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Born and bred in Howick, Auckland, Erin left New Zealand in 1996 to go on her big O.E.

While offshore, Erin had the pleasure of living in places as: Port Douglas, Perth, Melbourne, Queenstown, London and of working aboard superyachts in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Some ten years later, she returned home to settle in Takapuna, on Auckland’s North Shore.

Erin’s passion has always been in in the Events arena and, since returning home, she has successfully established herself as an Event Manager. This has involved organising expos, shows, functions, weddings and much more.

After taking time out to enjoy being a mum to Kobi and Arlo, her two sons, she started back part-time as an Events and Promotions Manager for the Outboard Boating Club in Orakei – a role that just happens to tie in nicely with weddings … I couldn’t have asked for two better jobs!

Erin has proven to be a popular marriage celebrant with her unique style of personalised ceremonies. Those in the industry often hear her couples and their guests raving about how ‘amazing’ and ‘memorable’ they are.

To get an idea of Erin’s style, pop along to her website, Facebook or Instagram pages.

Turn to the next page to read her take on that all important first kiss as husband and wife.

Let’s be honest, we all love an excuse to shop for clothes and, in reality, there’s no better time to purchase a completely new wardrobe than when planning your honeymoon.

From shorts and tees to lingerie and cocktail outfits, no one wants to pack up clothes they’ve worn for the past year or longer on such a special trip.

Your honeymoon of choice might be a ski lodge in Queenstown or Switzerland that offers up many long nights of sharing a red wine or two in front of a roaring log fire after a day of off-piste action. Or you may long for the warmer days and balmy nights of a getaway in the tropics perhaps Bali or Fiji – where you can swim, snorkel and sip cocktails till the wee hours.

No matter what style of honeymoon you’ve set your heart on, and whatever the destination, we’ve discovered the ease of replenishing a wardrobe at Ezibuy!

The selection is amazing, the quality great and the prices are incredible! Thus, over the next few issues, we’’ll bring you our picks of what’s on offer at Ezibuy – from lingerie and swimwear, through summer and winter, and even onto the home front and gift giving!

Happy shopping – simply click on an image and go directly to that featured product on the Ezibuy website!

Corporate Cabs provides both dressed and undressed bridal and wedding car hire. They have a group of drivers who have been specifically trained in bridal work who take great pleasure in providing a reliable, professional and fun service for the bridal party.

Whether it be calming the nerves of the bride or assisting with both planned and unplanned last minute events, they do it with a smile and considerable pride.

Their extensive fleet of wedding cars enables them to supply multiple matching vehicles, so no matter how many you need they will be able to help.

They can be booked by the hour for your special occasion, and they’re the best when it comes to picking up relatives and friends arriving at the airport. They also provide a tour service so that you can treat your guests to something truly special, whether that is a city highlights trip or a long distance out of town tour.

A Corporate Cab and professional driver is the perfect way to tour wineries, enjoy a chauffered shopping trip with the girls, or enjoy a round of golf with the lads. Tours are available on a hourly or daily basis.

When you need more than just a taxi company, we’d highly recommend Corporate Cabs! Contact any of their locations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown or Dunedin for a quote on your wedding car service.

As a marriage celebrant, I am increasingly asked to prepare a ceremony that reflects cultural traditions. Weddings are often a fusion of cultures, with ceremonies that are individual celebrations that reflect the ethnicities and cultural and religious beliefs of both bride and groom, merging historic family traditions of cultural significance with a modern twist.

The ancient tea ceremony is a great example of a fusion element in ceremonies. Cross-cultural couples and second or third generation Chinese are merging this tradition within their western ceremonies. The Chinese tea ceremony shows a great level of love and respect to family. It serves to introduce the new couple formally to all family members and to express thanks and respect. The sweet tea symbolises sweetness, harmony, togetherness and the wish of bringing children into the family. The tea ceremony could take place at the conclusion of the western ceremony for all of the guests to witness, with a brief explanation of what it represents.

