Julia & Tony’s Heartfelt Garden Wedding

Julia & Tony

Tasmania has some of the most drop dead gorgeous locations for weddings and the wedding of Julia and Tony is certainly no different. This heartfelt garden wedding started with a ceremony under the dappled shade of a magnificent tree, guests played lawn games and drank champagne while the newlyweds took to the lucerne fields for photographs and they all came together for a feast and dancing under a marquee on the lawns. Fred+Hannah were there to capture it all.

Julia and Tony tell the story of how they came to be. “We met as theatre students at the University of Tasmania. We were teenage sweethearts but it took us more than a decade to get married! Tony was performing in a show and Julia was backstage on another show at the same time and the two caught each other’s eye, got chatting and just clicked.

It took a while to formally get together and it nearly didn’t happen as one of Tony’s friends told him that Julia was with someone else. Luckily he persevered, as she wasn’t, and they finally started dating one night at a friend’s party. They spent the entire night standing on the balcony talking about the stars (sounds corny, but it’s true) while the party went on all around them.

After some years of planning, nine years later, on a trip to Port Douglas, Tony proposed on the beach during a total solar eclipse.”

Julia’s mother not only made her dress, but she also made the bridesmaid and flowergirl dresses! Julia tells, “My dress was lovingly handmade by my mum over 6 months with the lace hand cut out and sewn onto the dress. She managed to create the dress from modifying a basic pattern to incorporate a few ideas from dresses I had tried on. The fabric (lace, silk and tulle) were bought in Melbourne along with the fabric for the bridesmaids’ and flowergirls’ dresses.”

Julia and Tony chose Redlands Estate as their wedding location, noting, “Our ceremony, photos and reception were held on one property: Redlands Estate in Plenty. We’d seen plenty of venues but nothing quite stood out to us like this convict heritage estate. Its rustic buildings, luscious lucerne fields, tall poplars, beautiful gardens, and wildlife attracted us immediately. The property is located a half-hour drive from Hobart in a serene valley.”

Julia walked down the aisle to “Coldplay’s Rein Of Love, played by two friends, Fran and Madeline, on acoustic guitar.”

Maxine Lowry performed the ceremony, Julia noting, “She kept the groom calm in the minutes before the bride arrived, and ran the ceremony with experience and humour.”

Julia and Tony describe the wedding as, “Perfectly us. The sun was shining, everywhere we looked people were smiling; the ceremony was joyous, good food and wine, and the day was full of love.”

The newlyweds remember, “After the ceremony, we had arranged for canapés and drinks to be served while we were having our photos taken with Fred and Hannah. We also set up board games and backyard cricket for everyone to play combining some our favourite things to do and trying to make sure everyone could have fun. We remember how lovely it was to hear our guests laughing and talking. We were glowing in the hours after the ceremony, and could take it all in while Fred and Hannah took our shots in a straw field nearby.”

Of their photographers, Julia and Tony remark, “Fred and Hannah were great. The four of us clicked as soon as we met. They made sure we were are relaxed and having a great time while still being really professional. They took us up to Great Lakes in Tasmania for an engagement photo shot which gave us a great day out in the snow and made sure we were really relaxed on our wedding day. It also meant we knew that the end product would be great and would reflect ‘us’ allowing us to trust Fred and Hannah to find the best shots on the day.

The photos were amazing. The way they play with light and form, and handle their subjects, shows that they really know their stuff – they are true artists. Our personalities and our love for each other are captured just as we’d hoped, and their ability to capture the essence of the day: our guests laughing, the children playing with the ducks, the starry night, our emotions during the ceremony, the band playing, and the warmth of the marquee in the autumn sun, ensures that we will remember the whole day for what it was: perfect.”

The reception was decorated in blues and whites. Julia and Tony remember “Pretty much everything was DIY. Julia (and family and friends) designed the reception scheme, made the bunting, the napkins, the flowers on the tables, put together the bomboniere, and designed and made the invitations. Julia’s mother made the bride’s, the bridesmaids’, and the flower girls’ dresses (as well as her own dress) and her sister made the wedding cake. Our friends (and the groom!) played music and a friend even made our wedding video! Everything was personal and made/provided with love. The day before a group of friends and family came and helped set up the venue.”

Taste Karen Goodwin-Roberts Catering catered a sit down meal of Tasmania’s finest produce. Julia and Tony noting, “Karen and her staff were exemplary. Professional service and advice, and outstanding Tasmanian-sourced cuisine.”

Every detail was looked after by loved ones- even the wedding cake was made by Julia’s sister.

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Of their first dance, Julia and Tony remember, “We danced to our friends playing The Beatles’ Real Love.”

The couple loved the dance floor part of the night noting, “We kicked off our shoes and danced on the grass into the night to music from the groom’s band the Attic Jammers.”

Congratulations on your marriage Julia and Tony! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Fred+Hannah for sharing today’s photographs!