M A R C + J O
F R O M T H E B R I D E . . .
How we met…
Marc is French-born but half Spanish and half Vietnamese by origin but he was raised in French Polynesia. I am New Zealand born but Taiwanese by origin and was raised in Australia. Marc was offered a scholarship to study in Australia. Of all places, Marc chose my hometown, the city of Wollongong to do his studies. We met at church, and discovered that we both shared a love of hiking and nature. We started to hang out from doing some group hikes with friends, and eventually began dating.
How we knew it was love…
Overall we have spent one year of our relationship long distance. First it was six months of when I moved to Norway for exchange studies, then another six months when Marc moved back to Tahiti after he finished his scholarship in Australia. I think long distance was the ultimate test for us. If we could go through that, we could go through anything. After all the long months spent apart, our love for each other was not shaken and that’s when we knew we wanted to spend a lifetime together.
The proposal…
We got engaged at a local independent cinema in Australia (Warrawong Gala Cinemas). As a professional videographer for Sylus Media, Marc had arranged the cinema to play a video that he filmed and edited during the trailers at the start of the movie.
Just before the video played, Marc said he was going to go to the ‘candy bar’. While he was gone, the video played on the big screen – to my shock it was a video of Marc confessing his love and desire to ‘take the next step’ together, along with so much footage of our wonderful memories together.
At the end of the video, Marc came to me and popped the question, infront of some very shocked strangers who were in the cinema that night. There were lots of shouts and cheers from the cinema when I said yes. The most amazing thing was that a huge crowd of all my friends and family were sitting in the cinema witnessing the whole thing, which Marc had arranged for them to be there without me knowing. I had no idea they were in there til after I said ‘yes’.
You can watch the proposal video and nights at the cinema below!
T H E W E D D I N G . . .
Our wedding vision…
From the outset, we wanted a wedding out in nature. We dreamed to have it on a mountain, or within a forest of tall pine trees. I wanted it to be rustic, modern and nature-inspired. The colours were natural wood brown, ivory, and the greens of foliage.
Pre-wedding celebrations…
We had some shenanigans at my hens party. For Marc’s bucks party, he had to run around the city in a crazy prisoner costume playing a game of gangsters vs cops with his mates.
Wedding photography…
I stumbled across SVphotograph on Pinterest, which then led me to their website and instagram. They stood out to me with their contemporary style of photography so we contacted them, and it just led to a conversation. They are great communicators. We are very happy with the amazing photos that came out. Lots of candid shots, as well as capturing the breathtaking scenery of Tahiti. They photos bring back such great memories when we look back on them.
Ceremony location…
In the beautiful mountains and pine forest of Tahiti, French Polynesia. The venue was called Over the rainbow park.
Reception venue…
Same as our ceremony venue. We were there from 3pm until late into the night.
Bridal Party…
We had three of each – all of our siblings as well as one of his best friends.
They wore…
For the bridesmaids, I requested that they wear a dress that was around knee length and white, ivory or cream in colour. Apart from that, they could wear anything they liked. I didn’t want them to be matching, but rather choose something they wanted themselves, which they could wear again in the future. The guys in the bridal party wore attire by ASOS.
The groom wore…
Suit by Bell & Barnett, Shoes and accessories by ASOS
The dress…
Clare by Grace Loves Lace. I Just wanted simple, and when I saw the dress I fell in love with it.
Wedding flowers…
Being in Tahiti, you pretty much only find tropical flowers. I wanted to steer away from tropical, so flowers was a real dilemma. Flowers that you would find cheap in Australia cost a fortune in Tahiti since they are all imported. I also found that in Tahiti, there was only a small selection to choose from. With what we had, I chose gerberas, roses, and alstroemeria.
We went to several florists and they didn’t have the leaves I was looking for, so in the end we managed to find the beautiful leaves of olive trees from Marc’s sister’s backyard. We actually used these leaves, took them to Florèal, a florist in Tahiti for the flowers. and asked them to use the leaves in the bouquet. We gave them reference photos of the type of bouquets I was looking for, and emphasised imperfect and messy bouquet. The florist pulled it off well. I even used olive leaves to make my own crown, and for decorations at the wedding. The leaves were even used to decorate our cake!
