Wedding of the Week – Sarah and Daniel Kiwhare Piwari

Sarah and Daniel came home from Australia to enjoy a stunning lakeside wedding in Wanaka.
When and where did you meet: Daniel and I met at a party when I wasin year 12 at high school. Friends of ours were seeing each other atthe time and introduced us. We became friends, and over time became a couple ourselves!
The proposal: We had been living in Brisbane for a few years, when we had our daughter Kalea. She was born on 25th September 2010 at lunchtime. Seeing that we missed lunch, Daniel went to get us some food and came back with a ring! I later found out that he had rung my dad to ask for "permission" straight after Kalea was born!
Where was the wedding: We held the entire wedding at Edgewater resort in Wanaka. The ceremony was held on the lawns, over looking the lake. The reception was held in the pavilion, a glass-ceilinged function area.
Why did we choose the venue: We chose to have the wedding in Wanaka as we were living in Brisbane in the early stages of planning (we moved back to New Zealand in December 2011), and Wanaka is our favourite holiday spot in NZ. Edgewater resort was the perfect venue for us, right onthe lake with amazing views of the mountains, gorgeous grounds for the ceremony and photos, and we could have the whole wedding in one location. Edgewater was fantastic, they helped organise the whole day, the staff were so helpful, and the food was incredible. The extra bonus for us was that we got a complimentary honeymoon suite for the night of the wedding!
The dress: I purchased my dress from Sugar & Spice bridal in Brisbane, and brought it back from Australia as carry-on luggage. What a mission, considering the size of it! So worth it though. It isa gorgeous strapless ivory gown, with a fitted bodice and ''poofy'' bottom and small train. There is a wee V section in the top middle of the bodice which has pearl and diamante detail. I so loved wearing this dress, and considering the weight of it found it to be comfortable . . . apart from everyone standing on it all night!!
The bridesmaids' dresses: I originally wanted green dresses, but couldn't find what I wanted so had to change my colours. I eventually found these gorgeous dresses at Sunnygirl in Brisbane: full-length flowing chiffon in a light coffee colour, with cream and pink panels in thefront. I had four bridesmaids. Three were my sisters and my maid of honour was my best friend. Four very different girls, but they all looked gorgeous!!
The flowers: My friend Aimee from Aimee's Floral Designs did our bridal-party flowers. I LOVED them. We had hand-tied posies of white roses and lisianthus with green buds, all tied with ribbon and raffia. I pinned my great-grandmother's locket to the handle of my bouquet. My parents gave it to me as a christening gift when I was a baby. We also had centrepieces of pale pink and white gerberas intall vases with river pebbles and bear grass, put together by the girls at the Green Room florist in Wanaka. Very simple, but elegant. Perfect for the simple, elegant table settings at Edgewater.
The caterers: Our food was done by the chefs at Edgewater. We had a buffet main and dessert, lots of choices, amazing quality. We had so many good comments on the food, and after hearing horror stories about wedding food, we were pretty chuffed with what we had! We also had a beautiful cake, made by Rachel Jenkinson of Rach's Cakes of Balclutha. She did a fantastic job of our three-tier cake covered in white chocolate wrap. She also made us some cupcakes for the children. These were a simple vanilla cupcake, with green 'grass' icing and little edible cow figurines on top. Gorgeous!!
Highlight of the day: That's a hard one! The whole day was amazing, but I haveto say the most memorable part for me was during the ceremony. Our daughter Kalea (18 months) was our flower girl. Part way through the ceremony she yelled out "Mum . . . Dad" and pointed at us as if no one realised we were there! She then cried and cried until I picked her up, which gave her the best view in the house for the vows, exchanging of rings, and the first kiss! She then got her own ''first kiss'' from Daddy. :)
Photographer and favourite photo: Our photographer was Shelley Povey, from Owaka. She had done wedding and maternity/newborn shoots for people I knew, and turned out to be the perfect choice! Shelley is very talented at capturing the magic in every photo. She was amazing with our daughter, who hardly ever lets people take good photos of her, and we got exactly the sort of photos we wanted. And lots of them! Try cutting 970 photos down to an album!!! We struggled to pick a favourite, but the one photo that people keep commenting on is the one of Daniel putting the ring on my finger. All that is in the photo is our hands and Kalea's wee foot! Very cute!