Kathryn & Tim were married in the small historic village of Puhoi, New Zealand. Their ceremony was held in the tiny local church and their reception at Puhoi Centennial Hall. The day had quintessential Rock n Roll elements including the bride’s 50s/ 60s inspired wedding dress, her rockabilly hair do and the dancing late into the night. “We practiced Rock n Roll dancing for a few months before the wedding and had heaps of fun performing our routine to Big Hunk O’ Love”, Kathryn explained. “Afterwards our dance instructors Clint and Christine took to the floor to show everyone how it’s really done before doing a ‘snow-ball’ and bringing the guests up onto the dance floor. It was great seeing our crazy families dancing like lunatics with all our friends. I swapped my killer heels for some white bowling shoes and lace-topped bobby socks for the dance.”
The reception space was decorated by the couple themselves. “We’re known for hosting games nights so we made sure the wedding reception had the same sense of fun”, the bride continued. “Neither of us had been to many weddings but we figured that with a diverse bunch of guests we’d need some ice-breakers. I used to put on music shows and promote them with hand-drawn zines, so I brushed up my skills to make an activity book with a word search, maze, ‘dress the bride’, dingbats and other activities. We also turned the tables into quiz teams to give the guests something to do as they waited for their tables to be called up to the delicious Cajun buffet. Other activities included a raffle and ‘guess the lollies in the milk bottles’.”
“We made our paper moon for the photo booth ourselves and our photographer helped set up the camera. It was pretty easy – the hardest thing we had to do was strap the sheet of MDF to the top of the car when we bought it! Tim’s an art teacher and we spent many evening in his classroom painting the moon and practising our dance.”
“The tables were decorated with tea light candles in glass and crystal bowls, glass and crystal decanters and flowers in old-school milk and cream bottles. We chose the milk bottles because they only needed one flower in them in order to look great. We sourced the bowls, decanters and milk bottles gradually over months, and could probably now start our own hire business. But the real star of the show was the hall itself. It has a wonderful welcoming feel and the kauri wood gave it a warm glow, offset by the standing lamps with large shades that we hired.”