Couples often like to add a small cultural element or identity within their ceremonies. This can be included as a welcome in their language at the beginning of their ceremony such as “Huang Ying” or “Haere Mai Eng a Iwi Haere Mai Mauria Mai Te Aroha”.

Similarly, their families may have a Christian or religious identity and want to begin or end the ceremony with an opening or closing prayer or blessing in their native language.

At one wedding, I was asked to include some Hindi traditions within a western ceremony as the bride’s cultural background was Hindu while the groom was from Melbourne. Rather than a traditional Hindi wedding, they decided to break tradition and create a hybrid ceremony that was based on their values.

A few of the Hindu wedding traditions they included are:

1. Garland Exchange – Exchanging garlands presented from family, symbolising the spirit of partnership

2. Mangalphera – Circling a fire four times. The fire represents enlightenment happiness and knowledge. As they encircled the fire I read out four values : To be respectful and keep true to your beliefs; To strive for success whilst being mindful of the needs of others; For love and eternal dedication to one another; To liberate each other from pain and suffering with a marriage filled with love and happiness.

3. Seven Steps – They take seven steps representing their seven vows in marriage : May this couple be blessed with an abundance of resources and comforts; May this couple grow together in strength and complement one another; May this couple be blessed with prosperity and wealth; May this couple acquire knowledge and happiness; May this couple be blessed with a happy family life; May this couple live in perfect harmony; May this couple remain the best of friends.

4. Mangalsutra – A sacred necklace that is tied around the bride’s neck symbolising the inseparable bond between husband and wife.

The golden rule for ceremonies is that there are no rules. The key to a fusion weddings going off without a hitch is to make sure the ceremony reflects what makes the two of you unique and to make it fun.

Your wedding vows are the focus of your entire wedding ceremony – they’re an affirmation of your relationship and a declaration of the promises you make to your partner. Writing your vows can also be one of the most difficult parts of wedding planning.

If you’re not naturally gifted with words, it can be impossible to articulate your feelings without coming across like a bad romance novel. Don’t worry – writing your own vows doesn’t have to be as difficult as you thought.

Brainstorm with Your Partner Like every other major aspect of wedding planning, writing your vows should begin with a discussion with your partner. Grab a pen and paper and jot down some ideas. Talk about the principles and ideals that have guided your relationship, and the promises you want to make to each other. Write down all your ideas – even if they seem silly, cliché or soppy.

Writing the vows Go over everything you’ve written down and pull passages and fragments to incorporate into your vows. You could do this together, or separately, keeping your vows secret until the wedding day. Your vows don’t have to be a work of art. All that matters is that you’re sincere – and that you don’t waffle on for pages! You can express a lot with a few well-chosen phrases.

Ask your celebrant to look over your vows and help you express your ideas. They can fix clumsy wording and suggest alternative phrases to make your vows truly beautiful.

Exchanging Vows Most couples read them aloud during their wedding ceremony. When you declare your vows to each other in the presence of your friends and family, you’re making your commitment public and official. Ensure you give your celebrant a copy before the ceremony. It’s not recommended that you memorise your vows – with all the emotion of the day you’re liable to forget them! You’re better of reading them.

Writing your own wedding vows can be a tough creative challenge, especially if you’re not good at expressing yourself in words. But when you’re standing before your family and friends and looking into the eyes of your partner, you’ll be glad you took the time to create vows that reflect your own ideals and relationship.

And remember, your celebrant has good experience with this aspect and will be more than willing to help you!

There are many ways you can create memories at your wedding. I’ll start by saying this is not my original idea. I came across it many years ago in some training material and it also features in Peter Merry’s book “The Best Wedding Reception Ever”. On a side note, if you see something you like for your wedding, look for ways you can make it even better and more reflective of your personalities.

