Samantha & Matthew’s Real Life Wedding

Lily Pearcey | June 25th

A love-filled celebration with sentimental details and breathtaking style, all planned in just one year!

Tell us about the proposal

It happened on Christmas Day. Both my little girls come downstairs with t-shirts on that said, ‘Mummy, will you marry Daddy? Then my partner got on his knees with my engagement ring.

What was your first step in planning your wedding?

The first thing I bought was my wedding ring, as my engagement ring was being resized. My mum bought me a wedding planner book to help me, we went to wedding fayres, and Hitched.com helped me too.

What were your wedding ‘must-haves’?

The venue was the most important for me, I was looking at venues with a bit of character. I’m very old-fashioned. We looked at chateaus in France and Gosfield Hall and viewed a few online before my partner found your beautiful Priory. Before viewing this, we were going to put things on hold for a year, but when we viewed Leez Priory, it was stunning and was everything I’d hoped and dreamed of. I cried when I was calling my sister about it because it was so breathtaking.

The theme was a slight bit of Disney, as I’m crazy for Disney. My must-have was my Dad’s vintage car at the front. This car means a lot to me, we had picnics in it when we were little, every family member has been married with it and my Dad built it from scratch. To have the car there, working or not, was so important. My other must-have was my little three-year-old walking first down the aisle and throwing the flower petals. I love tradition.

How did you organise your wedding budget?

We had an Excel sheet where we put our estimated budget. We tried to break it all down and check everything. Some things we got went under the budget, and others we didn’t, but we tried. Buying bits from Shien to decorate helped.

How did you find your venue and what made you choose it?

We had had a conversation the night before saying let’s hold off because it got a bit much looking and trying to find something to suit, but then my partner received an email and it had Leez Priory in it, when he said it was a venue I would love I didn’t believe him, I didn’t even look online. My partner had already booked a viewing for that night. When I saw the front, I was taken by surprise It was stunning and everything I could have asked for. Then we got to look inside, and every room was perfection, the beams, the character, it was everything I love. Then, when we went outside and saw the Tower, I could picture my wedding under that tower. That made it for me. I wanted to sign it there and then. I called my sister, and as I’m talking to her, I started tearing up. It was perfect. Then we had the canapes, which were amazing. The staff were friendly and helped us go through everything. I wanted my wedding to be different from all my family’s and this venue made it. People still say it’s the best wedding they have ever been to.

How did you personalise your big day?

So, we added a bit of Disney into it, but not too much. I made Disney silhouette figure table numbers, and I bought the frames from Shien. I didn’t want to go too mad with colour as the venue was stunning and I didn’t want anything to outshine it, so I went for white flowers and green foliage. I was set on the blossom trees at the start of the aisle as I had seen these at a wedding venue and thought they were stunning. The violinist we had was amazing, and I remember making a line to her when we saw her at a wedding show; she was playing Beauty and the Beast, and we booked her straight away.

Did the venue provide any memorable extras or nice personal touches that stood out?

Leanne was amazing she helped me every step (when my veil came off, she was there to catch it), when I was nervous to go and ask the band if I could sing a song, she came with me, she made me feel like she was a friend I had for years and just had my back.

Describe your wedding attire and favourite accessories

I was set on a dress that the skirt could come off, so I went to the bridal shop in Romford as I saw one online (my mum and sisters bought their wedding dresses from this shop too). I tried on a few, then tried this one on, but it didn’t suit me, then the lady said we have another dress where the skirt comes off, and it’s called Olivia. My daughter is called Olivia, but we thought that it’s probably no good. Anyway, I tried it on and it was perfect, everything I wanted, and I cried again. I asked to add an off-the-shoulder strap as I’m not very comfortable with no straps. I had a diamanté belt to make the dress different for the evening, when the skirt is taken off. I told my sister to find the longest veil in the shop, and they got a cathedral veil with slight diamanté detail. We bought that straight away as it takes a while to be made. I knew I wanted a tiara, so I bought that online. My partner bought me a Swarovski necklace for Christmas, so I wore that on the day, and my mum bought me earrings.

What did your partner wear?

My partner chose his own suit; he went to Boss in Lakeside. It was navy with a slight tartan pattern. He looked very smart. I had to choose the ties, which was hard as originally, I wanted them to match the bridesmaids, but this was not possible, so we went for a near ivory colour.

Tell us about your wedding party and their outfits

I had my two daughters, Olivia and Ruby, my partner’s niece and nephews, Zac, Josh and Mela. I had my two sisters, Louise as maid of honour, Amy, and my sister’s friend whom I’ve known since I was seven (she’s like a sister to me), my two nieces, Lily and Alana, and my nephew Tommy.

My partner had two best men, Reg and Rick. His groomsman were, Connor (his cousin), Dan (his brother), Dave and Luke (my twin brother) and Phil as our ushers.

I asked my bridesmaids and the kids by giving them a gift box full of bits, and on the lid, it said, ‘Will you be my bridesmaid?’. For my bridesmaids, I got their dresses straight after we booked the venue, even before my dress. They were very similar to my engagement party dress. They were off-the-shoulder, pink champagne dresses, which I managed to get them all in the sale. All the boys wore the same suits as my partner. The little girls wore ivory dresses with a floral pattern, which I bought from Amazon, and I was set on little bow gloves for them. I bought the little girl’s diamanté belts to tie in with the belt on my wedding dress.

What was your ceremony like?

Beautiful. The violinist played the Harry Potter theme tune whilst guests took their seats, which is my favourite film. The two white blossom trees were at the start of the aisle just like I wanted. I had the woven sashes on the chairs which set the tone nicely, with an ivory runner leading up to the Tower. I came downstairs, and I saw my dad and twin brother. My dad had to cuddle me to stop me crying.

