Real Wedding || Sam & Kelly

I'm very exited today because I get to share with you the blog's very first Real Wedding. Sam and Kelly work together at a seafood and pizza restaurant where Sam is a Chef and Kelly is the restaurant manager. Childhood Sweethearts who were finally married on the 16th September 2012.

Sam and I go way back, we first met in the first year of high school when we were put into the same registration class. From there our friendship blossomed and we spent most of every day together in the same classes. When we got into sixth form we ended up spending even more time together, It was actually at a friend’s party that our lips first touched. I must admit there was a lot of alcohol involved and when the morning came around it was a little bit awkward because we were both unsure how the other one felt. Our kiss felt so natural which made me think it was meant to be. Mum convinced me that if our friendship was strong enough and it didn’t work out then we would still remain friends. Sam and I had our first date later on that week (we went to Subway – romantic I know ha ha).

We dated for a few months and it wasn’t that long until we moved in together. On my twentieth Birthday Sam proposed. I awoke on my birthday to an empty bed and in came Sam with twenty red roses. That day we went shopping to Chester and out for dinner to my favourite place to eat – The Chester Grosvenor. After a perfect day we headed home and once there we went up to the bedroom. Sam commented on how nice the roses were, obviously knowing I would turn around to look at them sitting on the windowsill. When I turned back around there he was down on one knee! – I remember it like it was yesterday! Of course I said yes and I have to say the ring was just beautiful! We actually had a long ish engagement compared to some as we wanted to buy a house and get settled beforehand. We were engaged for five years before our big day.

We had been to a number of venues and although they were all nice, they just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to settle for second best so we kept looking and one day we happened to drive past a sign that said “wedding fayre today” at Seiont Manor. We followed the sign down a long winding drive way that was shadowed by huge trees on either side. It finally took us to this absolutely stunning picturesque manor house set in acres of gardens. As soon as I saw the building I knew this was where I wanted to marry my best friend. We arranged a meeting with the wedding co-ordinator and general manger almost immediately to discuss our big day that was planned down to a T in my head.

Our style was simple, elegant and quite contemporary; ivory roses with a dash of colour mixed in. I have always been a fan of the colour purple and I’d had my eye on the same dress ever since I saw it in the wedding shop five minutes from our home. I hadn't tried it on; I just knew I wanted it. The dress was made by the designer Mori Lee and was priced slightly out of our price range but I just had to have it. The design was quite unusual, Ivory with Cadbury’s purple running through in such a stunning pattern. The whole day was then designed around my dress, the colour, the theme, absolutely everything.

I don’t like to be the same as everyone else and therefore decided not to purchase generic wedding invites, name cards, seating plan etc I wanted them to be personalised and so roped Sam’s mum in to help make the perfect wedding stationary.

At the time I worked in a 5* Hotel that catered for small weddings in the fine dining restaurant and from working there I saw how service should be provided and didn’t I let the wedding co-ordinator know that I like things a certain way. I spent hours every day researching everything, the whole day was planned and a run through of the day was produced for all staff members and the bridesmaids.

My bridesmaids and I stayed at Seiont Manor the night before the wedding so we could get all of the preparations done, I wanted to dress the room myself, that way I knew everything would be perfect – I even folded the napkins! We didn’t actually go to bed until the early hours of the morning.

After a very small breakfast of tea and toast, myself and all three bridesmaids (Georgie & Sarah - two of my oldest friends and Katie – Sam’s sister) started getting ready with a glass of champagne in hand of course. A very good friend of mine was to do our hair and I’d asked a very talented makeup artist that works for the Benefit counter in Debenhams to come along and make us look presentable. While we were getting ready another close friend was setting up the cake and my florist and photographer had arrived. The time flew by and in no time there was a knock at my door and there was my Dad stood tall, proud and looking so smart in his suit. He looked at me in my dress and he gave me the “Proud Dad Smile”. It was time to give his only daughter away.

The ceremony didn’t last long; we opted for no readings and wanted to say as little as possible during the ceremony – just the important bits. Dad and I walked down the isle first with the girls following behind; I walked down the isle to Pachelbel - Canon in D major. During the ceremony Sam and I held hands and looked lovingly into each other’s eyes, it may not have lasted long but it was perfect – we even gave each other a "high five" at the end.

The wedding breakfast was held in a different room, once everyone was sat the wedding co-ordinator announced our arrival and we sat down ready for the speeches. My dad was the first up, he was very nervous but once he got going he had the whole room laughing. I was up next, then Sam, followed by one of the bridesmaids and finally the two best men who had us in fits of giggles. After the speeches out came the food, I didn’t actually eat or drink that much during the wedding breakfast because I was off mingling with all of our guests. When it came to cutting the cake the whole room stood up to take our picture, at that point in time I understood what celebrities must feel like with the paparazzi following them around. Once everyone had cake there was an hour’s pause before the evening festivities, not that we got a chance to rest mind. The ceremony itself and wedding breakfast was quite intimate with only 60 guests present, mainly close friends and family. However in the evening we had another fifty or so join us ready for the party. While everyone was arriving and getting themselves a drink the DJ played a few songs to get us in the mood shortly followed by our first dance – Ben.E King – Stand by me. We’d asked that other couples join us on the dance floor a minute or so into the song but nobody did, they were all too busy taking photos.

It was lovely being surrounded by so many people that we loved. Unfortunately there were a few people that weren’t able to make our special day but they were always in our thoughts (only three months prior to our wedding both of our Maternal Grandmothers sadly passed away)

One hitch on the day was the hotel staff losing my ceremony music; I must say I wasn't impressed. Reception phoned my room as we were getting ready and one of my bridesmaids answered, instead of keeping it to herself and go sort it out she decided to panic the bride – not the best thing to do at this point. Luckily two of my friends; Victoria and Mel sprung into action and sorted the issue with no fuss – I don’t know how they did it but crisis averted! We had a few funny things happen throughout the day but the funniest has to be Sam having to put my auntie to bed, she had drunk a bit too much and couldn't really remember how to use her legs. Poor Sam had to take her to her room where her other half was snoring away! I’m pretty sure it was only the second time he had met her as well – awkward!

Do you have any advice for the soon to be married?

The best advice I can give is ‘enjoy your day’, the worst thing you can do is to get stressed. The day really does go too fast and if you have instructed the venue then they should make sure everything runs smoothly for you. One thing I will definitely recommend that all brides and grooms invest in is insurance. Sam was quite inebriated towards the end of the evening and decided sliding around on his knees in his suit was a good idea – this ended up in a rather large hole in the trousers. Luckily the seven pound insurance we took out at the wedding shop saved us an expensive repair job.

Where did you go on honeymoon?

We actually didn’t go on our official honeymoon until April the following year however we did take a "minimoon" to the Chester Grosvenor. We decided to take a trip to Orlando, Florida for our main honeymoon and we wanted to do it properly so had to save the pennies first. We stayed in Florida for two weeks visiting all of the Disney parks and a few water parks along with Discovery Cove where we went swimming with Dolphins! On our way back we stopped in New York for three nights – somewhere I’ve always wanted to go! Our honeymoon was magical.