tiara | real life bride
Purple Haze
Directors of Swansea’s Kitchen Fascination, Lydia 51, and Grant 47, met when Grant came to design a kitchen for Lydia - but ended up staying to fit it all himself!
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Lydia and Grant had an intimate celebration at Lamphey Court Hotel with their closest friends and family
tiara | real life bride Proposal Grant proposed to me during Christmas dinner at Lamphey Court Hotel near Tenby, in 2009. We had snatched time for a short break, and even though Grant had presented me with his divorce papers from a previous marriage that morning, it was still a surprise when he proposed in the restaurant. With the help of the hotel staff, and my daughter who was with us, Grant excused himself from the table, then returned with a huge bunch of red roses and got down on one knee in front of everyone. He told me that there was a rose in the bouquet for every hour of the day he thought of me - 24, and that he’d chosen the platinum engagement ring with three diamond stones, because its shine and brilliance reminded him of me. On bended knee, Grant said that the first diamond on the ring represented our past, which we cannot change but makes us who we are. The second diamond stood for the present, which was so wonderful, and the third stone symbolised the future we could have together. It was so romantic, especially since he was wearing a dinner suit. I was crying as I said yes, then couldn’t stop laughing and smiling! It wasn’t until everyone around us started clapping that I remembered where we were. It was a proposal that dreams are made of, and meant so much to me.
The Ring Grant searched for the perfect engagement ring for weeks, but didn’t find ‘the one’ until he visited Pravins in Cardiff the day before Christmas Eve. When he later told me about his search for the ring he couldn’t stop praising the Pravins staff, who had helped him get the ring resized that very afternoon.
Planning We began planning things the very next morning on Boxing Day. As we ate breakfast in the restaurant at Lamphey Court, a waitress came over to congratulate us, and said she thought it would be perfect to get married in the same place as the romantic proposal. The idea just seemed so right. We saw Ian at the hotel (who soon became known as the best wedding planner ever) and started to make arrangements later that day. The only theme we had was that it had to be a happy, intimate and romantic day. Later on purple did become a big feature though!
Cakes and Flowers For years Grant has bought me flowers from Simone Robins in Mumbles, so it was only right she did our beautiful wedding flowers too. We had a funky cake that we loved so much, made by Marie and Julie at Jam Tarts. We were going to save pieces of the cake for friends who couldn’t make it to the wedding, but ended up eating it all ourselves! We did our own stationery, which was actually quite fun, and tied everything with purple ribbons to match my bridesmaids’ dresses. The tables and chairs at our reception were decorated by RSVP Coordinators, again using purple.
Outfits I went shopping with my youngest daughter and my sister to get the bridesmaids’ dresses, which we found easily in Perfection Bridal in Swansea. I also bought a wedding dress that was ‘sensible and suitable’ for a bride of my age, but when I got it home I just didn’t feel like a bride. So the next day Grant and my daughter took me to Posh Frocks in Uplands to search for another gown. The store was actually shut to get ready for a sale, but they opened it up especially for us. The second dress I tried on made me feel like a princess, and I just knew that was how I wanted to feel on my wedding day. The sales assistants in Posh Frocks were amazing. All the men wore kilts that we hired from Moss Bros, with cravats from Perfection Bridal. Grant and I are both English but have lived in Wales most our lives, so we really confused everyone by wearing the Scottish Kilt! We chose the ‘Spirit of Bannockburn’ kilt because the purple in it matched my colour scheme perfectly. Grant also had a garter hand-made for me using the same tartan - that was a fabulous touch.
Hair and Make-Up Rachel from Seren Style did my hair and makeup, along with my mother’s, my mother in law’s and the two bridesmaids’ as well. Rachel was brilliant and we were all really pleased with how we all looked.
Entertainment Grant had organised the most amazing firework display set to music on the front porch of Lamphey. It looked absolutely spectacular against the hotel’s setting. We also had a bagpipe player to tie in with the kilts, and he played as I descended the stairs of the hotel into the ceremony, during the signing of the register, while we had photographs taken outside, and even while we all sat down for the dinner. Grant sang to me later on while his best friend Martin played the guitar. They’d rehearsed all the songs that are meaningful to us, including Wonderful Tonight, and Layla - but he changed the words to Lydia.
Special Touches Our whole day was just magical. The sun shone in February like a summer’s day, and we danced outside in the hotel grounds after the fireworks, feeling no chill. The setting was perfect, the staff at the hotel couldn’t have done more for us, and it just felt like we were one big family. As we wanted to keep everything intimate, we invited just our closest friends and family. With only the thirteen of us it felt like the most intimate dinner party ever, especially when everyone gave their own short (and not so short!) speeches afterwards.
Photography by: Peter Russell at Essence Photography www.essencephotography.org.uk Tel: 07854 124569
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