Becky & John – A bold and joy filled wedding at the Hunting lodge

willowandsagebotan
Aug 11
3 min read

I still remember my first chat with Becky. I was on a girls trip in Sydney, stretched out on a patch of grass in the Botanical Gardens, when we jumped on the call to dream up her and John’s wedding. Her vision was unconventional, completely personal, and from the moment she said blue and burgundy I was hooked.

Bold modern wedding florals at the hunting lodge Auckland

Tell Me about your love story! How did you two meet?

We first crossed paths thanks to a mutual friend, who recruited us to join her 100km Oxfam Trailwalker team. From October 2014 to March 2015, we were training for the event and therefore spending countless hours side-by-side walking, talking and playing many games to pass the time. It was during this time, we discovered just how much fun we could have together - from playing I-spy in the dark, competing to spear the most leaves with our walking poles or trying to catch pine needles drifting down from the trees above - we were always laughing together. Once the event was finished we eventually ventured out on a solo date day at the Velodrome in Cambridge, where again, we laughed so much!

What was your vision for your wedding? Did you have a theme, a feeling, or an aesthetic in mind?

Somewhere in the depths of wedding research, I stumbled upon the concept of choosing 3 words to describe your day and therefore making sure all decisions link to this. Our overriding priority for the day was to feel joy. This is the word that I use to describe how I feel when I am with John and the word that I wanted to encapsulate our experience and our guests experience at the wedding. Secondly, John wanted to prioritise connection with our guest, this greatly impacted the order of events for our day and I wanted a little bit of romance thrown in.

What role did flowers play in your day? Were there specific blooms, colors, or arrangements that were meaningful to you?

Our venue, The Hunting Lodge in Waimauku, has this gorgeous big barn that’s basically a giant white canvas inside. I knew I wanted the flowers and décor to be bright and bold, to bring all the warmth, joy, and romance to the space. We could not decide on colours — partly because I’m hopeless at making decisions, and partly because we both had completely different favourites. In the end, we called Jade for a bit of reassurance, and just trusted her creative magic. She absolutely nailed it.

What were your favourite floral moments? Any specific arrangements, bouquets, or installations that stood out?

Can I write a bullet point list? I loved them all so much!!

- The altar waterfall feature was honestly a dream. It felt so special, and we loved that Jade kindly moved it into the reception afterwards so it could be enjoyed there too — it became such a gorgeous focal point.

- The table settings were just as fun — with fruit and chillies mixed in. We even had guests eating the chillies throughout the night, which only added to the laughs! Jade also wove candles in among the floral arrangements, which brought such a romantic glow and was such a generous touch.

- And my bouquet — I loved the colours, which were bold and romantic yet joyful. I also have to mention the bounce and droopiness of it too. I’d told Jade I wanted to be able to skip with joy down the aisle and have my bouquet move with me. It was exactly that — such a dream!