Gemma and Phil were clients of ours who unfortunately got caught in the first wave of lockdown. They were absolute troopers though and it was such a treat to finally take their pictures. Gemma talks about the highs and lows of her experience below!
Wedding Location: Beverley
How did you meet?
We met in the hallway of his house where I asked him if I looked like a girl he used to fancy! (According to his friends I did, so I thought I'd ask him!). Only took him 3 years to ask me out though!
How did he propose!?
Our proposal story is much more romantic... We were away with friends in Italy, visiting Venice and Lake Garda. We hired a speedboat in Lake Garda and he got down on one knee in the boat! Our friends used their drone to film it for us, it was so special! I am extremely glad he didn't drop my ring in the lake too... Although he was so nervous of doing that, he completely forgot to ask me the big question so I had to ask him what he wanted to say!
When were you originally supposed to get married, and did your date change?
10 April 2020 - Original wedding date with the big plans etc 21 March 2020 - We decided to pull the wedding forward in view of the pandemic getting worse. Sadly it was cancelled the evening before so we never married before lockdown part 1. :( 12 August 2020 - Our actual wedding date!
Tell us a little bit about what you initially imagined your wedding day to be like:
The big church wedding, walking down the aisle with my Dad, flowers, bridesmaids, big cake, dancing - the full works! I had decided to decorate the venue myself and had purchased everything I needed - travel/rustic theme. All the tables were going to be places we'd been on holiday together with lots of photos of us and friends etc. I still have all the decorations etc as I don't know whether to keep or sell some.
How did the covid restrictions change that? How did you feel initially about the changes?
Well from March it was a waiting game through Summer for registry offices to finally open up. They finally did and we had to put notice in again. Sadly only 2 people could attend so my Dad wasn't able to walk me down the aisle but both of our mum's were there with their masks on! We couldn't have a reception so we had small outside gatherings - one with my family, one with friends and then one Phil's family.
Having all the upset/changes made both Phil & I realised that the most important thing was us getting married. So as long as we could do that we didn't mind!
Were their any moments in particular that were particularly emotional or stressful? How did you overcome those periods?
I was distraught as we tried our hardest to get married in March when we knew the virus was spreading so quickly. Then having a wedding cancelled the night before was pretty heart breaking. We just kept our hopes up that lockdown would soon end and were determined to just get married no matter what.
On the big day itself, how were you feeling?
Nervous! Just waiting for something to go wrong or for Boris to stop weddings again! I felt so relieved when we had signed the papers.
In the end, what was your day like?
A registry office wedding with just us two, two mums and two registrars. Our family came and took photos of us just outside the registry office. We then had an AMAZING photographer (that's you) come to the Westwood in Beverley (a large green park area) and take some beautiful photos of us and of our family and friends who turned up to see us.
Coffee and cutting of the cake in my parents back garden before they all went back to work (we got married at 9:30 on a Wednesday morning!) A little party with friends on the Westwood with some cake, games and drinks. The a Buffet dinner at Phil's Grandad's with some of his family. We got to see the most important people in our lives and spend time with them, it was lovely.
If you could give any advice to your past, wedding planning self, what would it be?
Chill out. All that work and you didn't even use any of it! Just get married without the frills!
If you could give any advice to couples currently in the same position, what would it be?
It's only one day. Getting married and starting your lives together is the most important thing. The benefit of having a small number of guests is that you can invite the people you care about the most - the ones that you usually don't have time to chat to on a normal busy wedding day when you're trying to work the room and talk to distant relatives you never see.
Also, use Ellie Harris (Botanics Florist) for flowers - she is the best! Megan at Crumbs did us lovely cookies too with our names on, they were so tasty and we even took them away to the Lake District on our honeymoon. Also get Beanie to do your photos - she's not half bad! ;)
(not a plug she actually said this guys so i’m leaving it in! hehe)
Scroll to see some of Gemma & Phil's photos...
