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Date of Wedding: 8th June 2019
Photographer: dearest love photography
Theme: Natural Meadow

Your love story

Our story isn’t exactly a romantic classic. We happened to cross paths on a night out in our home town and had a little chat. We didn’t swap numbers but were both hoping we’d see each other again. Lo and behold the next weekend we were both out with friends (at a different place than the week before) and saw each other again. A week later I had moved in to Mike’s flat with a key of my own, and the rest is history!

The proposal

I had an inkling that a wedding proposal may be on the cards at some point. We had been together (and living together) for 15 months and were often talking about our future, we had a trip to Cuba planned for May and I thought maybe it would be a holiday surprise. It was April and Mike had booked us some plane tickets to visit his family in Houston in October. I was stood in our kitchen after work on a Friday and Mike came in to me looking worried. “You know the plane tickets to America?” he said. I thought he was about to tell me they’d been cancelled. But he continued, “how about we call them an engagement present?” He got down on one knee and presented the ring. I asked if he was serious, and then said yes! 

Choosing the wedding dress

I had an idea of what I wanted so went to one dress shop with my bridesmaids and Mum.  Found a couple of gowns I liked, but they were very expensive and it didn’t feel right. A couple of weeks later I went to visit my sister and nephew on a random day off work and she suggested we pop over to the dress shop just down the road. And that’s when I found the dress. I loved it and it was a bargain!!

Something old, something new…

For my ‘something old’ I wore some shoes I had owned for years but only worn once, when I was a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding. For ‘something new’, my dress and veil. ‘Something borrowed’ was a pearl pendant necklace which my eldest sister had worn at her wedding and my something blue was a personalised denim jacket I wore after the ceremony.

What was your inspiration/theme for the big day?

I am very in to nature and the environment so we went for a “natural” theme, with pinks and lavenders. Our flowers were a very natural, wild flower look. We also included pink roses in the theme as those were Mike’s late sister’s favourite.   Our bridesmaids wore lavender dresses with embroidered florals and we got lots of compliments!

Why did you choose Bredenbury Court Barns?

One of the main reasons we loved Bredenbury was the views from the barn. We’re both Malvern people, and being able to see the hills from our rustic wedding venue was a real plus point for us. We wanted somewhere local, but not where any of our friends had already been married, and so when we found Bredenbury Court Barns it was a dream come true. It was great to see the construction progress and see it all come together in the months and weeks running up to our big day.

Wedding ideas and your wedding day:

We kept our ceremony very simple, as Mike was nervous about speaking in front of people and we wanted to spend as much time mixing with family and friends as possible. We had jars of flowers on the floor down the sides of the aisles, which looked great. I walked down the aisle to Enya’s Book of Days which for years I had thought would be a great song to walk down the aisle to!

My youngest two nephews acted as “flower boys” and my eldest walked down carrying a sign saying “Uncle Mike, here comes your bride” –  I kept that as a secret from Mike and he loved it on the day! Mike’s nephew was our ring bearer. 

We had a memorial table in the Orangery civil ceremony room and then in the Oak Barn Atrium holding photos of loved ones we have lost, and a candle burning in their memory. It burned all day, so it felt like they were there with us. 

Our table names were all cities that Mike and I have visited together as we wanted to keep things personal to us, and where possible we sat anyone from that area on that table. 

Our cake was completely vegan. One tier chocolate, one tier red velvet and one tier zingy lemon. It was decorated like a tree bark with our initials carved in to it, it looked and more importantly tasted awesome!!

Your wedding feast – what’s on the menu?

I am vegan so we had two options for food. The vegan menu consisted of asparagus to start, vegetable wellington for main and vegan chocolate brownie for dessert. I was really pleased that quite a few non vegan/vegetarians went for that option! A win for me and my agenda 🙂  The carnivores had salmon for start, pork loin for main and chocolate brownie for dessert. Everyone was so complimentary of the food, which is fairly rare for a wedding!! The food was delicious and the portion sizes were very ample.

Your favourite moment of the day?

Abby

My favourite moment was at the end of the ceremony, we were married, the apprehension was gone and we walked back down the aisle to cheers and a face full of confetti!

Mike

Seeing Abby walk down the aisle

A word of advice for future couples?

…Relax, enjoy, BREATHE!

You will be well looked after at Bredenbury Court Barns rustic wedding venue, so just take the day in your stride! Everyone told us before had that the day will fly by, but it didn’t for us. We appreciated every moment of it and were very ready for bed at the end of it!!

Can you sum up your day in just 3 words?

Happy – Loving – Long!

Your dream team suppliers list:

Rustic Wedding VenueBredenbury Court Barns

PhotographerDearest Love Photography 

DressGatehouse Brides

Rings: Ernest Jones 

Make-up: Aleksandra Gus 

Hair: Hair by Adrianne

Grooms Attire: Cox’s Malvern

Bridesmaid Dresses: Asos

Cake: Fondant Fantasies Malvern

Flowers: Rural Floral

Evening Entertainment: DJ Pete Stead