Lauren and Alberto met through mutual friends in 2014. “Alberto had recently moved to the UK from Buenos Aires, and he showed up at my shared house to meet up with one of his friends,” says Lauren. “He turned up with a carton of chocolate milk and some chocolate brioche. Needless to say, it was a good start! Alberto has the biggest smile, the kindest eyes, and rock-and-roll hair. He is so friendly and easygoing, and I was attracted to him immediately.” Alberto proposed in 2019 during a holiday to Mexico. “He took me for a long walk along the beach,” shares the bride. “I don’t think he knew exactly where we were going. We were walking for quite some time until we reached a beautiful point overlooking the ocean. He then got down on one knee and popped the question, which was a complete surprise!” SETTING THE SCENE “We chose the Atrium at Wigan Town Hall as our ceremony venue for a few reasons,” explains Lauren. “I was born in Wigan, so there was a nice link there, and we live within the borough. The Atrium is a lovely space full of original features, and it fit our budget, which was relatively small as far as weddings go. We chose the Ballroom at Stretford Public Hall as our reception venue. We had been to an exhibition there, when we first moved back up to the North West, and we really loved the property! It’s a fantastic community space and also a charity, so it was great to support them as part of our day. “The Atrium didn’t need much decorating, which was great,” adds the bride. “As far as rooms for civil ceremonies go, it already had what we wanted. We did, however, arrive and leave in style. My dad arranged all of the transport. He is a bit of a classic car enthusiast, which came in very handy on the day. Alberto and his best men came in a Rolls Royce driven by one of his friends, and I was picked up in a classic 1960’s white Mini, which was absolutely incredible. Little did I know my dad had actually purchased the Mini some months before and had been doing it up ready for the big day. It was a complete surprise, and I will be forever grateful to him. It was literally the car that I would have chosen had I been the one to choose. His friend was my fantastic chauffeur, and it was so much fun to ride in! He also arranged a vintage London bus from Routemaster 4 Hire to transport our guests from the ceremony to the reception. Alberto and I met in London, and my greatgrandfather used to drive the buses around the capital back in the day, so there was a lovely link there.” The couple chose wild blooms in greens, corals, apricots, and yellows for their flowers from Northern Flower. “Everything looked and smelt incredible,” recalls Lauren. “We chose buttonholes, bouquets and a tiny ribbon for our daughter to wear. “I come from a creative background, so sourcing what we wanted for the decorations was a matter of scouring charity shops and car boot sales for vases, up-cycling and dyeing fabrics to fit our colour scheme and roping in our amazing friends to tie metres of colourful bunting,” continues the bride. “The venue was ours to transform, so we divided the space into two areas. We had a dining area with banquet-style tables for the reception, and a party area which was more colourful with a fiesta theme. Our close friends and family helped us decorate the venue the evening before, making reams of bunting, climbing ladders to string lights, rolling out table runners, and arranging flowers into vases. We literally could not have done it without their help.” It was important for the happy couple to incorporate their personalities, backgrounds and interests into their day. “We tried to put as much of us into the décor as we could,” reveals Lauren. “Our favours were Argentinian alfajores (a traditional chocolate biscuit) and wildflower seed bombs. We also chose to use Argentinian dulce de leche as the main flavour for our wedding cake, which was beautifully made by my brother’s partner, who has her own small baking business called Mêl by Lois. She decorated it with blooms from my bridal REAL WEDDINGS 29
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