"Starting from oldest to youngest, each of our guests blessed us with their congratulations, warm wishes, and marriage advice whilst pouring water over our hands. In Thailand, water is a sacred element as it is seen to symbolise cleansing and luck."

How did you and Tim first meet? We'd love to hear about the start of your love story together.

Our love story started 15 years ago when Tim and I first met in High school. We shared a few classes together but didn’t officially start dating until 2010. Some would say it was the mullet that drew me in, but I was more impressed with his dance moves than the gorgeous locks. 

How have you grown as a couple since you first got together?

Definitely a lot older for sure! It has been amazing watching each other grow as individuals.

Being there for each other's big milestones throughout the years has really solidified our bond as a couple. We’ve learnt that it takes a lot of hard work to sustain and maintain a healthy loving relationship. Being a good partner isn’t just something that you check off a list but a skill that you both have to keep working on as a couple.  

Tell us about the proposal and your journey to creating Dow’s ring.
How did you find this whole process?

We started looking at rings together after celebrating our 10 year anniversary at Abisko National Park in Sweden in 2019. I am not a jewellery person at all so we knew this process was going to be a little difficult.

I had been following Zoë & Morgan as a brand for a while at that point, my 1 of only 2 rings was the Rosie ring from Z&M. I thought if I was going to have a forever piece, then it surely has to be from them too. 

 

As we were travelling around Europe at the time, our enquiry went through to Ruth at the London branch. We went and visited the Notting Hill store in London to try on a few pieces from the collection.

From then we continued the rest of our process with Ruth online via email as we still had about 2 months of our OE left to go. Ruth was very patient, guiding us through the whole process and keeping us well-informed about what our options were. We discussed ideas, sketches, picking stones, colours, and multiple wax moulds, until we got the perfect ring. Despite everything being online via email, it was so thorough and precise that we felt no stone was left unturned.

Tim and I were very impressed with how Ruth was able to capture our essence as individuals and as a couple through her design. Sadly, we never got to meet Ruth in person but our ring was made ready for pick up back in New Zealand when we arrived home.

The proposal was at home during the first covid lockdown. We had gone to pick up the ring together and Tim hid it in the house so I couldn't wear it until the proposal. Lucky for me he is not very good at hiding things so I would sneakily try it on when he wasn't around. He caught on to what I was doing and had to change hiding spots multiple times. I think Tim had planned on doing something special after the lockdown had been lifted but I just couldn’t wait. So I woke up one morning and said “Go on, ask me…”.

We reached out to Ruth again around May 2020 to start the design process of our wedding bands. We knew we wanted the wedding bands to have the same theme as the engagement ring to connect all the pieces together.

Again this process was all done online via email as Ruth was based in London and we were home in New Zealand. We used the Iris wedding bands as inspiration. Ruth adapted the rest of the wedding band designs to beautifully complement my engagement ring. The organic texture was then continued through to Tim’s ring, completing our beloved set.

Your wedding day was such a beautiful adventure to follow.
Can you tell us about the special traditions of your wedding day?


With all the uncertainty around the pandemic and border restrictions, we decided to put our wedding on hold in 2020. Fast forward a year and a half later and add a baby into the mix …
We had a crazy idea of surprising our NZ family and close friends with a surprise wedding which was disguised as a party to celebrate our daughter turning 6 months old. We met Mike Herd, a super cool celebrant through a mutual friend who helped us pull this plan together in 3 weeks. We sent out a zoom link to my family in Thailand, close friends residing overseas, and those that couldn't make it in person in NZ. Because zoom meetings were the new norm, nobody suspected a thing. We still can't believe we managed to pull it off, it was such a memorable moment for everyone. It always makes me chuckle thinking about people's reactions on the day. 

In early 2023 Tim and I, together with our friends and family, travelled to Thailand for our 2nd wedding. We decided to have a second wedding where we are able to pay homage to my Thai family and their heritage. During our planning, we learnt a lot about the many ceremonies involved. We really wanted to showcase the culture and had chosen the ceremonies that we thought were best aligned with our values. The ceremonies we included were a Khan Maak procession, Gates ceremony, Sai Monkhon, and Rod Nam Sung (water blessing). 

The Khan Maak procession starts with Tim, his family, and the groomsmen walking into the wedding carrying Khan Maak trays. There is a lot of music with a series of loud calls and replies which are done on the way to announce their arrival. Each tray holds an item, these are young banana trees, sugar cane, Thai desserts, fruit, and candles. These items represent important aspects of the marriage, such as health, prosperity, fertility, and longevity.

The Khan Maak finishes with the procession being greeted by my family and bridesmaids who form a series of symbolic gates, each with increasingly difficult challenges for Tim and his party to complete before finally being let through to retrieve me. The Gates Ceremony is seen to symbolize the willingness of the groom to make sure that he wins the honour of the bride. This was a very fun part of the wedding with lots of laughs as we made Tim and his groomsmen declared his love through dancing, yelling out Thai phrases, and a series of team exercises to prove his commitment. Being in Thailand there is also the option to bribe your way through the gates. 

The Sai Monkhon ceremony was conducted by my grandparents. They placed a flower garland around each of our necks, and then a blessed white thread ‘sai monkhon‘ is looped around our heads. Thais believe that the thread forming two circles on the bride and groom whilst linked also remains independent. This to us signifies that through marriage we are linked, but as individuals, our identity is retained.

Our ceremony concluded with a water blessing called Rod Nam Sang. Starting from oldest to youngest, each of our guests blessed us with their congratulations, warm wishes, and marriage advice whilst pouring water over our hands. In Thailand, water is a sacred element as it is seen to symbolise cleansing and luck.