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Wow what a way to renew your vows. Travelling to your favourite city (New York) and renewing your vows exactly where you got married the first time! Mark & Laura wanted to make sure they took Australian pieces with them to New York. We caught up with the couple to hear all about their wedding planning and why they choose Peggy and Finn products for their big day. Happy reading!
Photography by Phillip Porto from The Portos
How did you guys meet?
We met in the UK almost 12 years ago. Only a few months after we met, we decided to get married. I love christmas and, we were watching Home Alone when we decided we would head to New York to get married. Our wedding was very small and we were really young which is why we decided to renew our vows after many life achievement including: 10 years married, 2 nursing degrees between us and a huge move from the UK to Australia.
What was the style of your wedding?
It was a very laid back affair with friends and family from the UK and Australia in attendance. We wanted to celebrate both NYC (a place that means a lot to us) and Australia and did this with iconic venues and with Australian touches like the dress, flowers, rings and of course, Mark’s outfit.
What inspired you to purchase Australian Peggy and Finn products for your wedding day?
We really wanted to use all Australian products for our outfits and decoration and, this was even more important considering we renewed our vows outside of Australia. Peggy and Finn products are so beautiful and represent the Aussie flora and fauna which, is the reason we picked them for our day. They meant that we had a piece of our home with us on our day.
Tell us what was unique about your day?
I guess every story is unique. After speaking to the officiant, I think that returning to a place of such significance 10 years later to renew our vows in the same place we married was very unique. The attire we wore to the rings we used and the fact that we handmade and sourced everything from Australia was unique. Despite having the ceremony in the same place, it couldn’t have been more different than the first time around.
What was your favorite moment on your wedding day?
I have to be honest and say there was no favourite moment as, having all of our friends and family together in one place and knowing they travelled so far to be with us was incredibly overwhelming and is what really made our day really special. Stood with my husband in the same place we were married 10 years ago also meant the world to me (I may have had to use his pocket square as a hanky after crying too much).
Words of wisdom, What advice would you give to other couples who are planning their wedding day?
So, our flight path was from Cairns to Brisbane to LA to NYC. When in Brisbane I realised that I had left our rings and cake topper in Cairns. I was SO upset. Months of hard work had gone in preparing everything. I popped a post on Facebook to see if anyone was heading to BNE that morning before we jumped on a flight to LA on the off chance they could bring the rings however, no one was. To my surprise and really XMAS miracle, a lady Helen I used to work with was coming to NYC and would land the day before the wedding. We ended up getting the rings and the cake topper! I am so grateful but in hindsight, even if they hadn’t made it to NYC, the day would’ve still been perfect. Thinking about this, I would say JUST ENJOY IT. It doesn’t matter if things go wrong, it’s a story to tell. Enjoy the quirks and the perfect imperfections of your day. As long as you have the people around you who you love, everything will be fantastic.
Tell us who was part of your tribe:
My mum; Careen from the UK
My sister Christina and her partner Leo From the UK
My friend of 16 years Tracey, her husband Brett and daughter eve (UK).
Kylie and Marianne from Perth in WA.
Our friends from Cairns; Zeke (Who made the flowers), Luke, Helen, James, Andre
Ceremony venue / location: The Cop Cot – Central Park, NYC
Reception venue / location: Cocktail hour before the ceremony at The Plaza followed by drinks and a feed at Houston Hall, West Village NYC
Celebrant/Officiant: Sarah Ritchie. The most fantastic and beautiful lady who officiated a perfect ceremony
Photography: The wonderful Phillip Porto from The Portos
Styling: Most things including guest napkins and the cake topper were handmade by me (the bride)
Florist: My best friend Zeke. We wondered down to the Chelsea Flower Market the day before the ceremony to pick what we wanted including some Eucalyptus!!
Hair & Makeup: Glam Squad
The Dress(es): Mine was a 2 piece couture gown from the fantastic Melbourne Designers “bird Skin”. Luke and his team also made the most incredible jacket for me with the smiths lyrics from “hand in glove” beaded onto the back of the jacket. Hand in Glove was our original wedding song in 2009 and we wanted to include some similarities in the day.
Veil / headwear: I had an ethically sourced feather piece with metal starfish and beads around it. I spend a lot of time in the ocean and wanted something to reflect the other love of my life – Diving
Rings: Melbourne based jeweller Millie Savage who makes the most out of the world jewellery. You can tell she pours her heart and soul into each piece. The ring is finished off with a delicious Australian opal to resemble our home. I also had a necklace from the lovely Megan Moss who made me a mermaid piece. Again, this was to include some ocean themes. Megan lives near the south coast and makes some pretty magical things.
Bow ties / ties: Peggy and Finn of course. What better way than to bring a piece of AUSTRALIA with us to NYC. We spent a lot of time picking everything out as, we wanted everything to be handmade by us or, bought from local Australian folk. It’s really important we support local business and even more so because we got married/renewed our vows overseas. Mark also had a cavalier spaniel tie clip to represent our dogs who had to stay in Australia.
Favors: I had embroidered everyone napkins with our two king Charles spaniels on as, they couldn’t be there with us. Guests have since had these framed which is so lovely.
Stationery / Signage: Again, everything was handmade by me from recycled materials that I found around and about. I love that the ceremony was small enough that it allowed us to do so.
Entertainment: Shots of tequila
Honeymoon: After New York, we went on to celebrate New Years in New Orleans and then onto San Fran and Seattle.
We love this vow renewal and their Australian touches. We hope you enjoyed our third post of our Real Weddings series.
For more Australian wedding inspo check out our Wedding page.
Also have you checked out our wedding hashtag on Instagram? #peggyandfinnweddings is where we tag all our couples daily.
Cheers,
Peggy and Finn