Here is my take on this activity. There is often time to fill between orders being taken and the entrées being served, or between the entrée and main, and at many other points for that matter. This activity can be a great way to fill that time and also provide you with a great personal guestbook.

At a recent wedding, I went around each table and asked “who will be responsible for this table’s pens? ” I then handed over a couple of pens saying “I’ll let you know what they are for shortly.” Timing for explaining the activity will vary, based on the timeline and flow you require.

When the time is right, explain that you would like guests to place their “pearls of wisdom” on how to live a long and happy marriage on the back of their name cards (if there aren’t cards, ensure you have bits of paper handy). Let them know what happens next.

Option 1: Have the MC collect the completed cards and sort through them, picking ones that go well together and link to speeches or other activities they will be announcing. Have them read selected quotes at various times throughout the evening. This works particularly well if you have a talented MC who can create these links and relay the messages with emotion or the appropriate comedic delivery.

Option 2: Have one person from each table share their “pearl”. Those at that table get to decide which one will be read out. In this scenario, you need to be confident that the chosen wisdom will be fit for the entire audience!

Don’t forget to collect all cards, whether the’re read out or not, and place them in an album or scrapbook as a memento.

Other variations on this activity:

• Have guests come up with names for your first born child

• Ask guests “What does love mean to you? ”

• Use a blackboard or stiff cardboard with sharpies for them to write on rather than name cards. Have this framed after the wedding.

Your celebrant can make or break your wedding ceremony, so it’s important to choose wisely!

You need to feel comfortable in their presence as you’ll be discussing some of your most intimate details with them. There needs to be a definite level of trust.

If you haven’t seen a celebrant in action that you adore or had one recommended to you by someone whose judgement you trust, then head to the Celebrants Association of New Zealand website. Choosing a celebrant from amongst their members will ensure you of their professionalism and legal registration … after all, you do want it to be legal, don’t you!

How many times you meet with your celebant prior to the actual wedding day can vary. Obviously there’s the initial consultation, either in person or via Skype. They’ll need a good hour of your time so that they can learn your story and find out what makes your union special and unique. This will help them to define the type of service they’ll offer.

If you need assistance writing your vows, ensure you seek advice from your celebrant. Remember that they’ve done this for many other couples and know the pitfalls to avoid.

A busy celebrant will likely know your venue, but it’s still a great idea to have them present at the rehearsal. They’ll run through your time frames, organise the best places for your bridal party to stand, and generally be able to assist you with any tricks that spring to light at the last minute.

These days, there are celebrants who stay on after the ceremony and take the role of MC for the night. Given that they’ve likely got to know you as a couple and understand your dreams for the rest of the vent, they’re a good choice if you don’t already have an MC chosen.

As for cost, it varies greatly from person to person. In fact, we’ve heard figures bandied around from $200 to $700. Ask their fee upfront if it’s not listed on their website! Sometimes it’s worth paying more for a celebrant you adore – skimp somewhere else if you have to!

Pre-dinner You may want to carry on the cocktail hour playlist or go for something more upbeat. Bear in mind that this is still a time for background music in terms of volume, but your guests will be feeling in a more jovial mood so reflect that in your song choices.

Dinner If you haven’t yet made an upbeat background playlist yet then this is the time. Food is being served, speeches are being made and guests are chattering away, the music should reflect the mood, but be kept on the down low.

First dance As with the processional/recessional music choices, a romantic or comical first dance song is usually chosen – sometimes both! You can also add in more specific songs here for a father-daughter and mother-son dance.

Dancing Now it’s time to crank it up and get the party started, upbeat fast songs are best to keep guests on the dance floor, but throw a slow one in every so often too for the lovebirds, and for the oldies to catch their breath. If your guests span a few generations, as most weddings do, give consideration to that by mixing up the genre – a dash of Elvis, a splash of hip hop, a little rock … and a bit of roll.

Other opportunities for a signature or meaningful tune include the cake cutting, the bouquet or garter toss and, of course, the last song.