Mikayla + Donovan
January 21st, 2021 couldn't come any quicker for Mikayla and Donovan who got married at Markovina Vineyard Estate in the beautiful wine valley of Kumeu, Auckland. Mikayla got ready at the Skycity Grand Hotel with her Bridesmaid, Man of Honour (her brother), and family. Donovan and the guys got ready at Lavender Hill. Their friends organised the vintage cars; a 1950's convertible Cadillac and a 1948 Fleetline Chevrolet for the day but I'll let them tell you more about their special day below!
A huge thank you to the Nicole Paton Photography team of Associates - Jonathan Suckling and Mikayla Bollen who photographed this wedding - Edited by Nicole. Thanks also go to our resident videographer Katherine Paton for capturing Mikayla + Donovan's day on film.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…
Donovan and I met on Tinder in 2019. We had been messaging for about a week when he asked me to meet him for the first time at Takapuna Beach. From the moment we met, things felt so right and so comfortable. We have always been able to be ourselves around each other and share endless amounts of joy and laughter. Just a few months after meeting, Donovan and I were going for a walk on Takapuna Beach one evening, when he got down on one knee and proposed with a ring that I couldn't have picked better myself! It's very 'me' and I absolutely love it. After he proposed, he told me that he had taken his mum and grandparents to help him choose the ring, which made it even more special. Donovan is an Electrician, originally born in South Africa but has spent over half of his life here in New Zealand with his family. I am a Sales Coordinator and was born here in New Zealand, so we have quite different backgrounds and enjoy different hobbies, but the more time goes on, the more we find things that we both love, such as spending summer days out on the jet ski or going to speedway and other motorsport events.
Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling, and some of your favorite details…
Donovan and I are quite a crafty couple and were so excited to DIY different aspects of our wedding day. We love all things novelty so the Record Player Guest Book was very 'us'. We had our guests sign the vinyl records, which we are going to frame and hang up when we buy our first home. With Markovina being such a naturally beautiful venue, there wasn't a huge amount of decorating that needed to be done. The indoor fireplace area where our ceremony was held was all very light and bright, so we kept that theme going with our decorations. Our Welcome sign was actually my makeup mirror from home, with the decal put on it with the wording, so not everything had to be expensive and we used what we had available where we could. The secret can now be revealed that my and my bridesmaid's flowers were all artificial! They were created by an NZ company called Florabunda. We ended up getting all of our table garlands, flower arrangements, bouquets, and boutonnieres through them and we couldn't have been happier! I had always wanted to keep my wedding bouquet, and it's even better that it will always look perfect! Our wedding cake was a 3 tiered white chocolate cake with peonies between each tier, made by Sweet Bites Cakes in Henderson. We had lots of fun tasting the different flavours they had available, but this one was definitely our favourite and so many of our guests raved about it!
Tell us about your main outfits:
Donovan and his Groomsmen, plus my Man Of Honour, were in navy blue suits from Tarocash, as well as burgundy ties to match my bridesmaid's dress. My wedding dress was designed by Stella York and I bought it from the lovely ladies at Bridal Brilliance in East Tamaki. It was one of the first dresses I had looked at online before going in-store, and I absolutely fell in love with it when I tried it on. My nana is sadly no longer with us, so I wore her engagement and wedding ring so that she was still with me on our special day. My Bridesmaid wore a simple but stunning long burgundy dress from City Chic, with a nude pair of heels from Novo. My hair and makeup artist was the wonderful Simone Anderson. She listened to every detail of what I and my bridesmaid wanted and did an incredible job. She was always so quick with communication and I couldn't have been happier with her work!
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
We wanted to incorporate as much of our families into our ceremony as possible, so we had both my Mum and Dad walk me down the aisle. Donovan's Granny and Grandpa gave us the rings during the ceremony, and then we had my Grandad give me my nana's lace horseshoe that she was given on their 60th wedding anniversary. Both Donovan and I are very close with our brothers, so it was very special to have them in our wedding party as the Man of Honour and Best Man. Our wedding cars were absolutely a highlight of the wedding and we loved that they were exactly the same colour. We had a 1950's convertible Cadillac and a 1948 Fleetline Chevrolet.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
During your engagement when you are planning your wedding, take moments to remember what it is that you both want. People will always have opinions on what you should or shouldn't do, but ultimately it comes down to what makes you happy as a couple, so do your best to remember that (as hard as it can be!). We also became very engrossed in just planning the wedding and we spent all our time on that. Its important to also take time away from the stress to just enjoy each other's company!