Leanne then got us all in line. I originally wanted to make my brother a part of my day in some way; therefore, he had witnessed the signing. I’m not sure if it was Leanne or my sister who grabbed my brother to start as the first person to walk down the aisle. This meant so much to me, to see the photos and videos and see him walk first made my day. He was then followed by my sister and my niece, and Ruby, throwing flower petals, and they did an amazing job for being three years old. Then my sister and friend walked along with my daughter, Olivia and Josh. After that, it was Lily and Zac, then it was my turn.

The violinist was playing ‘Moon River’ from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I chose this as the first gift Matt ever gave me was a Tiffany bracelet. My Dad took my arm in his and told me not to worry, to pull myself together. I remember as I was walking, I was about to cry, then my veil flew off and I just remember laughing, and my Dad trying to shield me from everyone seeing as I was walking nearer to the aisle. This added a little comedy as nothing goes to plan, and had that not happened, I would have had tears down my face. I just kept trying to concentrate on trying not to cry, and then I made it to the front and Matt looked at me and he said, ‘You ok?’, and all of a sudden I was calm.

I was nervous in case I mucked my lines up, but Matt went first, and he said to me I’d be fine, and I was, he mucked his up haha. It then came to the rings, and we had a surprise for our guests as the rings were placed under two people’s seats at random, picked by Leanne. Everyone had to stand up and check under their seats for the rings (this took the pressure off us for a bit and made it comical). Even though the seats were picked at random, they actually ended up under two people, one called Dave, and the other person was called Dave too. I also got married with my Nan’s ring, which I wore on the day. This is a tradition for us as it’s still like she’s with us on the day.

I still had my wedding band blessed. My brother and Matt’s brother were our witnesses. Then they told Matt to kiss me, which was awkward as we don’t kiss in front of people. We walked back down the aisle to ‘Sign, Sealed, Delivered’ by Stevie Wonder, which the violinist played. And then told to do a dip kiss at the end, which I thought the photo looked stunning, and Matt didn’t drop me, thank God.

Tell us about your drinks reception and wedding breakfast

Our welcome drinks were Pimms and Mojitos. I wanted something refreshing. We had a magician, this guy was amazing, and people still, to this day, talk about him and say how amazed they were and still can’t work out how he did his tricks. The room for the wedding breakfast was amazing, we got to view it before everyone else, and the venue amazed me. The flowers were beautiful, I bought glass baubles with plastic candles for the trees, and the venue put them all on. The gold which the venue provided just set the whole room. Then we went back to the Priory whilst everyone else got seated. Our magician introduced us to the room with everyone waving their napkins in the air. We then sat down, and he did a magic trick with a Rubik’s cube. He asked me to shuffle it until he said stop, then I handed it back to him and every side of the cube matched on what he had done earlier.

We then had our yummy starters, which were scallops; they were stunning. After the starters, we wanted to break the speeches up, and Matt wanted to relax knowing his speech was out the way. He thanked everyone and we gave my Mum my bouquet rather than throwing it as we were putting it in resin, so she will always have it. Then we had our mains, which was beef Wellington, this is a dish me and Matt always have and love.

Then the magician came back to introduce the next lot of speeches. He was about to introduce my Dad (my Dad had no speech; it was off the cuff, which, if you knew him, is not a good idea haha). My Mum took the mic before Dad got it and said to everyone, I want to apologise for what he is about to say as he has not prepared anything. Then it was my Dad’s turn, she was one hundred percent right to do that as it started great saying how beautiful I was but then he spoke about seeds and had he known he could produce seeds like me he would have sold me on eBay (to this I had my hand over my face, everyone was in laughter). Then he said how a bar of soap did alright on the bridesmaids, to which my sister said I’m your seed dad and he said ‘Yes, that was an off night’. Every single person was laughing to the point they were crying.

He then spoke how me and Matt picked and planned every bit of our wedding with no help from either parents or family, which for me was a big deal because I saw how stressful planning a wedding was for my Mum and Dad so I said from the start I didn’t want to ask anyone for help. I wanted to make things as less stressful for everyone else as I could, which is also why it was important to have a venue where everybody could sleep, so no one was worrying about taxis or going home. We worked very hard in not putting the pressure on anyone else and making things as easy as possible for everyone, so for him to mention it and to notice it meant a lot.

Did you have a band or DJ for your evening reception? Did you have a first dance – what song did you choose?

We had a Disney castle cake, which we used for the cake cutting. We had an amazing six-piece band, which I found on a site called Encore. They were amazing, they sung ‘Tale As Old As Time’ for our first dance, which we had outside where we hired black and white flooring to dance on. The first dance was the one thing I wish we had prepared for, as we didn’t, so it felt very awkward. The band was amazing, they were so lovely and very talented; they came onto the dance floor to dance and sing too. We got to choose every song we wanted them to play. They were set up in the Carriageway, it was just a perfect setting.

Based on your own experience, give us some top tips:

You can try and keep to the budget as much as you can but there’s always extras popping up, so I’d say expect about an extra £5,000 on top of your budget. The planning became very stressful for me, but I was trying to take charge of everything, so if people are willing to help, let them or take a break and step back as it becomes overwhelming. No matter what planning you do, the day is perfect anyway, it’s only you who notices the small details or the things you wish or should’ve had. The guests are there to have a good time and celebrate you, so remember this in your planning. Remember, it is your day, not anyone else’s.

Did you go on a honeymoon or mini-moon?

We are still yet to go away as we have gone straight back into saving for a house, but hopefully this year we can.

“If we could do it all again, we’d…”

Try not to spend so much on the small details. I would have liked two years to plan, spread the costs out, but still amazed that we did it all in a year.