Surrounded by the beautiful Queenstown mountains, Tracey and Duncan vowed to spend the rest of their lives together in front of their nearest and dearest. Their day was filled with much joy and happiness, which can be seen in their gorgeous photos.
Tracey mesmerised in Wallis by Maggie Sottero, a beautiful A-line gown with princess style embroidered lace. The swirling lace motif covers the bodice and trickles down to the dreamy tulle skirt. She paired her gown with our Hendrix Veil, a lovely addition that sparkles like the snowy mountains, and she also wore our Fur Wrap, the perfect accessory for her mountain photoshoot.
We hope you enjoy seeing their photos and reading about their wedding day just as much as we did! Congratulations to them both x
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
I knew the dress was the one when it made me emotional! It wasn't a "Yes to the Dress" moment, however, I just sort of had that emotional connection. Dee and I had talked about how I thought my nanna would have really liked it, and that was special because my nanna and "gabby" were married from a young age and were together "till death do us part". The dress decision was reconfirmed when I went back for a third time to try another dress and felt like I was "cheating" on the original dress, ha-ha!
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
I had no idea what dress I wanted. I was going in with an open mind. I took 3 of my good friends along to Astra Bridal, and we had a super fun girls day out. Dee from Astra, my three friends, and I all picked a dress each for me to try on. Dee was amazing. She was so kind, had a calming presence, was patient, and super helpful. I went away without making a decision the first time, but I had my mind set on the one I wanted. I came back for a second time and tried it on again before deciding to purchase.
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
We'd been together for 15 years and had kind of ruled it out to be honest! I was surprised when he proposed to me at Easter when we went away to a glamping site with no cell phone reception. He didn't want to wait another 15 years for the wedding, so we made plans for the wedding date to be on the same day as engagement (to my surprise, this was also his idea!) Because we had been together for so long, we just wanted a small intimate wedding. We wanted to do something a little bit different and that's when I stumbled upon Heli-weddings. The thought of being married in the mountains sounded amazing! It definitely exceeded our expectations on the day. The only word to describe the day is magical.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It's very hard to pick just one thing. I was super nervous in the morning about walking down the aisle, the vows, the speeches and the first dance. However, all the nerves seemed to fade away after the first look! On reflection, the best part of the day was how everything just came together seamlessly, and being able to celebrate with our closest family and friends. Also, unexpectedly, the feeling of the extreme cold from the photo shoot on top of the mountain made me feel super bad arse. It's sort of an adrenaline rush, I guess!
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
We had a destination wedding, so it made the wedding feel like it lasted a few days! I woke up to a beautiful sunny day amidst several rainy days leading up to the event. We were very lucky and had perfect flying conditions for our photos up in the mountains. The morning flew by super quickly. I didn't have an official bridal party, but I had my sister, sister-in-law and best friend stay with me. They helped me set up the ceremony and reception the night before, and helped me to get ready on the day of. My brother, brother-in-law and husband's friend were also amazing. They were setting up the seats for the ceremony and wiping them down (as they had got saturated the day before!) We winged a lot of the day. We didn't do a rehearsal for timings, hadn't finalised our music choice for the aisle, and had left the cake decorating up to Nadine at the Country Cakery! My brother was the flower boy, and was very entertaining. He did such a great job!
When I walked down the aisle it was very special because so many of our friends were so happy that it was finally happening (along with myself, and my dad!) As soon as the music kicked in, it was hard to fight back the tears, and it was so surreal seeing friends that you haven't caught up with in a while, all at the same place and time!! We got married under a giant wood carved eagle, and it was amazing. We had a very funny moment when my husband said "Yep" instead of "I do!"
We had our reception inside of the coolest tipi from Gather and Gold, where we had everyone arranged around a central fire pit. We kept the styling of the tipi to a minimum, just some soft lighting and it was transformed into such a magical space. We then had speeches and the cake cutting. The cake cutting was extra special and fun because we insisted it be cut with the massive knife that my husband had recently purchased (ok, it was my husband's idea!), that will then get engraved with our new family name. Our caterers were absolutely amazing. They moved around and made sure everyone was well looked after. We had the photo booth and dancing inside, together with our very awkward and uncoordinated first dance, chip n dip bar, and cheesy signs at the bar. Before we knew it, the first van had arrived to take people home! Our photographer, Meagan, was absolutely amazing. She told me the only thing I needed to worry about was to drink champagne! I definitely needed a reminder because I had been so busy, and it had been so chaotic and stressful leading up to the day. She also went above and beyond for us on the day, and went out of her way to make sure I didn't get hypothermia during the mountain shoot!
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
At the planning stage, go with what feels right and the more you can go with the flow and not dwell on decisions, the less stressed you will be! Try to keep your decision making between a small group because the more opinions you get the more confusing and stressful the day becomes, and then you forget what YOU wanted. Don't forget to relax on the day and let all your planning come to fruition. Have an open mind and don't let any little things ruin the day. The most important thing is that you marry your husband! Also, your guests don't know what you've planned, so it's likely that they won't notice if something doesn't go to plan!
