Stuart & Roger - A 2020 Wedding
2020 has been a year of compromise. We have had to follow strict rules, lock ourselves away, cancel, change and constantly amend our plans. With the wedding industry, one of the hardest hit during this time, it has been a juggle for many businesses to survive and difficult for many of you to actually just get married. Some of our lovely clients have postponed their weddings, and others stripped back and re organised their initial plans to allow them to get married in 2020 . This is the story of Stuart and Roger’s wedding in a pandemic.
“We initially planned to get married on the 4th of July. A big celebration with 120+ of our family, friends and loved ones.
“It soon became apparent that due to lock down our July wedding would have to slide, although we didn't appreciate this until May as it seemed far enough away that it may still be possible. When postponement became a reality, we realised that we couldn't with any confidence, re-plan a date for the short to medium term and all of the organising that had gone into the initial wedding requiring rescheduled for a second time wasn't a thought we relished.
“We weighed up what was important and decided to have a small intimate wedding at home with 16 members of our family and two best friends - it seemed the most stress-free thing to do. We had initially organised for caterers to come to our home to cook and set up a big table. But the rules changed again and a few weeks before we decided it would be best to book some tables in a restaurant locally. We opted for Ubiquitous Chip. They could not have been more helpful. While our wedding party were sat in small groups at separate tables due to the restrictions, we were tucked away in a semi-private area which felt very intimate and just added to the relaxed day we had had up to then.
“Our budget was substantially reduced, having a smaller wedding. We had already decided on our rings. We always knew we wanted Alison to make our rings, we knew her through a friend who went to Art School with her, and we just loved her style and ethos.
“Rogers grandparents lived near Alison’s Thornhill Studio, and Roger had many happy memories of being there as a child. We saw Alison's work at a small wedding fair in the Briggate in 2019, and we loved the feel and look of her work. I had initially wanted Rose gold and Roger wasn't sure. Alison looked after us both from that moment, helping us to choose the right gold and style for us. The pebble ring had caught my eye at the fair, and I love it, Roger opted for the rose gold men's elaborate design, and he gets so many compliments on how unique the subtle detailing is. Neither of us wears any jewellery other than a watch, so it was a big decision picking our rings, and such a personal decision, I think we both chose well. They feel so natural - it's incredible how quickly we have become used to wearing them! It was an absolute pleasure working with Alison. We also commissioned two of her catkin necklaces for our two groomsmaids, the girls loved them and wore them on the day. They have such a delicate chain and design - again so unique and lovely that the four of us can treasure our goodies from Alison forever.
“Our jackets were bespoke tailored jackets by Alan at Hunter Kingsley, we love them, and Alan is a true gent. We had our second fitting at home via zoom, in which we each pinned the mock-ups of the jackets and waistcoats to each other with Alan's guidance on the other side of the computer screen. It was hilarious, and I didn't hold out much hope from our efforts, but they fitted perfectly when we had our final fitting. We didn't change anything on these two things as they were important to us, the rings we will wear for the rest of our lives and the jackets will get more wear than a brides wedding dress usually would, so the extravagance here was totally justified!
“We had selected our florist; Emma at @bettybluebell who had been incredible with our changing plans, Emma was such a fantastic support and we loved her creativity and her environmental ethos. Our flower budget didn't change, and we went all out with Emma's spectacular work for our garden and our incredible mantle arrangement (that nobody got to see in the end - but we got to enjoy it for the weeks after).
“We treated our guests to an overnight stay at One Devonshire Gardens, although it is only a 2-minute walk from our house we stayed the night before too. It just felt like more of a treat and some family had travelled from Bristol and London to be with us, so it was nice to be able to have them with us and debrief on the day before at breakfast on Sunday.
“Our wedding was so relaxed. It was outdoors in our garden. The ceremony was a little later in the afternoon, conducted by Claire, the humanist - it was lovely, James from Strangeworkx live-streamed this, so family and friends who could not be there were able to watch the ceremony. We had so many lovely comments about this. Jon from Go2 Event Hire provided some beautiful festoon lighting and rustic tables to set the garden off. They were beautiful and just changed what we wanted to suit our garden, they have so many options, and Jons advice was great. We hired umbrellas from Rosie at Brolly Bucket, and we are happy we did, we had 15 minutes of rain at the very start and a little shower later, these made for some lovely photos too! We also had commissioned some gold leaf artwork from the @unlikelypainter, although we had to get the date and venue changed on this (and our rings re-engraved) it is hanging in our hall and tells a story of the changing plans I guess.
“We had Alex Graham play the piano (some of our neighbours enjoyed this too, a few had told us after they just sat in their gardens with a gin enjoying Alex's music in the afternoon.) We had ordered some finger food and had that along with champagne and beers for a few hours outdoors before walking to Ashton lane to the chip for dinner. We walked there with Andrew Rae (photographer) and Robert from MacDonald Studio Films who captured the full day beautifully- they are both perfect gents, and we love their work.
“We are planning a big get together with all our friends and family, who knows when this will be. We don't feel like we have any certainty on booking this soon - regardless, after the year we have had in 2020 I think everyone will be up for a good knees up at the drop of a hat, so something casual and involving a lot of wine, beer, cake and dancing will do nicely!”
I couldn't agree more, 2021 will be a year of dancing and hugging, we will never take the small things for granted after this. Although Stuart and Roger stripped back their wedding, it was still magical, beautiful and full of love.
It just goes to show that in a world of chaos, love truly does win.
Thank you so much to Stuart and Roger for sharing your day and to Andrew Rae for the use of the gorgeous photos.
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