– Dorothy – 7/8/97
A fairytale wedding looks deceptively simple, but detailed organisation behind the scenes is what ensures that effect.
Wedding traditions Honouring weddings in a special way goes back for thousands of years. Brides in ancient Rome wore a white dress with a bright red veil. This was followed by a religious ceremony and a feast. Traditional Japanese brides wear three wedding robes – a white kimono, a coloured kimono, and a white dress and veil. Again there is a religious ceremony and a feast. For traditional Christian weddings there is a ceremony in the church and a wedding feast to follow. The bride wears a white dress and veil, and carries flowers. Usually she has attendants, sometimes including young children.
The ‘fairy tale wedding” The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer – ‘the fairy tale wedding’ as it was billed – attracted world wide television audiences and created a pattern for the bride to be like a princess on her special day. Stone churches, pipe organ music, and beautiful ornate white dresses continue to be part of the dreams of young women all round the world. This is the type of wedding many young couples want.
Outdoor weddings Some couples prefer outdoor weddings, in a setting which has special meaning for them. Most follow the wedding with a honeymoon and want to spend it amid beautiful scenery where they can sightsee or enjoy outdoor recreation.
New Zealand a favourite place to marry and honeymoon For many young couples round the world New Zealand seems the ideal place for their wedding and their honeymoon, but organising a wedding from a distant country is a daunting task.
Vanessa Leeming’s research As part of her tourism course at Lincoln University near Christchurch Vanessa researched the links between tourist travel and weddings. This was the starting point for Cashmere Heights weddings. She saw the potential for an exciting new venture offering wedding planning to overseas couples.
Establishment of Cashmere Heights Weddings She shared her idea with Gary Cody and together they established ‘Cashmere Heights Weddings’ which would offer a full service for a wedding of the couple’s choice. They began the service four years ago and the client numbers have steadily increased until they are now very busy from spring to autumn each year. They found time to talk to me because the pressure of work eases in the winter!
Vanessa Leeming – Managing Director The task which Vanessa has in this role is no easy one. Her education in New Zealand and Japan, her fluency in the Japanese language, and her business training at Lincoln University from which she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce and Management (BCM) gave her valuable skills with which to build the new business.
Problems with promotion As with any new venture she and Gary needed to be patient. It takes time to become known. When you are aiming to attract clients from all around the world – Europe, the United States of America and Asia, especially Japan – advertising in papers and magazines would be a prohibitive cost and extremely difficult to target.
The Internet the solution Establishing a site on the World Wide Web has given the company international publicity which has drawn clients from all round the world. Couples from the U.S., Europe and Japan are booking their weddings well in advance. When I was in their office Gary had just received an Email request from a client in the US for a winter wedding for 1999 – perhaps from skiers. Email from Japanese couples is a regular occurrence.
New Web site A new expanded web site highlights the special services offered and its intricate design entices the visitor to explore each aspect. [link redacted as no longer operating – Ed.]
Brochures in colour Those who email are sent brochures with beautiful coloured illustrations which capture the beauty of the wedding – from the wedding dress to the church and the venue for the champagne celebration that follows.
From Paris to Christchurch Perhaps their most surprising request is from a couple living in Paris, but wanting to be married in Christchurch. Perhaps Christchurch with its annual Festival of Romance in February is catching up on Paris as ‘the city of romance’!!
The suite at the Chateau on the Park The business at first operated from premises in the city, but Vanessa’s research had shown that there would be strong advantages in linking with a hotel. What could be more appropriate for a fairy tale wedding hotel than the Chateau with its old-style architecture and echoes of mediaevalism. Since Cashmere Heights moved into the suite in the hotel there has been close cooperation with the staff of the Chateau. The arrangement is beneficial to both businesses.
A stress-free wedding So many brides find the weeks of preparing for a wedding highly stressful and are tired when the great day comes. They are assured that there will be none of these problems for clients of Cashmere Heights. Everything will be taken care of.
