“Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley somehow managed to sneak onto the playlist as our first dance song. There were a few laughs and some closet Rick Astley fans rushing to the dancefloor from the crowd, however we managed to quickly change it back to the planned song “Sail Away” by David Gray which went down an absolute treat!
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Hannah: I am a clinical neuropsychologist working at brain injury rehabilitation hospital. I’m fascinated by the brain and find it very rewarding to work with individuals and their families at a time of significant stress in their lives. Our son (Maxim) was born 6 months ago so I am currently on parental leave and traumatising him daily with my terrible singing of nursery rhymes. Our wonderful little family is also made up of Lucy, our dog.
Dmitry: I own a business that works across the software, finance and digital sectors. Hannah and I live in Australia but I was originally brought up in Nelson (NZ). I love spending time with friends and family and enjoying all the amazing food, music and sport on offer in Melbourne.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
Hannah: We met in 2016 via a dating app called Happn that used your location to match you with people within a certain radius. Looking back, we think the moment the algorithm matched Dmitry was sitting on his couch watching the rugby and I went past on a train after running City to Surf in Sydney. I saw his profile picture and thought “he looks tall” so gave it a swipe – and the rest is history.
Dmitry: After matching on a dating app I had no expectations, aside from meeting someone new that was fun to spend time with. It took us a while to finally meet in person (Hannah was too busy!) but there was a lot of good back and forth banter and confusion about what each other did for work. I could tell from early on that we shared a lot of values and were really well aligned.
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
Hannah: We were on an overseas trip when there was a terrorist attack and the city rapidly went under curfew. I remember being pretty scared and unsure of what to do. Within a few hours, Dmitry had somehow wrangled a local’s uncle’s brother’s minivan and some other tourists and organised to get us out of the capital. He has an incredibly cool head under pressure and can quickly build relationships with people from all walks of life. I knew from then on that I would always feel safe with him around.
Dmitry: When I first met Hannah she had just commenced her PhD studies and I had no appreciation of the time and sacrifice that would be involved over the coming years. When she finished it, felt like I got to meet a whole new side to her (in addition to the version I had already loved) and we had more opportunities to have fun, travel and spend time with friends together. I realised how happy and content I was and that I wanted the past, present and future Hannah in my life.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Hannah: I inadvertently foiled multiple attempts by Dmitry to plan something romantic to surprise me. COVID also wasn’t much help with snap lockdowns and 5km radius restrictions. I’ll let Dmitry explain the proposal itself, but I can definitely say I did not see it coming!
Dmitry: After many overthrown attempts to propose over 2 months (by Hannah or Covid), it was NYE and I finally found an opportunity to get it done. I snuck the ring into the spare tyre compartment of my car before a trip to the beach to stay with some friends. I wasn’t that familiar with the area but when I saw a nice hill that had a view overlooking the sea I stopped and pretended there was an issue with the car. I got the ring and made Hannah get out and walk to the grass hill to see if she could see “the problem”. I then dropped a knee and proposed and full of surprise, she excitedly said yes and the job was done.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
Hannah: The best way to describe the style is probably ‘summer garden party’. But Dmitry and I wanted to honour the stunning natural beauty of our venue and keep things quite pared back and simple. I chose a chocolate brown colour scheme for my bridesmaids (which my sister remarked in her speech is funnily enough the colour of Lucy our dog!). I asked them to choose whatever they felt most comfortable in because they all have different styles. I then was a tad doubtful if this would work – and I hadn’t seen them together until the day of the wedding! For the bouquets, protea’s are one of my favourite flowers and I also asked for natives and lots of greenery. I was really pleased with how everything came together! Got It Covered did the marquee, tables and flowers and such an incredible job.
Dmitry: I didn’t really have one – just wanted it to be an epic day with good people, food, music and dancing.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Hannah: At one point I pulled Dmitry aside to point out we were having a wedding, not a sports carnival! His best man had brought the “intercontinental belt” (a repurposed WCW championship belt) from the stag do. The belt could only be won via 1:1 conquest and our guests very readily took up this challenge! On reflection, seeing Dmitry’s mum do a running time trial around the umbrellas and my friend Jasmin dominate a plank challenge next to the dance floor was pretty funny.
Dmitry: “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley somehow managed to sneak onto the playlist as our first dance song. There were a few laughs and some closet Rick Astley fans rushing to the dancefloor from the crowd, however we managed to quickly change it back to the planned song “Sail Away” by David Gray which went down an absolute treat!
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Hannah: I had booked a fitting at a Lola Varma boutique in October 2021 as I loved the simple elegance of her designs. However, by the time the fitting came around I was unexpectedly 10 weeks pregnant with Max. I knew my life and body was going to go through a lot of changes and that getting a dress custom made wasn’t going to be practical. A few months after Max was born in July 2022 I started looking for a dress and serendipitously found the exact Lola Varma one I had tried on online at Stillwhite (a second hand wedding dress website). Meant to be!
Dmitry: Regarding outfit, I generally embodied a “comfort over speed” mentality. I knew it would be a hot day and the traditional dark suit setup would likely put me and the groomsmen in a spot of bother with the heat, hence the light coloured-linen approach ended up being a great strategic choice.
Ceremony + Reception Location: Paripuma, @paripuma / Photographer: David James, @davidjames.picturetaker / Videographer: Be Joined Films, @be_joined_films / Celebrant: Hamish Stace (personal friend) / Entertainment/Sound Equipment: Sound Hire Solutions / Styling, Hire, Marquee & Flora: Got It Covered, @gotitcoverednz / Planner: Emma Newman Events, @emmanewmanevents / Catering + Beverages: Feast Merchants, @feastmerchants / Stationery: @what.face.illustration / Hannah’s Attire: Lola Varma, @lola.varma / Dmitry’s Attire: MJ Bale, @mjbale / Ring/s: Parker Diamonds, @parkerdiamonds / Hannah’s Shoes: Mi Piaci, @mi_piaci / Dmitry’s Shoes: Florsheim, @florsheimaus / Hannah’s necklace and earrings: Meadowlark, @meadowlarkjewellery / Makeup: Done by family member / Hair: (Done by friend) Boda Hair Boutique, @amie_bodahairboutique / Bridesmaids’ Attire: (Mismatched) Ruby Takes Snaps, @rubytakessnaps; Shona Joy, @shonajoy; Third Form, @third_form / Groomsmen’s Attire: Peter Jacksons, @peterjacksonau
