into my wedding planner, and did a LOT of Instagram research!”
WE’RE GLAD WE…”We’re super glad that we allocated a big chunk of budget to our photographer [Bonnie Jenkins]. The results were incredible, it was hands-down the best money we spent throughout the whole process and we have come away with a friend for life and a place to stay when we’re in her neck-of-the-woods!”
We wouldn’t be surprised if you fancy nabbing this sweet gown for yourself. If you’d like to see the latest from Rue pop on over here to view their current collection, Moonrise Canyon. If you’d like to secure super lens-lady Bonnie Jenkins for your big day then pop on over here for some contact details or click here to peruse more real weddings she has shot.
CONTRIBUTING VENDORS Photographer Bonnie Jenkins Event Planner, Stylist & Florist Fantail Weddings Stationery & Signage Ginni Leonard (Bride) Printer Watermarx Graphics Menus Inkwell Signs Venue Buchanan Lodge Catering Tiri Tiri Kitchen Cake Peppermint Kitchen Hire Items Gather & Gold Entertainment Dave Wooltorton (friend), DJ Kim Tomlin Celebrant Gwen Hendry Rings Sally Leonard, Grew & Co Transport Aspiring Helicopters, Lake Wanaka Cruises BRIDES Dress Rue De Seine via The Bridal Atelier Shoes Mexicana Accessories Katheryn Riechert Jacket Denim & Bone Hair Studio 9305 Makeup Sanctuary Day Spa Wanaka GROOM Suit & Shoes Oscar Hunt Tailors Barber Flying Tiger Barber Shop