Reception decor…
We built our own ceremony arch out of foraged sticks, vines and leaves. Pretty much everything was DIY. We didn’t need to try hard to decorate the venue, because the venue itself was already beautiful. But as a graphic designer and lettering artist, I was able to create a bunch of signage for the day. With the help of my brother-in-law, we spent the few months earlier making wooden framed chalkboards and easels which I then chalk-lettered. Little wooden picket signs painted with the words “Watch your step”. Hand painted directional signage hammered to a tree.
I chalk lettered a giant feature chalkboard which could be used as a backdrop for photos. (You can see my work here www.lionheart-design.com). We foraged for leaves to use as foliage decorations for the wedding. I spent hours taking off the labels from empty beer and wine bottles to use them as flower vases. I collected rocks from the beach and drew patterns on them to used on the table centrepiece.
My freelance design business made a lot of the decorations and chalk and hand lettered signs for the wedding. We had a lot of help from our friends and family for various decorations. Our good friend Machelle Dobbs from Australia made the cake.
On the menu…
We had a casual reception. We had an epic Tahitian feast for dinner, called a Ma’a Tahiti. It’s the traditional Tahitian way of cooking, where the food is cooked in a firepit dug in the ground. The food is often wrapped in banana leaves and consists of things like pork, fish, veal, breadfruit, po’e. And of course the feast is served with lots of coconut milk. The feast should be eaten with your fingers.
Memorable moments…
We both come from very multicultural backgrounds. We had guests from Australia, France, New Caledonia, Netherlands, and Tahiti the fact that our entire wedding had translations from french into english made it pretty unique. There was one point where there was 3 interpretations in French, English and Tahitian.
That our wedding was in the mountains was very ‘us’. It had been raining that morning, and there were parts that were quite muddy. We told guests to wear comfortable shoes, so people had gumboots or thongs. Some were even barefoot with muddy feet. Marc and I were walking and running through dirt and mud and we didn’t care. I loved that. I loved that no one was caring about being fancy, even at a wedding. We don’t mind getting a bit dirty, and really the whole day was filled with laughs and joy.
Wedding soundtrack…
Processional: Mango tree – Angus and Julia stone.
Recessional: You’re on – Madeon (The same song that was used in our proposal video)
M A R R I E D L I F E . . .
The honeymoon…
Vietnam and Taiwan to discover both of our origins.
The future…
Continue our freelance videography and graphic design in Tahiti where we will live for the next few years. We have no idea how long we will stay. Maybe we will go back to Australia… who knows what the future holds!
In 40 years you hope to…
Have raised an awesome family, travelled A LOT, and continually be living a joyful life.
W E D D I N G W I S D O M . . .
How to enjoy the engagement…
Don’t over-stress by thinking about the organisation of the wedding and minimise tensions as much as possible. Just enjoy life together.
Planning advice…
Even if you have the ideal of the perfect wedding in your head, don’t get upset if it doesn’t go according to plan. Be relaxed and chilled during the planning stages, no one enjoys a bridezilla. And always remember… it could rain.
Advice for the big day…
Enjoy the moment. Don’t stress out if things don’t go the way you wanted. Be merry.
Bride’s Dress & Accessories ‘Clare’ by Grace Loves Lace Bride’s Necklace Doury Groom’s Attire Bell & Barnett, ASOS Groomsmen ASOS Photography svphotograph Cameraman Georges Tobella Video Editor Sylus Media Venue Over The Rainbow Park, Tahiti Catering Food by Alain Neuffer (+689 87 70 77 68) Wines, Champagne and organic rum Millésime Beer and fruit juices SDA Flowers Floreal Cake Made by our dear friend Machelle Dobbs and her daughter Tiara Paper Goods/Lettering Design and signs Joanna Richardson Music Silvio Cicero Sound Mana Flohr Firedance Tauarii Ani Hair Unik Hair Tahiti Makeup Millie Makeup