What could have been a simple tie of a shoelace, resulted in a fairy tale wedding..
Tell us about the proposal – how and where did it happen?
Adrian had organised a trip to Birmingham for the Christmas Markets, Ice skating and to see Aston Villa play. On Sunday the 26th of November 2018, we had arranged to go to the Botanical Gardens Birmingham to see the Christmas light festival before returning home. Unknown to me Adrian had organised for a secret photographer to follow us around and to capture the moment he proposed. As Adrian got down on one knee, I started walking away and as I turned around, I thought he was tying his shoelace only then to realise that he was holding a ring box. There were a lot of tears!
What were your wedding “must have’s”?
The most important “must have’s” for us was my Grampa’s choir. We both really wanted the Beaufort Male Voice Choir to sing during the ceremony and we also wanted to make sure our guests were entertained throughout the day. We had hired a magician, my mother’s dancers and I had made a number of little things to do during the wedding like the video guestbook, ring toss and advice for the Bride and Groom.
Wedding budget: how did you organise your wedding budget?
We had a lot of advice from friends and family and made sure that we tracked our budget at every point. Nevertheless, after postponing the wedding for the 2nd time due to COVID and re-planning for the 3rd year, it was fair to say that the original budget went out of the window!
How did you find your venue and what made you choose it?
I had always loved Cinderella from a very young age and based my ‘dream wedding’ on a fairytale castle. Despite making an extensive list, at first Clearwell wasn’t considered. However, one day whilst Adrian was visiting Coleford he came across Clearwell Castle and suggested that we go to an open day.
Upon visiting Clearwell, we both fell in love with the driveway and the grounds of Clearwell, not to mention the donkeys! We were the last appointment of the day during a dark, cold and wet December night but we were greeted with cups of tea and canapes by the most welcoming of staff.
Styling your wedding: how did you personalise your big day?
Due to COVID we had been planning our wedding for around 3 years. We had postponed in the March of 2020 and so a lot of our decorations and themes had been finalised and bought. However, after the 2nd time of postponing, I had changed my mind on almost everything except the wedding dress.
Originally, we had chosen yellow and white with some very sparkly bridesmaids dresses but most of this was replaced or sold. Nearly all the décor I had sourced from Facebook Marketplace, w,e had found several amazing bargains and had bought all our own tealight holders, candles, lanterns, easels, veil, hair clip. Catherine Gray supplied us with amazing centrepieces a stair garland and an outdoor stair entrance garland. The theme of the wedding was easily decided as we always spend our half terms travelling abroad. The table plan was a map of the world and so each table was assigned a country that we had visited together. In addition, we had a globe guestbook, and our wedding favours were little suitcases filled with vegetarian sweets. Our cake was our greatest secret of them all! Our cake was fake! Polystyrene covered with icing and flowers…the best wedding tip I have ever received and will ever give.
We found that wedding cakes can be extortionate in pricing and we weren’t all that fussed with the ‘cutting of the cake’. So a friend of the family suggested we have a fake cake and have a precut cake delivered to the kitchen ready for the staff to serve.
Naturally we were a little sceptical and not sure on whether the guests would notice but they didn’t, and they said how delicious it was. We saved a fortune and the ‘fake cake’ looked stunning!
Finally a week before the wedding I saw on idea on Instagram where you set up an old phone on a stand and use it as a wedding video guestbook (again the best idea we had ever done). We had around 50 hilarious videos of our guests and around 200 selfies! In addition to this we also had South Wales Photobooth Selfie Mirror which everyone enjoyed and allowed guests to have multiple copies and memory stick for us!
Did the venue provide any memorable extras or nice personal touches that stood out?
Keeslee was faultless as a personal manager from start to finish. He couldn’t do enough for us! The canapes and prosecco in the side room for us to have 5 minutes together after the ceremony was a lovely touch.
Describe your wedding attire and favourite accessories
My wedding dress was always going to be mermaid style/fishtail with a huge train. Several wedding dress shops continued to persuade me otherwise, but I was very set in what I wanted. So much so that it took 42 dresses to find it and my dad came to every one of them. I purchased my dress from Laura May Bridal. As I stepped out both my mother and father fell completely silent and I hadn’t even looked in the mirror before I started to cry. I knew just by the way it looked from looking down that this was the one. My favourite accessory however was my hair clip by Jon Richard.
