by Johanna Osborne.

Tuesday the 27th March was a normal day for most of Wellington, but for the crew here at Mr and Mrs Magazine it was anything but ordinary. For it was the day we held our highly anticipated photo shoot for our upcoming issue – out on 29th April at the Wellington Wedding Show and available thereafter. Let me tell you, it’s gonna be amazing!

Paula Bevege, our fabulous Editor who has years of event planning and thousands of weddings under her belt, wanted to deliver something extraordinary with this shoot. And her goal certainly came to fruition with a team that shares her vision and passion. In staying loyal to Wellington designers and with incredibly unique styling, this shoot was not what you’d expect. There was tons of colour, oodles of imagination, movement galore and chemistry to the max. Our models, Ben and Elizabeth from Kirsty Bunny Management, certainly brought the goods! Armed not only with dazzling good looks but plenty of style and grace, these two proved to be good sports and fun to be around all day long.

The team worked tirelessly primping, preening and making sure the light, the settings, the outfits and the poses were all perfect. It’s incredible how much effort from so many different talented people goes into one single frame, but in the end – it’s more than worth it! The results are simply stunning. And we had a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Carl and Joni from Salute took care of all the hair and make-up, and boy did they do a good job. Each outfit had its own unique and totally fabulous look. I am totally in awe of how fast they can work and still end up with such flawless results. I sure wish I had Carl and Joni there to get me ready each morning!

Jenny and Larissa from Fineline Photography shot all the awe-inspiring images that you will soon get to see firsthand. They were utter professionals, and all I can say is that any bride and groom would be very lucky to get a team as skilled as Larissa and Jenny to photograph their wedding.

The talented Katie Bevege provided the numerous tasteful bouquets of sumptuous blooms. We were so lucky to have such pretty flowers for the photo shoot, and even luckier to get to take them home at the end of the day! The stunning red carnations from the Ziggurat frames are now proudly displayed in my kitchen.

And we certainly wouldn’t have gotten the results we did without the help and support of some of the most amazing suppliers. We take our hats off to Alison Blain, Helen Forster, Deryn Schmidt, Sophie Voon, Ziggurat, Westfield Queensgate and Frank Casey– who all allowed us to use their glorious designs, creations and products to create the stunning looks for our beautiful models.

Erskine, the gracefully ageing queen resting elegantly in her historic little hideaway, provided the striking backdrop for our shoot. And as her majestic doors will be closing once and for all in the very near future, this photo spread pays homage to all those that have come before and the ghosts of yesteryear that are ever present in all the nooks and crannies of this incredible building.

A picture says a thousand words, so rather than tell you any more about it; we are going to show you what we mean. Enjoy the journey – we sure have! Ladies and Gentlemen – we present you with the very first look inside ‘The Last Dance’…