Your Cheshire and Merseyside Wedding - November/December 2020 (Issue 54)

23  REAL WEDDINGS J en was 20 minutes late for her first date with Peter. “The fact that he was so chilled out about my lack of organisation made me like him right from the start,” she says. “I’m the ideas person, he’s the planner – we bring out the best in each other,” she continues. They’d already chatted over Tinder, so by the time they met up, there was a spark and a connection. Jen remembers, “It was like there was no one else in the room.” By the time Peter proposed, both sets of parents had known of his plans for months, managing to keep it a secret. So, it was no doubt the element of surprise that led to her initial response to the all- important question: “Are you joking?!” But of course, she then said “yes” and they spent the day celebrating in Liverpool with family. There was only one choice of ceremony location for the couple: Emmanuel Parish Church, Southport , which Jen attended as a child. The date was set for 8 th August, 2020, but before W-day arrived, the world was thrown into turmoil by the Coronavirus pandemic, leaving Jen and Peter’s plans in tatters. Read on to find out how the couple overcame the challenges that faced them, and re-built their dream day… LOVE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS “We basically had to overhaul the entire wedding,” Jen explains. The original guest list included 100 for the day with more invited for the evening bash, but this had to be trimmed right down to 25, thanks to the Covid-19 restrictions. “Everything apart from the church, photographer, flowers and dress changed. I even did my fittings in a mask, with the couturier wearing full PPE,” Jen tells us. The couple turned their hands to making pompom chains to section off parts of the church, and Jen’s mum, along with the mum of one of the bridesmaids made wedding-themed face masks. Despite being unable to attend, the couple’s nearest and dearest showed them nothing but love and understanding, with many turning up at the church to socially distance outside and celebrate safely. The bride tells us, “The support we had throughout was amazing, and it’s really made us treasure our family and friends even more. The worst feeling was not knowing whether our wedding would go ahead, with new restrictions happening every day. It was stress unlike anything I’ve known, until the evening before when we knew it was all going ahead as (re)planned.” SETTING THE SCENE Jen was looking for a natural, unstructured feel to the floral designs. “The idea of a posy or bunch of roses didn’t appeal to me,” she says. She was also keen to source local and seasonal blooms, which made Agnes and Bee the perfect fit. The scent was also a key factor, so the florist's Kate also included blackberries and mint leaves, along with