Not everyone relishes the idea of being the centre of attention in a ceremony, BUT that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the best, most personal, enjoyable & fun ceremony ever.
When I first met D&D they were in a quandary, they knew & wanted their ceremony to be one of the most important parts of the day, but hated the idea of it all being about them.
So we came up with a plan. I would learn about them & their relationship from the 2 dozen people closest to them – their children, their parents, siblings, & closest friends.
And I learnt, D&D give so much. They support their community, run youth football teams, & are two of the most generous people you will be lucky enough to meet. They also never talk about their own achievements.
So I knew I needed to make the ceremony itself as interactive, disarming & enjoyable as possible so that I could find the right environment for them to listen & enjoy all of what I had found out. Because no matter how much you love your chosen guests, the public nature of a ceremony can be quite a daunting experience.
I very much wanted D especially to feel engaged, distracted in all the right ways & to ultimately love the ceremony – something she was quietly dreading.
Enter, my hat! I’d collected so many anecdotes & memories from their friends which contained hilarity but also a huge amount of open, honest & emotional gratitude for them both which had to be shared. But to straight out tell D this would have been too much.
So I collated information into sections & themes, all of which were pulled out of a hat by a different guest to allocate what I would share & when. Amongst the brilliantly funny responses were also some tear inducing, honest to goodness sentiment. But it was tolerable, because it was framed within the banter they were both so used to.
When D finally surprised D with a rendition of All You Need Is Love by bridesmaids full of gusto more than tonal pitch & a trombonist – I think it is fair to say D was distracted to sheer joy & may have, dare I say it, even enjoyed the ceremony! In these photos Dave’s nod to me is one of my favourite things ever & D’s sheer unadulterated joy makes me beam from ear to ear.
