MOVE THE right

Steve and Rob hit it off right away, and years later, they tied the knot at Broadoaks Country House

Images courtesy of Jaye-Peg Photography

Steve and Rob met in 2001 when Steve’s tenancy was coming to an end, and he was looking for another house to rent. “I had a house that I had just moved out of and was looking to rent out,” says Rob. “Steve’s viewing lasted longer than I expected, as it turned into quite a long conversation. It just seemed to be a natural fit, as we had lots of common ground. A couple of hours after the house viewing, I messaged Steve and asked him to go for a drink. He ended up taking the house, and it wasn’t long after that that I ended up moving back in.”

The happy couple had been engaged a few times but never officially announced it. “Over the years, one or other of us has proposed on a few occasions,” shares Rob. “It had always been something that we had spoken about and agreed to do, but we had never followed through on any of the arrangements. When we were younger, we used to have lots of clubbing nights out around the UK, and one of the places we used to go back to was Blackpool. We were taking a trip there in April 2022, and as the alcohol flowed, we spoke about getting married and regretting that we’d never actually done it. We said that we should and follow through on it this time. We told our families the next day, and by lunchtime we had agreed that we wouldn’t wait too long before getting married. We talked about places that we’d visited and thought it would be nice to get married somewhere that meant a lot to us, that we could make memorable due to the wedding, and always keep as a special place that we could return to and continue to visit, and so we settled on the Lake District.”

Here Rob shares some of his favourite moments from their big day...

I’m a qualified pilot and wanted to fly in by helicopter, so we were looking for a venue that had space to land. There were several possibilities that met our wider criteria. We wanted to be close to Lake Windermere, but not on the lake itself, as we wanted somewhere a little more exclusive that was not going to be overlooked. We also wanted somewhere that had space for family to stay, and it had to be dog friendly. We narrowed it down to three venues, but it was our visit to Broadoaks Country House, and our conversation with the team that persuaded us that it was the right venue for us. Sadly, the weather was not good enough to be able to fly in on the day, but that meant that there were no limits on how much alcohol could be drunk!

Steve and I chose a three-tiered cake made with locally-sourced ingredients. We had to cater for lots of dietary requirements, so we decided to go for three different flavours. Kelly from Wren Cake Design worked the flowers into the design and came up with a wonderful icing pattern, leaving the cake mainly white, but incorporating our chosen colours.

We decided early on that we didn’t want anything too heavily themed. We wanted to keep things simple, and show that there is little difference between same sex and ‘traditional’ weddings. We have both lost our fathers and people close to us, so we wanted to make sure that those who were no longer with us were represented on the day through the decorations, colours and flowers.

We chose a blossom arch from Allure Venue Styling that we used at the front of the ceremony and later behind the top table for the wedding breakfast.

Our centrepieces were glass bowls filled with orange blooms. We opted for dahlias and birds of paradise, which were our fathers’ favourite flowers.

Broadoaks Country House did all the catering on the day. The four-course wedding breakfast was a local twist on French cuisine, and for those guests that still wanted more, there was pizza and chips in the evening, plus wedding cake. Allure Venue Styling put together a sweet cart, which was made up of blue and orange sweets from our childhood.

I wanted us to wear matching suits; we looked at traditional options and ‘standard’ suits in various colours, but nothing jumped out. We wanted something special that would be unique and was not something that would be worn every day, or that anyone else was likely to turn up in. Eventually, we found Aristocracy London Ltd, who produce limited edition pieces, and we managed to get something special. We chose an angel blue three-piece Nehru suit with a textured jacket and waistcoat, fastened with a chain.

As we had such a wide circle of close friends, we didn’t want to choose one over another for the purposes of a wedding party. We also wanted it to be inclusive without it being thought that we were prioritising some guests over others, so in the end, we chose Steve’s two nephews to be the ring bearers, and they also wore navy suits with burnt orange satin ties.

We decided that we didn’t want some guests to only be invited for part of the day, so all invitations were for the whole day. We were also aware that people would have to travel to the Lake District, so we made sure that there was time for people to check into hotels, walk dogs, and have a little time to themselves. Our focus was to keep them fed and watered and to make sure that they felt involved.

After 20 years together, there were no nerves. It felt natural and something long overdue. When we started planning, we were going to have a small wedding and considered eloping but decided that we should just invite immediate family. Over the course of a few weeks, the numbers grew until it reached 100. We still wanted the closeness of immediate family, so we arranged for mothers and siblings to come to the Lake District a day earlier to have dinner, drinks and spa treatments.

As Steve’s nephews had been ring bearers, we asked my nephew to give a reading taken from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin during the ceremony.

Obviously being in the Lake District, Lake Windermere was chosen as a backdrop for some of the photos, but Jaye, our photographer, also came up with some locations that were not so typical to make things special. After having so many people around at the ceremony, it was nice to have some time just the two of us.

At the wedding breakfast, we both made speeches and toasts to other people, and so there was no one to make a toast to the grooms. Steve’s brother stood up and did that to ensure there was a toast for us as well.

The wedding had been planned to be ethical, as we wanted to show that it could be done without affecting the environment. We focused on being carbon neutral and offsetting the carbon generated by arranging for trees to be planted in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.

We provided wildflower seeds as part of our favours so that people could plant them to remember our day, but to also help with attracting butterflies and bees. We have already received lots of comments about how lovely they look and how people have enjoyed planting them as a family activity. We also wanted to offset the amount of meat that was consumed at the wedding breakfast, so we arranged to rescue 20 battery chickens and a cow that had been destined for slaughter to be sent to a city farm.

For our honeymoon, went to the Seychelles and stayed in Beau Vallon. We had always had the Seychelles on our bucket list, so it seemed the perfect time to visit. We had a suite right next to Mare Anglaise beach and got to enjoy the Indian ocean every day, with jet skiing, parasailing and island hopping.

STEVE AND ROB’S CONTACTS

Venue and catering, Broadoaks Country House, www.broadoakscountryhouse.co.uk

| Photographer, Jaye-Peg Photography, www.jayepeg.co.uk | Suits, Aristocracy London Ltd, www.aristocracy.london | Cake, Wren Cake Design, www.wrencakedesign.co.uk Lights, Purple Swan, www.purpleswanhire.co.uk | Blossom arch, swags, centrepieces, sweets and other decorations, Allure Venue Styling, www.allurevenuestyling.co.uk | Celebrant, Cumbria County Council, www.cumbria.gov.uk | Entertainment, Motiv-8 Disco Cumbria, www.motiv-8.co.uk