Gareth and I met on Tinder, and on our first date I knew he was someone special. His proposal was such a surprise the day we were leaving for a trip to Oxford; a jeweller’s gift bag hidden in the wardrobe containing a beautiful ring.
A year after our original date, we got married at The Courtyard, Oswestry on Friday 9th July 2021.
I enjoyed wedding planning, I’ve done event planning and work in hospitality so I didn’t find it too stressful. The hardest part was waiting for the numbers to be confirmed because of the pandemic. I didn’t have a theme in mind, I wanted rustic and beautiful, timeless but not matchy-matchy. Making the flower girls tutus was time consuming; especially working around a 48hr working week! As we wanted a personal wedding, we didn’t want a hotel and so chose The Courtyard as we fell in love as soon as we walked into the garden!
I thought I wanted a vintage style, long sleeved lace dress, but when my mum and I went to ‘have a look’ at one shop I fell in love with my dress on the first visit! I chose the Jodie (style 18013) from Bespoke Brides in Mollington. Claire, the owner, was really patient and calming, The shop was beautiful, and the dress I just fell in love with! The simplicity of it, plus the belt detail were perfect… and it had pockets! As we went shopping pre-covid, I was able to bring my sisters, mother in law and sisters in law on my second visit.
The reception barn was styled so much more beautiful than I imagined. We had worked really hard for the two days before to prepare everything: tying cushions to chairs, sorting napkins and candles, laying tables. It was perfect. My aunty made us a beautiful, delicious cake, and the speeches were wonderful. My friend played the violin as I walked down the aisle, and local musician Joe Seager played during reception drinks. The Myers played for our outside disco in the evening. Even though I was slightly late on the day thanks to traffic, it wasn’t a stressful day and we enjoyed every moment.
My advice for future brides is try not to stress about tiny details, it won’t enter your mind on the day! The important thing is to enjoy it, and we’d been told to take time just the two of us and I’m so glad we did. We had a moment to share our happiness with each other and talk about the day.
Our photographer was Dan Mogg, we are in love with our photos!
Written by Emily Cook