‘As soon as I put this one on it felt so comfortable and just felt like me, so I bought it right away.’

Their wedding date of 10/10/2020 was chosen because the couple loved the sound of it. They also fell in love with The Gym at the Christchurch Arts Centre as soon as they saw it and didn’t need to consider viewing any other venues.

‘It was so different and really suited our style and who we are. We also wanted an indoor ceremony and loved the grand contrast to The Gym that the Great Hall offered, so we chose to use that space for our ceremony.’

Bri walked up the aisle to ‘Angel’ by Jack Johnson, which was her favourite moment of the day. ‘Seeing [Leigh’s] face made me so happy, it was such a special moment and we were both just so stoked to be there. ‘Our ceremony was so special and just such a happy time. We kept it really informal so there were lots of laughs, and we wrote our own vows which we kept a secret from each other so we heard them for the first time during the ceremony which was really meaningful.’

By having the ceremony and reception in central Christchurch, Bri and Leigh didn’t have to leave their guests for too long when they popped away to have their photos taken.

‘The photo of the two of us in front of the coral wall looks amazing (as do all our photos – Sarah is incredible) but we are just so comfortable, being ourselves and having fun and you can see in our faces how happy we are.’

Live acoustic music added to the relaxed and fun atmosphere during cocktail hour. Following the family-style platters for dinner, a band entertained the guests. ‘It was so wonderful to have so many important people in one room and we just had such a good time.

With a shared love of snowboarding, groom Leigh made the most of a trip to Mt Lyford to propose to bride Bri.

They had made their way to an empty valley, where Leigh set up a camera to take a photo of them in front of the beautiful scenery.

As the self-timer snapped away, Leigh got down on one knee. ‘We were too excited to snowboard anymore so we just went back to Christchurch to tell my parents, who actually already knew because Leigh had gone to ask for their blessing the day before!’

Bri had always known she wanted a Grace Loves Lace gown and had one in mind. While in London in 2019, she tried some on in their showroom.

Q&A

Standout vendor?

Without a doubt, our photographer Sarah Clements! She was just the best. We had so much fun with her, she was so happy and friendly and made us feel so comfortable on the day. Her photos were incredible and she went above and beyond – turning up early, giving us a huge amount of ‘sneak peeks’ the next day, creating a magical slideshow for us and even photoshopping my sister into a family photo since she was stuck overseas. Couldn’t recommend her enough!

What would you have done differently?

We could have benefited from a coordinator on the day. As we weren’t using a typical wedding venue, we had to pull it all together ourselves, so it would have been great to have someone else to field the calls on the day and do the last minute organising.

Any cool stories to share?

Leigh used to have an unused Zippo lighter from his late poppa that he would take with him everywhere. He planned on using it for the first time at the wedding to light a sparkler or a cigar. Sadly it was taken from us at the airport last year, which was really heartbreaking. We were able to keep the old box that it came in so as a surprise for Leigh I taped it back together, and bought a new Zippo to put in it which I engraved with our wedding date. We exchanged gifts before the wedding and opened them separately, and I opened mine and it was a Zippo lighter engraved with our wedding date. Without ever talking about it or suggesting it, we had both got each other the exact same gift. He had even spent a day searching for that same old box to put mine in. It’s just a small thing but it shows how in tune we are and always have been with each other, and it was really special to be reminded of that right before we got married.