When I came across my pre-loved dress I fell in love with it and knew it was the one for me. It made me feel like a princess. I’m not really a girly girl, but the gown was glamorous, elegant and really made me feel beautiful. Xander wore a royal blue suit with a white shirt and pink tie. The best man, his brother, was dressed to match and my father wore a navy, suit with a purple shirt. He also accessorised with a pink tie. We had a LOVE sign and a sweet cart, which was a huge hit with our guests. I would say we had a lot of big kids at our wedding, including us! We also hired a photo booth, which was never empty – there was always someone up there taking silly photos with the props! At the end of the evening we received a guest book filled with the pictures taken and lots of lovely messages from our loved ones, as well as a USB stick with the images on it as a keepsake. We both felt so relieved that our special day was finally able to go ahead after having to reschedule in 2020 due to the pandemic. Before it was time to walk down the aisle nerves got the better of me. This wasn’t helped by the fact that my dad turned up late. Honestly, I was panicking so much. Moral of the story: don’t get a taxi to a wedding or if you do, aim to turn up at least an hour early! But once I saw Xander all of that went away. He’d been nervous too, but being in the room with our family and friends while he waited for me made him less anxious – he was just glad I turned up. It was so lovely to see our loved ones come together and for some of them meet for the first time. The whole thing for us was so magical, neither of us ever expected to get married so it was surreal. This isn’t a story of love at first sight, as Kay and Xander didn’t actually get on or indeed like each other much when they began working together at the local department store. But after a few short months they came to be firm friends, frequently laughing together and getting told off by their boss! Kay says, “I never dreamed that we’d become a couple let alone get married.” Eventually, they started meeting up outside of work and would regularly spend time chatting late into the night. “Xander never made me feel under pressure or uncomfortable and we both enjoyed one another’s company. He was the first one to say ‘I love you,’ and I couldn’t believe it, but I felt exactly the same,” Kay explains. Xander proposed to Kay on Christmas Eve, 2019 and it was certainly unexpected. Kay had gone into the bedroom to get changed and when she came out found him on one knee holding out the engagement ring. “I didn’t believe him at first and thought he was joking, but eventually said ‘yes’ when he started complaining of a bad knee having been down there for a while,” she remembers. The couple live a matter of seconds away from their wedding venue, The Cavendish Hotel, which has always been a firm favourite with Kay’s side of the family. Since they wanted somewhere to celebrate that was convenient for everyone, the choice was simple. Here, the bride shares her memories of the big day, 31st July 2021... 46
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