A bit about me & him… (by Abi!)
I was killing time before starting my first year of medical school back in 2003 when I met Chris. I was working as a bar maid in the local pub and got to recognize the rowdy rabble that I now consider my best friends! He was one of the gang and as he was 4 years older than me I never thought of him that way. I went to uni and we didn’t see each other, until Boxing Day 2006 when we bumped into each other, in the pub! I recognised him instantly, but couldn’t remember his name. I felt a jolt I hadn’t felt before though. We chatted for hours and swapped numbers. Our first date was 4 days after we bumped into each other again. We went for drinks in a few local pubs and he was walking me home when we heard a car horn. It was my mom who picked us up and took us back to their house where I was staying for Christmas. We sat around drinking tea and eating mince pies til the small hours of the morning! It certainly made the ‘meet the parents’ easier than I expected!
When we had been together about 6 weeks, we were having dinner with his family and the talk turned to proposals as a friend was getting married. His brother explained that when he proposed it would be a Haribo ring and if she said yes then she would get a diamond. Chris turned to me just as I had taken a mouthful of dinner and calmly said "Well when I propose to you it will be with a biscuit party ring, and if you say yes, then you'll get a diamond sparkly ring". I coughed and spluttered. But the seed had been planted...

Then, in July 2010 we were on holiday in Gran Canaria. I had pondered whether he would choose this holiday to propose, however when we got to the hotel he would happily let me go in our room safe... Would he bring a diamond ring on holiday and NOT put it in the safe?! I thought not. On our fourth day we had a beautiful romantic meal in the restaurant. After he suggested a walk on the beach, under the full moon and cloudless, starry sky. He stopped and wrapped his arms around me, I was looking at the stars. He then said, "I was wondering, will you marry me?". I looked down and expected to see a party biscuit but instead saw a beautiful diamond ring glinting in the moonlight. I said yes, of course. And then made him get down on one knee and asked where my party biscuit was! Apparently they don't sell them in Gran Canaria. And apparently he was brave enough to bring a diamond ring on holiday and not put it in the safe!!

I was up until 2am the night before the wedding with my parents, bridesmaids, aunt and uncle decorating the barn and marquee that was the reception venue. Our reception venue was actually my aunt and uncle’s house in Stannington, Sheffield. It is on top of a hill and feels as if it’s in the middle of nowhere but it’s only 15 minutes from the city centre. The views are phenomenal. We had a marquee, which was where we had the wedding breakfast, and the food for the evening reception.
When I woke up the morning of our wedding day I wasn’t tired though, just excited! It was a gray day when I woke up and I couldn’t see the other side of the valley (normally you can see to Lincoln Cathedral – the house is in Sheffield!). I got up after having breakfast in bed (yum!) and gave my bridesmaids the pearl bracelets I had made for them as thank you gifts, I sourced bracelet clasps made from a miniature teapot and teaspoon, and a tea bag charm as the theme for the wedding was vintage afternoon tea! I had four bridesmaids; my sister Liz, my best friend from school Sarah, Charlie who I lived with at university and Elise who was one of my best friends at university. I wanted the four women who have helped and supported me through thick and thin. My other best friend Samantha performed a reading for us and was an honorary fifth bridesmaid. They chose the dresses themselves from Debut at Debenhams and the chose to wear the matching shrugs too. I told the girls they could choose whatever dresses they liked. I was so pleased with their choice though as teal is my favorite color and it made choosing the attendants’ tie color very easy! The theme was afternoon tea and the flower pattern and 1950’s style of the dresses fitted in perfectly with that.

We got ready quite quickly as the wedding was at 11am. I did my own hair and make up base, but my bridemsaid Sarah expertly did my eyeshadow for me. I then simply popped on the amazing head piece
HF Couture had made me and waited to be dressed!
Linda (from No.9 Couture who made my dress) came to dress me and was a great calming influence. Helen, our photographer arrived and took some incredible photos I was completely unaware of until after! I had a hand-tied bouquet that had brunia, Old Dutch roses, sea thistles (my something blue!), white freesia, British eucalyptus and rosemary. The bridesmaids had wrist corsages (to enable them to have both hands free to help me!) with white fresia and rosemary. The mums and my aunt had white freesia buttonholes and the men had sea thistles with rosemary for buttonholes.
Chris’s suit was from House of Fraser and by designer
Daniel Hechter.
We went together to look at suits, it was the first one he tried on. I made him try others on just to be sure but he knew it was the right one! It was a gray 3 piece suit and he wore a beautiful pale turquoise and teal tie, bought from ebay of all places! It was accessorised on the day with a beautiful pocket watch I bought him as a wedding present that had his initials ‘CPW’ on the front and ‘10th September 2011, 11am’ on the back. When I saw him waiting outside the Town Hall (I was early instead of late and had to do a lap of the block in the wedding car!) he took my breath away, he looked so incredibly handsome. He had two old Dutch roses and rosemary for his button hole.

