Real Life Weddings at South Lodge

Hear from Heather and Kirsty and find out what made their day extra special...

How did you both meet and how did the proposal occur?

We met 13 years ago when we started playing for the same football team. We were friends for a year before we started dating and finally got together.

The proposal was a complete surprise. It was meant to happen at an Adele concert in 2017 which Kirsty had arranged as a surprise but the concert got cancelled very last minute. We were booked into a hotel for the weekend so we went for dinner instead and when we got back to the hotel room, Kirsty surprised Heather with a proposal.

What did you love most about South Lodge?

The setting/views and how exceptionally dog friendly they are. The staff were so welcoming from the start. We looked at South Lodge first then viewed 15 other venues. South Lodge had just set the bar too high and no other venues came close. One of the main things for us was how welcomed we felt regardless of the fact this would be a Rainbow wedding, some venues just palmed us off with a leaflet when they realised we were marrying each other, not South Lodge, they were amazing from the start.

Did you have a theme or particular style for your day?

Our colour theme was Kirsty's mum's birthstone colour. We chose this because Kirsty's parents had passed away so they wouldn’t be with us on the day therefore we wanted to have something to acknowledge Kirsty's mum.

We also wanted to have subtle hints of rainbows throughout the day to embrace the fact this was a gay wedding but didn’t want to overshadow our colour theme so we found little ways to include this such as rainbow hand fans on our guests tables.

Given the fact our wedding was taking place with some COVID restrictions still in place, rather than looking at any negatives, we made the most of things for example, we were not allowed to dance or have a dance floor but so many of our guests said it was actually better without a DJ because everyone chatted to many people across both families and everyone really took the time to talk to and get to know one another.

We also gave all guests personalised hand sanitizers and changed our ceremony to be outside so none of our guests had to wear masks.

Tell us all about THE dress…..

We chose our dresses together. Nobody else saw them before the wedding, we kept them as a complete surprise for our guests. The shop we went to were amazing, made us feel as welcome as South Lodge did. The dresses were different but really complemented each other.

What do you remember most about the day?

Saying our vows with no hesitation, nerves or mistakes and seeing all our close family and friends with as big smile on their faces as we did.

Were there any special moments or surprises?

We had a technical hiccup with our first dance, twice, which initially threw us off but third time lucky, it actually worked out really well and we unintentionally changed our dance for the better which our guests loved.

Again, due to the restrictions, we couldn’t have a dancefloor or dancing but it turned out for the better for many of our guests as the two families mixed and chatted to each other and it meant the babies stayed with us for longer as it wasn’t too loud for them.

What tips or advice would you give to future couples?

It absolutely is all about you so choose and plan everything with you at the centre of it. It will be the biggest and best day of your life so make it what you want. Try not to worry about saying your vows, the registrars are fab and will talk you through everything – when you are up there with the love of your life making those promises, you zone out and you actually switch off to what everyone else is doing because that is your moment. Once you have got your vows done, the speeches and first dance are a walk in the park compared - still emotional but no nerves.

Images courtesy of Jason Williams Photography