Good morning! I have such a beautifully down-to-earth vintage wedding to share with you today, planned by the sassiest of brides with some must read pearls of wedding wisdom! Full of fun, little DIY details, retro styling, big smiles and Scottish heritage Tineke & Sean’s relaxed Summer wedding is anything but traditional, and everything a wedding should be…..

When planning her big day Tineke vowed not to bow to social pressure and to ensure their wedding remained about her & Sean, how they wanted it and within their budget. “Everyone has an opinion, and they are entitled to that, but I actively had to remind myself that I didn’t HAVE to have the big bouquet, I didn’t HAVE to lose weight, I didn’t HAVE to have a big sit down wedding, I didn’t HAVE to go to the traditional wedding dress shops etc etc. There is so much social pressure on women regarding marriage and weddings and I was determined to not get brainwashed into the craziness that is the wedding industry. It was a lot of work organizing the whole thing on our own and doing a lot of DIYing but we had friends and family who were really supportive and helpful from day dot. And to be honest all our guests said our wedding was so ‘us’ which is exactly what we were going for.”

Having met at Intermediate School and been together for 9 years Sean knew his bride-to-be well and planned the most romantic proposal….. kind of….. “LOL…. He took me to the Warriors on a hot summer Sunday afternoon – I don’t even like League?! We got sunburnt. REALLY BAD. We went back to the apartment we were living in together and watched Jurassic Park and played Scrabble. I went to the loo and when I came back he had spelt out ‘MARRY ME’ on the scrabble board. I thought he was kidding and trying to cheat! We actually ended up having a scrabble themed engagement party after all that.”

Their wedding was almost two years later and I just know you are going to love it as much as I do. It is hard not to fall for Tineke & Sean’s down to earth style and beaming smiles. Ask the lady behind the camera Emily Raftery “This day was awesome! From the moment I arrived there was a fun and easy-going vibe in the air. No sign of stress, no sign of fuss. Although technically the photographer for the day, I really was made to feel more like a guest with a camera. I think with Tineke and Sean having such a  relaxed approach to their wedding, it made it really enjoyable for us to get on and do our thing, and be comfortable cruising around capturing natural moments as they unfolded on the day.”

I love Tineke’s pinup style makeup and her cute pin curl and waved bob, don’t you? “The stunning Katherine Gould did my make up. I went for classic 1950’s matt flawless make up, little cat eye, nice big lashes and a bold red lip. My hair was done by the amazing Lani Purkis (independent hair stylist) She helped me get that ‘natural’ looking blond, the cut and the wave. I wanted my hair to be natural, soft and feminine.”

“My wedding dress was the one and only wedding dress I tried on. My sister lives in Sydney and sent me a photo of the shop window of Mulberry Street Vintage, the dress in the window was the one. I made some minor changes with the designer and she sent me my custom dress within a month.  I wanted something fun, flirty, cute, classic, 50’s, flattering and comfortable. This dress ticked all those boxes for me. Our wedding was in the middle of a hot summer’s day so I knew I wanted something breathable, light and knee length. It’s probably a faux pas but I’ve decided on our first wedding anniversary when we go out for a nice meal I’m gonna wear it. I feel it’s that wearable!” oh no, do it Tineke! I would have given anything for another opportunity to wear my wedding dress!

“My wee veil was a recreated retro ivory tulle birdcage veil with ribbon and pearls. I bought this via Maria Louise Bridal and was quite a splurge for me! And I paired it with a pearl necklace and studs from my Aunty. ” And in true DIY fashion, when Tineke couldn’t find the shoes of her dreams, she made them! “My shoes were basic nude, open toe wedges and I found some adorable little tulle flowers I hot glue gunned onto them!” She spent the morning of her wedding in the most perfect way “Eating strawberries and enjoying a couple glasses of bubbly with my sister (actually she had more than a couple) and we just hung out with Kath and Lani (hair and makeup) as we are all mates already. It was real chill!”

“My sister was my one and only bridesmaid. I told her I wanted her to wear whatever she wanted, something that just screamed her and made her feel gorgeous. We are both really into retro vintage attire so we knew what we were both looking for. We both agreed on a peachy kind of colour. She found her dress online, it’s original vintage 1960’s – she got it tailored in by a friend of hers to make it more of a wiggle dress. It even came with a matching bolero 😉 She wore our grandma’s pearls and I found her the stunning big glass coral coloured earrings from a shop in the mall! Her beehive was her idea – STUNNING.” I couldn’t agree more Tineke, your sister looked A-MAZ-ING!

“It just so happens that the historical Ferndale house in Mt Albert is located JUST around the corner from our house and ticked all of our venue boxes. We wanted to be somewhere local and needed something affordable, as we didn’t have much money for the wedding. We also wanted to BYO food and drinks and have something that had a bit of character.  AND it backs onto a croquet club so we had croquet for the guests to play when we went and had photos done.”

