Your Cheshire & Merseyside Wedding - November/December 2019 (Issue 48)

T his couple’s worlds literally collided when Sara crashed her car into Mike’s just before Christmas 2015. “His friends joke the only reason I married him is so he didn’t put a claim in,” Sara laughs. There was an instant attraction between them and they knew it was the start of something special when Mike drove all the way from Chester to South Wales on Christmas Day to see Sara, despite having met her only once. Mike proposed on the very roundabout where they crashed. Sara describes it best: “It was the same date, at the same time we met – four years to the minute. He’d even kept the plastic breathalyzer tube the police used on us that night to hold the ring when he got down on one knee.” The pair chose Thornton Manor as the location for the big day and set the date for 28 th March, 2019. Read on as the bride tells us more about their wedding… Thornton Manor was the first venue we looked at. With its grandeur and gothic feel I knew it was the one for us. If you can, opt for an earlier ceremony. We got married at 2pm and the day flew by. I felt as though I didn’t have enough time to enjoy it and speak to everyone. We opted for flowers in deep burgundy hues to complement the bridesmaids’ dresses. I made their bouquets, which also comprised the handmade gold skulls topped with burgundy flowers and foliage, as well as matching buttonholes for the men. The table plan tied in with the gothic feel and the fact that I’m an ex-burlesque artist. I decided to have femme fatales as the table names on a board entitled “Place of Rest.” Our centrepieces were a combination of five-foot chandeliers that I’d picked up from a car boot sale and large gnarled branches, which we collected from the park opposite our house before spraying them gold. These were intertwined on each table with rose petals, foliage and handmade gold skulls 44