TO FOREVER From a Hinge match to a chic London celebration, Tara and Ryan’s love story is all about great food, great music and effortless style Images courtesy of Pippa Volans Photography These lovebirds met on Hinge! A simple swipe right, and the rest was history. In that split moment, their love story began. What started as casual chats and shared laughs quickly blossomed into something deeper. Ryan proposed on a dog walk with their Labrador Lenny at Gravetye Manor in Sussex, providing a special moment to treasure. SETTING THE SCENE Ryan works in the entertainment industry, so his one criterion for the wedding was a good party with no noise limiter. Tara wanted great food and not a ‘standard’ wedding. It felt only natural when they discovered BÓHA London, which serves incredible steak in the restaurant upstairs and has a basement speakeasy cocktail bar, perfect for hosting receptions. The wedding breakfast consisted of mussels and burrata to start, followed by steak and honey-glazed chicken with chicken-salt fries and salad for the main, and an Irish Lady (a tiramisu-style dessert) to finish. Evening food included chicken and veggie skewers with chips, and dessert was a lemon and elderflower wedding cake made by the bride’s mum. A black-and-white colour scheme added an elegant touch to the day, as the bride wanted everything to contrast. For example, she wore a white dress and kept her blonde hair natural, while the bridesmaids wore black dresses and had brunette hair. All the décor and stationery were DIY and fitted the black-and-white theme, right down to the slippers. LOOKING THE PART The bride wore a gorgeous Jesús Peiró gown, style 200, from Miss Bush in Ripley. She says, “I tried on a lot of dresses and fell in love with two styles. However, I wanted something a bit different from what I’d seen a lot of other brides wear. The second option was a Suzanne Neville strapless dress, which I was going to add a neck scarf to for more impact, but that meant I couldn’t wear a veil. When the neck scarf was removed, it would have just been another strapless dress. The Jesús Peiró style was totally different to anything I’d seen, neckline-wise, and it felt much more like a city wedding.” Ryan wore a tuxedo from Dapper Formalwear, complete with a waistcoat, while the groomsmen coordinated in matching suits without waistcoats. The bridesmaids complemented the look in black oneshoulder belted maxi dresses from Oasis. TIME TO CELEBRATE To keep guests entertained, the couple had live music with a guitarist and singer throughout the drinks reception and meal, followed by a DJ in the evening to keep the celebrations going. The first dance was a special moment for the pair. “I thought I was going to hate it, but it was just the best,” says Tara. “Everyone was singing at the top of their lungs in a circle around us, and it just felt magical.” A right swipe REAL WEDDINGS 23
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