Carla and Paul: The one for me

Posted by Melissa Cullen on 20 March 2023

Carla and Paul met in 2016 at a Manchester City vs Aston Villa football game. "We vaguely knew of each other as we are from the same area but had never spoken," says Carla.

"We started talking as the day went on and hit it off. The next day Paul asked me out on a date which we went on a couple of weeks later.

By the lake Paul popped the question at the couple's wedding venue, Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort. "We were getting ready for dinner when all of a sudden Paul was down on one knee asking me to marry him," shares the bride. "It was a complete surprise! We had dinner and champagne and were on cloud nine."

Here she shares some of her favourite moments from their big day...

Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort holds a special place in our heart as that's where we got engaged. We viewed other venues, but I think deep down we both knew it was always going to be Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort.

It had fantastic views, a lake, woods at the back of the grounds, lovely rooms for our guests to stay over, and amazing food. Ever y member of staff that we encountered were fantastic and couldn't do enough for us.

Our place names doubled up as favours that our guests could take home.

The tables were named after Manchester City players.

The table names were made by Invite and Light, and the place names were from Laser Made Occasions.

We had large light-up letters at the side of the room, which made a great photo opportunity. We also had a light-up dancefloor from Creative Venue Stylist.

For our centrepieces, we chose white flowers from The Flower Girls, Whalley, and floating candles.

Cake The cake was four tiers, and made up of lemon drizzle, Bakewell tart and vanilla. We went for a classic shape with a touch of glam.

We had spent time with Laura from Sugar Fancies designing it, and when we saw it on the day, it was exactly how we had imagined it.

Bride I wore an Essense of Australia gown from Ava Rose Hamilton, which I loved because of the sparkle and fit. It had beautiful detail at the back as well as a long train. I wore a pair of Sophia Webster shoes and accessorised with a sparkly hair accessory.

My maid-of-honour bought me a Gucci bracelet and my mum gave me a necklace as mine had broken the day before. I finished the look with a diamond tennis bracelet, which Paul had gifted me on the morning of the wedding.

Paul wore a black Hugo Boss three-piece suit with a charcoal tie and white pocket square. He finished the outfit with Hugo Boss shoes and a watch, which I bought him as a wedding present.

My maid-of-honour wore a black floor-length Lipsy London dress with black shoes. The two flowergirls opted for ivory dresses from Next with sparkly shoes.

Paul is a lifelong Manchester City fan and the final game of the season was on our wedding day. They had to win this game to secure the premiership title otherwise their rivals Liverpool would have taken the trophy.

The game kicked off just as we were sitting down for the wedding breakfast, there were groans aplenty as Man City were losing with 20 minutes to go. Somehow, they scored three goals in the next five minutes to win and lift the trophy! The room erupted, and there were hugs, cheering and city flags waving.

The surprise singer I had booked called Andy Otley Music, then came out and started signing blue moon, which was just electric.

We had an acoustic duo called The Distance, who played during the ceremony and drinks reception. They were fantastic and learnt songs that we requested for our day.

We also had Gillan Edgar Music play our first dance.

We had a photo booth from Picture Blast, which was a real hit. Our guests got to take a copy of the photos home and we also had copies stuck in our guest book. We loved looking back on these and having a giggle.

Our four-year-old son broke his arm on the Friday night and had to have surgery on the Saturday. Thankfully he was well enough to attend the wedding on the Sunday, albeit in plaster from his shoulder to his wrist!

We were both so emotional but also excited as we had been looking forward to celebrating the day with family and friends for so long. Everything was perfect for us, and we couldn't have wished for a better day.

Claire, our photographer from The Fromm Shoppe, was fantastic at getting everybody where they needed to be!

She captured the most amazing shots, and these are something that we absolutely cherish.

Everybody felt comfortable around her, and she became part of the wedding party joining in with the fun and giggles from morning to night.

Honeymoon We haven't had our honeymoon yet but are planning to have a family holiday with our boys soon.