Alice & Gordon's Edgy Boho Wedding In New Plymouth

Bright, bohemian, and full of laughs are just a few ways to describe Alice & Gordon’s Edgy Boho Wedding in New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand. The couple created a day that reflected their personalities, Alice explains, “My favourite detail of the day is that we stayed really true to ourselves and were happy and comfortable with the day. There’s no real physical detail but a feeling of true happiness in what we had created together.” Captured by the wonderful Abi Hackling Photography, Alice remembers their day…

Gordon and I first meet at a mutual friend’s house about 12 years ago. The magic started to happen maybe 6 months later when my flatmate at the time and I decided we’d try out a double date. My flatmate at the time decided a horror movie would be perfect for the double date. I personally HATE horror films but I reluctantly agreed. Gordon left once the movie was over and I texted him afterward and admitted I couldn’t sleep and he came back and kept me safe. He’s kept me safe ever since.

There’s not much to tell about our proposal story to be totally honest. Gordon and I are NOT romantics. He just asked one morning which caught me off guard as I wasn’t expecting it and of course I said YES!

We didn’t really do many wedding traditions but I did wear my Nanan’s earrings which she left to me when she died.

I wore a locally made and designed custom gown from Liah Roebuck. Liah and I worked together in the design of the dress to what would best fit my height and body shape. My mum came with me to a fitting and actually picked the lace which I think was a perfect fit for my personality. I also wore a soft tulle veil also made by Liah. My experience was amazing. Liah is extremely talented and made me a dress that is fit for a queen. I had an old denim jacket laying around that I had hand-painted locally with “WIFE LIFE”!

I choose the flowers for the day based on my childhood memories. My mum always had toi toi inside when I was a kid so I felt an instant pull to use them. We hand-collected all the toi toi’s ourselves from our local beach. My mum grew and dried all the honesty, strawflowers, and billy buttons that were on the tables, and all the bunny tails were hand-collected from the local beaches around New Plymouth.

The bouquets were in the hands of the florist Foragecrest and Petals & Co apart from the big king white protea which my mum dried especially for me after it was used for my Dad’s 50th birthday celebration. I choose the Protea because they are simply my absolute favourite flower.

From photographer Abi, “Alice’s mum had a drying shed that sounded very intriguing & Alice wanted some photos in there before they left. It was a little Aladdin’s cave with dried flowers hanging from the rafters & it was the perfect backdrop to these gorgeous ladies!”

Gordon wore a navy suit with a slight green check. His suit, shirt, and belt were all purchased from Tarocash.

One of our groomsmen who lives in Australia, Joey, couldn’t make it because of COVID so to include him, we used a cardboard cut out of him on the day, which was very important and very hilarious!

I have many favourite photos from the day but my favourite is Gordon and I standing in front of the spray painted wall cuddling and both smiling.

Abi Hackling was our photographer and I could honestly be here all day talking about how amazing she is. Abi first met with us a year out from our date. She was so down-to-earth and so talented, I instantly trusted her. On the day, she was fun, vibrant, and easy to work with. She produced these stunning pictures that I’ll be forever grateful for.

We had both our ceremony and reception at East End Surf Lifesaving Club. We choose the venue because it has this amazing deck that looks over the beach. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we couldn’t get married out there. My dad walked me down the aisle to Bring me the Horizon -“Follow You”.

The ceremony was quick – neither Gordon and I are good in front of a crowd, so we really wanted it to be quick and painless. We wanted our day to be fun so we choose fun music and ensured it was light-hearted but full of love.

Our celebrant Rose Haskell stands out as someone who went above and beyond for us. Since Gordon and I got married at a pretty uncertain time with COVID, she kept tabs on me and she checked in on how I was feeling. We even created a plan for a possible level 3 wedding and she promised me she’d handle all the paperwork regarding the change.

Gordon is very handy and built the archway we used on the day. My mum did all the table flowers and I hand wrote all the place setting cards. I took complete creative control of our day. Gordon and I, along with some help from my mum, aunty and my best friend Kasey set up the whole venue apart from the ceiling installation which our florist came and did.

My favourite part of the wedding planning process was really learning about who I was as a person – learning about how far I could push the boat out on removing traditions that didn’t suit us, all while keeping things traditional and personal. Stay honest with yourselves about what you want your day to be. Don’t ignore gut feelings about what you do or don’t want on your day, just because a family member or friend might not like it.