Real Bride Story: Emi wearing Bloosmbury by Suzanne Neville
Bride & Groom: Emi & Zeke
Wedding Dress: Suzanne Neville Bloomsbury from Helen Rodrigues Bridal
Photography: Hollow & Co
Venue: Mudbrick Vineyard and Restaurant, Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Floral: The Bloomerié
Planning & Styling: Waiheke Island Weddings & Events
Accessories: HR Signature Veil from Helen Rodrigues Bridal
Hair & Makeup: The Peach Club
Videography: Hollow & Co
Hire: My Waiheke & The Island Collection
String Quartet: Zest String Quartet
The Meeting
We met during Medical School at an event called ‘Knees Up.’ A few days later I met Zeke again when he was a tutor for an exam I was preparing for. Zeke was teaching the upper limb neurology station. This involved assessing the biceps reflex. Zeke had previously competed in the Commonwealth games for weight lifting so you can imagine he was pretty chuffed when I had to feel his bicep as part of that station. I asked him out afterwards. We went bungee jumping and swimming with sharks in our first two weeks of dating and we haven’t stopped having fun together since.
The Proposal
As we were walking back to our hotel room in Ubud (Bali), we saw the waiters placing rose petals in various patterns on the floor of the private dining room. A few hours later, the whole floor was covered in rose petals and I realised they were for me. Zeke got down on one knee. It was very romantic. It was the easiest ‘yes’ of my life.
Wedding Day Vision
We wanted our wedding to be timeless, elegant, and a beautiful blue-sky day. Our vision came to fruition and we are so grateful that we can truthfully say it was the best day of our lives. We kept the colour scheme simple; charcoal groomsmen suits, cream bridesmaids dresses, a white self-portrait dress that I chose for my mum, white roses for the bouquets, a white aisle & stage, white patio garden umbrellas, white parasols, and white and green floral arrangements and candles. We got married at Mudbrick, which is a vineyard on Waiheke Island. It reminds me of vineyards in Tuscany and it has something very romantic about it. The venue and the landscape are naturally stunning so we wanted our décor to complement and not detract from that. Of course, the great weather certainly helped.
Where did you look for wedding dress inspiration?
I wanted a wedding gown that was truly a gown, something reminiscent of the ball dresses my Gran used to own as a young woman with their boned bodices and layers of tulle. I looked to the dresses of fashion icons past like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly whose dresses were so well structured. I understand why some women choose the simpler slip dress style for their wedding that they can wear again but for me, I wanted something that was so much a wedding gown that I could only ever wear it as a bride. That doesn’t mean you only get to wear your wedding dress once, at my husband’s suggestion we are taking the gown with us to Europe on our honeymoon to do a little photo session. It will be lovely to relive those special moments feeling like a bride and groom again.
The Wedding Dress: Suzanne Neville Bloomsbury from Helen Rodrigues Bridal
I was instantly attracted to Suzanne Neville’s Bloomsbury. I loved the delicate cloque silk fabric, the square neckline, the train, and layers of tulle underneath. It felt elegant and timeless yet modern all at once. It was custom made to my measurements, the waist line was dropped ever so slightly to accentuate the bodice, and some additional tulle was added at the back to add volume. Helen was such a delight to deal with in the many emails back and forth after I returned to New Zealand. The whole process was seamless. I flew back to Australia to get the gown, had a fitting on the Thursday, and I think I left with my perfectly-fitting dress on the Friday.
“I think there is such a thing as love at first sight for your wedding dress and after many hours and plane trips to find ‘the one’, I found it within five minutes at Helen Rodrigues bridal. Helen Rodrigues stocks well-known couture bridal designers that aren’t available in my corner of the world. The moment I tried on my Suzanne Neville gown I could imagine myself walking down the aisle. It is the most beautiful gown I have ever worn and will ever wear. Helen and her team made the process of getting my gown custom made to my measurements from New Zealand absolutely seamless. Trying on the gowns in her store and finding my perfect dress were among the highlights of the whole wedding planning process.”
Wedding Day Highlight
Walking down the aisle with my mum was such a surreal magical moment. The string quartet was playing, ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love’, which was one of my Gran’s favourite songs. The sky was blue and the waters of the Hauraki golf were sparkling. My beautiful bridesmaids and friends of many years were waiting for me at the end of the aisle. My groom looked extra handsome and I could see he was shedding some tears. I thought I would be crying the whole way down the aisle but instead I was smiling so hard that my cheeks were sore the next day. I don’t think I stopped smiling for the whole wedding. It was that feeling of pure bliss.
Dancing has always been a part of my life as I did ballet for many years. I wanted our first dance to be special so we took ballroom dancing lessons in the months leading up to the wedding. The choreography had various twirls and lifts and we were a bit apprehensive about how that would go in my gown. We dutifully danced around the living room with me wrapped in a duvet to emulate the full skirt of the wedding dress but you never know what it will be like in the gown on the day. In a quiet moment during sunset, we slipped out of the reception to the rooftop deck that overlooks the vineyard. We practiced our first dance, just the two of us, and it was one of the most special intimate moments of our wedding. We could really soak in that newly-married bliss. Looking into Zeke’s eyes as we waltzed around in golden hour was one of the happiest core memories of my life.
Advice for future #HRBride’s
I have three main bits of advice:
Have a Day-of-Coordinator! Having our coordinator meant that Zeke and I, our families, and our bridal party could soak up every moment of the day, lose track of time chatting and dancing, all the while knowing that everything was taken care of.
Take private moments for the two of you, hold hands, kiss lots, and do everything together.
If you are staying out of town, consider hiring accommodation for your bridal party. We hired a big lodge on Waiheke Island that slept 22 people so there was room for the 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen, their partners, and our MCs. We had our rehearsal dinner there and Zeke got ready there with his groomsmen on the wedding day. It was a bit of an expense but it was completely worth it for us. It guaranteed that the key people in our wedding got to Waiheke Island as the ferries can be unpredictable, it gave us time to catch up properly with our friends, it served as a bit of a thank you gesture to our bridal party for being such a big part of our lives and making our wedding as wonderful as it was, and it was a great location to kick off the wedding celebrations. Some people think a wedding is just one day but I like to think that your wedding is a season; it starts from when you get engaged, it includes the engagement party, the bachelorette, the rehearsal dinner, and it culminates in the wedding-day itself. Enjoy every moment of your wedding season as a bride-to-be.
Whether you're looking for a classic wedding dress or something truly unique, Helen Rodrigues Bridal offers a truly personalised experience for every bride. Book your appointment today and find your dream gown.
