tiara | real life bride
Come Fly With Me Sarah and Carl enjoyed a beautiful celebration with family and friends in gorgeous Usk
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Sarah and Carl, both 28, met while studying at university in Plymouth. But it wasn’t until five years later after a reunion in New Zealand where Sarah, now a Marketing Officer, was travelling and Carl, now an Airline Pilot, was undergoing his flight training that their wonderful romance began
tiara | real life bride Proposal Carl proposed to me on a romantic trip to Paris in October 2008. I thought that we’d done all the planning for our trip together, so when we went to check in at the hotel and Carl confirmed with the receptionist that we’d be staying for two nights, I did think it was a little odd as we’d booked for three. Looking back, Carl did try to make me stay with the bags but I’d insisted on joining him. Thinking nothing of it though, we went straight out for lunch at a nearby brasserie, and then took a stroll around a pretty park in the sunshine. As we sat on a bench in the park to rest, we were messing around taking photos of each other. Neither of us really likes having our picture taken, especially me after a couple of years of orthodontic treatment and an operation. But then Carl told me that if I took a nice photograph of us together, he’d ask me to marry him. Needless to say I did, and we haven’t stopped smiling since! Carl then surprised me again by revealing that the reason we were only staying two nights in Paris was because all my family were in Majorca, and he’d arranged for us to fly from Paris to Palma to surprise them. The celebrations even continued on our return home when we surprised Carl’s parents on his mum’s birthday. I later found out that my dad was in on the act too, and I can honestly say it was the best time of my life apart from our wedding day of course.
Venues We began planning our big day straightaway, but couldn’t believe the lack of availability for Saturdays in the following 18 months. Having decided on a church ceremony in Caerleon, we then booked the Glen-Yr-Afon House Hotel in Usk for our reception. Initially I wanted somewhere different because my sister had her wedding reception there five years ago. However, at my sister’s wedding everyone praised the food and excellent service at the Glen-Yr-Afon, so it turned out to be the perfect venue for Carl and me, and we went ahead with it - I’m now very glad we did.
Outfits
Entertainment
My sister, who was also one of my bridesmaids, actually found my dress for me. I was unsure when she first described it, as normally I like everything quite plain and understated, and would have laughed if someone had told me that on my wedding day I’d be wearing lace and sparkles. But since we’re quite similar, I knew that if she liked it, the chances were that I would too. It was a strapless lace gown, with a bow and fishtail – I really did feel like a princess on the day. My bridesmaids wore strapless, knee-length taffeta dresses with silver bows that looked blue or green depending on the light. The sashes and bows on my flower girl’s dress, and the men’s ties and hankies were all made from the same material too. I had pearl jewellery specially made for me, as well as the bridesmaids and my flower girl. These came from Alison Todd in Abergavenny who were so accommodating. My mum looked stunning too in a grey outfit and huge hat from Rowberry’s in Swansea.
Pampering Joanne from M.A.C. Cardiff did our make-up, a fresh-faced natural look, while the girls from Liberté in Newport did our hair - we were all really pleased. Since we all have slightly different hair each of us ended up going for something a little different. I had very loose curls to add some volume, which helped to secure my pearl clip and the three quarter veil that I didn’t take off until I went to bed! They all came to the house and we had a fun morning being pampered together.
Transport I travelled to the church with my dad in a beautiful Rolls-Royce from Perfect Day Cars, while my mum and bridesmaids were chauffeured in my dad’s car. The Best Man insisted on taking Carl to the church in his old Fiesta, which is his pride and joy. He even used it as the safety car on Carl’s Rusty Rally stag weekend. Carl and I then arrived at our reception in style in the Rolls-Royce.
We had a pianist playing during the drinks reception and while everyone was eating and in the evening, The Elastic Band created a great party atmosphere, and made sure the dance floor was packed all night. We even ended up asking them to play on because our guests were enjoying themselves so much. We got quite a few laughs from our first dance Come Fly with Me - we were actually dreading it, but everyone joined us after a minute or so as requested.
Special Touches All my flowers were arranged by Forget Me Not, and I chose pretty buttermilk roses, freesias, lithianthus and eucalyptus for the bouquets, with lilies for the tables. We chose a 3-tier cake, from Cake Artistry, covered in small flowers to match my dress, while my friend Siân from Paper Beau did all our stationery. Everything matched perfectly, even the tags for our iced gingerbread favours - aeroplanes for the men and handbags for the ladies - which were made by a family friend.
Anecdotes My dad and a few others actually had a sore head on the morning of the wedding, as the night before we’d decided to have a meal at the GlenYr-Afon hotel with a few friends and family. Everyone was very excited, the wine was flowing and they all were singing ‘Get Her To The Church On Time’, but as a result we didn’t get to bed until the very early hours! On reflection I think that may have helped calm my nerves. Also, whereas I’m normally the ‘dizzy’ one in the family, my brother-in-law took over that role on my wedding day by bringing someone else’s suit with him from the dry-cleaners. By the time he realised it wasn’t his it was an hour before the ceremony and far too late to do anything about it, so he had to borrow a suit from my dad. Luckily, they are about the same size! It was a truly amazing and happy day!
Photographs by: Gary and Sue Photography www.garyandsuephotography.com Tel: 029 2055 1773
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