Elora & Ben
Images Sarah Clements Photography
Ben and I are a love story that started with a swipe!
We met on a dating app, but after talking for a few days our first date was a small road trip adventure that started as trying to find snow in Arthur’s Pass, but ended up being a 12-hour date to the West Coast and back!
‘Before I was proposed to, I saw a gorgeous dress on Instagram that I loved and had even saved it to a folder called Dreams. I went into Paperswan Bride and tried it on and was in love with the top half. I was completely sold on it, but purchased an alternate dress I preferred the bottom half of, and altered the top half to mimic the original dress. It was my absolute dream dress!
Poor Ben had just gotten over the shock of proposing and I was wedding-planning the next day!
‘Our date was selected by it being the only date that both my photographer and makeup artist had available.
'My sister actually sent me our venue on Instagram and told me she demanded I get married there. However, once I saw the photos and visited in person, it truly was the only venue for us!
‘Our ceremony was the most beautiful moment of our lives. My grandfather walked me down the aisle and from the moment I saw him I knew I needed to pull myself together!
Seeing Ben for the first time was such a moment for me. We both wrote our own vows, and although Ben is a typical Kiwi bloke and a man of few words, he had the most beautiful, well-thought-out vows. It was magical.
‘The reception was so much fun! We had the most wonderful speeches from family and friends, and DJ Spinal really got the party started.
We didn’t think we had a dancing type of crowd, but we were absolutely proved wrong!
Q&A
What advice would you give other couples?
Try to take as much pressure off yourself as you can! I knew I wanted the process to be as stress-free as possible, so we had our hire company set up all of our décor and our venue also had an amazing on-the-day coordinator – which I also would’ve hired if not already included. These two aspects saved me so much stress as there was always someone else for others to turn to on the wedding day if needed. It made me feel so much more relaxed and able to focus on getting ready and enjoying myself.
Did you have a hen and stag do?
I was whisked away to Auckland for my hens where we took a helicopter to Waiheke Island for a day of eating and drinking at wineries, then back to Auckland where I was surprised by our decked-out apartment with the most gorgeous hen party decorations. Ben’s bucks ended up having to get postponed to the Thursday before our wedding due to it being during peak Covid and a change of his groomsmen as a result. He had a big night with the boys in an Airbnb!
Where did you go for your honeymoon?
We headed off the afternoon after our wedding to Tekapo for a night where we stayed in a gorgeous lakefront home with a wood-fired hot tub, then off to Te Anau where we did an overnight Doubtful Sounds cruise – it was magical! We finished off in Queenstown at Kamana Lakehouse for a few nights.
