iSue and Kevin were married in Essex after seven years together. Apart from having to ‘sack’ a bridesmaid, both the planning and the day itself went perfectly, and Sue even got to surprise Kevin with a romantic horse and carriage after the ceremony!
Wedding Date: 10th September 2011
Ceremony Location: Langton’s House, Hornchurch, Essex.
Reception Location: Blake’s Golf Club, North Weald, Essex.
We Met… We started dating in 2003, but had known each other a bit for a year or so beforehand. We met at an off-road driving site in Kent which Kevin was running and I had developed a passion for driving my 4×4 off-road and kept turning up there every month!
The Proposal… Neither of us formally proposed. After over seven years together we both felt we could imagine spending the rest of our lives together and that we were getting a bit old to just be “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”.
Any glitches? I sacked a bridesmaid nine days before the wedding (!) which meant I had to find a new bridal car and a makeup artist for the bridesmaids at short notice. However, both were found fairly easily.
My Flowers… My bouquet was a teardrop shape made completely of burgundy orchids, with ivy threaded through. The bridesmaids had posies of smaller burgundy orchids and cream freesias. We only had flowers on the top table and they were small burgundy orchids, orange freesias and ivy threaded through wooden letters reading “Mr and Mrs”. We had feather table decorations on the other tables.
The Dress… My dress was ivory, made by Sincerity Bridal. It was a strapless, fishtail design with a corset back. I had always wanted a fishtail design. The reason I chose this particular dress is because the skirt at the bottom comes off completely and the dress then becomes a very smart cocktail dress! Something I could wear again maybe? I just loved surprising everyone when the bridesmaids pulled the skirt off after our first dance.
The Bridesmaids… I had two adult bridesmaids, who have been my friends for over 20 years. They wore dresses from BHS in merlot (burgundy), one long and one short (they chose their own). I also had two pageboys who are the children of one of the bridesmaids. They wore pageboy outfits with matching waistcoats and cravats from BHS.
The Groomsmen… Kevin’s best man is a joint friend of ours who knew both of us separately before we got together. He wore the same suit as Kevin (both hired from the bridal shop) but with a waistcoat from BHS to match the pageboys. His solid colour burgundy cravat came from the bridal shop. We had one usher who was the husband of one of our bridesmaids and he wore his own suit.
The Cake… We had 200 cupcakes plus one giant one on the top for us to cut. They were a mixture of chocolate, red velvet (burgundy) and vanilla.
The Reception… Our colour scheme was mainly burgundy with gold/ivory as an accent where necessary. We had butterflies as a decoration on various items. There were burgundy pop-up butterflies on the menus and favours, burgundy and white feather displays for the table centres, and burgundy and clear table crystals, some diamond shape and some butterfly shape. We had a wonderful Toastmaster during the wedding breakfast, and between courses he read out the questions for a quiz we had created with questions about us. It was great fun and the winning table won a bottle of champagne.
Our most memorable moment… Our ride in the horse and carriage, meeting up with our own horses en route (which Kevin didn’t know about) and then surprising the waiting guests with our change of transport.
What I would do differently… Our day went perfectly and we wouldn’t change anything. My advice to other brides would be – don’t worry about things that you cannot change, thank everyone who’s helped you along the way, and most of all – ENJOY YOUR DAY.
