Meeting on a night out in Bath during their University days, Hannah and Ben’s first date was a few weeks later where they chatted for hours about every topic under the sun. “Ben said his dance moves must have attracted me to him,” laughs Hannah. “I think it was his sense of humour and kind nature that I saw, once I got to know him better on our subsequent dates. Talking to him was easy and we quickly became best friends!” Ben says that he loved Hannah’s confidence and how fun she was. “He liked my caring nature, but also my more adventurous side, which he quickly discovered on our dates,” adds Hannah. “He says that he was so keen, he started telling everyone we were together before he’d even asked me properly. Luckily, I felt the same and found it quite funny!” The pandemic affected Ben’s proposal plans; he initially wanted to propose in the winter of 2020 on a trip to Finland to see the Northern Lights but due to the restrictions on travel abroad at the time the whole trip was cancelled. Instead, the couple spent a long weekend at Pennyhill Park in Surrey, “We had a lovely meal in one of the restaurants there and Ben had asked the staff to add some romantic decorations to the room,” recalls Hannah. “He proposed in the room once we returned from dinner, but not before we saw the decorations for another proposal in the grounds of the hotel (which confused me immensely when Ben claimed that they weren’t for us!). It was a surprise for me, which I think was quite important for him, as we had talked about it previously and I suspected that it would come at some point. However, I didn’t realise that he’d been sneaking out of the house to go into town to look at rings and that he’d organised all the extra stuff at the hotel, so it was a really lovely moment on the day!” The big date was then set, 31st July 2022, with Great Fosters, Surrey setting the scene. Here, Hannah tells us more about their special day… DECISIONS, DECISIONS After visiting lots of different venues, arriving at Great Fosters, when they first drove down the long drive of the hotel they had a wow-factor moment. “It was very picturesque, the grounds around it are beautiful,” shares Hannah. “We loved that the whole day could be contained within one area of the hotel, and that this area was away from the other guests, making it feel a bit more private. We could see our wedding in our heads as soon as we walked into the Orangery and Tithe Barn; the Orangery was really bright and open, and we loved the aesthetic of the Barn, particularly the way it contrasted with the modern Orangery to give us the best of both worlds. There was a lovely outside area where the guests could go for the reception in good weather, and behind this, the gardens gave a fantastic setting for photos, with lots of greenery and colourful flowers. The location for us was also great, as we had a lot of family in the Surrey/Berkshire areas, and the abundance of rooms both on-site and in hotels close by were ideal for people who had travelled.” Great Fosters covered all the catering, the couple were able to select their meal and canapé choices beforehand by going for a menu tasting at the hotel. In the evening, they then offered handmade pizzas that were a big hit with the guests. For the finer details of the day, Hannah and Ben opted for mini packets of Love Heart sweets with custom wrapping paper for favours – the pastel colours matched the colour scheme of the day. The tables were named after places in Bath that are important to the couple. “The top table was called The Huntsman, which is the pub that we had our first date in,” explains Hannah. “Ben’s mum made a small watercolour painting of each location to accompany the list of people on each table, which we really appreciated that personal touch.” For the table centrepieces, there were two designs: candles inside glass vases surrounded by a wreath of flowers that matched the pastel colour scheme, and the alternate ones had large displays of the same flowers sitting on silver candelabra. The floral decorations throughout the day were all pastel colours complemented with green foliage. They were largely a mix of ivory, blush and pale blue, matching the colours of the suits and bridesmaids’ dresses. “We also had a flower arch in the ceremony that we then used in the evening for the backdrop of our photo booth,” shares Hannah. The couple’s big-day bake was a four-tier pearlescent-effect design with sugar flowers draped on the top and the bottom to coordinate with the floral REAL WEDDINGS 37
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