Mudbrick, Waiheke - and a Very Specific Pie Situation
Some couples are made for the big romantic gesture. Antonia and Nick are made for each other.
When Nick proposed to Antonia in a hideaway in the Blue Mountains, he didn't just get down on one knee. He handed her a book first. A book of photographs - every important moment since the day they met, laid out in order, page by page, the whole story of the two them in her hands before the question even arrived. She turned the last page to find the words: I love you with all my heart now and forever. And speaking of forever... She looked up. He was already on one knee. That is a man who understands how to make a moment unforgettable.
These two are opposites in almost every measurable way. Antonia is the tidier - Nick is the cleaner. Nick needs the aircon to sleep - Antonia needs all the blankets. Antonia needs ten hours - Nick runs on three. And possibly my favourite detail from any couple I have ever had the privilege of marrying: Nick eats the outside of the pie and Antonia eats the inside. I don't know what that says about them exactly, but I know it says everything. What it says is that they fit. Not despite the differences - because of them. Two people who have figured out, in the small daily negotiations of a shared life, exactly how to be together.
From our very first meeting I knew this ceremony was going to be something special. We laughed our way through the planning and never really stopped. There was so much joy in the room every time we talked - the kind of energy that tells you the wedding day is going to be exactly that, multiplied.
And it was.
On a golden afternoon at Mudbrick on Waiheke Island, in front of the people who love them most, the moment Antonia and Nick saw each other, the whole room felt it.
But here is what made this ceremony unlike almost any other I have been part of. The guest list wasn't just Antonia and Nick's people. It was their children's people too. Every child there had their favourite friends alongside them, because Antonia and Nick understood that this day wasn't only about the two of them saying yes to each other. It was about building something bigger. A new family, celebrated in front of the whole beautiful, chaotic, laughing crowd of people who make up their world.
There were a lot of children at Mudbrick that afternoon. More than I have ever had at a ceremony before. And it was absolutely the best thing.
The Mudbrick team did what they always do - held every detail with complete style and grace.
Antonia and Nick - thank you for letting me be part of your day and for making me laugh every single time we were in the same room. We smashed this ceremony out of the park and it was because you let me into your world and your hearts so I could leave no stone unturned in making this ceremony everything you wanted it to be. This is exactly why I do what I do.
Jaq x
Photography: Kate Little Photography
