Hanae & Dominic

I’m not sure words can express how much I love the wedding of Hanae and Dominic. Hanae is Japanese and her culture was heavily infused to each part of the day. Not only that but she’s rather talented so she designed her own wedding gown, styled the wedding and did her own hair and makeup. Not much more personal than that right?

As for how they met? Let’s hear the story. “A friend of the groom (Dominic) arranged for a him to be a zombie extra in a zombie movie as a birthday treat. Hanae was employed as a special effects makeup artist for the movie and she applied the make up and made him look like the living dead.”

Sarah Rowlands Lovelight Photography captured today’s wedding with dreamy, beautiful images.

Hanae notes, “I designed my dress and did my makeup and hair. Aki Tsubota was the seamstress who created the wedding dress.”

Groom Dominic wore a Dior with a bowtie by Charlie Tinker

Hanae and Domnic married on a friend’s property in Kinglake. Hanae explains, “A friend very kindly offered her home as a venue for our wedding. It was the most stunning location overlooking Kinglake. We used all parts of the venue. There was so many places to the venue we found it difficult to make a decision about what aspect of the day goes where.”

For her walk down the aisle, Hanae recalls, ” We chose Mizu (water) and Hikari (light) no Senritu by Sachiyo Nakamura. I didn’t see groom until the ceremony for 24 hours. I saw him when I was walking with my father that was when I realised that we are going marry and I will love him forever. I felt wonderful and I could see that the groom had tears in his eyes during the ceremony. All our guests helped in a lot of the aspects of the wedding, we collaborated on everything together which made a wonderful day and very special.” The aisle was lined with origami butterflies.

“Everybody made individual origami boats and them launched the on the Dam after the wedding ceremony.”

Guests celebrated with Sake and Sushi on the deck. Hanae remembering, “We did not have a first dance it was not really our style. We had all the guests shout ‘Kampai’ (Japanese cheers) and drink sake that was sourced by Hanae’s brother, a sake buyer. We had the kampai over looking Kinglake. It was very memorable.”

Of their photographer, Hanae tells, “Sarah Rowlands is an old friend. When looking at her other work, she captured a sense of playfulness and fun to the weddings she has shot. Having Sarah take the pictures really gave the wedding a really intimate unobtrusive feel. Upon seeing the pictures we feel she captured the essence of the day. You could tell that the guests were having fun and Sarah captured those moments masterfully.” And yes, Hanae even styled her own bouquet.

Guests sat on hale bales and enjoyed the view, surrounded by hand folded origami paper cranes. Hanae remarking,  “I loved all the hand made decorations, wedding dress, veil, cake and flowers that combined both western and Japanese culture.”

The wedding was catered by Threefold and served by the bride and groom.

Hanae loved, “The speeches as the sun set overlooking Kinglake.”

Hanae’s mum made the wedding cake.

Congratulations Hanae and Dominic! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you to Sarah Rowlands Lovelight Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us!