Hannah & Todd
Hannah and Todd chose the stunning backdrop of Tasmania for their special day. They married in a lush green garden, before celebrating and dancing with family and friends under the trees – what followed, a decadent restaurant reception was the most beautiful end to their day. They chose The Love Jug to join them on their day and capture the magic.
Hannah fills us in on how they came to be. “Todd and I met when I was 17 and he was 20. We met through friends and were initially just friends before we started to develop feelings for each other. Our first proper date involved me sneaking out of my friend’s house in the middle of the night so we could meet up (it was all very teen drama). We’ve now been together nearly 10 years!”
Hannah chose a gown by Rachel Gilbert noting, “I had been looking for what I thought I wanted in a wedding dress for a few months with not a whole lot of luck. I’d tried on beautiful dresses but none of them felt right. I tried my dress on, on a whim – it was not at all the kind of dress I was looking for and I was convinced it wouldn’t suit my body type. But when I looked at myself in the mirror I just knew it was the one. I felt like an old Hollywood movie star – I felt so glamorous!”
Hannah and Todd found Valleyfields, New Norfolk for their ceremony location. “For our Ceremony, we looked at many venues, and consistently turned away disappointed – too close to the highway, scrappy buildings, excessive cost etc. Finally, we settled on Redlands Estate, which we immediately fell in love with. Unfortunately, it fell away when the property was sold to new owners. Emma, our Redlands liaison helped us find Valleyfield, just around the corner from Redlands, which we fell in love with for different reasons, the owners were incredibly accommodating and kind. Valleyfields is an old heritage house and has beautiful gardens right on the banks of the Derwent River in New Norfolk. My ‘aisle’ was a long rose archway ending on the bank of the river in the shade of a nearby tree.”
Style My Day created the ceremony look. “Our ceremony stylist, Nina from Style My Day, we went to her one month before the wedding to ask for some help and she managed to pull it all together so well on the day! It was so exciting seeing her work as I walked down the aisle!”
For her walk down the aisle, Hannah remembers, “We chose ‘La Vie en Rose’ – we had a three piece French/gypsy jazz band (Les Coqs Incroyables) play at the ceremony and they did an amazing job!”
Dan Stephens officiated the ceremony. “We wanted a fairly quick, easy and relaxed ceremony. We wanted to avoid any stuffiness or heavy readings and our celebrant, Dan Stephens, was just perfect in helping us organise this. Todd and I wrote our own vows. It was perfect!”
The first dance was under the trees, the bride remembering, “Todd and I decided to break with tradition and have our first dance at the ceremony. We had the amazing three piece band, Les Coqs Incroyables there so we decided to take full advantage and have them play ‘Kiss to Build a Dream on’ by Louis Armstrong. It was such a lovely moment, where Todd and I just got to be ‘us’ and have a few minutes together in our own world.”
Lisa Kingston Flowers created romantic floral arrangements for the day, the bride remarking, “All her flowers come from her property south of Hobart so it’s all seasonal and locally grown. I gave her a rough idea of what I was looking for and she went away and created the most amazing bouquets. She also styled the reception with some spectacular flower arrangements on the walls at Ethos and beautiful table flowers. Very wild and romantic!”
Of their photographer, Hannah explains, “We had a bit of bad luck with our initial photographer when she had to cancel our booking 6 months before our wedding. Panic ensued as we tried to find an available photographer in Hobart, but it looked like pretty much everyone in Hobart was also getting married on the 27 February! One of the photographers have us Bianca Milani’s details – we looked at her work and fell in love! She was just so amazing to deal with and made the whole process so stress-free. She went above and beyond on the day and really captured the feel of the wedding. Looking back through the photos has been fantastic like we are living the wedding again! We were so lucky to find her.”
The newlyweds held their reception at Ethos Eat Drink, the bride telling, “We were looking for somewhere that did amazing food, but also somewhere we could have lots of share plates on long tables. In my head I envisioned people casually chatting and passing plates back and forth, like a big traditional family dinner. Ethos was all this and more – their food was exquisite and they paid such close attention to detail. Nothing was too much trouble for them and their food (and cake!) was probably some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. We’ve had so many of our guests comment on how fantastic it was!”
“My mum and I made plum jam for wedding favours from the plum tree at my parent’s house. It was a bit of a disaster initially as we managed to burn two batches of the jam before we were successful! Tempers were running high that day! My mum and Todd’s mum also made all the nibbles for the ceremony. Todd was a graphic designer in another life, so he made the wedding invitations, signage at the reception and the labels for the jam. Todd also made our guestbook from scratch after I found a picture of one I loved, but couldn’t find locally – it turned out even better than the one I wanted! Todd and I also made the sangria for drinks at the ceremony. It was delicious!”
“Todd’s brother was a groomsman, my brother was MC (he was such a crack up! He lightened the mood and made everyone laugh throughout the night!), my 4 year old niece was our flower girl (and a very cute one!), our mothers were our witnesses to our signing and my father and Todd’s step-father gave tear inducing speeches at the reception.”
Congratulations on your marriage Hannah and Todd! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to The Love Jug for sharing today’s celebration!
Hey there!
I’m just wondering if anyone has a link or a contact for this venue pretty please!
Thank you.
Jessica Sinnitt x
Hi there Jessica – it looks like it’s a private property (not a wedding venue as such) that may have been sold since this event.
There is a visitor centre in New Norfolk that might be worth enquiring with if you/anyone you know is in the area. Otherwise perhaps this community group might have a lead for you https://www.facebook.com/newnorfolkonline/