Honestly, don’t know where to start … these two are one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met, and the way Jessie gushed over B made my heart melt ❤️. They met through mutual friends at an engagement party and then fate took its turn a couple of months later and were seated together at the wedding.

My morning started off with the girls, who got ready at the stunning Observatory Hotel in Christchurch The Observatory Hotel . I did Biana’s makeup before we started photos, she looked so stunning it was a nice time for everyone to get used to me being around before getting into photos. We had a special first look with your sisters, mum and nana. The chose to have their cereony at the beatiful St Barnadas in Fendalton, its such a iconic building in Christchurch.

We headed off after the cereony to the Mona Vale Gardens , the bride & Groom and bridal party started out with a picnic, it was a lovely and super chilled way for them to unwind and enjoy the moment after the ceremony and guests. We then headed into the OGB where the B&J were staying for the night, we took potos inside their room and around the building inside and out, again another stunning building in Christchurch.

We had their reception at the Mt Pleasant Community Centre https://www.mpcc.org.nz/, and went with a super chilled option of food trucks, Bacon Brothers https://baconbrothers.co.nz/, sooo good. B&J did the most cutest first dance ever, theyd been practiscing at home and it sure paid off! Honestly, such a amazing day spent with them and their nearest and dearest.

Venue: https://www.mpcc.org.nz.

Makeup: Tracey Allsopp https://www.instagram.com/traceyallsopp_mua/.

Dress: https://www.instagram.com/misschloebridalofficial/.

Flowers: Fox Glove Florists https://www.instagram.com/foxgloveflorist/.

Catering: https://baconbrothers.co.nz/.

Cake: https://baconbrothers.co.nz/

words from bianca ..

1/ Why did you choose your venue?

We always knew we wanted to be married in a church with beautiful architecture, and the location needed to be central and easy to access as lots of our family were travelling from out of town. So, we did some research and planned a ‘date’ day to visit about seven churches around the city (thinking we’d be left with a few favourites to choose from), but it was very quickly cut short after visiting St Barnabas. It was perfect! The grounds were beautiful, there was a playground for all our young nieces and nephews, and the team were really lovely to work with. And having the church bells rung was a fairytale bonus that we thought only happened in movies!

2/ What was your favorite part of the day?

As a bride, my favourite moment (and one I’ll never forget) is walking down the aisle to my best friend. At weddings I always watch the groom as the bride walks in, so it was a dream come true to watch my handsome groom as I walked down the aisle to him!

We also loved our first dance. We spent weeks leading up to the wedding, in our living room, putting together dance moves we’d seen online and in movies to create a fun yet personal dance to share together. On the evening of the wedding we were running a little behind schedule, but Tracey was so sweet and stayed longer than we originally planned so she could capture the first dance and the playful moments afterwards. And we are so thankful for Tracey’s patience because the first dance shots are some of our favourite from the day!

3/ What was the easiest part of one of your vendors, building up to and on the actual day too?

We were so lucky to find the perfect vendors early on, even getting all our first picks! Everyone was really professional, but someone that stood out (aside from Tracey of course) was Kath from Foxglove Florist. I showed her my dress and gave her a brief for whimsical bouquets with purples, blues, and whites. I gave her total freedom of flower choice and extra embellishments and she delivered above and beyond! She was an absolute dream to work with. And we loved the flowers so much that we got them professionally pressed and framed by the lovely Botanic Press team, as wedding keepsakes for us and our parents.

4/ Where did you guys meet and how long have you been together (how he proposed etc, anything like that would be great).

We met at our mutual friends’ engagement party in 2020 and immediately connected. Be it a coincidence or maybe fate, we were seated at the same table a few months later at their wedding (after not being in contact since their engagement), and from that moment on we were inseparable! We never thought we’d be ‘that’ couple, but our feelings for each other were undeniable and we both knew that we’d end up marrying each other one day!

All our big decisions were made together, including designing the engagement ring, and so Jessie wanted to make sure the proposal was a complete surprise. He had me think I was meeting my cousin at the Sign of the Bellbird but instead he had taken the day off work and was waiting with the most beautiful picnic and our favourite wine and cheese! So it was only fitting that we had a cheese wheel cake from Whitestone Cheese as our wedding cake!

5/ What advice would you give to people planning their wedding.

Before you start planning your wedding, write down three values or things that you want your wedding to embody, and revisit them throughout the planning process. It’s a great way to re-centre your focus when things start to feel overwhelming. We decided on family orientated, relaxed, and most importantly, fun. At times we got lost in the small details and became stressed and disheartened, but having these three pillars helped keep the bigger picture in the forefront of our minds and reminded us that our marriage is so much more than what colour table runners to have!

Love note .. ❤️

Words cannot express how grateful we are for Tracey and everything she did for us on our wedding day. She went from makeup artist to photographer without missing a beat and truly went above and beyond to capture every moment – she even (very safely) climbed a ladder to get the most wonderful group photo of our guests after the ceremony. ABSOLUTE SUPER-WOMAN!!! Being someone who doesn’t often wear makeup it was great to coordinate my makeup trial with my hens do. And on the wedding day it was reassuring to know that Tracey was around if I needed any touch ups (which, amazingly, wasn’t needed). I felt so beautiful and natural all day which is all I ever hoped for! We were amazed at how quickly Tracey got our photos back to us, and it was such a magical time going through them and reliving the day. We were in a constant state of awe and kept saying to each other “I had no idea she was taking a photo of us then!”. The photos are so natural and emotive and perfectly capture how we were feeling. Tracey’s ability to capture a candid moment that looks breathtaking is a beautiful gift that we hope many couples can experience! Tracey never stopped moving and yet we barely noticed her. She was attentive, listened to our vision, and was absolutely spot on with the range of shots captured at different stages of the day. We LOVE the black and white photos and are absolutely blown away by how playful and perfectly timed the shots are of our first dance!!! We truly feel so honoured to have had Tracey capture our special day and can’t wait to relive it for years and years to come! Thank you, thank you, thank you Tracey for being such a breeze to work with and capturing such perfect, breathtaking photos xx

Getting Hitched? Contact me Tracey Allsopp https://traceyallsopp.co.nz/contact

View more of my work https://traceyallsopp.co.nz/wedding-gallery ❤️