Opposites attract

Posted by Kelly Andrews on 4 January 2023

Chris and Angela met online. "Not very exciting, but I guess it's the modern way of dating," Angela laughs. Perhaps so, but there is nevertheless a funny story behind how they were matched. While Chris was on holiday in Sweden he'd accidentally set his Tinder account to Singapore, where Angela was working as a nurse at the time!

Three months after they started talking, Chris decided to travel to Singapore to meet Angela. "It definitely wasn't love at first sight," she says. "Chris and I are totally different apart from our love of travel. We don't have any common interests at all, but we enjoyed learning a lot from each other. I think that's what excites us, there's never a boring day."

Confetti Angela and Chris would then meet up every three months and during those times travelled around Asia and Europe together, without thinking of anything serious.

Having visited England on one such trip though, Angela unexpectedly fell in love with the place, the culture and the people, and successfully applied for a nursing job in Bath. "Chris and I finally decided to give our love story a try and I moved to England in 2019," she tells us.

Lockdowns brought the pair closer and by the end of 2020 Angela knew Chris was the man for her.

They started to discuss the subject of marriage soon after and decided to make it official.

"There was no grand proposal, no traditional one knee. Chris proposed with a glass of gin and tonic and a ring, which was no less special.

Everyone has a different take on how they want it to be, and I'm truly, genuinely happy," Angela tells us

Staircase

The bride envisioned an intimate, simple and elegant big day, and luckily Chris wanted the same.

They told their friends they wanted their wedding to be a party where everyone could be themselves and have fun while celebrating their love story.

They opted for the registry office to make everything official.

"I didn't want to walk down the aisle with all eyes on me. I wanted our vows and our promises to be between the two of us.

So, we chose a room where there were only two witnesses allowed," Angela shares.

However, since it had been two years since everyone had been permitted a real party, the happy couple wanted to celebrate with their friends and family too.

They viewed only two venues and as soon as they saw the Hotel du Vin, they knew it was the one.

Join us, as Angela tells us more about the couple's wedding-day adventures...

Table setting When it came to the table plan and remaining design aesthetic, Angela wanted to focus on flowers and candles. The reception was set up with one long table to seat their 30 guests, which was adorned in black and white blooms and candles.

Angela's vision was of a chic, intimate, elegant affair and opted for a minimalist black and white palette.

For favours, the couple wanted something guests could use, something that would represent them.

So, they gifted everyone gin in honour of Chris' proposal and Angela's love for the tipple. She found the perfect Glaswegin bottles to suit the monochrome theme and bought tags to label each one.

"The cake was just perfection," Angela remembers. Simple yet elegant, we're told it was also very tasty.

Despite the fact they wouldn't describe themselves as traditional, they thoroughly enjoyed the planning process from cake tasting to choosing wedding rings.

"I think what I loved the most was the food tasting at the Hotel du Vin," the bride remembers.

Cameras To make sure they didn't miss a memory, the couple provided an Instax camera for guest book photos. Guests had fun taking part as did the newlyweds while reading the resulting messages.

Angela knew what she wanted to wear on her big day even before getting engaged.

"I'm 5ft 2in and petite, so I knew I didn't want a princess or big dress.

I also felt that would be too much for a registry office wedding.

" She discovered the perfect outfit online – Gia by Sarah Seven New York, found a UK stockist and ordered it.

But when it arrived three months beforehand it didn't fit.

"I panicked and bought another dress from The White Outlet, also short, and booked to have it altered to make it just perfect.

I brought the original one with me and lo and behold, two months before W-day, it fit me!" Angela tells us.

So, she decided to wear the original for her ceremony and keep the second for the reception.

She finished her outfit with a long veil, about which she'd like to point out: "My wedding took place before the Kardashian's – so I wore it first!"

Grooms suit Chris was a bit last minute choosing his wedding attire and Angela ended up booking him in at Clifton Suits herself just a month before the wedding.

He chose a traditional black and white suit. "It was perfect," says his bride.

Bride's speech The pair decided to have their couple portraits shot before the ceremony, allowing them to join the drinks reception straight after the "I dos." Guests loved the open bar cocktail hour, where they could all mingle and chat before they sat down to the wedding breakfast.

The venue offered three options for each of the three courses, so everyone loved the variety of choice.

As the bride has no family she chose to give her own speech, which went down a treat! Angela says, "I've never attended a party where I felt so happy and relaxed. Chris had a great time, he never thought a wedding could actually be fun!

It showed in all our photos, there was so much laughter."

The newlyweds set off for Athens and Santorini, Greece, on honeymoon and stayed for eight days.

Three days after the wedding, Angela had to sit an exam for her masters course, so they flew out after that. "It was the most stressful week of my life, but I passed," Angela shares.