With only a few guests and a stunning mountaintop view, real Martina Liana bride Danielle’s New Zealand wedding was an intimate celebration that was the perfect combination of adventure and sentimental style. The sweeping views of Mt Roy provided the backdrop to Danielle and Chris’s ceremony while the expert team at Sunshine Weddings captured the day perfectly. Wearing a the dreamy combo of the Shae skirt and Celia corset from the Martina Liana Separates collection, Danielle looked the part of free-spirited bride and we could not love it more!
From the bride: My now-husband proposed 19 days before we were due to leave for a two and a half week mountain biking vacation in New Zealand. Having seen some amazing photos from helicopter weddings on the South Island of New Zealand, we knew that’s how we wanted to get married. Being a second wedding for both of us, we didn’t want to do another large, traditional church wedding…this time we wanted it to be for us. Two days after he proposed, I contacted and heard back from our photographers in New Zealand, Sunshine Weddings. The only day in our itinerary that was free was November 23rd, a Wednesday. Lucky for us since all the vendors were free! Sunshine Weddings was willing and able to coordinate the entire event and put me in touch with hair and makeup stylists.
I went dress shopping and absolutely fell in love with the Shae skirt paired with the romantic Celia top. The Shae skirt was the soft, flowy, billowy feel I wanted for a mountaintop wedding. I bought the dress three days after he proposed, had it altered, and carried it over 8,000 miles through four airports to get there! We went suit shopping for him and ordered about a million things from Amazon (my shoes, our rings, my jewelry, belts, etc!) to pull the wedding off in such a short amount of time.
As usual, there were hiccups along the way – the large earthquake hit New Zealand on November 14, our second day in the county. The earthquake disrupted ferry travel and caused thousands of landslides. Luckily, the ferry we had booked to the South Island was one of a few that made the scheduled departure! It was a stressful week leading up to the ferry ride since we would’ve been stuck on the North Island. Eventually, we made our way down to Wanaka, where the wedding was to take place.
The morning of the wedding, our photographers actually woke us up! They were watching a storm that was moving in and wanted to push the ceremony from 5pm to earlier in the day. Groggily, I agreed. The plan was to get ready at the campground we were staying at then drive to Aspiring Helicopters who would fly us to Coromandel Peak for the ceremony. Our photographers made all the calls and got the ceremony moved up an hour to 4pm. Now it was time to find a bouquet! Our original plan to pick wildflowers was thwarted due to being a little too late for the wildflowers to bloom! So I called The Green Flower Room and asked if they had anything I could use. Rachel, the florist, said they’d just received a large shipment of flowers and we should come down and pick out what we like. And we did just that. Rachel created my bouquet as I picked flowers I liked out of the bins. We even ventured into her driveway and picked some greenery and small white flowers. It turned out beautifully and was such a fun experience!
The hair and makeup stylists came to us at the campground we were staying at and I got ready there. Once I was beautified, we hopped in the car and drove to Aspiring Helicopters who flew us to the top of Coromandel Peak (Mt. Roy) for the ceremony. The helicopter ride was one of the most fantastic experiences! Our heli held seven people: the pilot, me and my husband, my brother, the celebrant, and our two photographers. It was a perfect fit 🙂
The ceremony location is one of the most amazing and awe inspiring places I’ve ever been to. Mt. Roy is an iconic New Zealand photography location and I’ve seen photos from there for years. It was unbelievable to get to be there for our wedding ceremony. The location provided the most stunning photos, but you can judge that for yourselves!
