Your Hampshire and Dorset Wedding - March/April 2021 (Issue 85)

REAL WEDDINGS 39  THE PERSONAL TOUCH As the wedding evolved, the table plan had to be revised too. The final layout included three round tables for their guests with Kelly, Andrew and their parents on the top table. “We had satin dusky pink runners scattered with burgundy table confetti and small jars of flowers to match our colour scheme on mirror plates as centrepieces,” explains Kelly. They gave small jars of sweets as favours, labelled with their nickname ’Kandy’ and Kelly made a special activity bag for their flowergirl. They opted for canapés on arrival and a traditional wedding breakfast and after having to cut back on numbers, decided to upgrade parts of the menu to provide some extra special culinary treats. Their florist added to the atmosphere by creating a beautiful floral garland for the fireplace and as a fun personal touch, she filled their running trainers with flowers to match the theme. The cake complemented the look too, with a dusky pink middle tier and lace-effect overlay in keeping with Kelly’s dress. “We had traditional fruitcake on the bottom, salted caramel sponge in the middle and the top tier was lemon,” adds Kelly. As a nod to Andrew’s job working for Ordnance Survey, maps also featured in the decorative details. “We created personalised place names with everyone’s address and a map of where they live,” explains Kelly. “As we’re both keen runners and met through running, we wanted to bring this into our wedding day too, so Andrew created maps for the table names showing where we’d achieved our most memorable personal bests and the route. As we originally planned to have 10 tables, we displayed the spare ones on the windowsill, which proved to be a great talking point on the day with everyone trying to guess whose personal best was whose and what distance was being run!” “One of the most heart-warming moments was at the end of the meal seeing our families chatting together and getting on so well.” – Andrew TIME TO CELEBRATE After the wedding breakfast, although they weren’t able to have the wedding band and big party they’d hoped for, they were able to relax and enjoy special time together with their nearest and dearest. “We created a playlist of all our favourite songs which we had on in the background and, as it was such a small intimate occasion, we spent the evening chatting, laughing and having fun with all our guests! It honestly didn’t feel like we were missing out and we had a great time spending it with our family and close friends,” says Kelly. “The whole day was just incredibly happy and I couldn’t get over the overwhelming feeling of joy. Being able to go ahead with our wedding surrounded by our closest family and friends, who will always be a part of our lives, was amazing. Andrew’s mum described the day as ‘two families coming together as one’, which summed it up perfectly.”