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Hannah & Clement's Dunedin Vow Renewal

hannahlindcelebran
Jun 8
4 min read

Updated: Sep 10

Firstly, yes - the Hannah of Hannah and Clement is me! This was my own vow renewal ceremony and party.


Vow renewal ceremony in a working engineering heritage site Dunedin New Zealand

If you take nothing else from this post, here are the three most important things (that can be applied to a wedding as easily as a vow renewal) I can speak to from our Dunedin vow renewal:


Celebrate What Matters Most


  1. Having the celebration that matters to THE TWO OF YOU is number one. Whether you're planning yourself or deciding what a celebration means to you and passing it to a planner, make it personal!


  2. A detailed timeline for the whole day gives you space to enjoy. From waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night, a timeline allows you to soak in the company of your loved ones.


  3. Atmosphere doesn’t just happen. You have to create it! Choose your celebration spaces wisely, curate playlists, and communicate your expectations to everyone involved.


And the one I already knew 100%:


  1. Choosing the right businesses is essential. It’s all about a combination of factors, in order:

  2. Do you like their vibe? Are they your people?

  3. What’s the end result? Do you like what you see online?

  4. Can you fit their price into your budget? Remember, you can’t prioritize everything, so choose wisely!

This year marked 20 years since Clement and I got married, which seems impossible! Yet, 2006 + 20 is 2026. Our wedding was wonderful, and I’ll recreate the 'our wedding ten years on' blog for our 20th anniversary soon. But this time, we’re much clearer about who we are and what’s important to us. That’s how we landed here—a day that was a personalized mixture of just the two of us and a big party.


The Practical Bits


For us, Dunedin was always going to be the location. We moved here to study in 2001 and spent 10 years here. We both loved living here! We explored beaches, parks, tracks, museums, cheap restaurants, and a few pubs and bars. We had time to throw and attend house parties, watch movies on friends' couches, and spend whole afternoons playing board games. It represents a time in life as much as a location for us.



Where We Stayed & Got Ready



Things Done in Alexandra Before We Left


The How and Why


Our timeline included everything:

  • What time we had to be up.

  • Where we were going for breakfast.

  • Where we needed to be for our individual primping and preening appointments and how long those appointments would take.

  • Where we were picking up Clement’s kilt.

  • Travel time.

  • Who was picking up lunch.

  • When we would be back at the apartment and how long we had before our photographer, Andy, arrived.


This structure meant we could just enjoy our morning together. No decisions, no rushing! We even ended up with an extra 15 minutes to walk through the Otago Farmers Market—something we used to do often when we lived in Dunedin.


The playlist we opted for while getting ready and driving between photo locations was something we both love. It’s been with us from the beginning in every form, from cassette to Spotify Playlist—the Triple J Hottest 100 1996!


We decided to start the afternoon with photos, ending with the ceremony. This was about building excitement for our vows. We were both thrilled to say them to each other! Plus, it ensured my makeup looked great in photos, in case all the crying wrecked it during the ceremony (spoiler: it was still in great order after the ceremony—Kristen is amazing!).


We began with photos in our apartment at The Terminus, then set off on a photographic tour of a few spots with Andy. We visited Kuri, the guardian of the harbour statue, the Ravensbourne Railway overbridge, and Tomohawk beach. All these spots were chosen in advance, with wet weather backups. Again, no rush, no decisions to make! We ended with our ceremony at the Gasworks Museum, finishing the just-us part of the day filled with emotions, laughter, and tears.



I knew I wanted our ceremony to be just for us (yes, there was a little gentle pushback on this, but I’m so pleased we held fast). The words we wanted to say to each other weren’t a performance for others. They were raw, vulnerable, and very personal. I knew I would cry a lot (and I was not wrong). We both wanted to be 100% in that moment with the person we’ve chosen to spend our life with. We barely took our eyes off each other. No regrets!



Then we joined our friends—the people we’ve been lucky enough to collect over a lifetime—to celebrate with them at Papa Chou’s. Our MC, the lovely Janine, shaped the evening with a few speeches, passing around the photo albums from our wedding and engagement parties.



This post has, of course, been longer than I intended, and I still have so much more to say—especially about the businesses that played huge parts in making our day absolutely magical. So… to be continued!


In the meantime, here are some blogs about other weddings I've been lucky enough to celebrate.


More details about working with me as your celebrant here

Or contact me for a chat about how I can help you celebrate your wedding your way!

 
 
 

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