SUMMER rain Speeches, toasts, cocktails and love is what made Clare and Jess’s day so special Images courtesy of Roshni Photography Many of us were grateful for the short gap between Covid lockdowns, when we could finally leave the house and socialise but Clare and Jess were even more so as this was their chance to meet. They got talking through dating app Hinge and arranged their first date at a gin bar in Walthamstow where Jess lives. Here they both tell us more… “We met at 8pm, but because of Covid the bar shut at 9pm. In the first hour we’d made an immediate connection and neither of us wanted it to end, so we walked around under Clare’s tiny umbrella in the summer rain drinking gin out of takeaway coffee cups!” says Jess. “Clare’s ability to see through all the noise in life to the important things attracted me to her. She’s beautiful and she took my breath away.” Clare adds, “I just loved Jess’s company straight away, she’s so interesting and smart, but also soulful and thoughtful. I loved that combination. I remember thinking she was really hot when I walked into the bar too!” The duo knew they wanted to get married pretty fast and ended up living together because of the pandemic after two months of dating. “Clare booked a mini break at Mallinson’s Treehouse in Dorset. We went the day before Clare’s birthday which really threw me off thinking it could be a proposal,” says Jess. “On arrival we went to use our treetop sauna and hot tub and whilst Jess was in the hot tub, I went inside and got three cards of poetry that I’d had hand-printed from a print press in LA,” Clare says. “I made a treasure hunt around the treehouse and told Jess to find each poem, searching in a specific order as the last card had ‘Will you marry me?’ on it,” she says. When Jess found the card, Clare got down on one knee and proposed. “Jess was very emotional and said yes! We then had more champagne in the hot tub and gazed up at the trees above us,” says Clare. 43 REAL WEDDINGS
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