Your West Midlands Wedding - Oct/Nov 2019 (Issue 64)

REAL WEDDINGS 49 S arah and Laurence first met four- years-ago at a meet up for junior doctors and bonded over their love of Disney movies. Neither of them expressed their feelings for one another as they believed the other person had a significant other. Sarah says, “On a drunken night out a few weeks later we each discovered we were both single and decided to go on a date.” They went for a walk and a Sunday lunch where they realised their connection was even stronger and it felt like they had been together for a long time. As the couple learnt more about each other the more they fell in love leaving Laurence to ask a very important question to Sarah that would change their relationship for the better. During a five-month trip travelling around the globe, they stopped off at Sri Lanka where Laurence designed an engagement ring made with a beautiful sapphire. For a whole month, he kept it a secret till one evening in Malapascua. Sarah says, “We watched the sunset while listening to Phil Collins, even though it rained that didn’t matter. We danced in the rain then Laurence got down on one knee and asked me. Through my tear-soaked cheeks I managed to mumble a pathetic ‘yes please’, a phrase I still haven’t lived down to this day!” The special date was set for the 18 th May, 2019, at St James Church Audlem and planning for the special day was in full-swing. SETTING THE SCENE For the reception, the couple decided on Hawkstone Hall which at the time had renovations going on. “What sealed the deal for us were the staff – we knew instantly that they cared deeply about making our wedding a success and they had an eye for detail.” Sarah adds, “Between booking the venue and the wedding day we visited the venue several times and watched it develop from a building site into a spectacular palace – never before have I had my expectations exceeded in such a way!” With plenty of accommodation on-site, the lovebirds booked the whole weekend and the celebrations lasted 48 hours. “The food at Hawkstone Hall was exceptional! We went for cured meats and pickled vegetables for starter, followed by traditional chicken dinner and rhubarb crumble for dessert.” For favours, the couple decided to give their guests mason jars filled with Smarties as it represented the newlyweds past when Sarah always use to eat the chocolates in medical school. There were big gold candelabras for the centrepieces, which had beautiful displays of coral flowers on top. The table names where countries around the world and on every table there was a photograph of the couple in that country which was a lovely touch. Sarah says, “For place names, we wanted to keep in the travel theme so we decided to make gold paper aeroplanes. By the end of the meal, they were flying around the room!” A tasty part of the wedding is the cake. Sarah says, “My mother-in- law is an incredible baker, we went through tonnes of wedding cake books and created a design together. She is so talented – it was better than I could have imagined and it tasted divine.” As the venue was a 30-minute drive from the church, Sarah and Laurence tried to make the journey fun by hiring two vintage Routemaster buses to take 