Your Herts and Beds Wedding - December 2020/January 2021 (Issue 83)

REAL WEDDINGS 37 T he fact that this cute couple had the song Never Been Loved Like This Before as one of their First Dance songs highlight this true, classic romance of finding your soul mate. “Paul is, hands down, the kindest and most hard working man I have ever met (apart from my daddy!),” shares Holly. “We have the same sense of humour. We were friends before we became a couple because I never dreamed he saw me as anything more. “We were walking on a secluded beach when we had our first kiss. It was beautiful because we had waited so long for it! I felt like a film star and Paul was my hero. As he wrapped his arms around me, I never wanted him to let go. I thought, ‘You are the man I have been looking for my whole life, you are the one’.” Clearly, love blossomed for these two, leading to the perfect proposal. “Paul proposed to me in Telford at the British Veterinary Nursing Association Conference 2019 – in the very room where we had first met! “I was dressed in casual clothes as it was the last day of conference, Paul looked lovely in a suit but he always looks dapper when he is attending meetings – which he was that day. He took me into the conference room, I had no idea, I said, ‘Why are we here?’. “He started saying some lovely things about how much he enjoyed dating me. I tried to shut him up as we had had a similar conversation the night before. Paul then told me he was hopelessly in love with me, got down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his pocket, and said, ‘Holly, will you do the honour of marrying me?’ – I cried and kissed him and managed to blub yes somewhere along the line! “Apparently, Paul, not only had had the ring in his pocket all morning, he had it in the car the week before when we travelled 250 miles visiting another conference. Paul had already called my dad to ask for my hand in marriage. It was so romantic.” The big date was set, Saturday 18 th July, 2020, with Christ Church, Ware, Hertfordshire setting the scene of their unqiue, romantic, socially distanced day... PLANNING THE DAY When Covid-19 happened, Holly and Paul’s original wedding plans for 2 nd May had to be postponed. When restrictions lifted, they decided they just wanted to be able to get married in a church with at least our immediate family and a few guests. “We didn’t want to wait until next year. so we had to halve the guest list and adhered to the restrictions such as putting out rings in isolation!” shares Holly. Having been worshipping at Christ Church in Ware, Hertfordshire for about a year it was an obvious venue choice for Holly. “It’s such a stunning building with a lovely atmosphere and the Vicar and congregation are so kind and welcoming.” For the flowers, Holly opted for paper blooms made from the pages of an old copy of Jane Eyre reflecting her love of writing and books. All of the buttonholes were paper too, the father-of-the-bride’s was that of Winnie The Pooh reminiscent of bedtime stories he used to read to her; while Paul and his friends had buttonholes made of paper with a farming theme due to him being a farmer and vet, Holly’s mum’s was made out of crossword squares and the mother- of-the-groom’s was a paper buttonhole made of an old 