details and a pale blue/silver lining to the suit and back of the waistcoat. His shoes were patent black evening shoes with gold accents from ASOS, and he completed his big-day look with gold and black cufflinks. The best man wore a complementing suit from Moss, while Lydia’s sister and bridesmaid wore a stunning gold/champagne maxi evening dress. TIME TO CELEBRATE To entertain guests, Lydia and Mike booked a singer for the drinks reception who also played the guitar. “We saw him at a friend’s wedding the year before and loved him so much we booked him there and then. All the guest enjoyed this and it created much more of a party atmosphere for the day,” recalls Lydia. “After the evening meal, we arranged a cocktail hour on the terrace. As an insight to our relationship, we decided to serve three cocktails that meant something to both of us: Mike chose a negroni, I a picante and we both enjoy espresso martinis.” After their much-loved cocktail hour, a DJ and sax player entertained guests with a half-hour garage set and then a house/Ibiza set. “The guests loved it and everyone was on the dancefloor,” shares Lydia. “We also provided a glitter/face gem table to encourage people to decorate their faces as if hitting the clubs in Ibiza. The photos of this are epic!” MEMORABLE MOMENTS “It was the most amazing day of our lives, it was incredible from start to finish and felt like a dream,” recalls Lydia. “Everyone said it would go by so quickly but until you are in it you can’t quite understand what people mean. We remember smiling all day and just feeling like the luckiest people in the world. I was incredibly relaxed and excited whilst getting ready but I understand Mike was extremely nervous mainly because he would be greeting all the guests and the one who would be doing the speech.” After the ceremony, the newlyweds had time on their own for photos and decided to have a number taken in the upstairs bar. “We each ordered a cocktail and just sat and had a conversation,” remembers Lydia. “It felt like such a special moment for us, having only just got married, to take some time to be alone. We have some stunning photos of this moment which we will cherish forever and have made an agreement to go to the venue for a drink every time we are in the area.” The couple’s incredible photographer also specialises in champagne spray photos which the couple were excited to try. “The photo is stunning, and the champagne spray looks like something from a movie! For the rest of our lives, on our anniversary, we are going to get a bottle of champagne and recreate this photo, we want to make an album of these photos to give to our future children.” Finally, another standout moment for the happy pair was a sparkler shot they were able to capture in the evening. “Before the photographer left, we really wanted a photo of a few people holding sparklers around us. We didn’t expect it but almost all the guests got involved and we have epic photos and videos of us walking down an aisle of our guest holding sparklers whilst we are holding flares.” FUN AND GAMES “It’s a tradition in our families to ask all of the guests to bet on how long they think the speeches will take. My uncle decided to take this very seriously and went round to everyone with his clip REAL WEDDINGS 39
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=