Blissful Bay Weddings

Last month I had the pleasure of attending a mid-week After 5’s Mini Wedding Expo event hosted by Salon One – The Cove in Tauranga.

This ‘cutting-edge’ Salon boasts a team of 9 super-friendly, experienced Hair & Beauty Therapists.

Their services cater beautifully to the modern bride, groom & bridal party; with Salon One being a one-stop shop for all you wedding beauty needs.  You will be amazed at the services & packages that can be tailor-made to your budget & requirements of your special day.  Their services include:

• Hair removal
• Eye Treatments
• Make-up
• Spray Tanning
• Paraffin
• Hands
• Eye Lash Extensions
• GO30 nails
• Feet
• Massage
• Facials
• Cosmetic Tattooing
• IPL
• Teeth Whitening

What I thought was particularly cool is that, your bridal experience with Salon One can begin as early as your Hen’s night.  You can get your girls together to enjoy a fun evening of wedding hair & make-up trials whilst sipping on wine, enjoying a few nibbles & having a few laughs with the Salon One Team.

After 5’s mini-wedding expo

The evening started at 5.30pm and I was greeted by the lovely Ang, Salon One’s Owner who kindly showed me to an office where I could relieve myself of hauling my monstrous handbag/bag of tricks.  She continued to show me around the surprisingly large premises of the Salon.  I was then introduced to Salon One’s wonderful new manager Chris Hamilton.  Chris spoke to me of her experience, which is not short of extensive; her 30 years in Hair & Beauty included time catering to the beauty needs of brides & grooms on the romantic Destinations Wedding Island of Vanuatu.  She also shared with me her desire to cater more to clients planning a wedding in the Bay of Plenty & Salon One plans on organising another Mini Wedding Expo later in the year to offer prospective brides & grooms the opportunity to see for themselves the extensive range of services & packages the salon has to offer.

While perusing the Salon & donning a glass of white wine offered to me on my arrival, I was impressed with the Space the Salon utilises.  Salon One is large enough to host a Hair-dressing Salon, adjoining Make-up Salon & additional rooms for massage & treatments known as the Beauty Rooms.  The Beauty rooms have adjoining doors that can be opened up to create one large room; very handy for a bridal party wanting to indulge simultaneously for a massage. 

The clean & modern internal surroundings of the Salon are aesthetically pleasing, with its high mono-pitched ceiling; black, white & chrome coloured furniture & fittings; and plentiful glass windows & doors.  This corner Salon situated at right end of Fraser Cove, Tauranga is definately a touch of class while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere at the same time.  I imagined the laughs and fun times that can be had here with a bustling crowd.  True to my estimations, once the crowds arrived for the mini-wedding expo, I was not left disappointed.

The crowds easily reached up to about 30 people including staff at any one time comfortably.  Guests got to enjoy the evening activities with wine & nibbles (catered by Lemongrass Catering Company); and availing themselves of a pampering by hair & beauty technicians.  As I walked through the Salon, I watched on intently as professional hair technicians busied themselves with ‘hair-ups’ & styling, whipping up stunning hair designs for both long & short hair in a matter of minutes.  Make-up artist Sam transformed guests with the range of Jane Iredale make-up cosmetics sold at the Salon.  Lucky guests also received massages & treatments in the Beauty Room.   And, if you are one that prefers to watch your technician mix hair colours, then you will be most pleased that this Salon hosts a large ‘kitchen’ area viewable for these preparations.

Check out the evening out for yourself:

 But this is certainly not where it ends.  The delicious nibbles made available to the punters that evening were provided by personal chef & caterer Belinda Lombard of Lemongrass Catering Company limited.  Specialising as a personal chef & caterer for corporate functions, weddings, themed events, cake decorating & adult & children’s parties; Belinda provided an array of truly tasty & delicious finger food to tantalise our tongues.  Belinda has spent 18 years as a Chef, with 15 years of experience overseas & 5 years in New Zealand.  And although she is a busy mum of 2 pre-school children, she still runs her business successfully & ensures she cooks great dishes for the family.

 Belinda provided delectable morsels for our tasting pleasure which was a superb introduction to what remarkable menu’s she could provide for your wedding reception. 

Lemongrass Catering Company Picture Board:

1. King Prawn & Chorizo Skewers with Paprika and Lime Aioli
2. B.L.T Pesto Stacks
3. Belinda Lombard
4. Whitebait & Prawn Fritters with Tartar Dressing & Pink Peppercorns
5. Thai Pork San Choy in Cucumber Cups
6. Belinda cooks!
7. Haloumi Cheese with Tomato Chutney on Sour Dough Crosini
8. Lemongrass Catering Promo Info

In summary – the food catered by Lemongrass Catering Company was delicious, timely & well presented.  It was such a pleasure meeting with Belinda & I can guarantee that she will leave you & your guests very happy customers.

 I also had the pleasure of meeting a few of our lovely local Wedding Industry Vendors

Left to right: Debbie Maguigan ‘Brides on Devonport’ – 2 years experience in Bridal Wear Design; Aaron Lang ‘Aaron Lang Photography’ – 10 years photography experience;  Christine Grant – Registered Marriage Celebrant with 9 years experience. 

 And last but not least, were the fantastic wee goodie bags packed with a variety of hair, face & nail products; chocolates & discount vouchers – kindly provided by Salon One that we all got to take home with us at the end of the evening – Who doesn’t love taking home some wee freebies that we can play around with at home?

So if you haven’t yet shortlisted your Hair & Makeup specialists & are still considering a Caterer; I tell you now, you will not go wrong leaving these aspects of your Wedding Day to Salon One & Lemongrass Catering Company.