Hello all! Today, I have a lovely real wedding for you, photographed by the wonderful Andrew Dobell
Tania, a makeup artist, and Andrew, a firefighter, originally met at college when Tania was 17 and Andrew was 16. They dated for around 8 months, before going their separate ways. In 2002, they got back in contact via Friends Reunited, and they arranged for Tania to pop down to see Andrew when he was playing volleyball near her house- and the rest, as they say, is history!
Andrew proposed on New Year’s Eve 2008, when the pair were watching Jools Holland and drinking champagne! He presented Tania with a huge marquise diamond ring, so naturally she said yes!
They decided to get married in July 2010, and Andrew managed to get a copy of his shift pattern for that year so they could set a date. Planning the wedding this far in advance also meant that friends in other fire brigades had plenty of time to book their leave. The couple knew that they didn’t want a religious service, and that they would like a venue where they could hold both their ceremony and reception, within their local area. Tania came across Wotton House, and found that they could marry outside in the grounds. They went to visit Wotton House in March 2009, and immediately fell in love. The venue was very accommodating, even agreeing for the couple’s dogs, Ash and Skye, to be present for the service.
Tania found her ‘Caprice’ by Maggie Sottero dress in From This Moment in Ewell, and paired it with shoes by Rainbow Couture. Tania, being a makeup artist, did her own makeup, and her hair was done by Ruby True. Having worked with Ruby on photoshoots, Tania knew how good she was, so there was no contest for who would be doing her hair on her big day! Tania made her and her bridesmaids’ hair accessories, as she couldn’t find what she wanted.
Bridesmaids Laura and Jaqui wore the ‘Vicki’ dress in black by Ebony Rose, while their shoes were from Pink at Paradox and Dolcis at Barratts respectively.
Andrew, best man Mark and usher Dave are all firefighters, so all wore their dress uniforms. (Lucky Tania!). Dave was sporting a broken wrist under his uniform, having gone over the handlebars of his mountain bike on the week of the wedding!
On the day, Andrew’s friend Chris stood outside the walled garden with the couple’s dog Ash, who was to be their ringbearer. As had been practised, Dave the usher went out to put the ring box in Ash’s mouth. However, Ash didn’t recognise Dave with his fireman’s cap on, and refused to take the ring box from him! Luckily, he was happy to take the box from Chris. When Andrew blew his whistle, Ash ran past Dave and dropped the box, before charging in to see his dad, leaving Dave to follow behind with the box (in his mouth… let’s hope he wiped it first!). Andrew did manage to get Ash to pass the ring box over to the registrar, which she thought was absolutely adorable!
Following the ceremony, guests were served a barbecue, complete with picnic blankets dotted around for them to sit on! The couples’ cake was a small cake and lots of lovely pink cupcakes, made by Cartlodge Cakes
The couple gave out Welsh Love Spoons as favours- all made by Tania’s clever dad, who is an ornamental blacksmith! (He also happens to be Welsh, hence the choice of gift). Tania attached a tag to each spoon to tell the recipient what the gift was, and its significance- she also had this information translated into Welsh on the reverse of the cards.
During the speeches, the couple gave the bridesmaids each a metal rose, which was handmade by Tania’s cousin Rhiannon and her dad (who is Tania’s dad’s brother, and also an ornamental blacksmith!). Rhiannon and her dad brought the roses all the way over from the USA in their luggage!
The couple’s first dance as husband and wife was to ‘Endless Love’ by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie- it was ‘their song’ when they first met!
Supplier List:
Venue- Wotton House near Dorking, Surrey
Photography- Andrew Dobell
Hair- Ruby True
Makeup- DIY
Dress- Maggie Sottero from From This Moment in Ewell
Bride’s Shoes- Rainbow Couture
Hair Accessories- DIY
Bridesmaids’ Dresses- Ebony Rose
Bridesmaids’ Shoes- Pink at Paradox and Dolcis at Barratts
Menswear- Dress uniforms
Flowers & Chair Covers- Lisa’s Florist
Venue Dressing- First Class Events
Cake- Cartlodge Cakes
Favours- Tania’s dad
Bridesmaids’ gifts- Tania’s cousin & uncle
I hope you’ve all enjoyed my first ‘Real Wedding’ post- as always, I’d love to hear your feedback, and if you have anything you think will interest me, feel free to contact me at theazwedding {at} gmail {dot} com
Mrs AZ xxx
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The AZ Wedding 