Sean and his best man wore traditional Scottish attire, their clan kilts (Cameron and Telford) with a crisp white shirt and waistcoat.

“My dad AND my sister gave me away – I’m a very confident person and my job involves performing in front of people all the time but I had no idea how different this was going to feel. I shat my pants, I was so nervous.” ha ha, I know just what you mean Tineke, something else I remember so well is the nerves…..until you see your groom, and then nothing else matters!

Tineke & Sean went back to their roots with their processional music “We went hard out with our Scottish heritage, as we are both part Scottish so we hired a Piper. Robert Halliday is head piper of the Auckland Scottish Pipe Band and an experienced wedding piper. He was amazing and it was great to not have to worry about ipods, speakers, timings, blah de blah. Plus he made everyone cry when he piped us in!”

“The only thing we did apart from our basic ceremony was a ‘pinning of the tartan’. Sean’s mother made a rosette sash of Sean’s clan tartan, his mother bought it up to us during the ceremony and he pinned it to my dress as a symbol of me joining his clan. It was an awesome touch!”

I love the next set of photos – especially the one of Tineke’s sister and bridesmaid peering round for a better look at the kiss! 🙂

“I was told the day would go by in a flash and it did! So I tried to enjoy and relish every second. It felt special but also down to earth and real. There were a few usual hiccups on the day, nothing goes exactly to plan though. It was really important to me that everyone had fun, and boy did they what. Apparently after we left my poor sister (bridesmaid) had to boot people out of the venue cause they just wanted to keep going!

“We had our reception at the ceremony venue. I had some worker bees earlier in the arvo putting up some of my DIY retro decorations – bird garlands, doily garlands, retro chic crochet doilies on the tables, jars with tea light candles and wild flowers. We didn’t have a head table or any actual seating to be honest – it was all walk and fork and everyone just hung out inside and outside of the venue enjoying the weather, the music and the drinks etc! For the flowers my sister and my sister n law and I went to this awesome dairy in Grey Lynn the day before the wedding and purchased a whole heap of baby’s breath, wildflowers and dahlias just to enhance the vintage venue a bit.”

“Sean’s workmate is an amateur baker and made our wedding cake as a present. I’m gluten free due to coeliac disease but none of the guests even realized it was a GF cake! It was a yummo vanilla, lemon curd and raspberry cake. I found the porcelain birds for our wedding cake topper at a candle shop for about 10 bucks!”

“Mt Albert Croquet club provided entertainment for our guests while we were gone – they taught people how to play and had some mini games going to keep the busy. Also – when guests turned up at the ceremony they were automatically given a glass of bubbly, it’s a celebration! No time to wait! ;)”

Pearls of Wedding Wisdom from the Bride….

“Steal some alone time with your new husband! I was glad that I stuck to my guns regarding our private photo shoot with Emily our photographer. I didn’t want anyone else there but my husband and I and I’m really stoked with those photos and we really appreciated having some alone time together away from the celebrations.”

“And don’t sweat the small stuff – all of your friends and family are there for you and your partner, and they have your best interests at heart. No one is going to care that you had to get white roses instead of red or you ran out of glitter when making your goodie bags or whatever. Be nice to your partner and don’t forget why you are getting married in the first place, because you love one another!…….Oh and wine helps!”

“My sister is in the photographic biz and knew our photographer Emily Raftery. My sis suggested Emily and I happened to meet her at a mates wedding she was photographing, so it just all kinda came together so easily. Something I refused to compromise on was our photographer and we put aside a decent budget for a good one. Documenting our day was really important to me even though everyone said that I would never look at them again – how wrong were they! I’ve got a wedding wall at home of all our framed favorites and a massive framed A0 of us in the lounge. This is the best we are ever gonna look, it’s all-downhill from here! And Emily made us look stunning. I was like,‘shit is that us!?’ Emily is really good at what she does. She made us feel super relaxed and at ease. Her style is personal, creative and candid. We didn’t want anything forced, we wanted to document something real and Em achieved that. To top it all off she asked us around for a slideshow screening of the end result and gave us beer and wine. It was awesome.”

A huge thankyou to Emily for sharing Tineke and Sean’s fabulous day – you can see more of her work by visiting her website www.emilyraftery.co.nz, and she can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

And a massive congratulations to the happy couple!

Amy

x

Photography ~ Emily Raftery

Wedding Dress ~ Mulberry Street Vintage

Hair ~ Lani Purkis

Veil ~ Maria Louise Bridal

Makeup ~ Katherine Gould

Venue ~ Fernleigh House, Auckland