My dress was a bespoke gown from Linda Davey at No.9 Couture. I came across Linda Davey from No.9 Couture whilst searching for dresses online. She was running a competition to celebrate No.9 Couture’s first birthday – the prize was incredible; a bespoke gown designed to the winner’s specification, a bespoke headpiece from H.F. Couture and a photoshoot from Xposure photography! I had to enter with my ‘down on one knee’ story of how we proposed. Linda then chose her 5 favourites, which were put on Facebook and the one with the most ‘likes’ as votes won.
Winning was the best feeling in the world! I had a good idea of what I wanted in my dress; lots of lace, tulle and a lace up back. Having tried lots of dresses on with trains I knew that I wanted a train but hated the idea of a bustle so Linda created a detachable train! Over the 10 months from contacting her, Linda she became my ‘fairy godmother’. She has such a phenomenal talent, but at the same time incredibly warm and down to earth. Her studio is just beautiful, light and airy. My dress when finished was a full-length, lace-up back ivory gown with corded lace bodice, lace scalloped edge and beautiful hand beading with pearls and crystals on the neckline. It had a detachable train with the edge hidden beneath lace appliqués – perfect for dancing in the evening!
Linda came to dress me on the morning of the wedding and as she was lacing the gown up I couldn’t see the mirror but could tell from how it fitted that it would look amazing. When I looked in the mirror my eyes welled up, I felt like a princess and just wanted to dance with excitement!
I wore a very simple finger-tip length veil in silk tulle which was also made by No.9 Couture to match my dress.
I wore a bespoke handmade headpiece made by Jane Hardman-Ferris from HF Couture. I bought some vintage 1950’s marquisite swallow clip earings I found on ebay which hand-wired with crystals, buttons and pearls into a headpiece. My earings were the first pair Chris had ever bought me for our first Christmas together and I wore my watch, which was my 21st birthday present from my parents. I didn’t need to wear a bra under my dress as it had an internal corset but my knickers were by Boux Avenue.
My shoes were incredible. They were the gorgeous ‘Courtesan’ by Irregular Choice from Schuh. They were incredibly comfortable! I also had some pink wellies to wear for photos in the field.
My best friend’s dad was our chauffeur for the day as he has a beautiful Jaguar, which he decorated with ribbons and flowers for us. It made it all the more personal having him drive me and my dad to the Town Hall as he’s known me since I was 11. As we pulled up in front of the Town Hall the clouds cleared and the sun came out. I went in with my dad and we walked down the aisle to ‘Flower Duet’ by Lakme. As soon as we heard the first notes we both welled up, it was an incredibly emotional moment and he squeezed my hand tight for support. My heart began to race when I saw Chris at the bottom of the aisle but not once on that day did I feel nervous, just incredibly, indescribably excited!

The reading “Union” that my friend Samantha read fitted perfectly and I remember looking at Chris and listening to the words whilst welling up. It was made even more special by having Samantha read it. I spent most of the ceremony with tears in my eyes and had to take a deep breath mid vows to keep a hold on it! Our good friend James then read “Bring Me Sunshine” which he did brilliantly – difficult to pull off as a reading! We then had ‘Cancel Today’ by Ezio playing whilst signing the register and ‘Into Your Arms’ by The Lemonheads as we walked out as husband and wife.
After a few shots infront of the Town Hall steps we let our guests have a few hours to them selves whilst we went to Weston Park to have photos of just the two of us; standing beneath a willow tree with a warm breeze and the sun on my bare shoulders, holding his hand, thinking “I’m his wife!” was awesome. He kept grinning at me and saying “we did it!”.

