In November of 2022, Coralie and Matt said "I Do" on a beautifully sunny day in Mission Bay, Auckland. Their wedding day was relaxed and chilled out, exactly what they aimed for, surrounded by great people and great beer!
Coralie's dress is completely unique and customised to her vision. Our Auckland City team had so much fun bringing her dream dress to life with our amazing Forget Me Knot label, where the base dress was our Zoe gown, and from there we changed and tweaked aspects to create this beautiful piece.
She had always envisioned wearing pink on her wedding day, so this was a must. We helped her select the beautiful shade of pink you see in the photos, with a soft champagne lining underneath. We plunged the neckline, added illusion side cutouts, took off the bishop sleeves and narrowed the straps, and added boning throughout the bodice for a more structured look. Safe to say not only Coralie was in love, but we were too!
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
For me it was combining two dresses, but the elements I loved were the leaf vine detail on the dress, and the plunge of the neckline and the back of the dress. It made me feel beautiful and elegant, which was exactly what I wanted on the big day.
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
I knew I wanted a pink dress before I started searching, and I had an idea of what style I liked, but I also wanted to try on dresses to make sure I was on the right track - and see if there were any wild cards! Astra was the first place I tried on dresses and they were by far the best - Elysia was fantastic at guiding me through the process and narrowing down what I liked. After visiting Astra I contacted them to ask if there was any way I could have a dress made for me in pink - and they said they could do it!
The process from there was really easy. Elysia and Ilyese helped me pick out a dress from the Forget Me Knot range that had most of the elements I wanted - but swapping out the neckline with one from another dress, and removing the sleeves. They also spent time with me figuring out which shade of pink tulle to choose and what colour lining would be best to accentuate the colour. The end result was beyond what I could have imagined - just perfect. They were also fantastic at communicating the progress of the dress with me and were so excited for me. It made the whole process so easy.
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
Matt and I met on Bumble back in 2019. On our first dates we discovered a shared love of the outdoors, travel, reading and craft beers, and quickly realised we wanted to share our future together. On Anzac weekend 2021 Matt suggested a beach picnic at a remote West Auckland beach, and after we’d eaten a lot of delicious cheese, he pulled out a gorgeous ring he’d had custom made and proposed to me. I love being at the beach and it is such a special memory.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It’s hard to say, there were so many. Seeing all our loved ones together in one place was amazing, and hearing Matt’s vows was so emotional, along with reading mine to him. It was also really good to have a dance with our friends later in the night!
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
We decided to have a small wedding at a relaxed venue so the function room at Good George Mission Bay was so perfect - a gorgeous space, but with great beer and a chilled out vibe. The weather in the lead up to the day had been awful, but on the day it came through for us and it was an amazing sunny day! The process of getting ready was really relaxed and fun, my bridesmaid Anna did an incredible job of being my hype woman and also taking care of all the little things like laying out an amazing cheese platter and getting me a calming glass of bubbles. Our ceremony was fantastic, our celebrant did such a great job of making it relaxed but heartfelt. We wrote our own vows and it was so special to share them with each other for the first time on the day. We really enjoyed our reception - it was a relaxed evening with great food, and time with our friends and family. We had a bit of a dance later in the evening too!
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
Figure
out what the most important things are to you as a couple for your wedding and
prioritise those! Also, don’t stress on the day - it’s likely something won’t
go quite to plan but it won’t make or break your day. Just be present from the
moment you wake up, and enjoy it because it goes so fast.
