THE GREAT OUTDOORS

The great outdoors Holly and Toby tied the knot in 2020 in a small ceremony and celebrated with a large celebration this year with their friends and family

Images courtesy of Photo Bart

Holly and Toby met at university. “We went to a bonfire parade with mutual friends,” says Holly. “We ended up spending the evening together when we lost the rest of our group. We dated through university and got engaged during a weekend with my family. It took until Sunday evening for Toby to get round to popping the question; not because he was worried about the answer, but because he was nervous of asking my dad! Fortunately, we both said yes. Toby proposed with a Haribo ring, and we went to a jeweller a few weeks later to get the real one. The best bit was phoning our friends and family to tell them the news.”

The happy couple tied the knot in 2020 in Bradford. “It was a truly special day celebrating the union of two families,” shares the bride. “The only people who could attend due to COVID-19 restrictions were the registrar and Toby’s brother. We had a church service then a picnic in the park allowing social bubbles to come and take away a slice of cake. Although, not at all what we’d planned, it allowed us to spend time together on our wedding day, and we would recommend a micro-wedding to everyone. However, we did want to celebrate properly with our friends, so we had our big wedding celebration this year.”

Here she shares some of her favourite moments from their big day...

Toby and I chose the beautiful St John’s Church in Woking on recommendation from our pastor and couldn’t have been more welcomed every Sunday. Glynn, the vicar, did a wonderful job of leading the service and explaining the meaning of marriage. We have a lot of friends in the South East, particularly around Guildford, which helped us decide on a location. Reception venues were quickly ruled out due to capacity issues, and after looking around a few spaces, we realised we wanted the flexibility of a marquee. We were extremely fortunate and forever grateful to our friends who lent us their garden for the day, and after a bit of searching, we stumbled upon Four Seasons Marquees. There are a million things to consider with marquees, but Ross and Guy did a marvellous job of knowing what would be needed and adjusting our requests in the weeks before the wedding.

Our original plan was to order rustic tables but after some confusion, we’d ordered normal trestle tables! Fortunately, we were able to order last minute tablecloths from Alexander Hire. The runners were H+M cloths that Toby’s mum adjusted to fit the tables, and the candlesticks were all from charity shops.

We loved organising the table plan. The chalkboard was pre-loved, and we used leftover origami paper to create the colourful strips of paper for the names. Attaching names with craft pegs worked well as it meant last-minute adjustments could easily be made.

The flowers were my favourite part of the day. We chose an explosion of colour and fun arrangements. As a homage to our first wedding day, we asked Tangerine and Green Florist to put their spin on it. The flowers were stunning against the blue bridesmaids’ dresses, and we’re so glad we didn’t go for something subtle. We dried both bouquets from the different years and had them combined into one arrangement by The Secret Garden, so they’ll last for years to come. We both love food and spend a good deal of time cooking or eating, so choosing a caterer was one of the decisions we wanted to get right. We settled on the idea of tagine as it’s a dish we both love and wanted to share with our friends. We envisioned an informal meal with everyone serving themselves.

I try to avoid fast fashion, so it was important to me to be as sustainable as possible. I was unable to find any boutiques that offered dresses to rent but found the website Stillwhite, which allows brides to sell their gowns after the big day. I chose 6758 by Stella York. I knew I wanted a fabulous back and heard of Naomi Skull Sews through a friend. Naomi added all the lace appliqué and panels to give the design a personal twist.

We felt surprisingly chilled on the morning of the wedding. We were already married, so the legal bit was done, and we were just there to celebrate.

I had hoped to find pre-loved bridesmaids’ dresses but unfortunately couldn’t find anything, so we ordered new ones. The girls wore different shades of pastel blue in a wrap style from JJ’s House. They all looked stunning!

We absolutely love dancing. At other weddings, we’re the first on the dancefloor and the last to leave. Having a band who had an infectious energy was very important to us, and we spent a long time trying to find the perfect entertainment. We’re so glad that Sunny Roots were available! Toby hired suits from Moss Bros.

During the summer of 2020, we had a lot of free time, so we used it to come up with Tik Tok-inspired dances. We had joked about using one as our first dance, and we ended up doing it. It was so fun to see all of our friends and family enjoying something different to a traditional slow dance.

For our honeymoon, we stayed in a yurt in Wiltshire for a night and then had a few days in the Cotswolds. We specifically didn’t want to go anywhere exotic as the treat was spending time together as a couple, playing Monopoly, reading and drinking gin. I forgot my veil on the morning of the wedding, and neither of us noticed until the next day! One of our friends had an outfit mishap during the service and miraculously managed to find a dress in a local shop in the village and made it back in time for a cup of tea.

The best part of the day was being able to mingle with people we hadn’t seen due to the pandemic.

HOLLY AND TOBY’S CONTACTS

Ceremony venue, St John’s Church, www.stjohnswoking.org.uk | Reception marquee, Four Seasons Marquees, www.fourseasonsmarquees.co.uk Photographer, Photo Bart, www.photobart.uk | Bride’s dress, Stillwhite, www.stillwhite.com | Dress alterations, Naomi Skull Sews, www.naomiskullsews.co.uk | Jewellery, Essential Jewellers Guildford, www.facebook.com/essentialguildford | Groom’s suit, Moss Bros, www.moss.co.uk | Bridesmaids’ dresses, JJ’s House, www.jjshouse.com | Hair stylist, Harringtons of Guildford, www.harringtonsofguildford.co.uk Make-up artist, Makeup by Jenny Ojo, www.facebook.com/jennyojomua | Flowers, Tangerine and Green Florist, www.tangerineandgreenflorist.co.uk | Flower preservation, The Secret Garden, www.secretgardenguildford.co.uk | Stationery, Printed.com, www.printed.com | Band, Sunny Roots, www.entertainment-nation.co.uk | Catering, Delightful Dining, www.delightfuldining.co.uk | Tablecloths, Alexander Hire, www.alexanderhire.co.uk