Your Sussex Wedding - Dec/Jan 2019 (Issue 82)

REAL WEDDINGS 39  LOVE letters and romantic garden candle lanterns. The menu for the day was designed to be interactive from beginning to end. The pair served their guests a sharing platter to start with, followed by a roast lamb joint, which required a carver for each table and a crème brûlée for dessert. Guests were also treated to a help yourself cheese tower. Food heaven! LOOKING THE PART Neither bride wanted to see the other’s dress before the day so they were both surprised to see how similar their tastes were when the big reveal happened. Maria wore a stunning Pronovias gown and Jessica chose a lovely Martina Liana number. Both dresses were beautifully elegant so the brides opted for minimal accessories to complement their looks, wearing just a simple pair of earrings each. They also both chose flowers as the only other accessory, Maria wearing hers as a crown and Jessica weaving hers into her hair. TIME TO CELEBRATE “A friend of ours, Steve Carville, who plays guitar, provided the music as we walked down the aisle and again as we walked back up. He played Happy Together by The Turtles as we exited and we’d had the lyrics printed out to encourage guests to sing along, which they did with gusto!” Jessica says. Later in the afternoon Team Jig were victorious over Team Maria in a tug of war battle. Jessica remembers, “It made for some great photos, especially with Maria’s grandma holding her own against all the boys the other end!” There was plenty more to entertain guests with Jenga, Connect 4, beer pong and limbo. The photo booth provided one of the newlyweds’ favourite aspects of the day. Jessica explains, “Prior to the wedding, I took a photo of Saffy in front of Gildredge Manor and sent it to the photo booth company. Each picture taken at the wedding was then printed out on a small square sticker to create a mosaic of this lovely image. By far, the best photo experience we’ve had.” A WORD TO THE WISE Check out Jessica’s top tips: ❤ Stretch out your celebrations. We celebrated as a three-day event, which allowed us to make the most of having all of our nearest and dearest together in one place. ❤ Look for as many opportunities for interactive engagement as you can for an ultra-fun day. We opted for singing, tug-of-war, games and carving at the table to get our guests involved in our celebrations. ❤ Let the experts do their work. Don’t worry about details such as timings yourself; ask those who have a world of experience at their fingertips to do their thing! They’ll get it right.