Then it was back up to the cottage for a few more photos in the field and then our guests arrived. We had group photos and then Pimms and olives! At 3pm afternoon tea was served in the marquee. With the help of a small army of family and friends I had made 80 metres of bunting; the fabric was a mixture of material that was my great grandmother’s, scraps from my old school dress and old curtains from when I was a child, so truly vintage! It was hung all around the edge of the marquee and looked fantastic. We had 7 round tables including our top table as we wanted everyone to be able to see each other on the top table and chat, it also felt less like we were being stared at! The tables were named after different types of tea. I typed up our menu and mounted them on vintage style wallpaper samples and then displayed them in frames from charity shops, which I painted teal and put one on each table. My Nan has a beautiful deep blue hydrangea bush in her garden, which she let us take flowers from. These made the centre-pieces in jam jars on each table, and decorations round the barn too. Each table also had a tiered cake stand and mismatched vintage tea crockery. This was all from our family collection – my aunt already had 84 cups and saucers when we counted before the wedding! (She hosts charity coffee mornings from time to time and most of them belonged to the family over the years!). Some of it was my great great grandmother’s which made it all the more special.

After the wedding breakfast people mingled, talking and playing with the silly props and blackboard we had set up. Part of our photography package was a large print from our engagement shoot, put in a mount for all our guests to sign. I think this is one of our most treasured items from the wedding.
The wedding breakfast was afternoon tea – 5 different sandwich fillings on different types of home made bread, home made ‘mini’ quiches (which were huge!), feta cheese and onion tartlets and freshly made scones, clotted cream and homemade jam. My amazing friends and family made other cakes too for the wedding breakfast and my best friend Sarah’s mom made us the most stunning cupcakes in all different flavours! We had a choice of English breakfast, Earl Grey or Peppermint tea or coffee to drink with the wedding breakfast and then champagne to toast with the speeches.
After discussion with family and friends we opted not to have favours – we couldn’t think of anything the men would appreciate and the women said even they probably wouldn’t notice them! Instead we had a party biscuit ring attached to each name tag on the wedding breakfast tables, as Chris had always said he would propose with a party biscuit ring. They went down a storm, we didn’t find any left at the end of the day!

The speeches went down a treat. My dad is an awesome public speaker (though he doesn’t realize it!) and had everyone in stitches with a story about my concern for a dead jellyfish on the beach at the tender age of ten (I wanted to enquire at the life guard station about preventing people form stepping on it and then put a ring of pebbles around it just incase!) amongst other embarrassing stories, and welcoming Chris into our family. Chris’ speech was equally funny but the moment that sticks in my mind was when he told the room “she is the sunshine in my life”. The best man’s speech was fantastic, close to the bone but he just about got away with it! The details have to remain between us and those who were there though!
Wedding day advice
- For brides – Find out what hidden talents you friends have – and use them!
- Lists and spreadsheets – I had a notebook, which I wrote everything down in. It’s become a great keepsake too!
- For grooms – Just say yes! Only kidding –it’s a great opportunity to work as a team as a couple, enjoy it and use each other’s different strengths.
- For keeping to a budget: Compromise has to be the best advice I could give. Sit down early on and decide what you will and won’t compromise on. I had very little interest in wedding cars so it was an easy place to save. The photographer however had to be perfect. Work out how much you can save per month, then how long until your wedding and that should be the basis, then add in savings/contributions etc.


After that we cut the cake. Our cake was made by Sami-Jo’s Cakes. I went to school with Sam and found her business on Facebook. We met up and chatted about what we wanted and what she made for us blew us away. It was a beautiful three tiered cake with handmade pastel coloured icing buttons in different sizes around the bottom and top tiers, with teal ribbon and lace from my dress held together with an antique brooch round the centre tier. The bottom tier was chocolate, the middle was lemon sponge and the top was gluten free vanilla with real strawberry butter cream. It tasted amazing and lasted well too! On top of the cake we had a beautiful antique miniature cup and saucer, with lavender and flowers in.

