Something blue

Posted by Claire Ridley on 4 July 2023

Rosie and James first met 12 years ago and were friends for years.

"I allowed him to take me on a coffee date after he sent roses and chocolates to my office – how could I say no!" Rosie tells us. From then we became inseparable until James was deployed to Afghanistan in July 2019 for a four-month RAF tour."

On the sofa The couple became engaged when James returned to the UK in time for Rosie's birthday. "We went on holiday to Thailand to celebrate his homecoming," Rosie tells us. "We travelled to Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and Bangkok where we stayed in the tallest hotel. The suite was incredible with far-flung views across the city and just as James pointed out some fireworks in the distance, he got down on one knee!"

Here, Rosie tells us all about their wedding at Wiltshire venue The Pear Tree in Purton which was decorated with a pale blue, white, sage-green and black colour theme.

We looked at plenty of venues and The Pear Tree in Purton offered everything that we wanted in one place. It looked sleek, worked with our chosen colours and the orangery looked so light and beautiful, giving that indoor and outdoor feel that we wanted.

The ceremony room set-up looked wonderful.

The ceremony was so personal to us because a friend was our registrar. James felt so emotional during it.

James's parents are both deaf so it was very important to us that throughout our wedding day, they felt included. We had an interpreter there for them and some of our other guests who were also deaf.

Sign language After becoming a couple, I started to learn British Sign Language by doing an online course and with James teaching me. When we decided to make our own promises during our wedding ceremony, I started to learn mine in sign language with the help of James's sister in secret. The only people who knew were her, our registrar and the interpreter. It was a big moment and both James and the rest of our guests were in floods of tears. This was beyond one of my proudest moments.

My dad made our table plan which James then painted. A friend of mine finished it by writing the names in alphabetical order.

Our favours were our favourite shots that we enjoyed on a holiday in Crete when we first became a couple. They're called Craig David and were a mix of tequila and pineapple juice.

It was important to us to have beautiful tall centrepieces that ensured our guests could see each across the tables because it meant that our deaf guests could easily communicate. They included classic white flowers and greenery displayed in tall black geometric stands.

We had timeless white flowers mixed with greenery and tied with blue ribbons for the bridesmaids' posies and the groomsmen's buttonholes.

James plays rugby so I surprised him with a cake topper of a bride tackling a rugby playerl! On our first holiday in Crete, James picked out this cake topper expressing that he wanted it at our wedding (before we were even boyfriend and girlfriend!).

Our three-tier cake had a hexagonal-shaped bottom tier and two circular tiers. They were all white with a pale blue marble effect. The delicious flavours included lemon meringue; coconut and lime and also chocolate and clementine and the tiers were decorated with our initials as cake charms.

Our table names were blue geometric numbers displayed in black stands resting on top of blue chiffon table puddles. Our place names were blue with white writing that we attached to the personalised menus.

I threw a white rugby ball (rather than my bouquet) to make sure that James had a few rugby elements included in our special day!

Canvass During the drinks reception, we had homemade garden games and a canvas which our guests painted which was a great idea! Emma, from Make Your Mark Events was the artist and I've never seen this idea at a wedding before.

We wanted interactive and creative entertainment that didn't require there to be a language issue so Emma taped an outline of a Thai-style boat from a picture taken when we got engaged and our guests painted each section creating the most amazing piece of artwork for us to keep.

I wore a dress by Dando London called Sirius which I loved!

I wanted a sexy and stylish gown with dramatic back detail which this dress had!

James wore his RAF uniform during the ceremony and changed into a navy suit to match the groomsmen and our dads afterwards. Our groomsmen wore navy suits with pocket squares, personalised tie clips, dusky blue ties and different coloured blue socks. Our dads had personalised ties with images of them with us both as babies inside.

Our beautiful bridesmaids wore pale blue tulle one-shoulder maxi dresses.

I loved my large bridal bouquet that had my late grandmother's rings attached.

First dance We had a choreographed first dance. As a dancer, this was a big part of the day for me and James did the most amazing job learning the choreography.