Your Hampshire and Dorset Wedding - September/October 2020 (Issue 82)

My father took me into the church and halfway down the aisle, then my stepfather took me the rest of the way as I wanted them both to be involved. I stayed at The Kings Head Hotel the night before the wedding and walked through the town with my bridesmaids to the church. My father, sister and stepmother brought some heather with them from Scotland to add to the bouquets and buttonholes to symbolise our English and Scottish heritage. I wore a Sincerity dress and jacket from Creatiques Bridal Boutique in Southsea. I searched online before going and had an idea in mind of what I wanted but ended up with something completely different. The Minster is so beautiful, I’ve always loved it. My mother and brother live in the town, George’s family are close by in Shaftesbury and it also meant a lot to us as that it was where we first met. I made all the buttonholes, bouquets and arrangements with my bridal party using seasonal flowers and after the wedding my maid-of-honour dried my bouquet so I could keep it forever. W hen Sam and George first met little did they know then that the church they sat outside having lunch was where they’d get married six years later. At the time they were both working over the summer at a YMCA play scheme for children with additional needs. “It was next door to the Minster and on the first day we all ate together on the grass outside the church,” explains Sam. The spark was lit and one day while they were working in Wareham George asked her to go for a walk and a coffee with him. “He said he had a gut feeling and knew that he liked me the minute he saw me,” Sam reveals. The proposal was unusual but not unexpected as George got the ring when they were in Dubai. “We were walking through the gold souk and he saw it in the window. We went in to have a look and while I went off by myself, George bought it there and then,” Sam explains. He didn’t pop the question until later though during a trip to Sri Lanka to visit a children’s home they’d been raising money for. “After visiting the home we climbed Sigiriya mountain, which I complained about the whole way up, and found a cave for a few quiet minutes as there were lots of tourists about. When we were in the cave he proposed!” adds Sam. Read on for her account of their big day... 38