Happily Ever Duckett: 6 Months to go.

In less than 6 months, I get to marry my best friend. I feel like that’s a pretty big deal. Plans have been made over the last 12 months, deposits have been paid, outfits have been chosen, vendors have been met with. But at the back of my mind the thing I am most excited about, always, is the fact that in less than 6 months, I get to marry my best friend.

Now, if you have never planned a wedding, let me tell you. There is a shit load to do. Wait. Let me rephrase that. Pinterest tells you that there is a shit load to do. Don’t look so offended, you know I love me some Pinterest time… but seriously. When it comes to wedding planning the Pinterest black hole is deep. Centrepieces, seating charts, hairstyles, floral installations with thousands of peonies. My God. I could go for days. And days. And days. When it came to planning our wedding, very early on we picked out the three most important things that we wanted our day to be centred around. Every decision that we have made about the wedding has been come back to those things. If it didn’t add to one or more of those categories, it was out. For us, it was… Great Food, that the whole event was a reflection of us as a couple and maybe, most importantly to us, Great Photographers.

We started searching for our photographers before we had even confirmed our venue or our date. There are just so many people out there who are great at their craft, but we knew we wanted something different. So we made a short list from vendors all around New Zealand, people whose work we loved, people who we could see capturing our day. We knew from the beginning we wanted connection, we wanted colour, we wanted to feel something and we wanted photographers who weren’t afraid to take risks, push boundaries, and be creative. And then we found We Do. The minute we virtually hung out Jason and Aneta in their living room, we knew we had met our team. . You see as much as it was about finding someone whose work was incredible it was also about finding someone we could trust, someone that would make us feel comfortable, or even better, someone who could make us feel like fucking rock stars. We clicked. And it was the start of something awesome.

A month or so ago, just before the weather turned really chilly, we got to hang out for real, in a couple of our favourite spots outside of Wellington City. Jason brought his camera along, and well, quite frankly, he created some fucking magic. I can’t stop looking at the photos. I mean, honestly. I look at them and see so much love and happiness, so much warmth and so much creativity. I love the way he saw us, and the way he managed to capture us.

I am so thankful for their talent, and for them giving us the opportunity to freeze a moment in time, to climb rocks, and walk along piers, to stand in forests and beaches together and just exist together in photographs. They are moments I will cherish forever. I didn’t think it was possible. But receiving these in my inbox on a freezing cold night in June has made me even more excited about marrying my best friend at the end of the year.