Four personal weddings

I have been very fortunate to be present at four very personal weddings in the last five weeks. I have learned how couples should dig deep into their souls and bare them to their closest friends and relations in order to achieve a truly memorable act of union.

First, two previously unmarried 45-50 year olds took over a gorgeous house in Norfolk for the weekend.  Next, the first wedding held here at Hale Park was smaller and more intimate, with a pair of widowers who were ecstatically remarrying. Then to California for separate weddings of two cousins, conveniently held on consecutive Saturdays, in wonderful ex-urban locations. This account is too long for one blog post, so I am splitting into two. Tune in next week for the second part!

Taking personal to emotional

The common ingredient in all these personal, special and (hopefully) one-off events was the attention to detail. The groom in Norfolk is a food photographer and ex-chef, determined that every hour would entertain and ‘wow’ his closest friends. As the best man said in his speech, “if it’s 11am on Saturday it must be Bellinis!”. The bride’s father was unable to speak so he showed huge cards to us which we all read out, with tears of joy. The couple planned and delivered an emotional, personal weekend as a performance, with them as the stars and the guests as supporting cast.

Class & non-convention at Hale Park

Here at Hale Park, the couple planned a conventional civil ceremony followed by a perfect lunch with the table arranged so that they could see everybody. It was a very joyous occasion with a lot of personal music play lists and speeches, to mark a coming together of two families, now bound together by the public commitment of the couple.

Each in their own way threw tradition and colour supplement cliché aside by doing exactly what they wanted, whether it was an old school pub rock band or whole turbot for the wedding breakfast! The message was trust in yourself and invite your very nearest and dearest inside to witness that belief.

Please come back here next week for Part 2!