Emily Raftery Photography | Alicia & Rata’s Wedding

Alicia & Rata’s Wedding

The Stables, Matakana

October 25th, 2014

Alicia is a wedding photographer.

Yes, it is always slightly daunting turning up on a wedding day knowing that the bride is going to be thinking about the light, your angles, which lens you are using, and what gear you’ve brought. But not this one. Alicia and Rata are both super relaxed and easy going people, and there wasn’t one moment of stress at this wedding. They also have a super cute daughter, who was of course, their flower girl for the day. Now I’ve seen lots of gorgeous flower girl outfits in my time, but this one really caught my eye. Beautiful wee silk dress, flower crown atop her head (which fell down and ended up being a necklace for most of the ceremony) completed with teeny tiny gold Adidas trainers. For those that know me, my daughter has lived the past eight years of her life with a pair of Adidas on her feet, so we were off to a good start.

The wedding was at The Stables restaurant in Matakana. This is a lovely venue for those who want a relaxed country feel to their day. The surrounds of Matakana already boast that, but being at the Stables feels like you are in a big old barn in middle America at times. Alicia and Rata’s guests enjoyed relaxing outside on the lawn after the ceremony, playing rounds of croquet and battling it out with a giant Jenga set. A family of chickens even stopped by for a look in. While we took most of our bridal party photographs before the ceremony on the property the girls were getting ready at, while the guests were happily entertained after the ceremony, I slipped away with the newlyweds for a few more photographs around the back of the property.

An awesome, fun, relaxed day, full of ridiculously good shoes.