TOGETHER FOREVER

forever TOGETHER Emily and Jonny had the day they’d always dreamed of in Wimbledon

Images courtesy of Brett Harkness Photography

Emily and Jonny met on Tinder around eight years ago. “We were both in the same year at university in Durham, so we had a lot of mutual friends, but we never actually met,” says Emily. At the time Emily was doing her master’s degree at Imperial College London and Jonny just so happened to be working in the city. “We arranged to meet up, but never did I think on our first date that we’d be together forever,” she adds. Their relationship started as a summer fling. “He invited himself to my family holiday that summer in Spain, and the rest is history – here we are now!” she adds.

Jonny proposed at The Pig near Bath, on a bench in the gardens. “His grandparents used to own the property, so it’s a special place for the family,” Emily says. “It was a total surprise, although he was sweating a lot that day!”.

After waiting an extra year due to Covid, their special day finally arrived – and it was well worth the wait. Here, Emily tells us more about it…

Jonny and his groomsmen wore morning suits and waistcoats from Favourbrook. Apart from being the best looking of course, he stood out by wearing a baby pink waistcoat and tie and houndstooth trousers.

I wore a Galia Lahav dress from Browns Brides. I’ve had my eye on that designer for years, as I love the detail in her gowns. I’ve been looking at her dresses ever since Beyonce got married in one. I finished my look with Jimmy Choo heels, Tiffany diamond earrings that I borrowed from my mother, my something blue was an aquamarine that my dad bought for my 18th, I wore my grandmother’s diamond bracelet (something old) and my something new was my dress and veil. My bridesmaids wore pink maxi dresses from Coast and my sister, maid of honour, wore an ivory long silk dress – she did a Pippa Middleton!

We hosted our day in a sail tent marquee at my parent’s house in Wimbledon. The personal touch and excitement of doing it at home trumped the grandness of a big venue for us.

Our flower girls wore white dresses with big white bows and flower crowns. For our favours, Jonny’s mother made her own gin from the damsons in her garden. They were brewing that extra year longer due to Covid.

Our ceremony was at St Mary’s where I was confirmed, and my parents are regulars. This was an easy decision as Nils, the vicar who conducted the service, is close to our family.

We had lots of green and white in our bouquets and décor.

We created a walkway down the driveway with blossom trees surrounded by candles. It looked stunning.

For our centrepieces we placed floral displays down the centre of the tables that included greenery, roses and a variety of white flowers, with long tapered candles. We also placed bottles filled with single stems around the marquee. Delphiniums are my absolute favourite, so we had them going down the aisle at the church and at the entrance to the marquee.

Our florist Denise created huge arrangements along the bottom of the marquee, and at the entrance to my parent’s garden.

Each layer of our cake was a different flavour and it was covered in buttercream and finished with white roses from our florist.

Our tables were named after the venues of mine and Jonny’s youth. Klute and Loveshack in Durham, Lang Kwai Fong in Hong Kong where I was born, Mahiki in London, Rose & Crown in Wimbledon and Infernos, Jonny’s favourite place in Clapham.

The key piece that made the marquee stand out was a large tree that was put on a podium in the middle of the circular bar with up lighting, it was fantastic, a real wow piece. We had a London bus to take people from the church to reception.

My brother drove Jonny and I in his old Land Rover Defender. It looked great with the just married sign and flowers. I surprised Jonny with a performance by The Sleeke Chix. They did three songs, Love on Top, Say a Little Prayer and Proud Mary and they were fabulous.

Music’s so important to us so we had lots of entertainment! In the church we had a string quartet, trumpet and a classical singer for my entrance and a choir. From the reception onwards we were looked after by Function Fever. We had a jazz trio in reception, a pianist over dinner, and a live band.

Jonny and his groomsmen did a surprise dance for everyone after the first dance to It’s Raining Men. It was pretty epic, even though a few ushers looked like they were dying inside! A memorable moment was having our bridesmaids and groomsmen on Wimbledon Common taking the most incredible photos whilst swigging from bottles of champagne. We couldn’t have done the day without my mother and sister. My mother spent so much time and threw everything into our wedding and my sister held me together for the last few weeks. Our day was incredible. We were completely overwhelmed, excited and amazed that we had the day we’d always dreamed about.

EMILY AND JONNY’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK Venue, St Marys Church, www.stmaryswimbledon.org | Marquee, Sail Tent Company, www.sailtentcompany.co.uk | Photographer, Brett Harness Photography, www.brettharknessphotography.com | Dresses, Browns Brides, www.brownsbride.com | Coast, www.coastfashion.com Hair stylist, Lulu Blonde, www.lulublonde.com | Make-up artist, Philippa Louise Makeup, www.philippalouisemakeup.co.uk | Suits, Favourbrook, www.favourbrook.com | Cake, Cutter & Squidge, https://cutterandsquidge.com | Flowers, The B & D Flower Company, www.facebook.com/The-B-D-Flower-Company-488316251261684/ | Transport, Gold Chauffer Services, www.golddrive.com | Stationery, Coombe Stationers & Printers Ltd, www.cspltd.co.uk | Catering, Caper & Berry, www.caperandberry.co.uk | Wedding rings, Michael Platt, www.michaelplatt.co.uk | Engagement ring, Michael Rose, www.michaelrose.com | Entertainment, Function Fever, www.functionfever.co.uk | Sleek Chix, www.tasharaforrest.com