Real Life Weddings at Fanhams Hall

Pof, such a cliché! Emma sent the first message thinking “he looks a little bit full of himself but what have I got to lose”. Fast forward almost 2 years to October 2018 and Dave popped the question in Cyprus, it was our first evening there so could have been a long week if Emma hadn’t said yes. We genuinely shook hands on a 2020 wedding after agreeing less than a year to organise everything wasn’t enough but that didn’t last long so October 2019 it was – it’s as if fate played a part, a 2020 wedding wouldn’t have gone ahead.

Emma works in the events industry so spent a lot of time in hotels which made it difficult to find somewhere that didn’t remind her of work. We were watching Made in Chelsea one evening and they had used the venue for an art exhibition scene. We enquired and booked a site visit and immediately knew this is where our day was going to take place. We had a small checklist of non-negotiables and Fanhams Hall ticked all the boxes.

We didn’t have a theme, but most of our choices were traditional and when making decisions everything was personal. We incorporated family traditions and small nods to groups of guests throughout the day e.g. the reception started with a Jägerbomb, a tradition when Emma’s family get together.

It was a very simple affair. Emma, the 2 bridesmaids and her mum went to a Wed2B shop and within a couple of hours the decision was made. Accessories were mainly from the traditional ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’. The shoes were blue!

Emma’s memory – dad coming upstairs to see me and blabbing that Dave had already had 8 beers watching the rugby, after Dave promising 3 was the limit. Typical!

Dave’s memory – watching Emma walk down the aisle

We invited our parents and siblings for afternoon tea at Fanhams Hall soon after we’d confirmed the date. It was nice to show them where our day would take place and ask for their opinions about decoration and layout etc.

We had choreographed a short routine for our first dance, we hid in an unused room to rehearse just before the DJ called us in only to realise that some of the guests were outside on the lawn and could see in, mega fail!

For the guests who stayed at the hotel we had small gift bags of ‘essentials’ placed in their rooms during the reception. They had a personal message, paracetamol and breakfast info etc. Everyone loved them.

Go big or go home! We’re not a very materialistic or particularly flamboyant couple, but when you’ve got one day (although as you know we dragged it out a little!) to cram your “dreams” in to, there can be no compromise. Looking back we spent a small fortune but was it worth it....yes, every single penny!

Have it filmed. You get to see what each other got up to in the morning and in all honesty, nearly 2 years and a baby later we can’t mentally remember a lot of it, but the video is a great reminder and there’s some really sweet snippets that would have otherwise gone unseen.

Be selfish. It’s your day, and if you want crab (like Dave did) go for it. It might not be a crowd pleaser but guests can like it or lump it. Similarly, if you want to call it a day at 11pm or scrap the speeches because none of the ‘normal’ candidates want to do it then go ahead.

Imagery courtesy of Kris Karl Photography 
Videography courtesy of White Dress Films