KIRA​ ​AND​ ​JENNY​’S DE VERE HORWOOD ESTATE WEDDING

HOW​ ​DID​ ​YOU​ ​MEET?

We met online (good old gaydargirls!) and after a few messages back and forth decided to meet face to face for a coffee in Starbucks. That coffee lasted about 4 hours! We even went back on our one year anniversary and recreated the date – it wasn’t 4 hours second time round​ ​though!

TELL​ ​US​ ​ABOUT​ ​THE​ ​DAY!​ ​WHAT​ ​WAS​ ​THE​ ​THEME,​ ​INSPIRATION,​ ​THE MOST​ ​IMPORTANT​ ​AND​ ​MOST​ ​FUN​ ​PART​ ​FOR​ ​YOU?

As we are from the North East both of our families and a lot of friends had to travel a significant distance for our wedding. We tried to make it as easy as possible for them by choosing a venue where we could have everything in one place and also ‘make a weekend of it’. We wanted our day to be as authentically ‘us’ as possible, after this the most important thing to us was to make our guests feel as valued as possible. Our inspiration was ourselves, our story so far and the things we like. We are well known for socialising events where everyone has a good time, nice food, booze and often board games. This formed a theme for our day – the save the dates were paper fortune tellers, our seating plan was a personalized monopoly board, and the favours were travel board games for the children and scrabble tile initial keyrings for the adults. We are also known for being quite last minute/spontaneous people which is why we decided to set the date and plan the wedding in six months. We knew that even if we had two years to plan it we would do it all in the last six months anyway so it didn’t seem worth waiting! We are both willing to get stuck in and Kira is a creative person so we DIY’d as much of the wedding as we could. This meant we made the save the dates, invitations, order of services, seating plan, favours, name cards, table names, advice cards, guestbook hearts and Jenga, I-Spy selfie sticks, hangover kits, dried petal confetti, all flowers, table decorations and various signage.

HAIR​ ​&​ ​MAKE​ ​UP

Our hair and make-up artists were ‘discovered’ on a Facebook wedding planning group, as was the vast majority of our suppliers. Make-up was done by the very talented Amy Blundell of BeSerene Beauty and Luna-May’s Perfectly Pampered Parties and her equally​ ​talented​ ​hairdresser​ ​friend​ ​Kirsty​ ​Hirst​ did​ the hair.

We chose the same venue, the De Vere Horwood Estate, for the ceremony and reception. The ceremony took place in the Manor Lounge, a wonderfully airy room with large windows and patio doors overlooking the gardens. The reception was in the Cooke Suite which had lots of space for shape throwing on the dancefloor and also​ ​its​ ​own​ ​bar​ ​(both​ ​essentials!)

TELL​ ​US​ ​ABOUT​ ​YOUR​ ​PHOTOGRAPHER
Our photographer – Jess Rose Photography was also a facebook find but Kira genuinely looked at over 100 photographer’s portfolios to find what she was looking for. We couldn’t have chosen a better photographer if we had looked at 1000 portfolios. Your photographer is intimately involved in your day, photographing private moments, special moments and fleeting moments. You rely on them as your eyes to capture not only the moments you want to preserve forever but also those that you may miss. In addition to needing to be ridiculously talented, your photographer also needs to have rapport with you. As a same sex couple there is always that niggling worry that a supplier may not be comfortable providing services for your day. We were very careful to vet our suppliers to make sure this wouldn’t happen as it would​ ​have​ ​had​ ​a​ ​negative​ ​impact​ ​on​ ​the​ ​day.

Jess fit in wonderfully with us and we knew from the first telephone conversation that we had with her that she would be an important contributor to our wedding day. On the day itself Jess was invaluable, running errands, discretely capturing moments and being an integral part of our bridal suite after party which went on until 4am. Now that the day is over we look at those photographs and feel all the memories come flooding back. We also feel that Jess is more than the person who photographed our wedding, she genuinely feels like a friend. On our recommendation she is also photographing our friend’s Gretna Green​ ​elopement.

..AND​ ​VIDEOGRAPHER

We thought we didn’t need a videographer, boy we were wrong! We set up a goPro in the corner of the ceremony room which didn’t look like it was recording. As the ceremony started Kira asked Jess to check the goPro and it didn’t seem to be recording. Jess then filmed clips of the ceremony, aftermath and other parts of the day which she made into the most wonderful short film. This wasn’t discussed/planned, was done completely on the hoof and was such​ ​a​ ​touching​ ​gesture!

Our wedding rings were made from 100 year old shillings by the amazing Hairy Growler who we discovered at our first Glastonbury festival. Fun fact – British coinage prior to 1919 was all sterling/pure silver and makes the most wonderful​ ​jewellery.

The​ ​‘cutting’​ ​cake​ ​which​ ​was​ ​lemon​ ​drizzle​ ​on​ ​the​ ​bottom​ ​layer​ ​and traditional​ ​fruit​ ​on​ ​the​ ​top,​ ​was​ ​made​ ​by​ ​our​ ​very​ ​talented​ ​friend​ ​Sarah Shaw.​ ​We​ ​keep​ ​telling​ ​her​ ​that​ ​she​ ​needs​ ​to​ ​get​ ​an​ ​insta​ ​account​ ​to show​ ​off​ ​her​ ​creations​ ​but​ ​so​ ​far​ ​she​ ​hasn’t​ ​made​ ​one!

The​ ​evening​ ​cake​ ​was​ ​12.5kg​ ​of​ ​cheese​ ​(yum!)​ ​and​ ​came​ ​from​ ​Costco  ​–​ ​who​ ​were​ ​lovely​ ​enough​ ​to​ ​rush​ ​it​ ​through​ ​when it​ ​came​ ​to​ ​light​ ​a​ ​week​ ​before​ ​the​ ​wedding​ ​that​ ​Jenny​ ​had​ ​forgotten​ ​to order​ ​it!

Our very fabulous DJ was another Facebook find – Tall Order Events and the DJ supplied was exactly what we wanted, the dancefloor was full all night! Their sister company, Dapper Booths supplied our photobooth which went down a storm and had a constant queue. We loved having the photobooth photos to look at straightaway after the​ ​wedding​ ​day!

Our wedding website was invaluable as a place to put information, coordinate responses and generally involve our guests.
Weddings are expensive, there’s no two ways about it but there are ways to help keep costs down. As we set the date in between Christmas and New Year we were able to take advantage of the post-Christmas/January sales.

Another good tip is to always use cashback websites when making a purchase online. We made a few hundred​ ​pounds​ ​from​ ​cashback​ ​on​ ​the​ ​items​ ​we​ ​were​ ​buying​ ​anyway.
Involve your friends wherever you can, not only will it help with costs but it will also give your wedding such a personal touch. We had friends make the cake, help with décor, perform readings during the ceremony and even compose the music we walked down the aisle to. This was done by Jenny’s older brother Ian who is a piano teacher​ ​and​ ​very​ ​talented​ ​player.

Always be authentic to who you are as individuals and a couple, this is your day so it should feel like it is and not another rehash of the latest pinterest trends or a compromise because there are things you feel like you ‘should’ do or guests you ‘should’ invite. We went with traditions we liked, ignored those we didn’t and only invited guests we wanted to share our day with. Our wedding day genuinely felt like the best day ever to us (and most of our guests, many of whom have asked us to repeat it!) but we think that every person should be able to say that about​ ​their​ ​wedding​ ​day.