the entire centre of the wedding breakfast table, rather than individual centrepieces. “I was speechless when I saw how beautiful the wedding breakfast setup was. My dad and Harry spent hours the previous day making a fairylight canopy above the table and it looked incredible – so much better than I had ever envisioned,” the bride shares. The florist was briefed to create the floral displays in a wild and relaxed style. Peonies are Zoe’s favourite flowers, so all the bouquets included these and the couple’s little niece had one to carry down the aisle. Zoe says, “The flowers were our biggest expense after the venue hire as they just bring me so much joy, so I wanted them everywhere. It was the element Harry let me run away with and I did just that! They were worth every single penny. Afterwards, our family collected them up and donated them to the local hospice to decorate the patients’ rooms.” The big-day bake was a semi-naked three-tier showstopper featuring their favourite flavours. It was decorated with flowers to complement the arrangements as well as bride and groom moose models as a nod to their nickname for each other. The table it stood on was draped in blue chiffon to suit the wedding’s palette. They also hired a huge flower wall to serve as a backdrop, complete with neon sign. The entrance hall was adorned in large prints of world maps and photos from the couple’s travels. Along with the globe guest book was a postcard wall for guests to add their bucket lists of ideas to. Harry is a lifelong McLaren fan and former employee, so his close friend and groomsman, Alexis, drove him to the venue in a 765LT Spider. FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD A sit-down three-course meal was served for the wedding breakfast and the couple supplied wine complete with personalised labels, along with guests’ favourite drinks. The kettle never goes cold in Zoe and Harry’s house, so they decided to have a tea round after the wedding breakfast, served in Mr and Mrs Neale mugs and for guests, mugs bearing tea-related phrases. There was also a teacake tower and personalised newspapers saying: “spill the tea!” In the evening the hog roast, pizza van and ice cream van all proved popular. TIME TO CELEBRATE A string quartet played during he ceremony. The jazz band hired to entertain during the wedding breakfast was a nod to one of the duo’s favourite nights ever – “Feeling utterly content in a dark cosy corner of a jazz club in Budapest,” Zoe says. The couple laid out a selection of carnival-themed games in the walled garden. One of their first dates was spent at a carnival, so they chose the classics like a coconut shy and hook-a-duck. They also made sofas out of hay bales, so guests could watch each other play mini golf, along with a brilliant caricaturist and live painter. The DJ was a retired professional dancer and taught Zoe and Harry their first dance routine. The wedding breakfast table was moved away allowing them to enjoy it beneath the fairylight canopy. “Even I, who will normally avoid dancing at all costs, felt utterly at home in Zoe’s arms,” Harry remembers. MEMORABLE MOMENTS “I’d honestly never felt so nervous in my life,” Harry says. “I never cry, but I was overcome by emotion and a couple of tears did escape as I stood at the front looking at my stunning soon-to-be wife. I couldn’t believe my luck that I was marrying my dream girl. There was a feeling of utter contentment and relief as we “You really don’t need to please anyone else by yourselves. Our wedding was exactly what we’d envisioned and was the perfect day.” – Zoe 32
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