There are so many memorable moments… Seeing my bridesmaids, aunt and mom all dressed and ready to go, so happy and excited. Seeing my dad well up as he began to walk me down the aisle. Chris turning to look at me, and the grin on his face as he slid the wedding ring on my finger. Standing beneath that willow tree in the dappled sunlight together. Looking round at the marquee full of the people we love the most in the world, all there for us, looking so happy and laughing. Standing in the middle of the dance floor, listening to our friends playing the most amazing live music, looking round at everyone dancing, arms in the air to “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, seeing so many smiling faces and feeling that everyone was there simply to celebrate with us; it was incredibly moving. I looked at Chris and welled up, he grinned and kissed me. That moment, there, was perfection.

The evening reception was held in the converted barn that is part of my aunt’s house. The acoustics are incredible for live music and the space was perfect for dancing. I saved jam jars for months and made wire handles for them to create lanterns, which were filled with sand and candles. These were lit as the sun went down; some had lace round them, which created a lovely romantic glow. They hung from the trees and round the pond in the evening. My mom and aunt tied ribbons all through one of the trees too, which looked amazing in the breeze.
We had a very well stocked pay bar that had been set up in a room adjacent to the marquee and barn. We had 2 real ales — my dad made signs to go on the real ale pump handles with pictures of us on them, so guests asked for either a pint of Abi or a pint of Chris! The prices were cheap pub prices, which went down a treat. The atmosphere in the evening was just incredible. Everyone was up and dancing, so much so that when the hog roast was served people practically had to tell the band to stop playing and people to go and get some food! The hog roast was incredibly popular, my only regret was that I didn’t actually go and see it for myself, I was too busy thanking people for coming and dancing!
It rained very heavily at about 5pm, only for 15 minutes and then there was the most incredible double rainbow across the valley, and dramatic sky – we really had all types of weather on the day, it was incredibly windy during the photos too!


We had a live band made up of friends who are musicians from the local open-mic night and one of my old school friends, Amy Scott also sang. She silenced the room as she has a phenomenal voice! All the musicians are friends of my dad’s, which made it incredibly personal. We didn’t have a ‘first dance’ as such, but the band played “Happy Together” by The Turtles – not traditional but it was great fun bouncing round the dance floor together and the lyrics fit so perfectly – I really can’t see me loving anyone but him for all my life! My favorite song is “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol and Amy Scott sang this for us too – having known her since I was 4 years old, and it being my mum’s favorite song too it as incredibly special. Towards the end of the evening Mick Birks sang “Galway Bay” by John Reilly, which tells of a father watching his little girl get married – it had me in tears as it was so personal and the song means a lot to both my dad and I.
Our guest book was made from a photo album I bought from Paperchase, which I then hand stamped instructions on to, and made the front cover, as I didn’t like any of the twee guest books that I had seen in the shops. We also had a sweetie table in the evening I collected jars for months, and made a cake stand to go on this with vintage plates and sherry glasses. I painted the sign which I got from ebay, for this too.
Recommended wedding suppliers
Linda Davey, of No.9 Couture is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She has a phenomenal talent for taking what a bride describes and creating their dream dress. She is now known as my fairy godmother! www.no9bridalcouture.com
Jane Hardman-Ferris (HF Couture) is so friendly and incredibly talented at what she does. Her creations are just beautiful and beautifully mix old vintage bits of jewellery with new beads and crystals. My headpiece will be treasured and passed down through my family for generations to come. www.hfcouture.co.uk
Our photographers were PH Weddings — We would recommend Helen and Paul to anyone, they are such a genuine, warm and friendly couple who have a quiet but phenomenal passion and talent for photography. Their pictures speak for themselves; they have managed to consistently demonstrate their own beautiful style which stands out from all the other current wedding photographers. Our photos capture the story and more importantly all the emotions from the day, and all the details that made it unique to us. We barely noticed they were there through the wedding reception and the speeches but they captured it perfectly. www.phweddings.co.uk
Homemade, our caterers were fantastic and have an awesome bistro/deli in Netheredge, Sheffield that is well worth a visit! www.homemade-sheffield.co.uk
The couple who provided our bar were fantastic. They came out to meet us at the site, discuss what we want and couldn’t do enough to help us and fit around us. www.yorkshirerealale2u.co.uk
The marquee was from Buster Marquees who were fantastic – very friendly, professional and hard working as the marquee went up in torrential rain! The also supplied all the tables, chairs and table clothes. www.bustermarquees.co.uk