Ally & Lauren – A Luxe Destination Wedding At Spring Bay Mill

They hired a wedding planner to bring this epic modern luxe destination wedding at Spring Bay Mill in Tasmania.

How Long Have You Been Together, And How Did You Meet?

Als and I have been together for ten years in August this year. We met doing CrossFit. I was an extremely novice coach who had been coaching for about three seconds, and she was the beast athlete who had just started, but everyone was talking about. We were a part of a great group of friends, and we would try and get the group together as much as possible so we could hang out.

I made the first move on a night out. Although Ally questioned if I knew what I was doing, I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted. The rest is history.

Tell Us About The Proposal.

We were at the end of a four-week trip hiking different parts of South America where we had done a LOT of hiking, maybe too much! We were hiking up our last mountain, and it was freezing, windy, cloudy, and the hike was hard. When we got to the top, and the cloud cover meant we couldn’t see much at all, Loz was over it and super grumpy. We shielded ourselves from the wind behind a rock and started eating a snack. Ally then started telling a little story about our trip from the beginning. She talked about all the highs and lows, the hard parts, the best parts, and then she proposed. She took out two silicone rings from her pocket, Loz cried but was now in a much better mood!

What Led You To The Destination And Venue?

Ally grew up in Tasmania, we both love it and always feel so relaxed when we visit. Ally and I love the beach, and the beaches in Tassie are stunning (even if they are freezing). So we initially started searching for opportunities to have a beach wedding in Tasmania. As we are based in Darwin, NT, we sought the help of a wedding planner and stylist Lisa Artaud from Artaud and Co.

After meeting with her virtually, she started sharing many beautiful venues with us. One was Spring Bay Mill, but it was only new and wouldn’t have been ready for our 2021 wedding, so we originally booked somewhere else. However, postponing until 2022 meant having the opportunity to look at Spring Bay Mill again, which was perfect. An old wood chip mill transformed into a stunning sustainable function venue with enough onsite accommodation for all our guests, glamping tents, eco shacks, and beautiful ridge quarters. It looked over Spring Bay, where there was a little beach, and was also only a short ferry trip away from Maria Island, which we thought could be an amazing day after adventure for all our guests.

Talk To Us About Your Experience Finding The Perfect Outfits.

From the beginning, we agreed we didn’t want to be in white. We didn’t mind who wore a color or what it was, we just wanted to be a little different from each other.

For Ally we an idea in our head, where we found the skirt on a secondhand wedding website and bought it all the way from Germany. A wonderful woman designed her top in Darwin, Therese O’Hehir – Therese Designer Dressmaker.

Loz had found a couple of dresses she liked on the secondhand site, too, but they were white. It was challenging to find anything that wasn’t. Ally was scrolling Facebook Marketplace, and a sparkly rose gold dress came up… in Darwin. We went to try it on, where the lady who was selling it had a pole dancing studio in her garage, a beautiful big rug, and a mirror. Loz tried the dress on, and we both knew it was the one. Who would have thought!

Talk To Us About The Big Day!

We had the best day of our lives. Not a moment of stress or worry, just all the people we love in one place for us.

Artaud and Co. coordinated our day, so everything went exactly to plan.

We woke up and went straight down to the ocean to start our day with a freezing dip. Our bridesmaids then took care of breakfast and endless mimosas. Next, we got ready together with our mums and bridesmaids in our Ecoshack, looking over Spring Bay. Once we were dressed, we had a moment together where we exchanged photos and memories from some of our adventures. This was also our out-breath… our moment to take in what we were about to do.

Our ceremony was outside, and there was initially fear of rain, but instead, we had a beautiful sunny day with a tiny sprinkle at the end of the ceremony.

We walked down the aisle together and had our bridesmaids and groomsmen walk first, and then both sets of parents led us in. We wrote and then read our vows together, and Loz still managed to tear up. Finally, we had a friend read a chosen poem while our family passed our rings along and blessed them.

After the ceremony, we had photos and film time with our incredible team. So much fun! We climbed down some cliffs, walked along the water’s edge, explored an amphitheater, and hid in a bunker.

Then we returned to the reception and spent the rest of the night listening to beautiful, truthful, and hilarious things about us and special well wishes. Speaking about each other to each other from the heart and made some special promises. Then we danced! We had an epic first dance with big lifts and lots of fun moves, it had a music change, and about 15 friends joined us for a flash mob at the end. It was epic.

Ally’s family also did a special number. The shining moment was Ally’s grandmother, who was dressed up in bright colours and sweatbands, walking into the middle of the dance floor, pumping a walking stick high in the sky to “Let’s get physical.”

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. But we danced and chatted and had a great time!

The following day we took a ferry across to Maria Island, hired mountain bikes rode them as far up as possible then hiked up to the top of the highest point on the island, Bishop and Clerk. It was a 5+ hour return trip, and we had about three hours to complete it (hungover). It was an absolute mission (who plans something like this the day after their wedding??), but it was incredible to have 15 friends and Luke (our videographer) join our craziness!! The view was pretty damn good too!

Do You Have A Stand-Out Vendor?

Ahhh this is a tough one because everyone involved in ours was an actual legend. So we are going to tell you about all of them.

Lisa Artaud – Artaud and Co. I adored her styling from the moment I first saw it, so having her on board was a dream, but having her plan, coordinate, and style was next level. Lisa’s communication was next to none. She did not leave one stone unturned. She listened to our every wish and was sooooo patient when we didn’t respond for months at a time (hopeless, I know). Lisa is your person if you want your wedding to be seamless and stunning.

Omar – By The Wilde. Wow, the photos… they speak for themselves. Omar is super artistic, has a fantastic eye, and his use of light is one of a kind. The amount of comments we get on these is crazy. But, he is also a super cool, fun, down-to-earth guy who made the whole experience very fun and relaxed for us.

Luke Gemmill – The Beginning Co. We haven’t actually seen our film yet, but Luke was so great to have around on the day that he’d almost be worth it just for that. Jokes aside, Luke came down from Sydney for us and stayed an extra day to join us on a massive hike. He was up for anything and brought a fantastic vibe; we cannot wait to see his masterpiece.

Rachael Calvert – Rachel Calvert Weddings, our celebrant. A beautiful person who exudes love and loves love. She helped us find the best way to write our vows, gave us ideas on different poems or writings that may suit the ceremony, and made our ceremony rich, real and personal.

Tyler Hudson – Tyler Hudson music – Tyler sang live for our ceremony and then performed a mix of DJ and live music for our reception. The guests raved about him, and he brought our night to life.

Flint Kitchen – Fresh, amazing Tasmanian produce. We had a grazing table that included some spectacular canapes and shared dishes for our main meal. The guests raved about it, and we wished there were leftovers so we could actually take a moment to savour it!

What Does Marriage Mean To You?

Loz– To me, marriage means it’ll be us forever. Loz and Ally and a lifetime of adventures. It’s knowing there will be ups and downs, sacrifices and compromises, and one person you want to be by your side every step of the way.

Ally- For me, in my mind, we were already committed fully to our relationship. We had been through many life’s challenges already, and I was comfortable that we could continue tackling the world together. Marriage was the ticket to let everyone else in our secret.