Hannah + Dan by Thomas Hvala - Together Journal

We wanted it to still feel chic without being stuffy or leaning too far into too traditional of a wedding aesthetic.

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

Hannah – I work in eCommerce for a fashion retailer, and Dan works as a recruiter in an IT Project Management business. We’re lucky enough to both work remotely most of the time, which allowed us to move to the coast a couple of years ago. It changed our lives. We love living in a small community that values being outdoors, getting out for a surf when we can, and we both love to cook – though Dan’s passion on that front beats me every time!

Dan – After being cooped up inside for a number of years (covid) and often not finding an available time to chill out or do some of the things we love (above) we decided to move out of Melbourne. I love being outside, I often get itchy feet when not doing stuff. So being outside, learning a new skill (surfing), and joining the local footy club have been amazing. Moving to Inverloch gave me the time and platform to be able to do these things.

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

Hannah – I described in my vows ours being an unlikely love, for many reasons but starting with the fact that Dan’s from a small country town in the UK, and I’m from a small country town in Victoria. Even so, we somehow managed to be swimming in the same friendship circles for a couple of years without crossing paths until one fateful night where two separate sets of mutual friends brought us together by accident. I was out for knockoffs with friends and we all ended up at the same bar, him for a mutual friend’s birthday. I watched him play the worst game of pool I’ve seen in my life, and couldn’t keep from going up to him. He has such an easy smile and way about him, very infectious.

Dan – We actually met at a bar which this day and age is more of a rarity then you would think! I find it funny we hadn’t actually met before given we have a number of mutual connections and friends but it was meant to be!

As Hannah mentioned, I thought I would try to peacock with a game of pool. The game was rubbish but something must have worked. My first impression was she was super friendly, very engaging, calm and made me feel so comfortable. Also gorgeous.

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

Dan – I can’t really pinpoint a specific time. Again, it’s more about how comfortable I felt in her company at all times, we could be doing nothing and it’s still a great time you know. I would say we are both pretty family oriented as well and the love she has for my family and vice versa is something that really resonated with me. I know we have the same values and try to carry the same energy into everything we do.

Hannah – I think very early on it felt pretty magnetic, I wanted to be around him all the time. He helped me move house in the first year, and we had our first fight over the necessary ritual of assembling an IKEA flat pack. Before we’d even finished it seemed like we’d made up. I was really struck by that, I’ve never known anyone with such an immediate capacity for forgiveness. He surprises me all the time, in very joyful ways.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

Hannah – We were so lucky to find incredibly talented vendors to help articulate the vision and bring it to life. I’d had a moodboard I was playing around with, but I remember feeling over my head when trying to describe it over the phone. We knew we were on the right track when Shae, our florist Evolve Floral, threw back words like ‘organic’, ‘sculptural’ ‘minimal’, Just about everything I had saved had colour as a point of interest and with a bit of playful intent, though our initial starting point had been quite pared back.

We wanted it to still feel chic without being stuffy or leaning too far into too traditional of a wedding aesthetic. The dress code was always going to be formal, I love getting dressed up and seeing everyone dressed to the nines, and I knew our friends would take it in interesting directions. The number of times I said ‘You look amazing!’ on the day was probably a record.

Our stationery designers, Izzy & Bella from La Robe Club worked really well with Whole Lotta to bring that point of interest through in their colour and illustration choices. I definitely appreciate the impact thoughtful stationery has on the overall aesthetic, and it shows through incredibly well in the photos. We’ve also been able to hold onto much of it as keepsakes, I love having physical mementos to take us back to the day.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

Dan – All the styling elements came together so well, it’s difficult to pinpoint something specific. What I would say is that they all took such care in bringing the venues to life and played with the core aesthetic as the backbone of what we were looking to achieve. It all came together in such a great way.

Hannah – I couldn’t agree more, it was all so cohesive that it’s hard to pull out a single element. We were also really lucky that the Treasury Gardens and Old Palm Liquor were beautiful canvases to build on. With both locations having quite distinctive features, it definitely helped to inform and shape the styling choices.

I do have to add a special mention to Holy Sugar, who provided our incredible wedding tiramisu. It was presented so beautifully, and provided a lot of fun for us to scoop out a spoonful instead of a traditional cake cutting. It was so delicious, it was devoured much quicker than I expected!

What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

Dan – The planning process was a lot, and so many moving parts. The best thing was seeing it all come together and watch all the pieces develop and flow onto the next. My main piece of advice is speak to vendors early as they do host, conduct and partner with people and create weddings on the regular. Everyone was such a great help from advice, tips and being sounding boards for what we were thinking.

I also reckon it’s important to trust your gut, there were a lot of decisions we went back and forth on and almost always came back to our first choice.

Hannah – I was really struck by the sense of community in the wedding industry, all of our vendors were incredibly quick to offer suggestions of additional partners who they’d worked with previously, and to provide advice. They are so generously invested in your day, lean on them for advice and their experiences. It was so helpful to be able to pick up the phone and call Agi (from Whole Lotta) to straighten out my opinions or decisions, and knowing she was so across the detail made it feel like a more informed conversation than just asking friends for advice at times (though there was plenty of that happening too!)

