Inside the backyard Auckland wedding of art director Annie Portelli

“A small wedding is a special wedding.”

We met in late October of 2017 via a dear old app known as Tinder, but we weren’t complete strangers before then. We had initially met a year or so before amongst mutual friends at a picnic, but neither of us was ‘available’ at the time. It wasn’t a case of locking eyes across the park and falling in love, however, it did give us good reason to meet up one year later after swiping yes.

As for the proposal, Simon proposed to me with a cactus leaf. Let me explain. My dad has this thing where he draws little moments and symbols on his giant prickly pear plant in our backyard to represent a person or a time – it’s like the Portelli wall of fame… so for the proposal, Simon asked my dad to draw a ring on one of the leaves and send him a photo of it once he was done so he could use it to propose to me.

We were seated at our favourite beachside spot when Simon started to get all sentimental and reflective about our relationship. While in the moment, he received this message from my dad. He looked at it for a moment, then passed me the phone and said, “Pete sent me a photo… what is it?”. This was typical, Simon was often texting my dad throughout the day, so I didn’t suspect anything of it.

“I think he’s drawn a baby,” I said to Simon. “Or a mozzarella? I can’t tell.” He swiped to the second photo (Dad had gone off-brief) which was very clearly a tall stick figure person, down on one knee, passing an enormous diamond ring to a much shorter stick figure person. At this point, I asked, “Is this a proposal?”.
It was equal parts touching and hilarious and I obviously said yes!

What venue did you choose for your wedding, and why?

We got married at Simon’s beautiful family home in Herne Bay, Auckland. Simon’s parents opened up their home to 50 of our guests. Their backyard is made for a small wedding. It’s long and narrow, perfectly manicured and everything in NZ is so lush… so it was beaming with healthy green leaves and flowers!

We chose to get married there because firstly, it’s beautiful, secondly, it’s free (important!) and thirdly, his parents have been living there for 43 years. I can’t really explain the beautiful warm feeling that you get when you walk into that old house… I wanted more than anything to have my closest friends and family experience that same feeling I got the first time I walked in there. It is truly breathtaking, and there’s no venue in the world that would have matched that – so it was a no-brainer!

Where was your outfit from, and what was the process of sourcing it like?

The wedding actually got postponed three times due to COVID. So by the fourth time round of rescheduling, I was pretty over all the moving and shuffling of everything. So this made things a bit tricky with the dress, and also your taste changes a lot in two years! So what I had in mind the first time around didn’t really appeal to me by the time the second date rolled around… this kept happening each time we had to postpone the date.

So, still sceptical that the wedding was going to go ahead a month before, I ended up buying this dress at the very last minute! It was an off-the-shelf, affordable option and it ticked all the boxes. I wanted it to be simple and understated… it needed to be timeless. Also, before buying this dress, I asked Simon what he imagined my dress to look like. He immediately responded, without hesitation “You know the dress Kate Hudson wears at the end of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days? I like that dress!”. So I felt like this dress met most of those requirements.

I had a cute second dress made by Honeymoon Studios, which saw me through into the depths of the night and gave me optimum legroom for all the dancing. It was cute, mini and fab. I had a lot of fun wearing it! It also came with a very classy blazer, but it was too hot to wear that over the top. I plan on re-purposing that down the track.

Andrea from Honeymoon Studios also made my veil, which every single guest had on at some point in the night… my heels were from Melbourne label Nelson Made, and both Simon and I wore rings by Hamish Munro.

What about your husband’s outfit?

Oh, it’s so easy for the grooms, hey! He went with a beautiful, classic custom suit from P Johnson, which he plans on wearing to every black tie event and future wedding we go to for the rest of our lives. Lucky bugger! He looked very hot.

In terms of beauty, tell us about the look you went for on the day, and what your inspiration for it was. Did you do your own hair/makeup or hire someone?

I’m not really a heavy makeup wearer at the best of times, so it had to be very simple… just the bare minimum. I had a wonderful local hair and makeup artist named Josie Wingall on board. She understood the brief and made me look glam, without looking OTT. It was perfect!

I also indulged during the lead-up to the wedding and got myself to The Little Company every six weeks for a facial and LED treatment… it made a difference! I need another excuse to go back there now.

What did you do to celebrate after the wedding?

Since we had our besties in town for the wedding, it was an excellent excuse to all have a little holiday together. We shot off to Simon’s family beach house in Omaha for a couple of nights to continue New Year celebrations.

What kind of food did you have on the day?

We had a wonderful caterer whip up a family-style feast for our wedding. They’re called Côte and they were so amazing! I always leave weddings feeling hungry, so it was super important that the food was not only delicious, but I also wanted everyone to be able to serve themselves.

We had all the food placed down the middle of the table, and everyone grabbed what they wanted and piled it onto their plates, having seconds or thirds if they felt the need. It was perfect!

They also made an abundance of cocktails for us throughout the night which was very much appreciated and kept everyone happy. Our wedding cakes were made by a New Zealand icon, The Caker. They were delicious and also BEAUTIFUL! We had two because that’s better than one.

What other things about your wedding made it special?

One easy decision – which I made before I was even engaged – was that I wanted my mum to be my maid of honour. She is my bestie, she brings so much love and joy to my life and is my number-one cheerleader. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the world by my side on my wedding day. Simon had his brother Julian by his side who lives in London but made his way over to NZ with his family.

It was important to us that there was a dance floor! I love going to a wedding where there’s lots of dancing involved, so we recruited best friends and DJs So Much So Much (Jeremy Barr and Sally Tabart) to handle our music and they delivered the goods! They really made the night!

Also, my best friend of 24 years, Vinka, was a co-celebrant at our wedding. It’s surreal to have your bestie of such a long time marry you at the altar! She was also a wedding planner prior to becoming a celebrant so she was so helpful in the lead-up to the wedding too. It was so special to have her there.

Another major maker of the wedding (also probably one of the most talented people I know) was florist Melanie Stapleton (aka Cecilia Fox) who I knew back in Melbourne before she coincidently moved to New Zealand. She is the best in the biz and it was an absolute honour to have her magic touch and calm presence on the day… she grew the flowers for my bouquet in her very own garden (crying). I will forever be grateful to her.

Another legend to mention is the very calm and multi-talented Nich from Rolling Dawn Films. He did us a solid and made his way over from Byron Bay… out of the kindness of his heart to capture our day on film. His films are gentle, sentimental and cinematic. We feel so lucky to have had him there to capture all of those things and bring his calm energy to the day. We love you Nich!

Finally, a small wedding is a special wedding! For anyone who is torn… I couldn’t recommend it more. It was a really hard decision to make. I have a huge family, so I was riddled with Maltese guilt when we made this decision to only invite immediate family and closest friends. But I can honestly say, we had the best day with this crew of 50 loved ones.