Henare Davidson and Adriano Orlando's relationship started the way most love stories do these days – with a follow on Instagram.

"Adriano slid into my DMs, and we met up for a casual date in Auckland and the rest followed," says Henare. "We worked really close to each other at the time so we would constantly be spending our lunches together or visiting each other, which made it really easy to hang out."

The couple both worked in fashion when they met, Henare as a hairstylist (responsible for the incredible looks at Emma Jing and Taylor Groves runway show, and probably every cool haircut you've seen at Peach Pit, RIP) and Adriano as a retail assistant at Wynn Hamlyn. What started as a friendship in the beginning eventually turned into something more romantic. "Humour really played a big part in the attraction towards each other," says Henare.

The pair weren't together for long before they decided to make it official. "We had only been together for like a year and a half before we got engaged, but when you know you know," says Henare. "We had a simple conversation one night. There wasn’t any special date or moment planned, it really just happened organically. We just really felt like it was the right next step in our relationship."

Their relaxed approach, void of any over-the-top traditions was something that carried through right up until the couple said "I do".

While many couples who decide to get married intend on having a 'low-key' wedding day, this often gets crushed by the realities of family obligations, social pressures, capitalism, etc. But for Henare and Adriano, their “very chill” wedding plans weren’t going to change – they didn’t allow time for that to happen. 

Like getting dressed hours before you leave the house and overthinking your outfit, too much lead time can create unnecessary stress that takes away from what actually matters, which is to be present and enjoy yourself.

“We just wanted it to be very us and very chill,” says Henare, “We both tried to look up inspo but it was really hard to find other weddings that had a similar vibe to what we wanted.”

“The planning was done very last minute in the end,” says Adriano, “We wanted the overall aesthetic to be super simple and clean as the backdrop. We ended up with a really neutral beige and white colour scheme which we thought emphasised all of the flowers.”

Designer Wynn Crawshaw (of the brand Wynn Hamlyn, who was Adriano’s boss at the time) played a key part in the wedding as the celebrant. “He made it so special,” says Henare, “having a good celebrant is really important and we were so so thankful for him.” 

The couple invited 25 of their closest friends and family to celebrate their wedding at their Grey Lynn flat in Auckland, a large villa shared with three other friends. Everyone pitched in to decorate the open plan living and dining area and sunny patio for the wedding day, making the end result all the more meaningful.

“Our friend Catherine helped out heaps with the flowers.  She came over in the morning with her mum, so cute. We also asked if all our guests could bring a bunch of flowers with them and we used everyone's flowers to decorate our house with. It was really special.” says Henare. 

“We ended up using heaps of our own vases as well, buying a few extra simple clear ones on the day just to be safe. Catherine also bought a few in the morning when she was helping set up,” adds Adriano. “We bought a few extra serving platters from places like Webbs and Kiosk Store, which just ended up being an excuse to buy new things for the flat.”

“Our flatmate Geo made us this customised tablecloth to perfectly match our table size. It looked like the table was floating in the end. We rented wooden chairs from Vitrine for the ceremony and outdoor seating at the reception. Because we only rented the chairs, we ended up keeping everything we brought so nothing feels like it went to waste.”

Rather than a typical dinner setting, the couple had quick and easy finger food for guests to grab during the day – followed by a late night pizza order to keep the party going. "Our friend Hattie helped out a lot. She made a platter of crudites that was really popular and had everyone talking," Adriano says.

"She also made a huge platter of shrimp cocktails which was really yum. She bought this goat's cheese and black truffle dip from Chris Heritage that was so good apparently that Henare and myself couldn’t even try it, it went so quickly."

Drinks were BYO, but the couple supplied "a few bottles of this and that" as well as a case of Prosecco for the moment after the ceremony for everyone to toast. For their wedding cake, artist Alma Proença custom decorated a Matcha Cherry cake they had bought from The Caker.

Their wedding day outfits were an elevated version of something they would typically wear - a mix of thrifted designer pieces, streetwear, and of course, a touch of Wynn. Henare wore a second-hand Prada shirt borrowed from a friend, stylist Tom So, paired with Lownn pants from Shakes, Gucci loafers, and a spritz of Le Labo’s Santal 33.

Adriano wore a Wynn Hamlyn shirt with a second-hand tie (again borrowed from Tom’s wardrobe), Lemaire pants from Edit, Kiko Kostadinov x Asics trainers from Subtype and Duro by Nasomatto cologne. Henare styled his and Adriano’s hair on the day, naturally, and two exchanged rings by Sophie Buhai and Jessica McCormack.

The couple made two different playlists to set the vibes for the day. The pre-ceremony was a chill mix of Mariah Carey, Blood Orange, Frank Ocean, Solange, Steve Lacy, Jorja Smith and Lana Del Rey, while the party playlist featured Gwen Stafani, Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny’s Child, Nelly Furtato and Busta Rhymes.

"We never planned on having a ‘special’ song but immediately after the ceremony Prototype by Outkast played and we’ve now deemed it our wedding song.”

To capture the memories from the night, "our friends Ngaru and George took all the photos and we also had a few disposables that the guests could take photos with. I loved our professional photos, but also having the disposable and digital cameras around really made some great memories. It took away this sense of seriousness associated with wedding imagery and made it more fun," says Henare. 

While the ceremony itself wasn't traditional, they did embrace one pre-wedding tradition the night before. “We went out for dinner at Andiamo with some of our close friends and our friend Rhiannon brought penis straws… It was kinda embarrassing but also so funny," Henare says. 

With plans to move to London later this year, the couple did their best to keep wedding costs down, and in the end spent around $1.5K in total, with no regrets, just the best memories. “I feel like everything was perfect,” says Adriano. “The highlight for me was everyone's speeches. I could not stop crying lol.”

Henare agrees, “I think keeping the wedding small was really special and sweet to me.”