Your North West Wedding- April/May 2020 (Issue 61)

REAL WEDDINGS Instead of a traditional cake, we decided to have a cheese tower from Godminster. Ollie’s mum lovingly set it up for us, she decorated it with spare flowers provided by Hedgehogg Florist and paired it with every type of cracker and chutney you could imagine. It went down an absolute storm, and people were drunkenly tucking in late into the night. I made the topper from wooden peg dolls painted to look like us and our staffies. Ollie’s favourite colour is green, and he was adamant he wanted a green suit for the wedding with a mustard-coloured tie and socks. I doubted how it would look but once he tried it on it looked great. The groomsmen wore light grey suits. I made their cufflinks from scrabble tiles, and they each wore their initials on the day. My step-mother, Diane, arranged in secret for a vintage Volkswagen Camper Van called Beau to take me to the ceremony. It was a total surprise, and after the service, the camper took us to go see my step-nan, Joyce, who wasn’t well enough to come to the wedding. She still got dressed up and her hair and nails done for us to pop in quickly between the ceremony and reception. This was such a lovely part of our day, and we’re so glad we got to see her. Stomping Grounds provided the most incredible food for us. We found them at Knutsford Makers Market, and after trying their food, we were so keen to have them at our wedding that we booked them almost two years in advance! We were meant to choose two options, but as we couldn’t narrow it down, they let us have three. On the day, not only did they nail the food and make everyone happy, but they also made sure to tell us to sit down and eat too. I had very particular ideas about the type of gown I wanted. The Christmas after we got engaged my mum decided it would be nice to go look at some dresses. I tried on one and strangers in the shop were coming over and telling me that they thought I should buy it. It was an A-line macrame dress with Chantilly lace on the front with a huge train. It was almost perfect, but I knew I wanted it to be short in the front. The lady in the shop assured me that she knew a seamstress that would be able to do that for me. I spoke to friends about seamstresses, and they also recommended S.E Alterations – Bridal Specialist. She did the most fabulous job and is honestly an artist at what she does. The bridesmaids opted for ash grey dresses. I made their earrings and gave them as gifts. The girls’ shoes and earnings were matched with one of the groomsmens’ ties and socks at random, which made for a cool group shot. 39 