Mike and Emily have been friends since secondary school where they met through mutual friends. They became engaged after nine years of dating on 4th December 2020 during the peak of the lockdown. “This was the first Christmas in our new house together and Mike wanted to give us a happy end to the year,” Emily tells us. “Because we couldn’t go anywhere, he ordered food from our favourite Thai takeaway which we enjoyed in our pyjamas and matching king and queen dressing gowns and just as we were finishing, Mike presented me with a small ornament with the message ‘when the world stayed apart, together was our favourite place to be’ designed to be hung on our Christmas tree. He then took a ring from his pocket and I burst into happy tears!” SETTING THE SCENE The couple loved the rustic feel of Stanlake Park Wine Estate. “The opportunity to hold our wedding day at a vineyard was appealing to us and it’s only a 20-minute drive from our house making it the perfect location,” Emily tells us. I felt surprisingly relaxed on the day itself and enjoyed getting ready with my bridesmaids and parents at the venue. The nerves eventually kicked in when they told me it was time to walk down the aisle, but as soon as I saw Mike, the nerves disappeared and the excitement kicked in.” They decorated their day with elegant white and rustic-inspired décor. “We took the option of having lights draped through the rafters of the reception room. On reflection, we felt this made a big impact and it looked stunning.” Emily says. “We created a map of the world table plan which highlighted some of the countries that we had visited together over the years because we love to travel, and our table names were based on these. We displayed a couple of photographs of us in that country on each table and we made personalised champagne glasses for each guest filled with sweets as place names which doubled up as favours. I created our floral centrepieces displayed in copper wire baskets decorated with fairylights and placed them on log slices which had a different Disney quote carved around the edge on each one.” 29 REAL WEDDINGS
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