Potters Receptions Wedding of Ciara and Manuel

Tell me about the beginning!

It was the year of 2012. Manuel lived in Invercargill while Ciara lived in Christchurch in New Zealand. They met in a Catholic youth group camp in April of that year but the spark were not set there. At the time, Manuel had a crush on one of Ciara’s friends. After camp, he decided to message Ciara because she promised to help him court the other girl. He later found himself more and more excited about the idea of talking to Ciara every night and getting to know her, and began to talk about the other girl less and less. Realising this, he decided that he was going to go after Ciara instead but opted not to let her know just yet and pretended to still be interested in her assistance to court the other girl. He would ask questions about the other girl’s preferences but would then switch it to “well what about you Ciara, what would you like from a guy?”, and would take notes of her answers.

Upon Manuel’s visit to Christchurch for the first time, he surprised Ciara using all of the information he had learned from her and swept her clean off her feet. From there a long distance relationship began which lasted for 2 years, ending on a sour note. This is not surprising given that they were just dumb high school kids at the time – there was a lot of room to grow.

After 3 years, they bumped to each other and had their closure. They remained friends until they both realised that they still had strong feelings for one another. However, Ciara wanted to wait another year as at this time, she was not in a good state. So Manuel waited.

By 2019, Ciara finally decided that she was ready and they finally got back together again.

When and where did you get engaged?

Ciara has this favourite place in the world and Manny want it to make it more memorable for them both. They had a short vacation in Queenstown, New Zealand where Manny proposed to Ciara on top of an area where you can see the beautiful scenery of Queenstown. He proposed on the 3rd of June 2022.

What style/theme have you chosen for your Wedding Day?

No particular theme but aimed for the colours of gold and purple – inspired the colours of the Disney film Tangled.

What are you most looking forward to on the day?

Ciara: I’m looking forward to the part when we finally tie the knot and I can officially call Manny my husband, The photography session we will have at Potters. And also the food and cake we chose!
Manny: Mainly the reception.

Top Tips!

If you could afford it and are a procrastinator like us, get a wedding planner. They will help cover a lot of things for you and on your wedding day, they handle the stress for you.

Don’t overthink about the small things. If these things are missing in the wedding, no one will notice.

Lastly, enjoy yourself on your big day. Focus on the important things about it which is you getting married to your spouse! I heard time passes so quick so enjoy every moment of it 🙂