When I first met David, I was instantly drawn to his passion for business,” Dionne tells us. “He’s a confident, driven, smart man which are qualities that I find attractive.” David adds, “Dionne is gorgeous and that’s what immediately caught my eye but, in the end, it was her positive attitude, warmth and sense of fun that made me fall in love with her. You can’t help but feel good when you spend time around Dionne.” The couple became engaged during a trip to Portugal. “We’ve been visiting there for years,” Dionne tells us. “The hotel closed the spa just for us and David led me through the oriental garden to a table laid for two under a pagoda. On it was a jigsaw puzzle which he suggested that I put together. I was trying to work out why he wanted me to complete a puzzle, but I did, and when the final piece clicked into place, it read ‘will you marry me’ which was a wonderful surprise!” David tells us, “Although I’d been planning it for weeks, I was still a bit nervous, especially when Dionne was insistent on going somewhere different to where I’d planned to propose! Fortunately, it worked out. I wanted Dionne to choose her ring so we tied a gold ribbon on to each other’s fingers as a token.” SETTING THE SCENE David owns Cheltenham Yurt Hire so the couple were always going to use their beautiful yurts for their celebration. “We’d long considered Hilles House for our venue,” Dionne tells us. “Not only does it offer some of the best views of any wedding venue in the region, but it’s close to St Mary’s Church in Painswick where we were married and provided space in the grounds for the yurts - it had everything that we wanted.” David adds, “We held our drinks reception inside the Big Hall at Hilles House before moving down to our yurt village. We used a range of giant yurts from Cheltenham Yurt Hire to create several different zones for our guests to enjoy. We had a dining yurt, one for dancing and the DJ, a bar yurt, a chill-out lounge, a crèche for the children (complete with nannies) and a powder room for the bridal party. It was unique, relaxed and elegant which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. It was our own private festival set against the backdrop of the iconic Hilles House - we still get comments about how amazing the yurts and venue were to this day.” Dionne and David wanted their suppliers to be as local as possible and are fortunate to be friends with some extremely talented local businesses and artisans. “It was wonderful to realise that every element had been crafted by somebody who “ “The catering team at Marinades revisited Hilles House on the Sunday after our wedding to provide a barbecue for the remaining guests. We all sat in the sunshine and shared stories from the night before, taking time to reflect on everything that we’d experienced.This made our wedding feel more personal, bespoke and tailored. It was our own private event which is one of the advantages of a festival-style wedding - you’d never get that time with a traditional venue.” - Dionne and David 27 REAL WEDDINGS
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