Organisation and time and team management skills Having promised clients a stress-free wedding Vanessa has to see that all the detailed arrangements are taken care of, and to do this she has to use her team management skills to ensure that tasks of the different staff members and contracted specialists are coordinated in a tight time schedule.
The team
Vanessa as hostess for the day – greeting the bride and bridegroom The couple arrive at the Chateau on the Park beside Christchurch’s beautiful Hagley Park and go to the Cashmere Heights suite and are welcomed.
Staff to dress the bride and groom 
Some brides, especially from Europe or the U.S., bring their own dresses. Mostly the bride makes her choice among exquisite wedding dresses and veils made in New Zealand or imported from Italy, the U.S, Australia and Japan. These can be hired.
The bride can also choose her shoes and her pantihose. Jewellery, including pearls and tiaras, is available for hire or purchase.
The bridegroom is able to hire his choice of morning suit or dinner suit, tuxedo, shirt and cravat or bow tie.
A costumer to ensure a perfect fit. The sizes range from very small (Japanese 6) to size 18 and a costumer is available to make any needed alterations. Staff in the beauty salon attend to the bride’s hair and make-up.
The florist The bride’s choice of bouquet and the bridegroom’s buttonhole are made from fresh flowers.
The clergyman or marriage celebrant to give the blessing or a Christian marriage service Couples wanting a Christian wedding are married in a church of the denomination of their choice and the minister or priest of that church takes the service.
Those who are not Christians but who want a Christian blessing in the church are often married in the beautiful old Durham Street Methodist Church or in the Cashmere Presbyterian Church – both built in grey stone.
Others are married outdoors, perhaps on the beach, in a lovely garden, or on a hill overlooking the plains, the harbour or the sea, with a minister or celebrant taking the service.
Attendants 
If they would like children as attendants Cashmere Heights arranges this too – a page boy and a flower girl. The ring may be brought forward on a velvet cushion by the page boy.
Drivers Transport to the church and to the celebration that follows is again organised as the wedding pair choose – taxi, limousine, or horse-drawn carriage.
Organist As the couple enters the church the traditional wedding march, ‘Here comes the bride” is played on the church’s pipe organ. After the ceremony the couple sign a wedding certificate, and they leave to the sound of the trumpet voluntary – again music full of associations with weddings down the years.
Staff to arrange the hospitality at the Cashmere Heights home After the ceremony the couple travel to one of the beautiful venues on the Cashmere Hills used by Cashmere Heights. Here they eat nibbles, are toasted in champagne and presented with a travellers’-size wedding cake to take home with them.
Tour guides and interpreters Some couples want to follow the wedding with a tour around Christchurch and an interpreter is available to give an appropriate commentary. Some of the languages used have included German, Japanese, Korean, Cantonese/Mandarin, and Spanish.
Photographers 
Throughout all this the photographer is never absent. A wonderful pictorial record is made up from the pictures of this fairytale wedding and the album is delivered to the couple’s hotel suite the same evening. Christchurch and its environs provide a wonderful backdrop for these pictures.
Some couples wish to have a video made to record the occasion.
Flexibility Not only does Vanessa have to manage this large team and cope with the problems that occur from time to time. She also has to cope with the requirements of other types of celebrations.
The types of weddings described are the most popular among Cashmere Heights’ clients, but the aim of the business is to satisfy the clients’ wishes, whatever they may be. That may mean new challenges for Vanessa in organising a different type of celebration in a different venue.
Travelling and organising at a distance To cope with the varied requests of clients Cashmere Heights Weddings has expanded its operations and now operates a branch in Parnell, Auckland, and at Millbrook in Queenstown.
Weddings are also offered at The Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo with the backdrop of the lake and the mountains.
The satisfactions Vanessa and her team have the satisfaction of working together to give many couples a very special carefree day – the joy of a fairytale wedding and the memory of a day relived in beautiful photography.
Visit the
Cashmere Heights Weddings Web site…
