Charlotte + Hamish by Ana Galloway - Together Journal

We wanted our wedding to feel meaningful, authentic and, above all, fun.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Hamish trained as an engineer and now works in management consulting, and Charlotte is a doctor. While we are very different in lots of ways, we share the same values, and family is very important to both of us. We lead an active lifestyle, and both love spending time outdoors as well as cooking and eating good food. We have a gorgeous, cheeky, almost one-year-old daughter, Harriet, who keeps us very busy!

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Charlotte was running very late from work but remembers thinking ‘thank you Frankie’ as soon as she saw Hamish sitting at the table. She found him intriguing, fun and open, she instantly felt comfortable in his company. Hamish’s first impression of Charlotte was that she was very honest and relaxed. Hamish had won tickets to Gin Wigmore that day, and we ended up going to her concert at the Auckland Town Hall after our initial drink. This date was followed up by a surfing date at Piha 2 days later, hilarious to both of us now as neither of us are by any means surfers.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

Neither of us knew if there was ever a specific moment from that first date; life was always just more fun with the other person in it – our lives grew together pretty quickly. We did have a trip to Japan a few months into dating that really cemented our relationship, Hamish proving himself with a rendition of ‘man in the mirror’ at late night karaoke in Tokyo that was not to be missed.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

Charlotte’s mum was unwell around the time of the proposal, and Hamish struggled to get her dad on his own to ask for her hand in marriage. As a result, he ended up asking Charlotte’s entire family (both parents and two sisters) at once on a very emotional evening, and Charlotte’s youngest sister was the first to give her approval. Hamish proposed on a weekend away at Medland’s beach on Great Barrier Island, where Charlotte’s family have a bach – a really special place to both of us. We were having a beer on the beach at sunset when Hamish dropped a knee, catching Charlotte completely by surprise. We celebrated again back home with our families the following day with freshly caught snapper, chips and champagne.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

By far, the most important thing to both of us was creating the right vibe for the day – we wanted our wedding to feel meaningful, authentic and, above all, fun. Our wedding planner Hayley was worth her weight in gold helping us create the vision, she pulled it all to life better than we could have imagined. As was Ana (our photographer), we chose her early on for her beautiful style of photos, and she played a big role in helping us feel relaxed and really enjoy the day. The band was another thing we were happy to splurge on because having a great dance floor was a must for both of us. They were just incredible and meant that we barely left the dance floor all evening.  

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

While it was incredibly special having Harriet be part of the day, there is a lot of unpredictability that comes with a 6 month old! The most stressful thing in the week leading up was the fact that Harriet had not pooed in a week. There was a big celebration at our dinner the night before when this finally happened, she timed it perfectly.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story? The history of the ceremony dress…

Charlotte wanted something classic and it was really important that she felt like herself on the day. She loved so many of Kenny and Harlow’s dresses and found Meg amazing to work with with her meticulous attention to detail – she couldn’t have been more happy with how the dress turned out. She doesn’t think she appreciated how high the split was until a mid-dip in our first dance! Hamish’s mum used offcuts of Charlotte’s dress material to make our daughter Harriet’s dress which was very special. We wanted a reasonably formal look to the wedding and Hamish went with a beautifully tailored tux from Crane Brothers.