Danielle and Sam met while on a night out. “A mutual friend introduced us,” says Danielle. “She still calls herself cupid for setting us up. He added me on Facebook after I left; we got talking and went from there. On our first date, we took my dog for a walk, and she ran off, which she had never done before. I don’t think she approved, but she absolutely loves him now.” Sam proposed on the couple’s fifth anniversary in 2021. “He proposed in our garden,” shares the bride. “He organised for our florist to come and decorate the garden with roses and flower arrangements and he stood under our pergola with ‘marry me’ written in carnations. It was definitely a surprise, as he told me he was going to play golf and I went out shopping with my mum for the morning. When I arrived home, the hallway was covered in rose petals leading to the back door. Music was playing and he had bought me a gift. I assumed it was an anniversary gift, so I stood there for ages opening the gift, not realising Sam was waiting outside in the middle of the garden to ask me to marry him.” SETTING THE SCENE “I went to collect my parents from a wedding at White Dove Barns when I was younger and I instantly fell in love with the place and always had it in mind for when I got married,” explains Danielle. “Sam and I went to an open event and he fell in love with it too. The whole set-up, the décor of the venue and the feel of the place were just perfect for us and we loved everything about it. The wedding coordinator was excellent and made sure that the whole day went perfectly and flowed with no complications at all.” To welcome their guests to their wedding, the couple handmade their favours. “I wanted to create personal touches, so we chose hand-stamped cookies, jars of sweets and toffee popcorn with stickers on them,” recalls Danielle. “We love sweets and had collected all the jars ourselves from our friend’s coffee shop. Additionally, all the children at the wedding got a gift that was personal to them. “Our table plan was created by Synched Events,” adds Danielle. “It was an orange colour to match the rest of our décor. Throughout the wedding, we had a large focus on flowers, and we also had them drawn on the table plan. I felt the blooms brought the whole day together. We asked Dear Luna Florals to create our arrangements and she achieved exactly what we wanted and more. We had a double-sided arch for the wedding breakfast, which was outstanding; the quality of the flowers and even the colours she had paired together were just perfect. We allowed Lynsey to have control over what blooms she picked and she did not disappoint. There were pinks, yellows and oranges, which brought all the aspects of the venue together.” The couple’s centrepieces were raised flowers placed on gold stands. “I wanted the centrepieces to stand off the table so that people could see everyone without an arrangement in their way,” reveals the bride. “We also had burnt orange fabric that draped across the tables and pinecones and flower petals to continue the rustic theme.” Tickety Boo Cakery created the couple’s three-tiered naked wedding cake. They chose three different flavours for everyone to enjoy and decorated it with flowers provided by their florist. To decorate the space, Danielle and Sam used wooden palettes with lights. “We added photos of ourselves over the years to display our relationship so far,” remembers Danielle. “We also had a wooden ladder covered in flowers and pictures of our loved ones that could no longer be with us. “For our food, we were given a vast range of options by White Dove Barns,” continues the bride. “We let our guests pick their choices prior to the day. I then designed and created menus for each individual to have on the table so they could see what they had ordered for their meal. This included a floral decoration that was similar to the flowers we had on the day. The meal was outstanding, but the whole venue overall was wonderful.” 37 REAL WEDDINGS
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