See One Couple’s Covid-Delayed Reception That Was More Than a Year in the Making

Hannah Novelli & Andy Dolliver
May 8, 2021

Not everyone realizes they’re in love while exploring Bali by motorcycle, but that’s how it happened for Hannah Novelli and Andy Dolliver. The long-time pals were vacationing with friends after a year teaching English in China, and there was an extra spot on Andy’s bike. “I thought to myself, ‘I wish that were me sitting on the back of his motorcycle,’ ” recalls Hannah of the moment she knew she liked Andy. Though Covid put a pin in their 2020 plans for a 400-person bash at the Four Seasons—they wed instead in an intimate celebration at Hannah’s family lake house in Iowa, which was featured in our Spring/Summer 2021 issue—they were able to revisit Plan A (albeit with a smaller guest count) with a reception on May 8, 2021. “It felt like a sweet celebratory end [to the hardships of Covid],” says Hannah. “I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Flower Power

The cake was frosted simply to let the lush fresh floral accents—which included garden roses, peonies, hyacinth, and asters—take center stage.

Garden Party

A trio of organically accented arches provided a lush backdrop for the vow renewal ceremony and were repurposed on the stage in the reception space, where cherry blossoms and wisteria hung from the ceiling. “We wanted to make it feel like you were walking into a garden,” says Hannah.