An intimate and personal wedding in a beautiful landscape with stunning views? Sign us up please! Bert and Ivy’s special day was truly one for the books. The breathtaking venue coupled with its rustic charm and romantic details will make you fall in love with this wedding in an instant. We’re also liking how the guests were dressed in all-white–perfectly contrasted by the greens and blues from the surrounding landscape. Read on to find out more about Bert and Ivy’s love story and to check out how Ed Millard Photography captured their big day!
1. Congrats on your wedding! Can you tell us about your love story?
We went to the same school in high school. We were batchmates but never classmates. We were the most unlikely pair! We parted ways in college as I went on to Cebu for tertiary education while Bert stayed in Cagayan de Oro. In 2012, Bert was based in New Zealand. But then 11 years after high school graduation, Bert and I met again in our hometown with some other high school friends. He was on a holiday in the Philippines that time and everything just fell into place. Over a month later, we became a couple. We were in a long-distance relationship for 2.5 years. The only times we would see each other then were during video calls, vacations, and during trips together. He proposed to me 30th of December 2017. Much to my surprise, he revealed that he had bought an engagement ring the day after I agreed to be his girlfriend! He waited more than a year to propose and the timing was perfect. I moved to New Zealand on December 2018 and we got married shortly after.
2. What was your vision for your dream wedding?
We always wanted to have a simple and intimate wedding. We both wanted it outdoors with no fuss—clean, organic, minimalist. We wanted to tap natural landscapes with an overlooking view. We fell in love with New Zealand’s natural landscapes. Bert considers the southern part of New Zealand as his favorite place and it did not fall short in terms of being effortlessly scenic. It was an easy choice to make.
3. What were your wedding non-negotiables?
Wedding photos and the wedding video are our non-negotiables. We wanted to capture the raw and candid moments that will show our personalities and that of our guests. Trying to keep up with the minimalist feel, we asked our guests to wear white. Our flowers were mostly white except for the ones in my bouquet. Equally important was how we wanted to personalize our wedding. We had our monogram embroidered on all the table napkins. Our invitations were hand-painted and calligraphed manually by our friends. Also, I personally chose the flowers and foliage to be used in the wedding.
4. How did you manage your guest list?
Managing the guest list was simple as we kept the number to a minimum. We invited those who are closest to our hearts, had the willingness to attend, and who can travel with less hindrance. As much as we wanted to invite all the people who are dear to us, we opted to be realistic as we know attending a destination wedding entails expense and would require heaps of time and effort.
5. What made your wedding different from those of others?
Maybe what made it different was that our guests had a hand in our wedding. They got the food from the restaurant, transported the utensils, set the whole place up, baked and flew our 2-layer wedding cake, painted our invitations, hosted the program, bought our wines, and then did the big clean up as they all want us to just relax and worry less about the dirty and hard job. We’re just grateful to have them.
6. Now that everything is all said and done, what did you like most about your wedding?
Our friends surprised us and that was the best wedding gift. Our vision of having a simple yet dreamy wedding came true but with less work from us! Everything was executed through the unified efforts and talents of all of our guests. It’s so nice to see our friends translate our vision to reality.