What did your partner wear?
If COVID hadn’t already ruined most of our planning, it also put a spanner in the works when it came to suit shopping. Due to the backlog of weddings and COVID, the material for suits were in very short supply. Adrian had always wanted a blue suit, somewhere in between navy and blue. However, despite a number of trips to various suit shops we could not get a suit that was blue. In the end we had to order a number of different sizes and colours online. There were only 7 weeks left to go until the wedding and still trousers, shirts, waistcoats and blazers were arriving.
Tell us about your Bridesmaids, Groomsmen and their outfits
I had 5 bridesmaids (Rhiannon, Bethan, Amy, Emma, Lindsey) and Adrian 4 groomsmen (Tom, Tom, James and Joel) with our 4 nieces as the flower girls (Isabelle, Imogen, Olivia and Amelia). Originally the bridesmaids had sparkly fishtail dresses but after 3 years of being indecisive I changed them to floaty chiffon, one shoulder dresses in dove grey from Wed2B.
We also had our Dachshund Scooby as our ring bearer, he stole the hearts of everyone! He carried the rings down the aisle and wore a navy tux with matching grey tie like the groomsmen.
What was your ceremony like?
One of my best friends Megan sang ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran in Welsh as I walked down the aisle at St Peters Church, Clearwell. The Beaufort Male Voice choir sang a selection of songs before, during and after the ceremony. As our theme for the wedding was travel, we decided on ‘One more step around the world I go’ and my bridesmaid Rhiannon read ‘Priodas’ by Dic Jones.
Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast
For our drinks reception we chose a selection of ciders and beers along with Raspberry Fizz and fruit juices. We had tomato soup and English Timables to start, Chicken Saltimbocca and Butternut Squash Risotto for mains and Eton Mess and Chocolate Brownie for dessert. The most memorable part of our speeches was the emotional tribute Adrian paid to his father John Maguire and the Welsh Football shirt my dad presented to Adrian (Adrian is English and a huge England Football fan).
Did you have a band or DJ for your evening reception? Did you have a first dance – what song did you choose?
We chose to have our DJ upstairs in the main hall under the chandelier. Our first dance was to the song of ‘All of Me’ by John Legend and finished by a dance by the Young Dimensions to ‘Shut up and Dance with Me’ where everyone joined in.
Based on your own experience, give us some top tips:
Enjoy every second of planning no matter how stressful it may seem because your wedding day is over in a blink of an eye.
Have a fake cake and a video guest book!
No matter what happens on the day, savour every moment!
Try not to worry about the weather, you will have the BEST day come rain or shine!
Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?
COVID was a blessing in disguise with regards to our honeymoon. In 2020 we were supposed to go to Japan for a fortnight, see the Olympics and then travel to Bali for 2 weeks. By the time it came to 2022 we had missed the Olympics and Japan was still shut to tourists. Nevertheless we ended up going to Bali for 4 weeks instead and were able to travel to 4 different places in Bali. In almost all locations we were also upgraded! We released baby turtles into the wild, snorkeled, fed wild monkeys, had surf lessons, hiked Mount Batur and had the trip of a lifetime!
“If we could do it all again, we’d… have a wedding weekend and have a 3 day celebration!
Wedding attire: Wedding Dress Laura May Bridal / Suits Next Online
The accessories: Hair piece by Jon Richard/Earrings Pandora/Bracelet Joma Jewellery/Veil Rainbow Club/ Shoes Kurt Geiger
Bridesmaid’s dresses: EDEN by Wed2Be
Wedding rings: Ernest Jones
Wedding cake: Made by a Family Friend
Photographer: Lauren Owens
Other: Ceremony: St Peter’s Church Clearwell/ Videographer: Simon Huntley / Photobooth: South Wales Photobooth/ Choir: Beaufort Male Voice Choir/ Dancers: Young Dimensions Dance Troupe/ make-up – Paige Price/ Hair – Friend/ Flowers – Catherine Gray
