TELL US THE STORY OF HOW YOU MET

It’s a bit of a long one but will shorten it as much as possible. 
I (K) came to Dubrovnik in the summer of 2015, setting up the new entertainment department of the Radisson Sun Gardens Hotel. I received info about another department similar to ours, and that Cheryl was in charge of them. From our perspective, they were a tad unapproachable, so my team decided to befriend them, engaging them in social situations around the resort. While that was going on, C and I started communicating via email as department heads, but still never met in person.

Living in the time of the web, I googled her name, so I could recognise her around the hotel. Still, Google wasn’t overly helpful, and I just knew she was into powerlifting. I spotted one good-looking, ridiculously strong girl in the gym a few times but only after a few days, it clicked – that’s her! Parallel to my online snooping, my team was still working on warming them up, and we got the invitation to their house party!

The party was followed by another casual outing, then another, then another, all while our business chats started turning into more personal ones.

She was brilliant! Funny, intelligent, intriguing… I’ve called her Wonder Woman from the start. As our friendship grew, we pulled all-nighters partying, road tripping, researching every nook and cranny of Dubrovnik. Every moment we had – we devoted to exploration and adventures. We knew something was there, but our contracts came to an end. With her being from the UK and me moving to a different continent we parted ways one very sombre evening, thinking we would never see each other again.

We kept in touch, sharing our now separate lives until we finally openly admitted to ourselves that our connection was something extraordinary. The rest is history!

After several trips around the world, otherworldly moments together, and promises we’ll find a way to make it work, Cheryl moved to me in October 2016. 

We had our own set of challenges, no fairy tale is smooth-sailing all the way, but in the depth of it – it always felt perfect. We still devoted our time to adventures and travelling, but now creating our first “real” moments. Our first real memories, first home, first mutual friends, first foster puppy, first brunch… first everything. First anything. 
She is the most magnificent human I’ve ever met, and I will forever be grateful that we were brave enough not to give up when things got complicated. It was the best decision we’ve ever made and led us to our absolutely magical wedding day and very happy marriage.

Cornwall beach is definitely a dream location for an elopement. Here’s Kirsty and Olivia getting hitched, photographed by Tracey Warbey.

YOUR WEDDING

We always imagined we would elope. When we saw the Scarlet Hotel, we knew straight away we wanted to get married there. It was the perfect setting for the perfect day. We got married late June and throughout that week it rained everyday except our wedding day, it was like it was meant to be!

Now that’s a first on our blog – arriving at the wedding in a firetruck! Check out this lovely couple and their intimate wedding captured by Spencer Dungey of Love Of Mine.

DO YOU WANT TO TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL?

She quietly said ‘I want to marry you one day’ as we were dropping off to sleep and I replied that I would like that very much. There was no big gesture, no fanfare, but my heart could have exploded with joy in that moment. I will forever be grateful for her bravery that night, because it could have taken me years to gather the courage otherwise!

Today I have a very special shoot for you – Tiffany and Madisyn got engaged at the Romeo and Juliet’s famous house in Verona! The one with THAT balcony! Andrea Tran was there to photograph it and is now sharing the shoot with us.

HOW DID YOU MEET?

We used to work together then we became good friends. After about 3 years of knowing each other, we started dating!

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL

It happened at the most romantic place in the world on Valentineʼs Day at Casa Di Giulietta (Julietteʼs house) in front of her balcony. Tiffany wanted the proposal to be unique and romantic. Her mission was accomplished by making sure it was a complete surprise. Andrea caught beautiful shots of the moment!

DO YOU WANT TO TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL?

It was New Years Eve and Darren was going to propose in front of friends but chickened out. As we were walking home he had the ring in his pocket and asked me then and there.

WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUR WEDDING?

The wedding day was on 1st December 2017, this was the day we met back in 2009. So we had a winter wedding, we didn’t want a Christmas themed wedding so went with winter.

DO YOU WANT TO TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL?

It just sort of happened. Ricky kept saying “when we get married”… Richard just went with it with a “whatever, whenever” attitude. And then we started talking about it properly, decided to do it for real and told our families. So no real proposal.

WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION FOR THE DAY?

No real theme, although we did use peacock feathers as button holes and had a peacock coloured cake (blues and greens). Wanted something different!

Even if you can’t have your amazing big wedding, you can still have the time of your life marrying your other half!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING STYLE IN ONE SENTENCE?

Rustic and burly.

WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION?

We had originally planned a Spanish inspired wedding for July 2020 in San Francisco. Lots of yellows, reds, and blues… with Talavera tiles. However, COVID decided to change our plans. We postponed our wedding and planned an elopement in Gibraltar. Our style is simple.. we love jeans and leather. So we chose a minimal, rustic theme for our elopement.