A Romantic Wedding in Waiheke Island, New Zealand

With their hearts set on a destination wedding in the bride’s hometown of New Zealand, Michaela & Bevan decided on the island of Waiheke. Set at an iconic vineyard with dramatic ocean views, the couple fell in love with the venue’s European aesthetic and rustic charm.

With rain predicted, the intimate ceremony was held in a dreamy courtyard space, enclosed with glass but streaming with natural light. Inside, an all-white ceremony was framed by sculptural, modern blooms. Extending a mood of classicism, reception celebrations were held on long tables dotted with candlelight and single stem roses. Above, cascading installations fell from the ceiling, interwoven with fairy lights.

Changing between 3 different dresses for ceremony, reception and afterparty, Michaela had bespoke wedding dresses made by Australian designers.

Our Story

Names / Michaela Wain & Bevan Galloway

Wedding Date / January 10th, 2023

Guest Numbers / 85

How We Met

We were two of the first people to move into this beautiful apartment block in Brisbane. Although we were both in a relationship at the time there always seemed to be a bit of a connection there when we passed each other in the hallway and had a chat. I was always drawn to Bevan’s smartass personality, we just loved to laugh. I wouldn’t say I ever saw ourselves together but there was definitely something in the air that attracted us to one another.

A year had passed, and both were freshly single. I was off to NZ to visit my family for Christmas. Bevan contacted me and said he would also be over in NZ for Christmas, visiting his brother’s family. I said to him when you’re there let me know and I’ll take you out. This in my mind was just as mates… Bevan picked me up from my parent’s house in Auckland, nervous as anything. I remember thinking ohh.. this was a bad idea. Little did I know we ended up having the best night & a few too many margaritas. I said to Bev what are you doing for New Year’s Day – turned out we were going to the exact same long lunch on the coast.

All lunch, I kept looking at Bevan, thinking, I think he’s cute? But he wouldn’t even look twice at me. Then the night came, and we were all back at my friend’s apartment and Bev finally started chatting to me. It hit 12pm and it was time for him and his mates to leave. He walks into the lift, looks at his two friends and opens the lift back up and says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” (ha sounds like a movie scene) He walks through the door, pushes me against the wall & kisses me…. the kiss was taken well. Ha! From then on, we were hooked, & have not left each other’s side since that day.

Our Engagement Story

Well, I can say the day we got engaged was pretty incredible. We were away at this beautiful resort called Qualia in Hamilton Island for my birthday. I had absolutely no idea that Bevan was thinking of proposing to me while we were there, but I was really hoping he would as it was such a romantic place.

The day before my birthday was full of activities. In the morning we went off on a boat trip to Whitehaven beach, the longest whitest beach in Australia, absolutely gorgeous. We swam there, went for a big walk, had a picnic, and drank champagne. Then, went back to the resort and jumped on a helicopter that flew over the Great Barrier Reef out to this pontoon on Love Heart Reef (this beautiful reef shaped like a love heart) we snorkeled around there with one other couple in the afternoon, it was pure bliss. When we went to leave & jump back in the helicopter, I turned around and Bevan was down on his knee. It was pretty special.

“My reception honestly blew me away. My Florist & Wedding Planner nailed the brief. It was complete romance and magic. We had four long tables lined with gorgeous big candles scattered between single stem roses in little vases.”

The Setting

Wedding Location

Location: Mudbrick Vinyard, Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

I always dreamt of getting married on Waiheke. I was born in New Zealand and spent a lot of time over on Waiheke growing up, holidaying. It is such a beautiful, special spot to me. Every part of the island is just gorgeous. Bevan had also been to Waiheke before we got together and also fell in love with the place.

Our first date was in New Zealand, where all the magic happened so we decided New Zealand was the place we wanted to tie the knot. Mudbrick is definitely the most iconic vineyard on the Island. It has this beautiful European rustic feel to it and beautiful ocean views. A great indoor & outdoor option for a ceremony is important when it comes to New Zealand because who knows what the weather will be like! The reception feels like you were somewhere in Italy which we just loved. It has so much character and charm. Bevan and I fell in love with the aesthetic straight away – not to mention the delicious produce, food & wine.

Aesthetic

My mood board for the wedding was really drawn from a lot of European weddings, as our location had that feel. I just wanted a ray of beautiful green and white flowers lining our ceremony and candles all down the tables to create that gorgeous, romantic fairytale feel.

Preparation

The morning of we kept it pretty low key. Went for walk, had coffee, and chilled out. I gave the girls, my parents & Bevan a beautiful card which I got individually designed with cute little messages. I made sure this was all before hair and makeup, as a few tears were shed!

Photography & Videography

Our wedding photographers were Stephan & Nikita – What really drew me towards choosing Stephan and Nikita is that they really capture those raw in between, special moments.

Style Notes

Ceremony Décor

We had a white aisle made to walk down to freshen up the space, lined with beautiful green and white florals leading up to a ‘podium’ where we were raised so all our guests could see us properly. We had a beautiful floral Arch framing us.

