Gray & Aaron's Hanoi Elopement Wedding with 9 Guests

Celebration Details

Couple: Graysan Timmins & Aaron Patrick, Hairstylist & Title Specialist

Date & Location: 18 April 2026, Anatolia Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam

Guest Count: 9, including the couple and officiant

9 People in a Garden: Gray & Aaron's Hanoi Elopement Wedding — Gray & Aaron’s Hanoi elopement wedding, photo taken by Naruli

The Teahouse At The End Of The Lane

The quiet, hidden garden at Anatolia Hanoi stays private and hard to discover. You need to seek it out. One April afternoon in Hanoi, nine people gathered, and what unfolded felt less like a formal ceremony and more like capturing a fleeting moment.

The air was thick with humidity, the kind that settles on your skin the moment you step outside. Flowers from a small local shop lined the space, simple colours and softness set against old stone. The teahouse beyond the garden glowed with warm light, reflecting the comfort of a well-loved space. No music blared from speakers; no formal coordinator was on site. Instead, ‘Til Forever by Labi Siffre played slowly and gently as Gray approached Aaron through the greenery. Their friends watched, and a few of them cried before the couple even reached each other.

There was no wedding planner, no seating chart, no programme. Just nine people who loved each other, in a garden in Hanoi, exactly where they were meant to be.

A First Impression That Stuck

Gray and Aaron’s meeting unfolded much like a classic story: casually, by chance, during a group dinner with friends. Aaron had recently relocated to town and was on a strict diet, so when pizza was ordered, he declared he would go home to eat a pound of ground beef instead. Gray reacted by saying that was horrendous, and Aaron was apparently won over instantly.

He later asked their mutual friends for her Instagram handle and slid into her DMs. By the end of their first date, which lasted eleven hours and involved a lot of talking and laughing, Gray says she was fairly certain they would be best friends for life. “We both knew very early on that it was different from anything else we’d ever experienced.”

Their relationship runs on curiosity and movement. They eat dinner early (four in the afternoon, they’ll happily admit), order more than they can finish, and take the rest home for what Gray calls “second dinner.” They walk miles together. They talk through everything. When Gray describes how she thinks about their future, she doesn’t reach for grand plans, just openness. “We’re both really open to life,” she says, “and then you double that, and it makes it even more fun.”

Planning That Happened Mostly Last-minute (And Was Better For It)

The engagement happened in Hanoi too: a night-time flower market, an unsuspecting Gray in hiking trousers, their friend Pat in on the plan, and a photographer (@mikin___) capturing what turned out to be a chaotic yet completely right proposal. They’d been travelling in Vietnam for three weeks. Gray had no make-up on. It was sweaty and humid. “It couldn’t have been more perfect,” she says.

The wedding took place eleven months later, with most of the planning packed into the weeks immediately before the trip. This reflected how Gray and Aaron prefer to live. During their month-long visit to Vietnam earlier, they learned that the country truly rewards flexibility. Gray explains, “You could pretty much decide to do anything you wanted last minute and someone will be there to help you make it happen.” They believed that, and it turned out they were right.

Their friend Pat, who was living in Hanoi at the time, became what Gray affectionately calls their “wedding planner”, scouting the venue on their behalf, liaising locally, and holding things together in the lead-up. The ceremony venue wasn’t confirmed until about two weeks before the wedding. Flowers were sourced from a small local shop, Vflorist, a few days beforehand. The wedding cake, a Western-style layer cake, came from Eastern & Oriental Hanoi (@easternorientalhanoi).

The one vendor Gray researched carefully, well in advance, was the photographer. She’d spent hours online and across social media looking for someone whose work matched the feeling she wanted, and found Naruli through Hendro’s Instagram bio, which listed his upcoming travel dates to Hanoi. Those dates aligned almost exactly with their desired wedding date. “Couldn’t have worked out better,” she says. “When I reached out, he was incredibly kind and enthusiastic about our vision, which made it even more fun to work with them.”

Their budget came in under USD $15,000 for the whole celebration: ceremony, dinner, photography and film, outfits, flights and honeymoon logistics.

What Happened In The Garden

Gray had not seen Anatolia in person before she walked down the aisle. She’d looked at it on Instagram and taken a video tour, and that was it. So when the moment came, everything was new all at once: the garden, the light, Aaron’s face.

“If I could bottle that feeling of seeing Aaron and Aaron seeing me,” she says, “I would absolutely.”

Aaron had written vows, but when the moment arrived, he tucked them away and spoke from memory instead, tears streaming down his face the whole time. Gray watched him and felt something she could only describe as the luckiest girl in the world. “He’s somehow both so funny and so sincere,” she says. “It was sooo precious to me.”

Their friends stood nearby in that small garden, watching with expressions neither Gray nor Aaron had fully expected. “Seeing our friends’ faces and emotions as we exchanged vows was so special,” Gray says. “We knew it would be something, but I don’t think we could prepare for how special it was to have them there.”

Gray & Aaron's Hanoi elopement wedding, photo taken by Naruli — Gray & Aaron’s Hanoi elopement wedding, photo taken by Naruli

After dinner at Zao Eatery (@zao.eatery.hanoi), where they’d booked a private room, the wedding party made their way home, as most people do in Hanoi at night, by Grab scooter! Gray, in her gown, and Aaron, in his Todd Snyder suit, weaving through the city.

“Super fun and silly and peak Hanoi.”

The Details That Made It Theirs

Gray did her own hair and makeup that morning at the Airbnb where everyone was staying. Coffee and pastries arrived just in time. Vows were written that morning by Gray, Aaron, and their friend Pat, who also served as the officiant. Their other friend Erin, whom Gray credits with a natural talent for keeping things organised, helped coordinate the day on the ground.

Gray’s gown was from Spella Corsets (@spella.brand), a Ukrainian label she had specifically searched for. Aaron’s suit was by Todd Snyder. Her jewelry was thrifted. The flowers were sourced from a small local shop found just days before the wedding.

Naruli’s team worked within the constraints of a traditional Hanoi house: warm ambient light, cramped spaces, and an environment that couldn’t be changed. Hendro and Nanet describe their approach as working with what was already there instead of trying to modify it. The wedding video, which Gray and Aaron almost didn’t book because they felt they didn’t need one, ended up being the one they watch most. “We go back and rewatch that video at least once a week,” Gray says.

What They’d Tell You

Gray and Aaron’s advice for couples is as concise as it gets: “Do what you want. It’s your day.”

What the day taught them, they say, is something they already knew, but they felt it more clearly afterwards. “At the end of the day, it’s you and me, always and forever. Teammates, partners in life and in all adventures.”

The vows they wrote that morning, the ones Aaron ended up setting aside to speak from the heart, are now hard for either of them to recall exactly. What sticks with them is the laughter and the happy tears, and that seems just right.