On June 27th 2021 – an entire year since our originally planned date – we got married at gorgeous country house Hodsock Priory.
We had met in 2012, where we both worked at our local park. Our first date wasn’t brilliant; I was very poorly but didn’t want to cancel and ended up throwing up in the cinema! Thankfully he wasn’t put off and made sure I got home safe. We stayed together throughout university and once we had graduated and bought our first house, Matt proposed in the gardens of the Louvre, Paris, in 2018,
I really enjoyed the wedding planning to begin with, but the pandemic made things a bit harder. One positive of the delay was that it gave us some extra time to save up and book some more activities like a magician and casino tables. We were given the option to book later in the year but decided to wait a whole year hoping things would be back to normal (how wrong we were!). We looked at hotels and stately homes and chose The Priory because we wanted it to just be us and our guests.
I’ve always dreamed of the fantasy big white princess dress but had never tried any on and wasn’t sure what would suit me. I only went to one shop, It’s Bliss Bridal in Doncaster, and they were brilliant. They let me try on about 10 dresses, all in completely different styles, and they even did the alterations and cleaning for me.
My eye was instantly drawn to the Caterina dress (style 69459) it was so sparkly under the lights. Once I tried it on, I knew it was for me. It had sleeves which I wanted, it defined my waist and had the most amazing train full of sparkle.
The day was lovely, there were a few hiccups early in the morning but once the ceremony was done it was relaxed and we were able to celebrate outside without masks on. By far the best bit of the day was seeing everyone after being in lockdown for most of the year. Also, the looks on people’s faces as our dogs brought the rings down the aisle was priceless.
With the casino tables and magicians we had arranged it was great to see everyone making memories. We were worried with the masks and social distancing people wouldn’t enjoy themselves but we didn’t need to worry as everyone had an amazing time and got to dance!
My advice for future brides is to slow down, it goes so quickly. Take time to touch base with your partner and get away. I’m so grateful we got a videographer, the footage is amazing and it means I can remember exactly our vows and hear us saying them again.
Our photographer was Photos By Hash.
Written by Emily Cook