Your East Anglian Wedding - Feb/Mar 2020 (Issue 41)

The bouquets were natural looking with white roses, asparagus fern and other grassy type plants. Oxnead Hall was the first of five venues we intended to visit, but as soon as we saw it we knew it was perfect for our wedding so we booked it there and then. We had an opera singer perform from the balcony as our guests sat down for the wedding breakfast. She sang classics as well as some more modern requests and it set the scene perfectly. We wanted to wear something a little different so we went for fitted tuxedos with scoop waistcoats and white shirts and Shane had a peacock feather bow tie. A ndrew and Shane first caught each others eye on the dancefloor of a local nightclub in Norwich. Shane bought Andrew a drink and the spark was lit. “During the first few months getting to know Shane it was like I’d finally found my soulmate, that person that just gets you,” says Andrew. They were together for two-and-a-half years before Shane popped the question at their first joint pre-Christmas family get-together. True to his charismatic nature, it was no ordinary affair! Andrew’s mum distracted him upstairs while all the relatives gathered in the garden. He was then led outside to discover them all waiting, complete with twinkling candles and fairylights and an acoustic guitarist playing Secret Love Song by Little Mix. His friends then started to arrive, two at a time through the garage door leading into the garden, all holding light bottles, white roses (the couple’s favourite flowers) and personal message scrolls. They were followed by Andrew’s mum and dad, who joined the procession together and had a scroll to read out too. “At this point everyone was in tears and I still wasn’t sure what was happening,” Andrew recalls. Until, that is, Shane made his appearance dressed in a white tuxedo and got down on one knee. “I said ‘yes’ of course, everyone cheered, fireworks were set off, the guitarist struck up and the party continued through the night. It was the most magical proposal ever and I loved every moment!” adds Andrew. Read on for his account of their big day... 44