As soon as we laid eyes on each other, a simple swipe right started our Fairytale! After exchanging numbers, our first date was spent watching Wrestlemania and sharing a McDonalds. Everyone always says “when you know, you know” and that is exactly how it has been between us. Fast forward to 4 years later after buying a house, our beautiful boys, countless holidays and many takeaways later, Martin finally got down on one knee – and of course I said yes!
Our dream wedding plan was to get married abroad in an intimate ceremony on the beach. Wedding planning is stressful enough without the added stress of a global pandemic, and unfortunately our dream wedding was cancelled due to current travel restrictions. We decided that we didn’t want to postpone or wait until 2022, so we changed all our plans to a home wedding and organised the full thing within one week of our planned date.
Our intimate home wedding was perfect in every way, and we are so blessed that we were able to celebrate with our closest family and friends. We have a larger party planned at the Glynhill hotel for later in the year, so everyone can attend. The Glynhill staff made our day run so smoothly, and we really can’t thank them enough for all their support throughout a very stressful week.
About the dress… well some basic facts; I am 5 foot 8 inches, big chested with a curvy figure, so being a tall plus size bride brings with it an added anxiety to dress shopping. I visited a few shops at first, and left those appointments feeling really flat and self-conscious about my weight. From there, I spent a lot of time and effort researching wedding dress designers, and fell instantly in love with the Ronald Joyce collection. It was the official website that signposted me to Juliette’s Bridal in Paisley – an authorised stockist, and for that I will feel forever thankful.
There are not enough words to express my gratitude and love for Margaret at Juliette’s. From the moment I walked in the door, I felt so at ease and comfortable trying on dress options. This was all down to her and how warm and supportive she is in nature. She listened to all my anxieties, and promised me I would leave there feeling happy. She stuck good to that promise. I had an idea in mind for my dress style, but my mum convinced me to try on one of her picks and I am so glad I did.
My dress was from the Victoria Jane collection: Torino 18260 in Ivory. It was everything I hoped for and more, and I felt like a real life Disney princess.
Martin and I didn’t know what to expect on the day because it was organised so last minute. We had a toast together on the morning of the wedding (I know that is not tradition), but we like to do things our way and then Martin headed off to get dressed at my parent’s house. The day went by so fast and without any hiccups, and my favourite bit was catching up with all our guests, many of whom we haven’t seen in over a year due to covid restrictions.
Although our wedding day wasn’t what we’d originally planned, reflecting back our day was everything we dreamed of and more - minus the Greek sunshine!
My advice to all future bride and grooms out there is to slow down and enjoy the process, and most importantly the day itself. The time flies so quickly that you really need to stop and take a moment to take it all in. All that planning and stress is so worth it, and I really enjoyed the intimacy of our wedding. We would like to thank everyone involved in making our day so special, and good luck to all future brides out there planning your happily ever after.
We were so blessed to have our good friend John Dryden as our Wedding photographer. John has a unique talent of capturing those real life natural moments so beautifully, and our photos from the day are just perfect!
