Rachel and Jason who live in Hobart but returned to the place of their childhoods for their wedding day. Sandridge Estate at Boat Harbour was the perfect location, with an open air “chapel” in the middle of the bush for the ceremony and a rustic barn for the reception.

The day before the wedding was a whirlwind of activity as parents and friends all banded together to set up the pieces that the couple had made and sourced. Both Rachel and Jason are creatives with an eye for detail, and they had enjoyed planning every moment of their special day together.

Rachel designed and created stationery and the signage, invitations, guest name tags with individual messages, table numbers, menus and a drinks list on arch backdrop boards positioned at the ceremony and in the barn that evening. Rach’s dad made timber boxes from old fence palings, which were used for flower confetti, as stands on the grazing table and to house large vases of flowers.

Other homemade touches were the native flowers, picked from Jason’s parents garden, a white streamer installation hanging over the dance floor and coloured shoe laces for the groomsmen!

It was a cold and windy “summer” Tassie day and moments before Rachel was to walk down the aisle the heavens opened… “imagine sideways rain and chairs and flower confetti blowing all over” says Rachel. Nobody’s spirits were dampened! Towels were produced to wipe down the chairs, guests immerged from the cover of gum trees and Rachel was walked down the aisle by her Dad.

“The ceremony was filled with love and laughter and celebrant Kathleen Ryan was amazing!! (honestly.. the best). Not even the mid-ceremony shower of rain could wipe the smile off our faces.”
Rach and Jason had secretly selected their mother’s to be their witnesses – a little gold star sticker was placed on the front of their chair pre-ceremony. Kathleen asked guests to check their chairs to see if they were the lucky selected witnesses – the mum’s were so surprised!

“We were showered in eco-friendly flower confetti, purchased through local company Sweet Nothings Event Hire. Florist Carolyn from Found in Earth hit the rustic, colourful brief. Bouquets, button holes, and ceremony arbour arrangements were a combo of gum, rusty magnolia leaf, pink proteas, kangaroo paw, blush roses, peachy carnations – tied in hand dyed silk ribbon.”

Photographer Ali Davis was there to capture the entire day. Jason and Rach met Ali in a pub in Hobart and instantly loved his relaxed personality. He too loved the NW Coast so headed up from Hobart to shoot the day. Photos captured the stunning bush setting of Sandridge Estate, nearby coastal paddocks (Jase grew up on a dairy farm so it was fitting), and rugged coastline near Boat Harbour beach. “Ali captured it perfectly – even the windswept pics (it was sooooooo windy!!!!) are perfect to us.”

Guests mingled on the sunny afternoon deck with drinks and an epic grazing table by caterers and close friends at PW Catering, before moving into the barn for the evening. To kick off the celebrations, we cut the cake as we entered the reception. “Life’s short.. eat cake first!!!”

Guests loved the three tier Chocolate and White Chocolate and Raspberry mud cake made by ‘Kelly Bakes Cakes’.

Making a conscious effort to source local food and drinks Jason and Rachel had enlisted their friends Paul & Sara from PW Catering to cook an amazing feast – smoked meats, vegetables, side dishes and condiments. Tassie beers and Tassie wines were flowing all night.

“Our favourite part of the night were the speeches – full belly laughter, a few tears and genuine happiness.”

The party was started by local five piece band ‘Wavelet’. “They were honestly soooo good!! Everyone was on the dance floor – young and old dancing and singing their hearts out. We were so lucky with timing as dance floor restrictions had lifted only 1 month before!”

Suspended over the dance floor was the huge hanging streamer installation created by Jason, Rach, and their parents. Rachel remarks “nothing like quality family bonding time whilst cutting streamers late at night leading up to the wedding!”

“Unfortunatley COVID-19 restrictions meant that we had many family and friends who were in NSW & QLD couldn’t come to Tassie to celebrate with us in person. The ceremony was livestreamed via LoveCast App – guest could watch the ceremony live, leave messages and throw virtual confetti.”

In the lead up to the wedding Jason’s best man, his brother, was living interstate, so Jason organised a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Luke just in case he wasn’t able to be there on the day! But Luke made it to the wedding and so there was moments of hilarity when the cardboard cut out made an appearance on the dance floor later in the evening.

Guests lounged by the large open fire, giant pot belly stove, outdoor fire pots and danced before finally rolling out of the barn to their tents and caravans. “Part of the reason we loved Sandridge Estate so much was the ability to accommodate everyone on site like a mini festival!!”

Everyone made the most of the weekend. The bridal party were staying in luxury in the Glamping tents provided by Sandridge Estate. “The next day we did a breakfast cook up before packing down the shed – and finding the freezer full of 100-odd icecreams meant to eaten as a late night dance floor snack!”

“Our day was a magical, relaxed and memorable. Having a room full of our favourite people and seeing the happiness on our loved ones faces was unforgettable. It honestly was the best day of our lives.”