DRESSED TO IMPRESS Sam wore an Essense of Australia dress called D3023 with a light pink undergown, which she purchased from Laura May Bridal. “I was instantly drawn to Essense of Australia’s dresses when I started looking,” adds Sam. “The dress I chose was not at all what I was expecting to wear, but I liked the plunging neckline, and both my mum and nan wore pink on their wedding day, so that was a nice touch. I accessorised with a bracelet from my parents, a necklace and earrings that were a present from Beth on the day, and my great-gran’s wedding ring.” Beth chose a dress by Rachel Burgess named Isla. “The underdress was ivory, with a lace layer over the top covered in embroidery daisies,” says Beth. “I loved my dress and knew straight away when I tried it on that it was the one. I wore a necklace and earrings that were a present from Sam on the morning of the wedding. My mam also sewed a ring from my grandmother and a locket from my other grandmother to the underside of my dress, using a blue ribbon as my something old, borrowed, and blue.” The couple had six people in their wedding party. “I had three bridesmaids, and Beth had her sister as her maid-of-honour and two bridesmen,” shares Sam. “Our bridesmaids and maid-of-honour wore dresses from Timeless Elegance Bridal in hunter green, and the two bridesmen opted for sage green tweed three-piece suits from Moss Bros.” TIME TO CELEBRATE “We had the Aderyn String Quartet play in the walled garden during the ceremony and post-ceremony, which we kept a surprise from everyone until the day,” explains Sam. “We also had a range of garden games to entertain guests between the ceremony and reception. All the guests got stuck into the games, with the women even taking their shoes off for better leverage in tug of war! There were multiple space hopper races and lots of falls captured on camera. We also had a beer pong table set up in the reception area. In the evening, we had a band called The Wildcards, who were great, and a photo booth for lots of drunken pictures. We also had a caravan bar from Bars of Distinction serving drinks all night.” MEMORABLE MOMENTS “We felt excited and anxious, but overall very happy,” recalls Sam. “We spent the morning getting ready separately and were anxiously waiting to see each other the entire time. We wanted to be ‘traditional’ and not see each other before the ceremony, and we’re happy that we did that, but deep down, we would have loved to have gotten ready together! “Our favourite and most memorable moment was our ‘first touch’,” adds Sam. “We didn’t want to do a first look, but we knew we’d want to connect somehow before we walked down the aisle. We came outside a few minutes before the ceremony began, and with the help of some of our family and our photographer, we held hands around the corner of a wall. It was the most peaceful and grounding moment of the entire day and made us both incredibly emotional.” Sam and Beth took part in a space hopper race, which turned out to be more eventful than they originally planned. “The race was neck and neck until the very end, where Beth fell off and kicked the space hopper in disappointment,” says Sam. “The space hopper bounced off a pole and flew back, hitting Beth square in the face! “It was so special that we had Riley, our dog, with us all day,” continues Sam. “Riley was the ring bearer and spent the day running around the walled garden. She does everything with us, so it was important that she was there with us for our special day. The speeches were also all very special. Beth, both dad’s and the maid-of-honour all gave speeches, and the maid-of-honour even turned hers into a drinking game!” HONEYMOON “I planned our honeymoons,” shares Sam. “We went to St. Ives for five days and stayed in a lovely beach-side cottage, spending the week eating pasties, drinking and shopping. We then went to Mauritius for two weeks, which was absolutely beautiful and so relaxing.” 37 REAL WEDDINGS
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