Oh man, I don’t even know where to start with Sara and TJ. There’s so much love, laughter and kindness between these two and witnessing their marriage and joining of families was something I’ll never forget.

This was my first multicultural wedding and boy, it didn’t disappoint! I knew from early on when meeting Sara and TJ months ago that this wedding was going to be so emotional and filled with so much love! I probably squealed in excitement when they told me about TJ’s family traditions, the dances and how his family would welcome Sara into his. Now, I’ve seen A LOT of weddings, but nothing beats witnessing tradition, culture and faith perfectly blended into one incredible day!

Here are a few words from the Mr and Mrs themselves… enjoy! (PS, this was also my first time watching the haka in person, WOW the energy was incredible!!!!)

1. Tell us about your wedding day… how would you sum it all up? Amazing, everything ran so smoothly for us leading up to the wedding and on the day there was no stress, it couldn’t have felt more natural.

2. What advice would you give to future couples planning their wedding day? Don’t stress about this and that, you’ll end up hating the day because something will go wrong it’s bound to happen, this is one day where you get to marry the person you love and don’t let anything else get in the way. Somethings are out of our control so just go with the flow and whatever happens, happens. On your big day take it all in and always throughout the day look at you’re better half because the day goes very quickly and remember how lucky you are to have a marriage.

3. Tell us more about the traditions and cultures played a part in your day? TJ is of Samoan heritage raised around Maori culture in NZ and it was a good opportunity to introduce the in-laws to a taste of where he comes from. For celebrations, the Siva Samoan Dance is like the first dance for the newlyweds and families. The Haka represents a war dance, this will be performed at many different events, birthdays, weddings, culture events etc. In this setting, it is used from respect and well wishes for the marriage. The Siva Samoa “Siva” meaning dance is traditional Samoan Dance mainly performed by the women (you’ll see the man in the background dancing around the women) Samoan express their dance through their hands too tell the story. We had our first Siva which was an item, this item was to express and show where we come from and our second Siva The Taualuga was where Sara was bought in, this Siva is a way of our culture welcoming Sara into our family. 

4. How would you describe your overall experience with Roslyn Clare Photography? Honestly, Roslyn is the best, she makes the day so much better with her bubbly happy personality even for days after family members were still asking who she was and how amazing she was, so easy to get along with and makes it feel so much more natural and less awkward. Half the time you don’t know where she is either getting those sneaky photos!

(full list of vendors coming soon)

Roslyn xx