Your Sussex Wedding - October/November 2019 (Issue 81)

REAL WEDDINGS 41  M elissa and Paul met the 21 st -century way, via a dating app. It wasn’t long afterwards that they met in person at Joy Festival, Lewes. The pair soon realised they had much in common, including a shared love of LEGO, which they quickly bonded over despite being told by their friends not to bring it up! They spent the rest of the day listening to music and sipping piña coladas out of fresh pineapple halves – a roaring success of a first date. The proposal story is a traditionally romantic down-on-one-knee affair. Paul says: “I proposed on a rock overlooking St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, one of Melissa’s favourite places.” Naturally, she tearfully accepted. Read on as the couple tells us more about their wonderful wedding day: 11 th August, 2018… SETTING THE SCENE The groom has family ties at the beautiful St Mary’s Church in Willingdon, so it was a natural choice for the ceremony, and they decided on Chilley Farm Barn as the location for their reception: “It’s in the country, which was important to us,” Paul says. “It gave us a blank slate that we could personalise. We’re both creative, and Melissa works as a prop maker and scenic artist, so we wanted to do a lot of the venue styling ourselves.” LOOKING THE PART Melissa wore Holly from Tying the Knot Bridal. Although dress shopping was a challenge, with her mum living in Cornwall, she booked several appointments over one weekend when she could visit to help with the decision-making. The bride says: “I wanted a dress that was special to me and that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to wear again, so I decided on a fuller style. When Mum cried, I knew it was the one !” Being a fan of all things vintage, she accessorised with a birdcage headpiece and a diamond necklace that Paul had commissioned using diamonds from one of his nan’s rings. “I decided I wanted to wear the same thing as my ushers,” Paul says. They looked dapper in vibrant blue with white shirts, matching waistcoats and lightly embossed ties and pocket squares. The groom did boast a slight and very special difference, with a LEGO tie pin gifted to him by the bride. Two of the bridesmaids, along with the maid-of-honour, were dressed in the same style and colour, with Melissa’s cousin in another style complementing the theme. PROJECT WEDDING This talented team put their creative talents into action and started work on a sweet cart to house the favours. Paul explains: “I built it, we both painted it and Mel made its fabric canopy. We also bought sweet bags and stamped them with our initials.” Meanwhile, Melissa collected seeds from the garden, putting them into envelopes for the tables. She explains: “We wanted to encourage people to plant these to help to save the bees and also have something to take home.” Boot sale bargains played a part, which is how the table plan came into being. “We removed the glass from a large decorative mirror, tidied it up, painted it silver and backed it with hessian,” explains the bride. Books, charity shop discoveries, were used to build stacks topped with flower-filled teapots to form the super-cute centrepieces. The place names were log slices cut from the branches of the brother-of-the-groom’s willow tree. “We sanded these down and ink-stamped each one before varnishing them – a task that continued right up to the night before the wedding,” Paul recalls. Fresh flowers were provided by Scent a Posy in Polegate and included bouquets, table decorations, buttonholes and jam jars. Melissa dressed the rest of the venue in faux flower garlands, with two large flower hoops “Start planning early. Give yourselves a head start. The time it takes to do all the little things adds up.”