Hastings couple given a free Auckland wedding to 'road-test' package

Leana and Kevin Becker at their wedding in Auckland. Photo / Owen Allison

When Leana Becker realised she and her partner could not afford to tie the knot, she cried - but then a newly-formed Auckland pop-up wedding company stepped in to act as fairy godmother.

Pop-up wedding start-up SimplyWed last week arranged for Leana and Kevin Becker to get married in Auckland - free of charge, as the company plans to roll-out its pop-up wedding services for real.

While neither of the Hastings pair had heard of pop-up weddings before, the pair said it all turned out better than they expected.

"It was just perfect, everything we could have wanted," Leana Becker said.

"It was so tastefully done, even though it was a pop-up wedding it sure didn't feel like it. The venue had that wow factor.

"We had thought being a pop-up it would be cheaply done because it isn't very expensive and usually weddings are, but there was nothing cheap about it.

"The planning was really minimal yet I got the things I actually wanted and that's what made it special.

"I would recommend this wedding to anyone thinking of getting married. We were lucky enough to have this wedding for free from SimplyWed which we are so grateful and privileged to be their first wedding.

"We own Xtreme Fitness, a gym in Hastings, so all of our focus is on the gym and our members, and then we sporadically decided to sell our house and buy a bigger one which obviously meant a bigger mortgage so the wedding was on the back burner once again.

"I actually cried. We had talked about a courthouse wedding and I wanted the dress, the photos, the cake, all the wedding things you dream of when you are a little girl, the special things like the vows and marrying your best friend in front of your closest friends and family really makes it so special."

SimplyWed co-director Ruth Carpenter said the couple received a two-hour wedding, comprising a ceremony, photography, two-tier cake and a mini reception at the Generator in Auckland.

"Leana and Kevin were our first bride and groom and we are a new company, so we wanted to make sure all our processes that we put in place for a successful wedding worked.

"So, we put the word out among our family and friends for a couple who couldn't afford to get married and were willing to be our first marriage, so we could make sure everything worked well - and I'm happy to say it went very well."

Co-director Kevin Townsend said the wedding package delivered on the day was worth just under $8000 to the company.

"Thinking about how much it would have cost a couple to do it themselves and we think it would have ended up being twice that amount because you are not able to share all the resources and have access to all the venues and suppliers at reasonable rates."

Once the company was in full flight it would run four weddings a day.

At present the company aimed to conduct luxury pop-up weddings between the Bombay Hills and Matakana but hoped to bring services to Hawke's Bay as well, Townsend said.