How did the two of you meet?
I was just 17 at a friends party sitting quietly in a corner. When Anton arrived he worked up the courage to come over and talk to me and my future bridesmaid. We always marvel at how close we came to not meeting! If it weren’t for our two friends neither of us would have been out that night!
Shine Photography
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
For our eight year anniversary, we decided to have a tropical getaway in The Cook Islands, where I am from. We planned this six months in advance and included a one night stay in Auckland, New Zealand. The day before we were set to leave, Anton had mail for me. I opened it to find an invitation to our anniversary celebration in Auckland. When we arrived he arranged a day of shopping and afterward a couples massage at our hotel spa. After the massage, we arrived back at our room and started to get ready for our anniversary dinner. There was a knock at the door, it was a hairdresser he had hired to do my hair for dinner! At this point, I got a little suspicious but when you’ve been together for eight years, you learn to be patient! So, I pushed the suspicion aside.
Shine Photography
For dinner, we headed down to the beautiful Auckland domain gardens for a picnic. Once we were there we started looking for a nice spot and Anton kept declining my suggestions, saying we should sit in the shade! When we finally sat down he set up a beautiful spread and put on some lovely music from a playlist he had made for the occasion. I noticed a pair of people getting closer and closer to us taking photos. When I commented on the pair Anton let out a loud and awkward laugh and turned the music up louder. I remember thinking it was too loud and I quickly turned it down, not realizing “The Promise” by Tracy Chapman was the cue for the Photographer! He started his beautiful speech about how he has seen me grow from a young girl to a young woman to which I replied “yes, eight years is a long time you know. I’m getting old!” Not realizing this was his pre-proposal speech! He reached around the picnic basket and I asked him what present he had got for me. Again, interrupting the flow of his proposal. He finally pulled out a beautiful ring that he had spent months designing and asked me to be with him forever. Thankfully the wonderful photographer was able to capture the moment for us (despite me causing us to sit in the wrong spot). I had organized a photo shoot in The Cook Islands just after this, as an anniversary gift to Anton. It couldn’t have worked out better! We now have beautiful memories of our engagement!
Soul Sisters Photography
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Finding out that we both wanted a destination wedding without even discussing it first!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
I am lucky that Anton is so easy to work with. We both have the same vision for our wedding.
Soul Sisters Photography
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
The ease of setting up the website. It’s perfect for our destination wedding as we need to give our guests as much information as possible.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The team is very responsive!
Shine Photography
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
We keep reminding ourselves that the most important thing to remember in this process is the marriage, not the wedding.
