“WE DO” Jess commissioned a handcrafted, embroidered ring holder for the ring warming element of the blessing. The couple had designed their wedding rings themselves with Smooch, each choosing their own style, materials and band thickness. “It’s so special knowing our wedding rings have been blessed by the people we hold most dear,” Jess shares. The ceremony was very personal to Jess and Jonny, and every part was deeply meaningful. It told their story, and they were able to deliver their own vows, which they’d kept secret until that moment. A string quartet played A Thousand Years as Jess’s mum and the bridesmaids entered, while Jess walked down the aisle to a beautiful rendition of Tale As Old As Time. “I must highlight the aisle of Highley Manor’s outdoor ceremony area! It took a few minutes to complete and offered a lovely opportunity to soak in the moment… I’m pretty sure the string quartet had to play an extra verse or two!” she remembers. The quartet continued to provide the ambience throughout the ceremony playing classics such as I Hope You Dance, during the ring warming, a song that meant a lot to Jess and her granddad. Ben E. King’s Stand By Me played during the signing to gently introduce a party vibe and finished with Marry You by Bruno Mars. “The music made the atmosphere electric,” Jess remembers. BRIDGERTON VIBES Having settled on a dusky blue colour palette with a nod to Bridgerton, the couple assembled the team who could bring their vision to life. Based on locations important to their relationship, the table plan was a way of including their story in the reception. As was the mailbox – a diplomatic mail bag, which they’d used to send letters and care packages to one another when separated by distance. Jess handmade the place names by cutting out guests’ names into thin wood and spray-painting them in gold, the wedding’s accent colour. For the table names, she dried wildflowers and put them in glass frames. She then glued gold mirrored table names to each of them, which were Libya, Nigeria, Malta, Thailand, Spain, Iraq, Kenya, and South Africa. Jess was keen for their invitations to be as special as their wedding, so she meticulously hand-painted every envelope with wisteria flowers in matching dusky blue and made the save-the-dates and invitations with help from her family. The couple have an allotment, so Jess grew the ingredients to make organic chutneys as the wedding favours and her mum crocheted dusky blue delphinium flowers for the lid of each jar. “It was flowers galore when it came to our centrepieces, very in keeping with Bridgerton!” Jess tells us. The arrangements featured pastel hues, mainly blue, and delphiniums gave a lovely height to the arrangements. “We wanted to invest in displays that could be reused from the “From the moment I saw Jess standing at the top of the aisle everything else became mere background noise.” – Jonny 38
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=