On a rainy summer day, Vanessa and Liam tied the knot in front of their nearest and dearest at Markovina Estate. Photos of the day show the gorgeous couple basking in love and celebrating with friends and family.
Vanessa glowed in Coventry by Forget Me Knot- a stunning strapless luxe Mikado gown with a ruched bodice and sweetheart neckline. The sweeping train and dramatic slit, perfectly complimented the dreamy and fun atmosphere of the day. She also paired her gown with a pearl edged veil, an elegant touch to a show-stopping and timeless look.
So have a scroll through their day, gather some inspo and insight, and enjoy!
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
I just felt the moment I stepped out in that dress it suited my personality and style perfectly. The reaction from my bridal party and mum also confirmed exactly how I felt in it, they also knew straight away it was the one. The pockets and split were my favorite parts of the dress.
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
Working in the events industry, I was familiar with Astra Bridal and their store so made sure it was on my list of wedding dress stores to visit on the search for my dress. A couple of weeks prior to my appointment I had a Zoom call with Ilyese who took the time to chat through what I was looking for in a dress. She was an absolute superstar throughout the whole journey. From that one call she knew straight away what dress she was going to pick out for me to try on, it wasn’t even on the website yet as it had just arrived in the store. Astra Bridal was the second store I had visited that day to try on dresses. Ilyese has a real gift, that dress was the first one I tried on and I knew it was the one right away. We tried on a few more just to be sure but it was perfect. We were actually in and out of the store after finding my dream dress within 40 minutes thanks to Ilyese and her talent.
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
Liam and I met in 2017 while attending at a 2 day tradeshow in Auckland. I was living in Wellington at the time. We kept in touch and a few weeks later Liam was visiting Wellington where we reconnected and headed out for our first date. All things fell in to place and I ended up moving to Auckland and the rest is history!
In January 2020 Liam took me for one of our usual Sunday adventures out for a nature walk. Surrounded by spectacular views, he got down on one knee and proposed on the balcony of the Manukau Lighthouse.
What was your favourite part of the day?
My favourite part of the day was after the ceremony and group photos when the bridal party headed back to Lichfields cottage. It gave us a chance to reflect on our special ceremony that had just happened and celebrate being officially married with our closest friends.
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
The day started with more rain, the usual for Auckland these days so we were confined to the inside of the cottage I had rented for my bridesmaids. Thankfully we had a wet weather plan for Markovina so there was no worry about what we would do here. Envy events were amazing applying last minute decorations to our indoor ceremony location. Our hair and makeup artists arrived an hour late with limited communication so the nerves started early, wondering if they would even show up. This then unfortunately put us behind in schedule and my makeup & hair weren’t complete for the getting ready shots. Once we were all ready to go we learnt that the bus with the guests on was also running about 40 minutes behind due to them having to take an alternative route. Knowing everyone was inside & we weren’t going to cross paths, we finally arrived at the venue and I was full of nerves. The team at Markovina were so kind to help alleviate the nerves on arrival with any request I had.
Walking down the aisle with my dad and looking up to see my then husband to me all the nerves just washed away. Seeing all of our closest friends and family in one room to celebrate our love was the best feeling. After a very short and sweet ceremony, we proceeded with our group photos, then we left our guests to enjoy drinks and canapes while the bridal party headed off to Litchfields cottage for photos. We also knew all along we wanted a quiet 30-40mins with the bridal party and the cottage was the perfect place to do it.
After a few glasses of bubbles, canapes and photos at the cottage we headed back to the venue for the reception. The rest of the night was filled with spectacular food, heart warming speeches, dancing and good times. One stand out memory from the night was the impeccable service from all the staff at the venue. They were forever smiling and nothing was ever too much trouble.
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
When you’re walking down the aisle take a minute to look up and around at all your guests. Try and do this multiple times throughout the day at various times. This was my favourite thing… just seeing so much happiness & love in the room.
