Bonnie and Stephen's Summer Wedding

How you met…

It was Covid 19 wow! What a line to start on lol, seems so long ago now! I was home and off work with Covid that I ended up downloading the app TIKTOK. I was scrolling through and noticed a black ford focus st, that had great music and caught my eye, so I liked the video and all of a sudden I had many likes back and messages from someone called Ste, we talked for many hours and realised we had lots in common and really liked talking to each other so  after that and video calls before he made the drive from Blackpool to visit me one weekend.

All went well and we laughed and enjoyed our time together as the months went on he made the trip every weekend to stay and our love grew stronger. We had a drive in his car he took me away to Blackpool and the lake District and it was love, fast cars and fast food that made us fall in love so quick.

The proposal…

So Ste had never been to a TGI restaurant before, so one of our first dates was TGI’s . We had been together about a year and Ste said to me after a busy week "get ready were going out for dinner with Daizy" (my daughter), not thinking it was anything too special. When we pulled up to the carpark I saw my best friend, thinking wow she is here too, not only was she here to have dinner with us, she had spend the whole day with Ste and Daizy choosing my engagement ring. I was so happy to have my favourite people with me for dinner. My friend moved seats to opposite me, not thinking she was actually about to video that whole thing on her phone, Ste started looking at me and saying how much he loves me and wants to be with me, all of a sudden he got down on one knee and pulled out this box in the middle of the restaurant, I was so overwhelmed- it was an instant YES.

How Dodmoor as a venue stood out to us…

It was actually almost 10 years ago that I was a guest at a friends wedding at Dodmoor House and in my head I always wanted to get married there... not thinking I would ever get engaged let alone be able to find my dream venue! But the day we started looking round id already said to Ste we need to go to a place called Dodmoor, he was like okay lets see as we didn’t want a church wedding, we wanted a more relaxed country vibe which Ste is very at home with being from a country background and farm lands. I was desperate to go to Dodmoor House. Once we viewed Dodmoor House even Ste’s eyes light up with happiness, the whole experience was fantastic, everyone was so nice and walking round thinking i'm going to get married here send butterflies through my tummy. Ste was amazed at how beautiful and rustic the venue was.

The vision and theme for the day…

Our vision for the day was to just have fun and have everyone that we loved there to enjoy it with us, a sunny summers day in July close to our proposal date. From a mans point of view, Ste didn’t really know what goes into a wedding or what we needed lol. We didn’t want to overwhelm Dodmoor as it stands out so beautifully, we went for a dusty blue and dark blue and gold colour theme. The list is endless for what you could have but we wanted a relaxed enjoyable time, with memories that we could look back on , I myself am very creative so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on making everything LOL.

The plan/idea you felt really worked on the day?

THE STAFF OF DODMOOR made everything come to life, the organization and timings were on point I think would stood out for me was just how amazing everything worked. The garden drinks after the ceremony were a big talking point months after. Everyone of our friends and family, said just how amazing the venue was and beautiful. If anyone knows us they know we love rustic wood walks and sky blue colours.

The entertainment…

we didn’t really do to much entertainment wise standard DJ disco evening , I think it was just nice to see everyone having such a lovely time, we used Dodmoor DIY photo booth which went down really well, but I think my iconic hair cut after the ceremony before the reception entrance was a big hit.

Where we felt our budget was well spent…

I think as a whole the venue itself is definitely well spent, the staff and organization how everything looks on the day comes together so well, we did try not to spend lots on things to much but as I made a lot of the decorations and had help from my mum with table decorations it didn’t seem to bad over our budget.

Personal touches that reflected us as a couple…

I actually spend a great deal of time adding personal touches to everything LOL. From sticking pearl beads on name cards to finding old photos of grandparents on their wedding day to make our day look how it did, i've always been like that when it comes to family or friends making an effort to show love and attention to detail.

I think throughout our day we had a lot of comments saying how proud our grandparents would have been, which just made us smile and I remember saying to Ste when we was taking photos on the bridge and surrounding areas of the canal ; WE DID IT with blessing and looking up to the heaven it was a special moment.

Suppliers we used and would recommend!

Definitely recommend Ian brodie hog roast catering , he was actually at Dodmoor doing an open evening.

Ste is all about the burgers so soon as he tried his that was sorted LOL made my life a lot easier knowing he was happy with the food and Ian was so accommodated with areas like children and adding chips and other family recipes.

Our tip to other couples…

Well the tip I had was to enjoy and take in every minute because it goes so quickly and boy was they right literally from the get go from getting hair and make up to getting ready at Dodmoor to Kara saying its time! felt like minutes …. But I did take in that information and I sat back and watched everyone while we was on our sweetheart table to actually look at everyone laughing , being happy, eating and drinking to think wow we made this happen and im so very lucky.

So yes my tip also is to remember to take time to sit back and watch in that moment what is happening. Take every moment in and enjoy it …….

Thank you to Bonnie and Stephen for sharing their story and special day with us. Thank you also to Lucky Stars Photography for perfectly capturing their day.