Real Life Wedding at Fanhams Hall

We met on the first day of university, but our relationship didn’t blossom until 2 years later where friendship became romance. We were on holiday in Los Angeles with Joe’s family and Joe convinced me to go on a hike (for the second day in a row I may add) very early in the morning. All I wanted to do was sleep but I caved and went with him to Runyon Canyon. After an interesting Uber journey with the driver’s dog and a hike to the top of the canyon Joe got down on one knee and proposed. We walked back to and met his parents with the most exciting news and had a beautiful breakfast!

Fanhams Hall has the most wonderful gardens and the most helpful staff! A family member fell ill the day of the wedding and the wedding coordinator handled the situation effortlessly, informing us every step of the way. We were and are so grateful for this.

The venue is beautiful with plenty of grounds for guests to explore but also rooms for them to rest their heads. Plus, we didn’t realise until after we booked that there was a karaoke room there! Our friends and family love Karaoke so we had an exciting Friday night before the wedding to kick the festivities off!

We wanted to replicate the colours of a beautiful sunset with the relaxed timelessness of an English country garden. I think our florist did this fantastically. We did lots of printing ourselves to keep the stationary within the same theme and colours, and even used rose gold tiles as place settings! We had touches of my Caribbean heritage throughout the day from the amazing evening food buffet to the limbo and conga line party at the end of the day.

I bought my dress from David’s Bridal and I never thought I would pick something like it. I knew I wanted something mermaid in style, but in the end it was more relaxed and trumpet in shape. I thought I wanted satin, like my bridesmaids… but it had plenty of lace and beading. I didn’t think I would have a veil, and I ended up with a cathedral length veil. You never know what you want until you try it on! In the end I think it really suited the style of the day and I loved it!

I remember the feeling more than a moment, simply being surrounded by loved ones having the best time! All I could say all day is “I am so happy!”.

We were able to have the Caribbean food in the evening buffet which is so important to my culture and family. We had a cut-out of our cat @itsdustybsh, that Joe brought out during his speech, as everyone knows how obsessed we are with him and he was a hit in the photo booth! We also had a karaoke party on the Friday night with our friends and family before the big day with lots of pizza to go round! Joe wrote personalised table names with descriptions about why we chose the places, this kept guests entertained and laughing all through the wedding breakfast.

We had many family members who couldn’t be with us on our special day so we made sure to mention them somehow; whether that was through speeches, through the music we chose throughout the day played by the pianist or whilst I was getting ready or a brooch I had created to pin to my bouquet with a photo of my mother.

Relax into it. You are surrounded by experts who do this for a living so take their advice. We booked everything very early on, so when the pandemic put everything on hold, we really didn’t have much to stress about. We unfortunately lost some suppliers but with good advice and suggestions we were able to find brilliant people.

- Photographer Zoe Cooper
- Videographer @paulangelweddingsfilms
- Flowers and styling @sianryandesign
- Cake @dessbasement
- Photobooth @booth_nineteen
- DJ Chris Anthony 
- Make-up @Malkia Roberts
- The dress @davidsbridaluk
- Bridesmaid dresses @chichiclothing
- Flower girl dress @johnlewis
- Suits @mossbros