#AstraBride Kae and husband Colin look oh-so in love in their stunning wedding photos! We're excited to share them here, featuring their mixed-cultural church ceremony, followed by an elegant and lively reception at Mantells on the waterfront of Auckland's Mission Bay.
Kae wore the 1897 by Kenneth Winston - a vintage inspired lace fit and flare gown with beautiful beaded detailing. I mean, look at the detail and craftsmanship on that illusion back! This wedding gown transitioned beautifully between classic for the church ceremony, to elegant and glamourous for the reception. This dress is also lined with a jersey stretch lining, so Kae was able to dance and twirl the night away!
So have a scroll through their day, gather some inspo and insight, and enjoy!
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
I chose the 1897 because it was so comfy, and just flattering in all the right places. Not to mention the detailing on the back - ugh too pretty!
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
Dress shopping in Astra Bridal was such an amazing experience! Everyone was so lovely and helpful, such a nice vibe - which is what you want when you're getting married! I tried on all the dresses I wanted and the ladies helped pick some more dresses out based on how I was feeling from the previous dresses which was so cool and I just loved every minute of it!
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
Have you ever had those experiences where everything just seems to magically put itself into place? Like so many coincidences, that when you look back, it kind of seems like it was destined to happen...That's kind of how I met Colin.
I decided to put myself out there and try online dating lol. On Bumble, they give sample one liners to introduce yourself or just to start a conversation. Being the introvert that I am, those were my go-to when starting a new chat with someone. Until one time, I saw this guy's profile and said "That's pretty cool that you play the drums." and little did I know, that would be the first thing I would say to my future husband. What's funny is that I had only recently moved my age search down and he moved his one up and that's when we matched! We were both each other's first dates since joining the app, so we only went out for a drink, which went so well, it turned into dinner. We started dating, then after a month, on Easter, he went to my house and decided to ask me to be his girlfriend. In his words..."Will you be the Amy Santiago to my Jake Peralta?" (From Brooklyn 99). Then we went inside while my whole family was there (and I'm Filipino so there was a loooot of people in that house) and he basically met my family right away - which was very important to me. And in turn, I also met his family...luckily we all got along really well!
After a year of ups and downs, he proposed to me on
Christmas morning after church. I was pretty stressed at that time actually
because I had to prepare stuff for Christmas lunch with my family, and he
decided to take his time and have coffee and take pictures on our spot by the
park. But then he knelt down and asked me to marry him, and all my stress just
went away! We even had some people walking in the park congratulate us, which
was pretty cute. Little did I know that he had been planning this with my
family the whole time.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It's hard to choose because every part of the wedding was quite special in its own way. For our church ceremony, we included the extra ceremonies that Filipino weddings have like placing the chord and veil on the couple and blessing the arras, and it was just so nice having our loved ones be part of those ceremonies. We also had a Singaporean tea ceremony after the church, where we gave thanks and served tea to our elders which was so nice and intimate. Then for reception, we just had such a blast with everyone there. We even did the "yam seng" cheers, and everyone just screamed their lungs out! It was so funny and crazy and I loved it!
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
It was actually such a whirlwind of emotions...a week prior, I was checking the weather forecast and it was supposed to be thunderstorms for the whole week! So I tried to look for and buy as many clear umbrellas as I could for the bridal party photos and just psyching myself up that rainy day photos are gonna be just as good. But lucky for us, it turned out to be such a beautiful day and we got lots of sunshine!
On the morning of, we found out that a few people ended up getting Covid along with the best man and a groomsman, so yeah it was pretty stressful. We ended up having to remove a whole table for reception and rearrange a few people to different tables. But yeah, after that we were just hoping that that was the last hiccup and luckily it was! We just enjoyed the day and just let go of all the planning. Our photographer and videographer were so much fun too! They really gave such an enjoyable vibe.
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
Make sure you have a good support system! No matter how much I planned everything by myself, on the days leading up to the wedding, you really need that support system to help with the load, because it is a lot! And having my sisters and Colin's family help keep the schedule going - from set up to pack up, was such a blessing for us. Because you wouldn't want to stress yourself out on the day, trying to keep the schedule on time - you should be enjoying and soaking in every moment of your special day.
