Maddie met Sam in a local Launceston nightclub in 2010, and as they say the rest is history.
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Sam was supporting Maddie through her nursing degree and on her 21st birthday decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“We had gone for a weekend away to Hobart and Sam had booked a room overlooking the water in Salamanca,” Maddie said.
“I’d went back down to the car to get a book, and when I got back to the room Sam had set up a big cheese platter, and he even had my favourite wine, and when I opened the door, he was on one knee.”
Maddie and Sam decided on a longer than usual engagement so Maddie could finish her degree.
“ I was doing my nursing degree, and we just wanted to be in a better financial position before we actually got married,” Maddie said.
After five years the first thing the couple did to start their wedding planning was to book their venue.
“We gave ourselves a year to plan the wedding, and the first thing we did was to book, Entally Lodge.
“We didn’t have a lot of friends who had already gotten married there and when we first booked it was an up and coming place.
“Sue who is the manager and wedding coordinator was so good, anything we wanted she organised it, they were an excellent team to deal with.”
On the hunt for the wedding dress, Maddie decided to go big when choosing her dress from Little White Boutique.
“I just thought it’s the one day you get to wear a dress like this so why not,” Maddie said.
“It was massive, had lots of layers and was really hard to go to the toilet in, but it was awesome.
“I’m actually really sad that’ll never get to wear it again.”
Wanting to do something a little different with the bridesmaid dresses, Maddie let the girls choose their own style.
“I picked the colour and sent the girls a heap of different styles to see what they liked,” Maddie said.
“ I liked the idea of different styles of dresses because they are all so different, but in the end, they had all picked the same dress style.”
The morning of the wedding was the perfect girls morning to get Maddie ready for married life.
“I was really calm and relaxed, the makeup artist and hairdresser both commented on how relaxed the whole bridal party was,” Maddie said.
“We were hanging out and chatting, my mum got a lovely cheese platter, and we had a couple of drinks, and it was a really cruisey morning.
“ I got a little bit nervous as the cars were driving up and I was about the walk down the aisle.
“But I just thought the people who you invite are your closest friends and family, so it's not like you are walking down in front of strangers.”
The ceremony was held in the grounds of Entally lodge under a beautiful and very unique arbour of french style doors, decorated in green foliage, delicate white flowers with hints of blush tones to complement the bridesmaid dresses.
We wanted it to be relaxed, and fun with our friends and family, so many of our friends commented about how much they loved the wedding.
- Maddie
“ I hired the doors off the florists' friend, I thought they were beautiful, and they symbolise walking into your future together, and it was a bit different to the wedding arches.
“I love the French provincial style.”
Sam and Maddie decided on writing their vows to add their own unique twist on their wedding ceremony.
“We were happy to follow the lines with the celebrant but I thought writing our vows was special and looking back I’m really glad we did.
“Our videographer was able to capture the vows, and in our wedding video he has played us saying our vows in the background of the footage, which was really cool and we will have that forever.”
The celebrant also worked with Maddie and Sam to give their bridal party a little more a spotlight on the day.
“During the ceremony, our celebrant said a little line about each of our bridal party and why they were special to us,” Maddie said.
“They didn’t know what we had said about them, so that was a nice touch.
“It was the celebrant who suggested it, and I thought it was such a great idea, a lot of the times you go to a wedding and don’t know who the people in the bridal party so it’s a nice touch.”
Maddie and Sam wanted their wedding to bring together their family and friends in a celebration.
“ We wanted it to be relaxed, and fun with our friends and family, so many of our friends commented about how much they loved the wedding,” Maddie said.
“ It was a really nice party and celebration.”
Maddie and Sam shared a first dance to Ed Sheeran’s photograph, but it was Maddie’s dance with her dad that stole the show.
“However, the biggest dance of the night was my dance with my dad.," Maddie said.
"We danced to a Meatloaf song, I’d do anything for love, it was awesome, and everyone loved it,” Maddie said.
“That dance showed up mine and Sam’s dance.”
- To read more local bridal stories and get tips on planning a Tasmanian wedding click here