Wendy and Richard’s Real Life Wedding

Wendy and Richard

How did you meet?
Through an Internet dating website. Richard didn’t actually appear on my ‘dates’ page but he arranged a night out in London for a group of people from the website. When I met him, I knew we were going to be good friends but never suspected then that we’d fall in love!

Describe the marriage proposal.
We were in the kitchen one morning, getting ready for work. Suddenly, Richard asked me if it was possible for a man to propose marriage while wearing a bathrobe or whether it had to be done fully clothed, in a special place over a lovely meal to be romantic. I said the place and the clothing didn’t matter to me, so he took my hand and asked me to be his wife!

 

How long did you spend preparing for the day and how was it?
We got engaged in March 2002 and married in August of the same year. The only problem with having such a relatively short time to plan was that we had to get married on a Friday but that wasn’t a problem in the end.

What type of wedding ceremony did you have and where?
We had a civil ceremony in a beautiful place called Swallows Oast in Ticehurst, East Sussex. We were very lucky because the weather hadn’t been very good leading up to the wedding, but on the day the sun shone and it was wonderfully warm.

Where did you hold your reception and what was it like?
We had the whole wedding, including the reception at Swallows Oast, which meant we had no transport worries between venues for any of the guests. After the ceremony, we led our guests outside for Champagne and Pimms while the staff set up the room for our meal. Once we’d finished eating, we went outside again for coffee while the DJ set up and the room was cleared for the disco. The evening finished at midnight, but we took the advice of some of the Confetti B2Bs and left at 11pm so we had some time together in our hotel room to talk about the wonderful day we’d had.

Is there anything you’d change, with hindsight?
We had a friend (who is a professional photographer but doesn’t do weddings!) who took the photos, which saved us money, but it meant we didn’t bother with a list of pictures we really wanted to have and, as a result, some people don’t appear in our album. That said, the photos are really beautiful and we were very pleased with them.

What advice would you give to couples currently planning their wedding?
Enjoy it! Even with only five months to plan, we had times when we were both fed up with all the organising and started to get annoyed with each other. Then we had to sit down and remember what we were actually doing and why. The wedding day is special, but the marriage is far more important.

Is there any other detail that you would like to share?
I became addicted to the Confetti.co.uk website during the planning stages and would thoroughly recommend sharing any worries with other B2Bs (especially when your friends and family have become thoroughly bored with your planning troubles!). It’s also a great source of interesting ideas and suggestions.

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