Spending Saint Patrick’s day at a Convent isn’t most people’s idea of a great plan but it was the perfect way to celebrate the wedding of Pat and Hilary at Old Saint Mary’s Convent in Blenheim. This venue is to say the least, quite exceptional… the Victorian Era monastery has been extensively restored and developed into an incredible wedding venue and Blenheim really put on a beautiful day for us!
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As we arrived at the Convent, we found the Maid of Honour/Sister of the Bride Julia assembling the wedding cake under the marveling eye of her Dad. Not a last minute idea by any means, as Julia is a top pastry chef in Melbourne and was assembling a cake that I could only describe as amazing! (no doubt there is some proper French name for it).jpg)
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See what I mean about amazing… for those Masterchef’s among you this is actually a triple layered Italian Meringue and chocolate mousse with buttercream icing. Three layers of divine goodness with a layer each of Chocolate, peanut butter chocolate and orange chocolate. As I’m a peanut butter fan luckily I was still around later in the night when we got to taste it!
We headed upstairs to find the girls preparing with plenty of well thought out details and elements contributed from special family members.
Hilary was very calm getting ready and didn’t have far to go to the ceremony in the Convent grounds. Not often will you find Brides doing the makeup of their mothers, Maid of Honour and even their own makeup but here we did! As well as being an amazing fun person, Hilary is an exceptional makeup artist… she even did the makeup for our wedding!
The Convent had plenty of space to get ready with a few close friends and Hilary’s mum joining as the final touches were done.
Then the dress was on and Hilary was ready to go, looking absolutely stunning with plenty of time to spare.
Meanwhile, downstairs the men were preparing in their own way as they found some of the Victorian musical instruments and took them for a spin testing out the concept of a lute based boy band. (Did I hear you think ‘Nun Direction’?)
It could only get more manly from there as the Father of the Groom produced some whiskey, not that there were any nerves but who needs an excuse for top shelf whiskey!
Now is time to mention that Pat is Canadian, not Irish, but celebrating your wedding on your Saintly namesake there had to be some shout outs to the Irish (other than the drinking) and we think you did it brilliantly!
Then the moment arrived, the guests were assembled on the front lawn and Julia led the bridal walk out as Hilary appeared at the Convent doors. There is something so magical about the first time the Groom and Bride see each other and especially when they are as ‘in love’ as Hils and Pat!
Sealed with a kiss.
Hils and Pat are such a relational couple and clearly value people so highly as evidenced by the number of people that had traveled so far to be there on the day.
As the celebrations kicked off we took the chance to get some group photos nearby in the convent gardens.
As there were so many special people that had traveled so far to be with Hils and Pat, understandably they didn’t want to go away for photos. Not that you needed to go far at the Convent as scattered throughout the grounds are exceptional photo opportunities that you could shoot for days and still be discovering things. Hils and Pat were game enough to go for a row on the lake which after a scary looking entrance paid off with some beautiful photos.
Then we headed to the lake shore for some photos while the bridal party set up a picnic in the gorgeous light.
It’s easy to capture how in love Hils and Pat are; in fact it would be difficult if not impossible to find a photo that didn’t show that!
On the grounds of the Convent is a beautiful old church so we headed there for some photos out of the sun.
Then we joined the rest of the guests as they made the most of the sunny afternoon talking, playing petanque, croquet and drinking (although not all simultaneously that I was aware of).
Then we all congregated on the front lawn for the speeches which where beautiful and so honouring… it’s at times like this that I wish I could share with you the audio of what was said but instead I will show you some of the reactions and you can probably figure out what was being said.
Especially here, when Pat took to the stage to say some very nice things about his Mother.
Which he followed up with some more really nice words about Hilary.
As the night progressed, guests popped into a side room to take some photos in the photo booth that Hilary and Pat had set up there… the thing I particularly liked was that poking out from behind the backdrop was an original C.F. Goldie painting… which again says a lot about the class and character of Old Saint Mary’s Convent!
After dinner and the cutting of the cake, we headed over to the old chapel which provided a perfect setting for dancing into the night.
Hilary and Patrick, it was such a fun day with you in Blenheim and you made it easy to get beautiful photos throughout! Also a huge shout out to the family and friends from all over the world that welcomed us warmly to share this special day with you all!
Two Point Eight Team: Photographer: Clinton Lloyd /// Photographers Assistant: Paul Hunter
Ceremony/Reception Venue: Old Saint Mary’s Convent, Blenheim. I have to add that the venue manager Hannah and her team were so amazing to work with. The venue and the grounds looked stunning and they worked so hard to make everything come together beautifully which it did!
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Robyn and Graeme Bell - Clint – just a wonderful capture of a magical day – thank you.
Hannah Lavender - A stunning day, and Clint the photo’s are just gorgeous of the Convent. Was a pleasure to work with you.
Helen Barrett - In our business (jewellery design and manufacture) we see many bridal photos. This selection is right up there at the top. Clint, not only is your composition fantastic but you have artistically included some interesting subject matter additional to the obvious, as well as capturing people’s emotions without any element of intrusion it would seem. Congratulations, Hilary and Patrick, and may the sun always shine as it did on your wonderful wedding day.