Amy and David met in modern fashion online through a dating app in 2019. “Chatting to him was instantly easy,” recalls Amy. “He was funny, and conversation flowed immediately. When I first met him, I thought he had a gorgeous smile and beautiful, kind, bright blue eyes. It wasn’t love at first sight, but I definitely got tummy tingles. He was very apologetic that he was late to our first date though!” After the pair fell in love, one, regular Tuesday evening in December, after returning from puppy training classes, with their dog Bello, David had something special planned. “We were both so pleased as he had done so well in the class,” shares Amy. “We’d got back home and David scooted off, later to shout, ‘Have you opened your advent calendar today?’, I realised I hadn’t! So I rushed to it, I had a beauty-product advent with pull-out drawers, I checked drawer number five and saw there was something on top of a serum bottle – it was an engagement ring! I stood, for what felt like forever, speechless and then called out ‘David what’s this in my advent?’! As I turned round David was already standing in the doorway with Bello. I couldn’t quite get my words out, I started to cry, and David quickly said, ‘no crying’, so my next immediate reaction was laughing! I think I carried on laughing for about five minutes until he said, ‘So… are you going to answer?!”, at that point I said, ‘Yes...but you need to ask me again, this time on one knee as it doesn’t count otherwise!’, So he got down on one knee and asked me again. The rest, they say, is history!” Fast-forward to the wedding planning, and the big date was set 13th October 2024, with Nutfield Priory Hotel & Spa, Surrey setting the scene. Here we find out more about their day… SETTING THE SCENE When visiting Nutfield Priory Hotel & Spa, Amy and David thought it had an intimate and cosy feel yet somehow grand due to its periodic features throughout. “The stained-glass window in the reception was breathtaking, and the Cloisters restaurant has such character, we were mesmerised,” recalls Amy. “David and I were looking for a venue where all our guests could also stay, as we had pictured dancing long into the morning and then for all our guests to come down and eat breakfast together. Nutfield Priory Hotel & Spa could sleep all our guests, the rooms were gorgeous combining classic period features with modern details.” The exclusive-use option was the icing on the cake for Amy and David, and as they left the venue, they shared the same view: they’d found the one. “The location and beautiful rolling fields, that all our guests would see from the terrace, made it feel like we were in the middle of nowhere, yet we were only a 40-minute drive from London,” adds Amy. To complete the look of their day, the couple opted for a sage-green colour scheme with a chic, romantic style, complemented with seasonal flowers: white roses, lilies, wild grasses and green foliage. “David and I agreed we didn’t need to decorate the whole venue; it was too beautiful and we wanted to let it speak for itself,” shares Amy. “One of the things we did want, was to use our flower arrangements multiple times throughout the day. Our florists were brilliant and made this possible; our ceremony flowers, which were raised on plinths, then doubled as our table decorations, simply adding lanterns and wooden blocks to the tables for height. We also had a wooden arch for our ceremony backdrop which was then moved to the breakfast room and stood behind the top table.” As well as the floral decorations, David and Amy also had some additional signage for guests. “As we both do triathlons and are very active, we created big yellow triathlon signs which would help direct guests to the different ‘legs’ of the day. We then incorporated this into our welcome sign and tables plan, with our table names being sporting events that David and I had done together or individually. It just all fitted together and no-one got lost enroute!” For the favours, the couple chose wooden bottle openers for the men, with their initials and wedding date on, and the ladies had mini candles sat in a wooden holder with floral accents. Not wanting a traditional cake, they chose traybake favourites such as 46
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