The Wedding
Where do I start!?? After proposing on 22/2/22 we began looking into planning the wedding. We spoke to close family about ideas and we actually decided we might look at doing something smaller abroad as we really liked the idea of having sunshine and a very chilled vibe! After a phone call with Cliff, he generously offered that we use his vineyard in Portugal as a wedding venue. We had the plan that we could send out invites and see how many people could come and then go from there with regards to organising a BBQ and enough bubbles haha. Just as we were about to book flights for ourselves, Cliff messaged to say that he had sold his vineyard and it was therefore no longer an option as our wedding venue so we were back to square one!
We had a long think about where would be a nice place to get married and after deciding that it might be easier to stay in the UK, we looked at the Aviator which was where we had our first date of afternoon tea and when we looked around the hotel, we saw huge potential so we decided to run with it!
Because I’m Mr. Organised, I created a budget straight away. I wasn’t 100% sure of how much to allocate to each section but I had a spreadsheet with my sections and tried to do research into getting an idea of what was reasonable to spend on each section. I won’t bore you with all those details but long story short we actually managed to stay pretty much to budget so I put that down to good initial organisation haha. Although it’s tough when you see so many incredible ideas and concepts on Instagram and TikTok etc. with influencers!! I think every week we would see something else we would want to incorporate but actually once we had decided an ideal layout of the day, we pretty much stuck to that!
We obviously had a few issues with the guest list (as I’m sure everyone does as you always want to invite more people than you have spaces) but there weren’t actually any major dramas leading up to the day other than what we were going to wear!! Let’s start with my suit. I had a suit tailor made in Thailand on a family trip in 2023 but it didn’t quite fit with just a month to go so I had to get it re-fitted and then I realised that the material wasn’t stretchy at all so I was worried it would rip with my dance moves so I ended up buying another suit online from ASOS and had that tailored the week before the wedding!!! All very stressful!
And for Nicole’s dress, it all fitted until she put her shoes on and they were higher than she thought so she went to see a tailor who added material to the bottom of the dress but it actually looks like a Vivienne Westwood design so maybe she was ahead of the times!
In the end, there was 2 years, 2 months and 2 weeks from engagement day to the wedding day - all the 2’s
We booked to go to Portugal the week before the wedding so we could have some time to chill, tan and prep! Everyone said we were crazy but this ended us being so useful as we both could really get on top of everything wedding wise and make sure we were as prepped as we could be. Although that did mean when we go home there were a lot of physical things to finish off, from table decorations, putting sweets in jars for the sweet stand, collecting the flowers and even creating the photo table. Now let me explain what I mean by the photo table. Basically I saw an idea where you find pictures of your married guests on their wedding day and put them all on a table and herald all the successful weddings that have come before. It was a really nice way for me to have a picture of my dad up at the wedding without needing to do a big 'in memorial' frame.
Like everything, this took A LOT longer than planned but once it was done I was sooo happy with it and all of the late nights added to the excitement.
We ended up setting everything up the day before in the venue with regards to the aisle, backdrop and sound system which was so lucky as it meant we could chill a bit more on the morning of the wedding. Despite us wanting to stay together the night before we decided to keep it traditional and stay separately. Nicole had a Chinese takeaway with her parents and bridesmaids and then buried a sausage (If you know, you know) before heading over to stay at the aviator. Lots of her close friends had also decided to stay the night before too. She said she had the best time and just felt very lucky to have her nearest and dearest close to her that evening.
I stayed with my mum and sister at our flat and what I thought would be a chilled night turned into a very late evening as I decided to make Nicole a photo book to give to her the morning of the wedding. I had always planned on making a photo book but I didn't want her to find it so I thought I'd have time the night before the wedding but I really didn't - I was still sticking in photos the morning of the wedding! BUT she said she LOVED it so it was all worth it!
The morning of the wedding came and the sun was shining (thanks to the sausage) - we both text each other in the morning round 6.30am unable to sleep as we were ready and raring.
While Nicole was in glam with her bridesmaids, I set up the table decorations, photo table, cake, flowers and made last minute adjustments to the decor and got myself ready. I felt very emotional at times but kept suppressing any urges to cry.
The morning seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was at the end of the aisle waiting for Nicole’s entrance. The moment I saw her all the emotion came out as she just looked absolutely gorgeous. I had imagined what she would look like but she surpassed all my expectations. It felt like time stood still, everything went silent and all I could see was her. It really was a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Tears flowed as well as bubbles and the rest of the day was magical.
We still haven’t received the rest of our professional photos so I’ll catch back in with you another time with unseen exclusive photos and our favourite moments from the day. :D
