Lucy and Willy ran a strict black tie code and then dropped it onto the wild coast of Kaikōura. Amour Weddings handled both the photography and the film, and the team clearly knows how to work a contrast, pinning sharp tuxedos against grey rocky shoreline and catching a helicopter as it lifts off toward the mountains. There is a borrowed pearl strand doing quiet work across the whole day, an all black bridal party that turns Lucy into the brightest thing in every frame, and a cake reveal that genuinely caught her off guard!
Location: Kaikōura, New Zealand
Style: Black tie, Minimal, Coastal
Time of planning: 1.5 years
Number of guests: 170
Setting: Oceanfront
Season: Summer
The couple first met at university, then lost track of each other until work threw them together again overseas, and that was that. Willy picked the coldest, stormiest day of the winter to propose, driving Lucy up into the snow before he got down on one knee, and she says she was completely caught off guard. They stretched the engagement out to two and a half years and spent the whole run enjoying being engaged, then pulled the wedding together over about a year and a half.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
Lucy treats getting ready as the first outfit of the day, not the warm up. The satin pyjama set has quietly become shorthand for a particular kind of bride, and hers lands in white with black piping while the bridesmaids run blush.
Her taste runs minimal with a couple of loud exceptions placed on purpose. The Mi Piaci mule is one of them, a square toe shoe buried in shaggy fringe, the single piece in the whole look she let off the leash. Tom Ford Lost Cherry is the other, because reaching for the cherry gourmand that took over beauty TikTok says she skipped the safe bridal florals and picked a scent that behaves like a personality. The pearls carry the sentiment, since they were borrowed and they also double as the styling thread, the same idea scaling up into the cluster bags the bridesmaids carry so one detail ends up running the whole party.
Everything soft on her is dialled down so the structure can do the talking. Stacey Banfield kept the makeup clean and bright with real skin left showing rather than painted over, and Good Hair By Ellie kept the length down and loose, both calls held deliberately quiet so the gown could lead.
The Jane Hill dress earns that restraint, a clean white with a strapless bodice cut sharp enough to carry both a full skirt and a long veil. Then Jenny Burtt undercuts all that precision on purpose, letting green amaranthus spill out of the white roses so the bouquet lands looser than the rest of the look and pulls the whole thing back from stiff.
Groom’s Fashion
Willy went with a Sergios suit and RM Williams black boots instead of formal dress shoes. A white rose boutonniere is the only soft thing on him. The groomsmen stayed in black tie too.
Ceremony
The ceremony happened at BlackMiller, under a canopy of native trees with the ocean sitting right behind it, and the guests took their seats on tiered rows cut into the greenery. Lucy and Willy kept it traditional and wrote their own vows, and both of Lucy’s parents walked her down the aisle, which she calls the part she will hold onto. Two loose clouds of white and green flowers framed the top of the aisle, no symmetry forced on them, and the dark bentwood chairs kept the setup grounded in the bush.
The bridal party is where the styling shows its hand. Putting every bridesmaid in floor length black, then handing them big white and green bouquets, turns Lucy into the single bright point the second she reaches the front. It is the oldest trick in art direction, one loud contrast doing all the work, and it lands even harder out here against the wall of green.
The bride says the nerves vanished the second she locked eyes with Willy at the other end, and from there the whole day floated. The confetti exit got shot in black and white, all raised arms and open mouths in the middle of the crowd, exactly the kind of frame Amour Weddings keeps nailing across the day.
Cocktail Hour
Cocktail hour leaned all the way into the setting. Loungers came out, drinks went round, and the crowd spread along the pool with the ocean as a backdrop. The bubbles came from Esse out of Kaikōura, and a daybed under a fringed parasol turned into the spot where the bridesmaids parked themselves for a while.
Moments Together
The part Lucy flags as the one she will replay forever happened in the air. The couple took a helicopter up into the mountains to shoot photos looking back over her family’s farm, just the two of them with champagne, before flying back down to the party. She talks about those few minutes alone, off the ground and away from 170 guests, as the real centre of the day. Seeing her own family’s land from above on her wedding day clearly landed differently than any of the planned moments.
Amour Weddings caught the lift off in black and white, both of them mid stride with arms thrown out and glasses raised, which is the loosest the two of them look all day. Back at sea level the team kept working the contrast that runs through the whole gallery, putting Lucy and Willy in full black tie out on the grey rocky shore with the water behind them.
Reception
Dinner moved into a marquee with a clear roof, set among misty bush so the trees did the work of a ceiling. Jenny Burtt loaded the tables with big white and green bunches and ran hydrangea down the centre, the soft blue heads bringing the only real color into an otherwise black, white and cream room. The tables themselves went bare, raw timber with no linen, dressed in gold cutlery, speckled stoneware, taper candles in gold holders, and floral print menu cards tucked into the napkins.
The chairs are cane bentwood, the same café shape you have clocked in a hundred good restaurants, and they keep the whole setup from reading too stiff. Lee and Ben from Better Band Co ran a DJ and sax combo that pulled people up fast, and Lucy and Willy took their first dance to You’re Still the One by Shania Twain. The cake landed as a full surprise and she could not believe how it turned out.
Later Lucy swapped the Jane Hill gown for a short white Rebecca Vallance dress for the after party, and the black and white frames from there are pure chaos, guests up on the chairs with glasses overhead and the night running long. They put it down to finding the right vendors, and looking at how this all came together, that tracks!
Advice from the couple:
• Take it all in! It’s honestly such a special feeling having all of your closest friends and family there to celebrate so make sure you take time to stop and take it all in. Have fun, smile, laugh, and be present. It’s your day!
• We had the best vendors which made the day so easy – so spend time researching and finding vendors that fit your day.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff! No one notices the little things so don’t let it worry you.
• Take some time out just the 2 of you for 5 minutes so you get to connect throughout the day.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY Amour Weddings | VENUE BlackMiller | FLORALS Jenny Burtt | HAIR Good Hair By Ellie | MAKEUP Stacey Banfield | DRESS Jane Hill Bridal | SECOND DRESS Rebecca Vallance | DJ & SAX Lee & Ben, Better Band Co | BUBBLES Esse House of Bubbles
