 An Absolutely Perfect Day
Alisha and James’ Stressfree “Concierge” Wedding
Aucklanders Alisha and James Pardon met on a blind date, and haven’t looked back since. The absolute joy on their faces throughout their January wedding at Tui Hills was proof enough of what a great match they were for each other.
As Alisha tells it, the fairytale romance almost never happened though. “We were set up on a blind date by one of my best friends, who just so happened to be James’ boss at the time. She thought James and I would get along, so gave my number to him in January 2018. It took him six months to contact me! We met and I couldn’t help but think what a nice guy he was. Our official anniversary is July 4 – Independence Day, so nice and easy to remember.
“Our relationship progressed really quickly. We had been together for two months when an opportunity for James to move to Wellington for work came up. He asked if I wanted to move with him and I said yes! So at four months into our relationship, we’d moved cities, changed jobs, left our family and friends in Auckland and started living together. We
both knew pretty quickly that we had found our ‘one’.”
Alisha said that having special family members at the wedding helped make it a perfect day. “We had two super special guests at our wedding. James’ grandmother “Nanny” (pictured below) who is 101 years old, and also my uncle who had just been discharged from hospital after a stroke. We are very grateful to have had both of them there with us.”
Another thing that made the day so enjoyable was the couple’s decision to choose Tui Hills’ Concierge wedding package upgrade, which meant that the Tui Hills team organised most of the wedding, including the food, styling, DJ and more.Â
“I like things to be perfect, so I was a little anxious as, obviously, I couldn’t do everything myself on the wedding day. I’m so happy we went with the Concierge package. I really enjoyed our meeting with Marieke and Shelby going over the last minute details. It honestly put my mind at rest knowing that there were going to be people helping create the ‘wedding’ I had in my head.
“The staff at Tui Hills shone on our wedding day. When I arrived at the venue and got out of the car, there was cold water with a straw waiting for me! A glass of water had never tasted so good – I was really thirsty. Walking down the aisle, stopping halfway and having Marieke adjust the train on my dress so that it was perfect for when I walked out into the Glade – so nice! Thank goodness she gave me her tissue as well – absolute lifesaver! I can’t say enough good things about the staff – there aren’t enough words. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect.”
You can see and read more about Alisha and James’ wedding in the Real Weddings section of the April edition of New Zealand Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine’s. They’re also entered into the Tui Hills Wedding of the Year Competition.
Photographs by:Â Alex De Freitas
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