How we met...
We met in 2011 when we started working together, over time we became the best of friends at work and ended up falling in love, finally getting together in 2015.
The proposal...
After a very wet wander around Central Park in New York on 27th October 2018 (which also happens to be Steph’s mum and dad’s wedding anniversary), we finally got to the Alice in wonderland statue. Iain had gotten to the point he’d been waiting for all day. Steph very kindly volunteered the perfect moment as she wanted a photo sat on the statue, as she had done the same a few years earlier. Iain looks around - “this is perfect, there’s no one around” - and he bends down to fix his sock (genius move) then pops the question. Cue a round of applause from the random group of tourists that have suddenly appeared from nowhere, all taking photos and videos! Just to round off this fantastically romantic moment, Steph then announces that A) Iain didn’t need to go down on one knee because it was raining and his jeans would be dirty and B) “That she’d sat in a puddle and her pants were wet”!
The dress...
The dress was by a designer called Nicola Anne who is based in Hinckley where we live (I was very pleased to find the perfect dress designed and handmade locally!). I got it from a bridal boutique called Pink Confetti in Broughton Astley, where Leigh and her team could not have been more helpful. When I told her about the theme of the day (día de los Muertos) and that I wanted an all lace dress that was reminiscent of a traditional Mexican wedding dress, she pulled out my dress and I knew it was perfect.
Our favourite part of the day...
It’s difficult to pinpoint one moment because it really all went by in a blur. We were very keen to do something totally non-traditional that people wouldn’t expect. We loved our Mariachi band (Mariachi Rey), the Mexican inspired food by Portfolio Events catering, our amazing cake by Melody and beautiful flowers by Emily.
The plan that we felt worked well...
We set up a dedicated google account so everything wedding related was in one place: emails, budgets, checklists, supplier details. It really helped to keep on top of all the planning involved.
Where we feel our budget was really well spent...
We made a lot of the wedding decorations ourselves; we’re not crafty at all but given the theme of the day we wanted to make it as unique as possible, so we painted and glittered skulls, spray-painted candle sticks, and filled mini glass bottles with tequila. It's amazing how many Mexican inspired decorations you can find on Amazon, Etsy and Ebay, and there are lots of websites where you can customise all sorts of stuff – we used Zazzle for our invitations and hip hip hooray for our table stationary.
Finally, if we could give one tip to other couples...
Trust your suppliers! They are professionals and can pretty much bring any idea you have to life.
Special thanks to Steph and Iain for sharing their story, and 1st Class Wedding Photography for the photos x