Hannah + Easton by Taylor Mills

When we started talking about getting married, New Orleans seemed like the perfect backdrop.

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

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic and very emotional. I poured myself into hyper-romantic, maybe slightly dark love stories. I remember watching Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet three times in one day and rereading Wuthering Heights over and over.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Canada, Easton was growing up watching horror movies and doing backflips oﬀ cliﬀs, pushing the limits of what felt possible.

Those parts of our personalities drew us to the funeral service, where we eventually met at the funeral home where we work. Although now we feel like two halves of a whole, our paths would have never aligned outside of work.

Now we live together with our basset hound, Louie, and are focused on finding joy and gratitude in what we have. We love cooking together, listening to music, going on long hikes, and exploring new places. But we also really treasure the small everyday moments, grocery store trips, puzzles, little house projects, and sitting on the couch at the end of the day. There’s something comforting about not always needing life to be an adventure, just appreciating what you have.

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

We met outside the chapel at the funeral home where we both work on my very first day. That morning, a coworker nudged Easton and said, “Wait until you see her.” When he finally did, he says he was completely stunned. At the time, it wasn’t the right moment for us to be together romantically, so at first, we were simply colleagues.

Because I was further along in my career at the time, Easton often says I became one of his teachers in the profession. He learned a lot in those early years and still credits much of what he knows today to the things we worked through together. What he admired most, though he says, was my warmth and empathy.

We quickly became each other’s sunshine in our days. Slowly, we started to miss each other on days oﬀ.

What drew me to Easton was his generosity and kindness. He is endlessly aﬀectionate and enthusiastic in the way he loves people, especially me. He has a very Gomez Addams energy, and isn’t that what every girl wants? There’s truly no limit to the compliments, the pet names, or the tenderness he shows. I’m actually grateful we met the way we did, because working beside him allowed me to see that this wasn’t a performance. He really is just that kind of person.

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).

When we started talking about getting married, New Orleans seemed like the perfect backdrop. The city is so rich with food, culture, and music, and the architecture is like stepping into the Gothic romances I grew up reading. The city’s comfort with the macabre scratched a very particular itch for two funeral directors in love. We knew it would allow us to create really beautiful imagery; little mementoes of the day, with a cinematic, haunting, romantic quality we could remember forever through our photographs. Everyone wants to look like Catherine Earnshaw’s ghost on their wedding.

Hotel Peter and Paul was the first thing we booked. The property is a beautifully restored 19th-century church and school complex, and the chapel is filled with Gothic altars and stained glass, which we were especially drawn to.

More than anything, we loved the atmosphere of the city itself. New Orleans feels almost impossible to place in time. The streets are lined with historic buildings and wrought iron balconies, and we loved imagining ourselves walking through them after the ceremony with a second line band, surrounded by the people we love.

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

There was an accidental little theme of “twelve” that shaped our timeline. Easton proposed on 12.12.24 simply because he loved the symmetry of the numbers. Later, we realised it mirrored our anniversary on October 2, 10 and 2, another twelve in a way. Once we noticed that, we really wanted to keep the magic of that date and get married on our anniversary. It felt a little bit fated and like good luck for us.

Originally, we planned for the wedding to be just the two of us. As much as I had always imagined my wedding and spent years as a Pinterest board girl, the idea of coordinating the expectations and opinions of hundreds of people felt overwhelming. In our work, we give so much of ourselves emotionally to others, and we realised we wanted this day to simply be about us.

Because we initially thought we were eloping, we gave ourselves a very short timeline, just over two months. At the last minute, we decided to invite our closest friends and family, but the day still felt incredibly intimate and personal.

The short timeline actually worked in our favour. It forced me to trust my instincts and make decisions quickly rather than overthinking every detail. Easton trusted my vision completely, and we chose vendors whose work already felt aligned with what we were imagining. Even with such a short timeline, every person we worked with understood the atmosphere we hoped to create and executed it beautifully.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

Because we were planning the wedding from another country on such a short timeline, I spent a lot of time researching vendors.

Ranna from Let’s Elope New Orleans was our anchor from the beginning. She guided us through the process of getting legally married in another country and handled every detail with calm confidence. She talked with us about what we wanted the ceremony to feel like and helped us shape something that felt true to who we are. When a mechanical issue delayed our flight, and it looked like we wouldn’t arrive in New Orleans until after the marriage license oﬃce had closed, she stepped in and navigated everything from afar so we could be legally married on our anniversary. It was such a relief and something we’ll always be grateful for.

Our photographer, Taylor Mills, was an enormous part of the atmosphere of the day. When I first reached out to her, I said, “Think Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Wuthering Heights.” She instantly understood the vision. Her work carries that romantic, cinematic quality, and she captured the day with so much artistry and sensitivity. She also documented parts of the wedding on Super 8 film, which created beautiful, grainy footage that feels timeless, like a time capsule of the day.

