Dunedin’s Lochend Woolshed won the outstanding wedding reception venue category at this year’s Wedding Industry Awards New Zealand, before claiming the supreme award at a gala event in Rotorua.
For Mark and Julz Caldwell, who poured their heart and soul into converting the historic building, it was surprise, but very welcome, recognition, of their hard graft.
Relative newcomers to the wedding industry, Mr and Mrs Caldwell hosted their first wedding in November 2020.
Mr Caldwell previously worked in the building industry; he had a rugby injury and was thinking about what else he could do.
His wife had worked in events - although not weddings - and the couple pondered on developing a wedding venue from their old woolshed which was originally built as a cow byre and dairy.
Seeing some couples heading to Central Otago for their nuptials, they decided they could offer something additional in the Dunedin wedding venue market.
But they never initially realised just how "crazy" demand would be and it had shown no signs of abating.
The new wedding season begins in a couple of weeks and they are already virtually booked up until the end of May.
The venue is now a full-time job for the couple, who have four children, and they also continue to farm the 40ha property, a short drive from the central city.
It involves much more than just supplying the venue; Mrs Caldwell is constantly in touch with people, whether the bridal couple or vendors, and Mr Caldwell always has a list of things to do to keep the property up to scratch.
The couple pulled "almost all-nighters" in the week leading up to it, they said.
Such was the early interest in the property, they had brides from as far afield as Melbourne turning up to view the venue when there were holes cut in the walls, with no doors, and the floors were ripped up, with diggers on site.
They intentionally kept the building fairly plain so people could add their own touches to it. Every wedding was different, they said.
There were nods to the building’s heritage and timber from Lochend Farm was used in various ways. Mr Caldwell made the tables from macrocarpa, while an old diving board from Moana Pool served as the top of the bar. Mrs Caldwell repointed all the brick work.
The couple had met some "brilliant" vendors, along with wedding planner Leah Stevens, from Encore Events, and Dunedin was fortunate to have such talent, they said.
It was a team effort, not just the woolshed and themselves, and it was great to have the spin-offs from involving other local businesses, Mr Caldwell said.
For the Caldwells, the best part was the feedback from their clients the next day as they caught up in the aftermath of what some had described as the best day of their lives.
They also discovered the wedding industry, in general, was a "really cool" sector to be involved in.
When it came to the industry awards, they were just happy to be there and honoured to be nominated, Mrs Caldwell said.
But when it came to their own success, they were certainly not expecting it.
With no speech prepared, Mrs Caldwell said she could not even talk, she was so teary as gold glitter rained down on them.
When it came to the success of the venture, Mr Caldwell said it was like any business - it all came down to people.
He was proud of his wife, saying she did a superb job, and everyone else involved.
It was about working as a team - "it’s not a competition" - and helping each other.
And as for shearing their own sheep? There was now a shearing stand down the paddock.
