Cacy and Josh met at Cacy’s Halloween party. “Josh was invited by a friend of a friend,” says Cacy. “He turned up with one of his best men, Aakash, and I thought they were a couple, so I was slightly disappointed. It was not until 3am that Josh had the courage to talk to me, and at this point I was in my pyjamas and ready to go to bed. I wished Josh and Aakash a safe journey home, to which Josh replied, ‘How will you know we got home safe if I don’t have your number?’ and the rest is history.” Josh planned a special weekend away to celebrate the couple’s engagement. “I had my suspicions that it would happen sometime that weekend,” shares the bride. “On the Friday, our neighbour, Chloe, invited me over for drinks as she was due to get married the following weekend. Little did I know that this was in fact a distraction to get me out of the house while Chloe’s fiancé, Claudio, helped Josh collect 43 balloons, one for each month we had been together, and set up the flat. I returned home to find the flat decorated with rose petals, candles and balloons, and Josh holding our dog, Steve, in his arms with a ring tied around his neck. Steve came running over, and Josh got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of our lives together and of course I said yes!” SETTING THE SCENE “The special weekend that Josh had booked was at Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve,” recalls Cacy. “While we were there, Josh said he had picked this spot to celebrate our engagement because he felt it was a perfect mix of us – I was born in South Africa and Josh was born in Kent. While we were there, there was a wedding taking place, which we got a few sneak peeks at, and I noted to myself to take a look at Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve as a potential wedding venue. We took a look at three other venues in total, but nothing could compare, and the beauty of Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve and the animals, coupled with the memories of our engagement weekend, meant it couldn’t be anywhere else! I wanted to create something clean and classy for our wedding theme and I had an idea of colours when we viewed Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve as a potential venue and I knew it would match perfectly with the reserve’s nature elements. I didn’t need to add much decoration at all, because Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve is already so stunning that we did not need to add much else.” The couple chose 14 round tables and a sweetheart table for the two of them. “To decorate the tables, we had a mixture of large silk dome arrangements from Chic Weddings & Event’s Jasmine Collection,” explains Cacy. “These stood on gold geo stands finished with cut glass votives holding tealights and a ring of silk flowers in white and ivory. In the centre of the rings sat a cluster of three long-stemmed glass candle holders holding floating candles.” Cacy and Josh organised for a red London double-decker bus, provided by London Routemaster Bus Hire, to transport guests who were staying off-site to and from the venue. For their cake, they asked Shelley’s Cakes to create a beautiful design. “It was made up of lemon sponge with lemon curd and 53 REAL WEDDINGS
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