Our florist, The Secret Spot Flowers, was extraordinary. I had originally planned to create the flowers myself. About two weeks before the wedding, I realised that it was never going to be possible and reached out to her. She immediately understood what I was hoping to create. Hotel Peter and Paul is so grand and dramatic that the flowers needed to really take up space to feel impactful, and what she created had this incredible sense of movement and texture. Even more impressive was her commitment to working with seasonal and responsibly sourced flowers, which made the design feel beautifully connected to New Orleans.

Dinner at Brennan’s was one of the most special parts of the evening. Being able to share that experience with our closest friends and family made it even more meaningful. The food and hospitality were incredible.

And our second line through the streets of New Orleans with Kinfolk Brass Band was pure joy. Walking behind the band with the people we love most is something we’ll never forget, and it was the highlight of the weekend for our guests as well.

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

Because of the short timeline, finding something through traditional bridal shopping felt impossible. Luckily, I’m a natural-born thrifter. I scoured the corners of the internet looking for something extraordinary.

When I found the gown, I immediately saw the vision of what it could become. It was designed by Francesca Guzzo, whose label GUZZO was active in the 1990s and early 2000s. Guzzo was known for romantic gowns that drew on subtle Renaissance influences.

The dress was entirely silk and hand-beaded with pearls. We removed the sleeves and widened the back so the dress could lace properly, and the final result felt completely magical.

My shoes were also second-hand. I was looking for something with a Renaissance quality to match.

I found Gucci heels on The RealReal that felt perfect. When I found them, I noticed something stitched into the leather interior: a tiny bat and casket motif. It felt like the perfect little detail for two funeral directors getting married. Easton loved that detail so much that he found vintage Gucci shoes for himself as well.

Easton’s suit was made by Made by Mr. Cavaliere in Toronto and was incredibly meaningful to him. He knew he wanted to wear green and gold on our wedding day, because it matched the engagement ring he had designed.

The tailor created a double-breasted green suit that complemented the colours perfectly, carefully considering everything from the fabric weight needed for New Orleans’ humidity to the precise tailoring of the jacket and trousers.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Easton spent months designing my engagement ring. We share a favourite colour, green, and I had always imagined wearing a green engagement ring, so he put a lot of care into finding the exact shade that felt timeless and special. He chose a deep green sapphire set in gold. He also designed it to be low-profile so I could wear it comfortably every day.

Easton’s wedding band is gold with a green emerald, and my wedding band complements the engagement ring. Easton is a very sentimental person, and after he proposed, he was jealous that he didn’t get to wear an engagement ring himself. So he had my name tattooed on his ring finger.

While we were in New Orleans for the wedding, he also added a small “12” tattoo to his wrist to mark the date.

What were 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?).

Photography was always the most important thing to us. Right before the wedding, we visited my grandparents, who aren’t able to travel anymore, and the one piece of advice they gave us was simple: take lots of photos. That stayed with us. We wanted to document the day as beautifully as possible so we could share those memories with the people we love for the rest of our lives. Taylor’s photography and the Super 8 film captured everything in such a timeless way. The film especially feels like a little time capsule from the day.

The other thing that mattered a lot to us was the experience we were creating for our guests. The people who travelled to New Orleans made an eﬀort to be there for us, so we wanted the weekend to feel like an adventure together. We planned a swamp tour and a nighttime tour of St. Louis Cemetery so everyone could experience the magic and history of the city with us.

And of course, the meal was important. Brennan’s is such an iconic part of New Orleans, and sharing that space with our closest friends and family felt really special. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, we had Bananas Foster prepared tableside for dessert. It felt quintessentially New Orleans and was such a fun moment to share with everyone.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

If we could return to one exact moment, it would be the few seconds right before the ceremony began. We had decided that instead of being “given away,” we wanted to walk down the aisle together. It felt important to us that we were choosing this marriage side by side and walking into it together.

Before the ceremony started, we were standing together in a small closet at the back of the chapel, waiting for the music to begin. We were squeezing each other’s hands and whispering things like, “I love you so much.” We were both nervous, but also vibrating with excitement. If I could drop back into one moment from the day, it would be that one.

Another moment we’ll never forget was exiting the chapel. When the doors opened, the Kinfolk Brass Band was waiting outside to lead us in a second line through the streets of New Orleans. As we danced through the neighbourhood with all of our guests behind us, people came out of their homes and onto the sidewalks to watch and cheer. We were laughing out loud with happiness and honestly felt like celebrities for a moment, with little kids waving at us.

At one point we turned around and looked back at our guests and every single person was smiling.

It was pure joy, and it’s a moment we’ll never forget.