Greta + Sam by Ruby Hamilton - Together Journal

Our lives have grown in a pretty similar direction, and we have really found a best friend and the biggest support person in each other.

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

Samuel works in cabinetry and I am a Nanny and yoga teacher we live in Auckland with our little dog Maisy. We are big travellers and always try to get away on an adventure whenever we can. Sam is big into his Land Rovers, hence why one of his cars was used as a wedding car, and he wanted to make sure it was featured in the wedding. At the start of our wedding planning journey, he asked if it could be positioned in the tent for the reception dinner or right behind the ceremony. We took a big OE back in 2018 pre covid where we planned to just travel on the cheap until our money ran out. We bought a Land Rover Defender in the UK, which we lived out of, and slept in our rooftop tent. We travelled Europe, parts of the Middle East and Africa for two years and then shipped our home to Australia to continue our trip. Classic cars and travelling would be what we spend most of our free time doing. Whilst Sam also spends a large amount of his time fixing and restoring classic cars I love to teach and practice yoga and pilates.

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

Samuel and I first met at a ballroom dance class back in 2010 when I was 14 and he was 15. This class used to be the thing to do back in the day, but we all mostly went just to go to the afterparties where it was a chance to meet some new girl/guy friends. Samuel asked me to dance for a few weeks in a row, and although we chatted as “friends” for quite a while, we eventually ended up being a couple only a few months later. We have really grown up together, getting to still separately navigate school and university but always having each other close by.

We actually never lived together until our sixth year of dating, when we finally moved in together before setting off on our travel adventures.

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

It was something both of us were quite sure of pretty quickly, we got along so perfectly and often people would comment we were made that we were perfect for each other.

For us it just really naturally grew into something so special, we were so young when we got together, it was at an age that our friends were all getting in and out of relationships pretty fast but somehow we just clicked and didn’t have issues that we weren’t able to work through together. As we were so young when we first met, it felt like there really was no pressure on our relationship. We could just be young and have some fun together while still living at home. Our relationship grew stronger over the years as we gave each other the space to pursue our individual hobbies, and we did long-distance work a few times as well. We feel very lucky that we were able to find each other so young and lucky for us. Our lives have grown in a pretty similar direction, and we have really found a best friend and the biggest support person in each other.

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

Samuel had always said to me forever “no I don’t believe in marriage, no I don’t want to get married” I eventually gave up on the idea but I think that was his plan all along. It got to our 11th year of dating when Sam confided in his best friend that he wanted to propose to me. Off to the Jeweler, he went, wanting to be very involved in the design process like the industrial designer he is. He designed my ring without me having any idea or input. It wasn’t until we were heading away for his birthday/our anniversary weekend 18 months later that he subtly asked “we should invite both our parents over on Monday to celebrate my birthday” it was in that moment I knew he was up to something, nothing gets past me.

We headed away up to Sam’s family farm for our weekend away and I could feel his nervousness the whole time. It was one morning we went for our morning walk along the beach when he dropped a knee and, true to Sam’s nature, gave no prelude speech, just asked the question. The nervousness of somewhat knowing it was going to happen and then 12 years in the making, it felt surreal for it to finally be here. I couldn’t believe the ring he had designed, it was perfect and everything I could have wanted, he did a great job. The farm is a very special place to us and it was so nice to have him propose in private up on the secluded beach.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

I’m a big details person, so making an effort on all the tiny things was very important to me. Planning how the tables were layed was very fun but a stressful part for me. Unfortunately, We had planned alfresco dining as we really wanted to have an Italian wedding, so we tried to bring key elements back into an NZ environment. I should have known not to trust NZ weather as we truly got all 4 seasons in one day, which meant our tablecloths all got wet just as the ceremony was taking place. Our amazing coordinator worked her magic and reset them all, but sadly, the wind stayed too strong for all the vases of flowers and candlesticks to stay out. My picture-perfect table setting didn’t quite go to plan, but thank god we had beautiful oak tables underneath, which worked great as a backup. Samuel’s only thing that he really wanted to make sure we did was to have good food and good alcohol and plenty of it!

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

The weather! We had a big downpour just as guests were arriving; once that cleared, we thought we were in the clear, so we started the ceremony with beautiful blue skies, 10 minutes into the ceremony, it downpoured again, heavy enough that we had to move the ceremony into the marquee. It felt devastating at the time, but we laugh about it now and know it’s a memory we will always have. rain on your wedding day is good luck, right?

We also completely forgot to bring all our lime juice for the margaritas, again our co ordinator quickly went to work and found us a back up mixer to use. The margaritas were then incredibly strong but it just helped our dance floor pop off very fast and go all night, everyone had a great time!

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

The history of the ceremony dress: My wedding dress I had actually seen in my first ever Together journal and I fell in love with it straight away. Knowing it was a UK designer with no stockists in Australasia, I gave up on the idea of being able to try it on. I went and visited all the NZ dress shops I could and did find some beautiful dresses, but I couldn’t help but still think about that dress I had seen. After a bit more research I finally found a place in Sydney that had just started to stock Luna Bea, I booked my flights and flew over with my mum to try it on. It was the only dress I tried over in Sydney because I just knew it was the one. It was everything me, silky, flowy and elegant.

Sam, working in cabinetry and spending most of his spare time working on cars, only ever wears old clothes and steel caps. Sam owns one suit, and that was his “funeral suit” We knew we wanted a super formal wedding with everyone dressed in tuxedos and long dresses as we thought, how often do we get to dress up so formally nowadays? Sam was really excited about the idea of wearing a tuxedo as he never had before. Again, after seeing a lot of men wearing Crane brothers at their weddings, Sam went off to try one on. Murray at Crane Brothers was just so helpful and knowledgable and was able to make him a custom suit that perfectly fitted his body that it was a no-brainer to get his suit made there. Sam’s two late grandfathers were unfortunately not going to be at the wedding, so he used the cufflinks of his mother’s father and the bow tie of his father’s father on the wedding day, which was super special.