St George's Restaurant & Te Mata Peak wedding in Hawke's Bay

The best moments in life never seem to follow the script and Ben’s proposal to Rebecca is a classic case in point. After becoming high school sweethearts and spending seven years together, he’d planned the perfect moment to ask her to be his wife. There was a remote mountain top, a bended knee, all the trimmings.

“I had the ring stashed away for a couple of months waiting for just the right moment and ended up proposing by a waterfall in horrible rainy weather, dropped the ring in the mud then put it on Rebecca’s right hand instead of her left,” explains Ben.

But it’s the end of the story that counts. Rebecca and Ben sealed the deal with a gorgeous spring wedding at St Georges Restaurant near Havelock North and a glorious sunset shoot atop Te Mata Peak to finish the wrap up the first day of the rest of their lives.

Eva Bradley top Hawkes Bay photographers

Eva Bradley wedding photographer hawkes bay

Eva: What were the most important aspects to you when planning your wedding?

Ben: ‘For us it was important to lock in the essentials early. We needed to secure a good Hawke’s Bay photographer, venue and celebrant who made us feel confident about the day and added value to the planning process. The rest were small details that fell into line after that. We were very clear on that we didn't want to spend large sums of money on things that wouldn't be remembered after the wedding by us or our guests.’

rings photography by Hawkes Bay wedding photographers

Hawkes Bay wedding photographers, Eva Bradley Photography nz

weddings by Hawkes Bay wedding photographers

It’s becoming more and more popular for couples to meet each other first for photos so they can spend time after the ceremony with their guests. It’s a romantic way to do it with a carefully thought out ‘first look’, and is so practical, but does need some careful planning (or convenient clouds!) to avoid the harsh light that comes in the middle of the day. If we do a wedding this way, we always schedule some time close to sunset to get couple shots in the softer light also.

wedding photographer hawkes bay Eva Bradley

When I broke my collarbone a few weeks before Rebecca and Ben’s big day it felt like a disaster, but thanks to some creative thinking and awesome support from friend and fellow Hawke’s Bay wedding photographer, Linda Baylis, I was able to direct the day while she and my permanent second shooter, Andrew Caldwell, did the shooting.

Eva: What was important to you for the photography and how did you find the experience?

Ben: ‘We really appreciated having a photographer who was confident and took charge of more than just the photos…keeping track of the timeline and making good suggestions in the planning process. Eva’s local knowledge of Hawke’s Bay was a real asset in finding the best spots for photos for the weather on the day - this took a lot of the pressure off us. I usually hate standing around for photos and try and get it over with as soon as possible but I ended up quite enjoying the process. Mostly we appreciated that Eva managed to pull something together to still sort us out after breaking her collarbone and the photos look really awesome.’

Andrew Caldwell hawkes bay wedding photographer

Eva: Tell us about why you chose a 'walk and fork' reception at St George’s Restaurant and the advantages of that over a more formal sit-down dinner.

Ben: ‘We chose walk and fork as we wanted a more relaxed, social wedding where we could mix and mingle with all of the guests. We wanted to avoid people sitting at a table for the whole night and only talking to the same group of people. In hindsight this was a really good move, a lot of our guests have commented on how much they enjoyed themselves and liked the style of wedding - it really suited our very informal personalities.’

wedding photographers Napier Eva Bradley

wedding at st Georges restaurant hawkes bay

wedding at st georges restaurant Havelock north

Eva: Looking back, what was the best part of your day?

Ben: Rebecca's favorite part was escaping with Eva and Andrew up Te Mata Peak at sunset and having some time alone together. Mine was the ceremony.