As quite a visual person, the most exciting part was pulling together references and a moodboard, doing that early made it really easy to align with our vendors from the get go. We planned the wedding in around six months, and so having that shorthand to fall back on was invaluable. I think a lot of people feel you need more time to plan a wedding, but for me being able to condense all of that decision making and life admin into a short period kept it fun and less of a chore. We were so lucky that each of my favourite vendors in each area were miraculously available on the date we locked in, so it felt quite quickly like it was meant to be.

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

Hannah – Initially, I was very set that I would opt for something simple and structured in a column silhouette. I wasn’t ever married to the idea of wearing white, and for a time toyed with buying off the rack, something from Huishan Zheng or a longheld dream of a vintage Thierry Mugler skirt suit, inspired by an amazing tiny pearl pink one I found in a Roman vintage store the week after we got engaged. I went solo to try on at Own Studios in London first. I don’t wear dresses very often, and wanted time out what worked before I brought in other opinions. While I didn’t buy anything from that label, it was pivotal in what I ended up wearing. I realised that I was actually much more confident in a fuller silhouette, and that the fabrication needed to have a voice. With each option I gravitated towards Mikado silk and silk dupion.

I struggled to find boutiques in Melbourne that matched my style so didn’t try anything else for a time., When I stumbled on Van Der Kooij on Instagram I knew I had to try their Franka dress. I fell immediately in love. It was still minimal, but with drama in the intricate hip pleats and volume. I had my sisters, best friend and Mum there with me when I tried it and they could all tell by the look on my face that I was sold.

From there it was just a choice on colour, Tash was so patient in helping me get there – even climbing out her window in the studio to help see the champagne versus peach in outdoor light. And she came up with the remarkable option of colour matching the veil with the peach dress. The result left me feeling like a flower in bloom, I loved every detail. Tash makes all of her dresses in Melbourne with a small team and incredible fabrics, and each visit felt like I was catching up with a friend. I’ll treasure it forever.

I did have a saucy little white Jacquemus mini and some incredible fire engine red Dries Van Noten heels to change into for the reception, but couldn’t bring myself to change as I loved the dress so much!

Dan – I knew from the get go I’d be wearing a tux. When else do you get to? I listened to a Throwing Fits podcast episode with Patrick Johnson, and that cemented the choice of P.Johnson. Tom in their Little Collins store was an absolute legend, Hannah’s brothers ended up heading to him too!

In addition, pinned on the inside of my lapel was a small bowtie fashioned from my paternal grandpa’s old tartan hat. A few of my Scottish side of the family were unable to be there, and so it felt like I was still keeping them close.

What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Dan – It’s a once in a lifetime thing to have all these people we love and care about in the same space, so ease of day for all was key for me. All vendors were amazing and made life so easy across the board. We are big foodies so Old Palm was a no brainer for us from a relaxed vibe perspective and banging food and wine.

I am been consistently in awe of Tom and his supreme ability to capture true emotion through his photography and a split moment. Not only does he do this so well, he gave great guidance on the day as we both ran around like headless chickens. He is worth his weight in gold.

Hannah – My mantra going into this was “Nobody has a job”. Engaging Whole Lotta Love Creative for on the day coordination allowed me to fully relax in the lead up to the wedding, and more importantly I knew that the day could be enjoyed in its entirety by all our friends and family without a looming task or timeline behind us.

I knew I wanted the ceremony and reception both have to have a sense of being outdoors. With our ceremony, that was easy. Treasury Gardens in March are beautiful, lots of plants in full bloom and the nice contrast of flowing water in the ceremony spot. We were lucky with the weather, what felt like the last hot day of summer – if we’d been cooped up indoors I would have been jumping out of my skin trying to get some sunshine.

The final piece to round that our was bringing the outdoors in for our reception, and so I knew we would end up putting a sizable amount of our budget towards florals. It was worth every dollar, Shae is a true artist and was able to plan an incredible selection that could transform both locations. I genuinely believe this is an area where, with the right team, you can set so much of the tone of the day. I would choose her again and again, every time.

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

Hannah – Amazingly, I can’t remember a single moment of stress on the day. It really felt like a day of ease – each moment in the night flowed really seamlessly onto the next. We did have a lot of giggles throughout the day,

Tom having to hold up an iPhone with Paw Patrol on it above his camera while doing family portraits to get our exhausted ring bearer Hamish to look up and smile, my Dad and uncle not so surreptitiously ‘sneaking’ through the restaurant with handfuls of wine right in the middle my sister’s speech, running across the road to a parked car and holding up traffic as our flower girls tearfully said goodnight and headed home, distraught they hadn’t had time for a goodbye hug!

I think we also made a very clever decision to not have an afterparty on the evening, but encouraged our guests to really go all out the next day at a recovery at Hope St Radio. It meant no one was too exhausted by the tail end of the night, and Hope St was a fantastic way to come back together over (more) incredible food and drinks. Lots more giggles came out of that day, but probably fewer that are appropriate to share!