There are magical views at Alinta and Paul’s elegant Queenstown wedding – jaw-droppingly stunning in fact. But it is not the views that make this wedding so beautiful, although they help. It is, as with all the weddings we fall for here at Polka Dot Bride – all in the stories. Alinta and Paul chose No Limit Pictures to photograph their day.

Alinta kicks us off with the story of how she and Paul met. “Paul & I are both in the Police Force and met on my first day in the job at a station in Sydney. We both remember the first time we saw each other as we passed in the corridor, it was definitely an instant mutual attraction. Over the first couple years, we formed a fun easy going friendship and loved working alongside each other. After this first two years, our friendship grew into something more and things moved quickly from there. We both share a love for the outdoors and Paul proposed at the end of a hike in front of a waterfall in the Minnamurra rainforest.”

The bride chose an Annasul Y gown from Accapella Bridal  noting, “I always thought I wanted a lace silhouette style dress with a high neck and open back but I quickly discovered that style just didn’t suit me. I’m 160cm tall and have no hips so it made me look very square and I just didn’t have the height to really show off the silhouette style. I was very grateful that the lady at the bridal salon was helpful and allowed me try on all the styles of dresses that I was considering so I could see for myself what worked and what didn’t. I quickly learnt to trust the professional and ended up with the perfect dress, it was a combination of the style that I loved mixed with what actually suited me. I wore a dress from the 2016 Snow collection by Annasul Y. The dress allowed me to have a lace silhouette but by having a sweetheart neckline and silk tulle overlay falling from the waist, it really complimented my shape.”

Alinta and Paul chose The Canyons Lodge for their wedding, noting, “We chose The Canyons Lodge firstly for the stunning views. No matter which way you’re looking there’s an incredible view of either the Shotover river canyons or Coronet Peak. We wanted to exchange vows in front of an impressive natural wonder. Something beautiful that would always be there to mark the spot, like an old Oak tree, or a stunning view. We stood under a wooden arch draped with fresh flowers and marked our spot in front of the Shotover river canyons. It was perfect! The packages offered by The Canyons Lodge only sealed the deal for us.”

The Flower Room styled the floral arrangements for the day, Alinta noting, “Because we chose to have a destination wedding it meant a few of our friends and family couldn’t be there to celebrate with us, so we wanted to make sure we included them and a little piece of home. I mixed in some beautiful Eucalyptus leaves into the bouquets, which was our own little piece of home! Both Paul and I grew up in the country and the divine smell of Eucalyptus is a big reminder of home.”

Kathryn Omond officiated the ceremony, the bride remarking “We wanted our ceremony to be short and sweet, not because it didn’t mean much to us but because we just wanted to say exactly what was in our hearts to one another and didn’t want that to get lost in the fluff that goes with a long ceremony. We wrote our own vows together and included the one reading, which was the wedding poem “these hands”. We said our vows in front of 27 guests and an incredible view of the Shotover River.”

“Due to the fact we had a destination wedding I didn’t get to do too much DIY, which wasn’t such a bad thing but I did still want to put some personal touches in where possible. The night before the wedding the bridesmaids and I stayed up and got creative with the chalk, trying out our best cursive to get our welcoming board right! After a lengthy session of trial and error, we were successful and pretty damn proud! On our wedding day, it sat at the at the top of a stone path, adorned with wild flowers to welcome our guests. It was personal and beautiful. I was really happy we decided to do it ourselves.”