Abi and Jason met while working at Game. They hit it off immediately thanks to a wealth of common interests and quickly became fast friends, texting each other every day and spending time together outside of work. “A few months later, those friendship feelings turned into a romance, and as plenty of mutual friends told me Jason fancied me, I took the plunge and kissed him on a night out,” Abi shares. The risk paid off as they’ve been inseparable ever since! Jason planned to propose the night before Abi’s 30th birthday. The couple had gone into the city centre for a meal and a few drinks. “The issue was, that I had zero idea of when I was going to propose,” Jason remembers. “I was properly nervous and kept subconsciously checking the ring in my pocket.” He was waiting for the perfect moment, but with the city centre getting more and more packed and raucus around him, that moment never came. “It got late and I was ready to go home,” Abi says. No sooner had she got into her pyjamas back at the flat, she heard Jason calling her into the living room. It was there he got down on one knee and proposed, with their song, Most Beautiful Girl In The World playing in the background. “As soon as I realised what was happening, I was so nervous and surprised that I couldn’t answer at first! Of course, eventually I did say, ‘Yes,’” Abi shares. By the time Abi and Jason decided to check out a wedding fair at Hope Street Hotel, they’d already dismissed a whole host of venues that hadn’t felt right for them. Abi loved the style of the place with its bare white brick walls, wooden floors and contemporary furniture: “It’s laid back and simple, yet luxurious,” she explains. What appealed to Jason on the other hand were the wedding packages and how much they included. However, what clinched it for the pair of them was seeing the fifth floor venue spaces. “The view from each room was astonishing and once we saw it, it became an immediate, ‘Yes.’ Other venues we’d seen were nice, but just didn’t compare, our minds were made up,” Jason explains. SETTING THE SCENE The couple decided on a relaxed, simple and fun vibe for their wedding, enjoyed with their family and close friends. Having picked a palette of purple, plum, gold and champagne, Abi set to work creating the favours. These were little pouches containing chocolates and tied with gold ribbon. Each had a wooden Welsh love spoon charm attached to reflect Abi’s Welsh heritage. Abi’s vision for the flowers was a wild, natural, swept-up style in her favourite colours. Her bouquet featured soft, natural foliages, mauve roses, purple lisianthus, nude roses, lilac freesias, and gypsophila. The bridesmaids’ bouquets were smaller versions of the same with overall lighter shades to contrast with their dresses. The gents meanwhile wore buttonholes of plum lisianthus with gypsophila and foliage, except Jason whose buttonhole also included a champagne rose. The centrepieces were kept simple in the form of vases filled with flowers, mirroring the bouquets, with tea lights scattered around the tables. The top table also had a wreath of eucalyptus running along it. The big-day bake was a three-tier semi-naked cake with gold leaf detail, decorated with fresh flowers to match the bouquets. The top tier was vanilla and raspberry, the middle was vanilla and white chocolate, and the bottom tier was chocolate oreo flavour – delicious! It was completed with a topper bearing the newlyweds’ initials made from gold wire. They also had a wonderful Kransekake, a Norwegian celebration cake made by Jason’s mum to reflect his Norwegian heritage. The wedding tradition goes that when the bride and groom hold the top ring of this stacked wreath cake, the number of rings that break off are the number of children they’ll have. Further styling included a flower walll and super-cool neon light, which read: “Happily Ever After.” There was also a memory table in honour of absent friends and family. Abi made little hearts with their names on from white clay and surrounded them with candles. They gave these tokens to their family members to keep afterwards. 21 REAL WEDDINGS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=