Oli successfully wooed Emily with his excellent cooking and she realised that if she played her cards right she would never have to cook again.
The dress arrived just days before we left London and I had to bundle it up in my carry-on suitcase and leave it there for our seven days in quarantine, otherwise Toby would have seen it. I spent a lot of time thinking about my poor dress!
When the aisle music began, none of us was quite ready. My bridesmaids and I were still getting in place. I didn’t have time to collect myself, but in the blink of an eye, it was all on and I was basically running down the aisle!
With ten minutes until our anniversary was over, we found ourselves on Île Saint-Louis, and I remember the thought crossing my mind that life isn’t perfect and planned, and that’s what makes it exciting. So, with Maddie sitting on the wall above the Siene, I read her the poem I had written, with the closing lines being “will you marry me”.
After one blissful Christmas together, I cried so much on the plane the woman next to me gave me an entire packet of tissues, instead of just one. Two days later, I quit my job and booked a one-way flight to Auckland.
The concept behind our wedding was driven from within ourselves. We wanted to create a vision for a raw, ethereal romance through a lens that was unique in representation of who we are.
“As I began to plan a wedding I began to curate this vision of a wedding where vintage meets modern glam. I love colour, the fun of disco balls, and eclectic florals, but also wanted to incorporate elements that would stand the test of time.”
When we first started dating, I got very carried away one day saying goodbye and embarrassed myself hugely by saying “see you later, love you”. Maybe this was a sign because since then everything was history.
I am American and he is British, so it was going to be a destination wedding for either his or my family. We decided on selecting somewhere that was “neutral ground” but also that we knew people would be keen to travel to. Italy is just that.
After just a week of hanging out together and cruising around California, I was definitely falling in love.
As I am a singer-songwriter, instead of saying a small speech, after James had said his piece, he then ushered everyone to the dancefloor to listen and dance to a song that I wrote and performed all about how we first met.
Thom’s first impression of me was that he loved my red dress. He placed a small ruby on the inside of my wedding ring as a symbol of the night we met.
