Estelle & Marinus’ Red Barn Wedding

Weddings

November 22, 2024

Journal

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estelle and marinus who have just gotten married are walking down the driveway at the red barn in waikato during their photoshoot with their photographer haley adele photogaphy

Estelle & Marinus had the most gorgeous wedding at The Red Barn in the Waikato, and there were so many little things about this day that I loved. A first look before the ceremony, a letter written in Afrikaans (with some questionable pronunciation 😂), family photos done early so they could actually enjoy cocktail hour, cows interrupting their sunset photos and an outdoor first dance under the festoon lights.

Basically, a very good day.

Before the ceremony began…

Estelle and Marinus decided to do a first look before their ceremony, tucked away among the trees at The Red Barn. It gave them a chance to see each other, get rid of some of those pre-ceremony nerves and have a little bit of time together before everyone else arrived.

Estelle had also written Marinus a letter in Afrikaans to honour his heritage, which was incredibly sweet in theory and slightly less successful when it came time to actually pronounce everything 😂 Neither of them were particularly confident with it, which somehow made the whole thing even better.

They’d also made the decision to get their family and wedding party photos done before the ceremony. I actually love this option for couples who want to spend more of cocktail hour with their guests. Once they’d said their vows, there was no disappearing for a giant list of photos. They could grab a drink, eat the canapés and actually hang out with everyone.

Their ceremony was held outside underneath The Red Barn’s huge oak tree, with Marion Peck officiating and all of that rolling Waikato farmland behind them.

As the sun started dropping, we snuck away from everyone for some golden hour portraits around the farm. The sunset absolutely showed up for us, and so did a few cows who apparently felt they deserved a place in the wedding gallery too.

Then it was time to party…

Back inside there were speeches, cake from Sweet Avenue Cakes and live music from Algorithm before everyone headed outside again for Estelle and Marinus’s first dance.

They had it under the festoon lights beneath the night sky for the true Red Barn first dance experience, with everyone gathered around them before joining them on the dance floor.

And honestly, I think that’s one of my favourite things about this wedding. They’d planned the timeline in a way that gave them plenty of beautiful photos, but they also actually got to be at their wedding and spend time with the people they’d invited.