A happy couple of Thames-based wedding businesses hitched national recognition for their marquee and catering services at this year’s Wedding Industry Awards.
Make Your Day Events won the Outstanding Wedding Marquee Hire award, and Burton’s on Pollen Lunch Bar and Catering won Outstanding Emerging Wedding Business at the awards evening held in Rotorua on August 20.
Waihī’s Waterlily Gardens, Coromandel Caravan Bar, Coromandel’s Hush Accommodation, Hahei’s LUSH Photography and Whitianga’s Rouge Beauty NZ were also finalists in this year’s awards.
The Wedding Industry Awards were left at the altar in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19.
Kris Burton, who co-owns Burton’s with Deb Burton, told The Profile she didn’t even realise their name had been called out to tell them they’d won.
“We were also nominated for Outstanding Wedding Caterer and we didn’t get that one this year but then Elliot [Kris’s husband] was saying to me: ‘Kris you’re going up, you got the next award’ because they were in line with each other.”
Kris, who also co-owns Paeroa’s Burton’s Butchery with Elliot, said becoming a finalist for the award was based on recommendations from clients, nominations from other vendors, and succeeding in the wedding industry.
“We’ve been going since 2017 but we really got into the wedding industry probably about three and a half years ago,” she said. “We started pushing it with expos and we work with Make Your Day Events, photographers and different venues around the Coromandel Peninsula, which really helps when you get recommended by different vendors for the industry.
“Everybody loves Burton’s, I’ve never had a bad comment, we get raving reviews on our Facebook and Instagram, and we’ve had guests at weddings who’ve used us because we were at their friends’ weddings.”
Kris said she was looking forward to a successful summer wedding season, which typically ends in April.
“We’re already booked out which is fantastic because we’ve been hanging out now since Covid-19 to push those numbers up and I’m looking forward to what 2024 will bring,” she said.
Taryn Baines, who co-owns Make Your Day Events with her husband Matt, said she was “pretty stoked” with this year’s award after winning Outstanding Hire and Theming and Outstanding Wedding Stylist at the Wedding Industry Awards in 2019.
“We’ve been doing it for six years and it’s good for our customers to see they’re dealing with a company that knows what they’re doing,” she said.
“We offer marquee packages and event styling, we offer a full service where if you’re having an event, generally a wedding, you can come to us and we’ll put up your whole tent and decorate the whole thing.
“Our customer service is our priority, making sure we’re available to talk to them and answer any of their questions.”
Taryn said her business had a “good shot” at a full summer wedding season after many cancellations and postponements in the past two years.
