Rochelle & Peter | The Falls Retreat Wedding | Auckland Wedding Photographer
A Forest Wedding Like No Other
Venue - The Falls Retreat
Catering - The Falls Retreat
Makeup & Hair - Lipstick & Co.
Wedding Gown - Dylin’s Bridal
Well we spent a good week checking out the weather every morning hoping for a change from the crazy rain 🌧. In fact, we even had a few days with storm warnings 🤣
Someone musta answered our prayers cause even thought it was suppose to be a downpour on the day, we were greeted with epic sunshine when we got there!
The gorgeous (and they really were!) wooden cabins at the falls retreat made for some gorgeous photos of Rochelle and Peter as they got ready to tie the knot. In amongst the sea of trees the only sounds you could hear were the chirping of birds and the gentle whistling of the wind its hard to believe we were only a hour away from the concrete jungles.
As Rochelle and the party made their way towards the rotunda in the middle of the woods, the music got louder and louder until it was time! And I must say, I’ve never seen a procession walk so gracefully across such even grounds. Rochelle looked almost as if she was gliding down the aisle with her gorgeous wedding gown train.
And Peter… well Peter had this look that was half jaw dropping and half grinning like a kid that just got free ice cream.
And there you have it! 2 became 1! The happy couple also decided that instead of walking up the aisle, they’d do a little leap out from the rotunda instead. The perfect metaphor for jumping into the next stage of there life! (More metaphors to come 🤣)
Getting epic shots at the Falls Retreat can be pretty hard… not because there’s no where nice to shoot, exactly the opposite actually lol every nook and cranny of this venue was gorgeous! From the forest to the hills, the cabins to the barn, even their driveway lined with trees were a treat! And of course, we can’t forget the Owharoa Falls which is literately 20 meters from the venue entrance!
Metaphor incoming! As a photographer our first thought was to avoid that big red 25km speed sign but these 2 wanted a few shots specifically with it. Cause “from this point on, life will breeze and we’ll just cruise along at a comfortable speed”. Couldn’t agree more <3
Having a full week of rain also made for some epic waterfall shots! We’ve been here quite a few times over the years but have honestly never seen Owharoa Falls as epic as this <3
Rochelle and Peter of course brought there A game and just looked so dang gorgeous! Especially Peter actually 🤣, being able to snap into character and change looks at the drop of a pin. Could easily be mistaken for a model shoot LOL
Apparently, if you really knew Rochelle and Peter, you know they’re a 10 out of 10 when it comes to organisational skills lol everything was timed perfectly down to the minute, in fact, each speech giver had exactly 2 minutes (exception of our bride and groom of course :p). Jon (our epic Celebrant slash Wedding Singer slash DJ and now MC) was even given a nerf gun and had the full go ahead to just start pelting anyone that went over time 🤣 with that motivator on mind, everyone decided it was best to stick within the 2 minute time limit and this was the first time we’ve ever had a reception entry, speeches and dinner start and end exactly on time, To. The. Minute.
We were then treated to some of the best food we’ve ever tasted. Not just at weddings… like… ever! It’s kinda hard to describe how epic the food was, guess you’ll just have to find out for yourself since the Falls Retreat opens to the public when they don’t have any weddings on. Honestly, hats off to Ash. What a magician. The sentiment was of course echoed by EVERYONE <3
Good food, epic humans, beautiful venue and awesome music, it really was the perfect wedding <3