Caroline and Gareth
26/06/2004 – Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire
Garstang Country Hotel, Lancashire
How and when did you meet?
We met during the first term of university in 1995, while studying for an assessment.
Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?
Gareth proposed to me on New Year’s Day 2003 during a walk along the River Wyre.
Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?
I found lots of useful information on the confetti website.
Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?
I had two bridesmaids – one wore black (it was the only colour that suited her) and the other wore silver.
Where did you hold your ceremony?
We married in Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Thornton-Cleveleys.
Where did you hold your reception?
The reception took place at Garstang Country Hotel.
Did you have any special wedding transport?
We actually hired cars from a funeral directors. We only had four months between setting the date and the actual wedding and nowhere else had any cars available.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?
We invited 130 guests to the wedding, and a further 30 to the reception.
Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?
We had a bit of a multi-coloured theme going on as I love rainbow colours.
How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?
We designed and printed all the table settings, invitations, table plans etc. Each table was named after a colour to follow the rainbow theme.
Did you give your guests favours?
We didn’t have any favours, but we did have bubbles and disposable cameras on all the tables.
What did you choose for your wedding cake?
We didn’t get around to ordering a wedding cake, so we bought one from Marks and Spencers the week before the wedding. It was apparently very nice, but contains nuts so I didn’t eat any of it.
Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?
I had a choir to sing at the ceremony – some of the guests made up the choir, and several members of the City of Birmingham Choir (of which I’m a member) travelled up to Lancashire to make up the numbers.
Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?
We had our gift list with John Lewis.
Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?
We booked a last minute honeymoon to Rhodes a few days after the wedding.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
The wedding ceremony itself was extremely moving. I also did a surprise speech which shocked everyone as I’m not really a speech sort of person.
Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?
Try and enjoy the organisation of the wedding as well as the wedding itself. After the wedding you’ll wish you could organise it all over again…