Reception Décor

My reception honestly blew me away. My Florist & Wedding Planner nailed the brief. It was complete romance and magic. We had four long tables lined with gorgeous big candles scattered between single stem roses in little vases. Beautiful name cards, menus, glassware, linen table clothes & napkins. At the end of the table, we had this beautiful waterfall of florals coming down the table with candles nestled in between. Above was really where all the magic was – fairy lights and white florals were suspended from the beams between each table.

Wedding Planner & Stylist

My wedding planner Claire from One Lovely Day really brought our wedding mood board to life.

Flowers

I wanted the wedding flowers to feel fresh and modern. We kept to a palette of white blooms and green foliage. Michele Cooemy kept my bouquet simple with long stem white roses. The bridesmaids each held a bunch of Dahlias.

Cake, Food and Beverages

We had a beautiful 5 tier wedding cake which was floral design in layers of textural petals from K Cakes.  For the reception we had a 3-course menu and finished with a dessert bar for people to pick from after.

Fashion & Beauty Notes

Bride’s Dress & Shoes

My ceremony and reception dresses were both custom Pallas Couture. My party dress was a custom Ella Moda Mini. The 3 dresses were definitely necessary. It sounded like a lot! But my first was so big, I wouldn’t have been able to wear it to the reception, comfortably at least. I was surprised when I decided to go big, but I really fell in love with that princess-style dress. I always envisioned that I would go for a style that was more sexy and sleek like my second dress ,but I thought it was the one day I can do it, so why not!

The second dress was clearly sexier and laid back. I loved the sheerness of the French lace. When the light shined through it you could see my silhouette which was pretty beautiful. The third dress was perfect. I’m so happy I had a mini to get changed into so I didn’t have to worry about anyone standing on my reception dress. I danced all night long. I changed into this after the first dance, as everyone hit the dance floor.

My wedding shoes for ceremony and reception were by Jimmy Choo – the Saeda 85 in color linen/crystal. They were so comfortable, the perfect height. For the party, I wore Bella Belle from The White Collection Au – this website has a big range of really comfortable bridal shoes.

Bridesmaids’ Dresses & Shoes

My bridesmaids all wore dresses by Shona Joy – The La Lune High Neck Maxi in Cream.

Wedding Rings, Jewelry & Accessories

Both Wedding Bands and Engagement from AG Designer Jeweller. I kept it really simple for my jewelry as my dresses were very busy. I wore these stunning diamond studs shaped like a flower from AG Designer Jeweller.

Groomsmen

The groomsmen wore black Tuxs from Suit Supply.  We highly recommend suit shopping from here they have such an amazing range of beautiful Italian made suits at a good price.

Hair & Makeup

The hair and makeup brief was super bronzy and glowy. I wanted hair up for the ceremony and hair down for the reception.
Nelle prepped and only pinned my hair back for the first look so it was a quick easy change for the second look when she took my hair out.

The Details

Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was at Qualia Resort, Hamilton Island and soon we will be going to Italy to extend the honeymoon for a month. January is a hard time to honeymoon as a lot of places we wanted to visit were cold. We are both summer lovers, so we decided to escape for a week up North in Queensland and then lap up a longer honeymoon midyear for the European summer.

Gift Registry

We didn’t ask for any gifts. Our gift was our guests flying over to New Zealand and celebrating with us.

Wedding Songs

Isle song – Can’t help falling in love by Kacey Musgraves

After ceremony – Sky full of stars by cold play

First dance – At last by Beyonce

Entertainment

We had a DJ with a saxophone – Sweet Mix Kids.

Celebrant

For our wedding celebrant we used Penny Allan, she was incredible. She made our ceremony laid back and fun. Penny sent us quite a detailed Q&A before the wedding to really get to know us which really brought a lot of personality to the ceremony.

Readings

We had traditional vows & also wrote tributes to each other which were more personal. My mum also read a Christian reading about love which was beautiful.

Our Advice

One thing I wish I knew before I started my wedding plans…

Stress less about the weather! What will be, will be. It will end up being the most incredible day no matter what.

If I could give other brides to be one piece of advice…

Lap up every second because it goes so fast. It will be the most magical day of your life!

Sources of inspiration…

Pinterest and The Lane!

Our Contacts

Wedding Venue / Mudbrick Vineyard, Waiheke Island

Wedding Stylist & Planner / One Lovely Day Styling

Photography & Videography / Stephan & Nikita

Bride’s Dress / Pallas Couture & Ella Moda Mini.

Bride’s Shoes /Jimmy Choo & Bella Belle

Bridesmaid’s Dresses / Shona Joy

Groom’s Formal Wear / Suit Supply

Wedding Rings, Jewelry & Accessories / AG Designer Jeweller

Hair & Make up / Ginelle Dale & Chay Roberts

Stationery / Just My Type

Florist / Michele Cooemy

Cake / K Cakes

Candles / Revel and Light 

Honeymoon Destination / Qualia, Hamilton Island

Entertainment / Sweet Mix Kids

Tableware / Royal Laboratorie