THE WEDDING CEREMONY

Our wedding ceremony was set in the heart of a quaint little village in Essex called Coggeshall. We had a Church wedding and were lucky to be able to get married at such a beautiful venue because Robin’s mum lives in the village. When you get married in a Church you need to have some sort of connection: be a member of the Church, live in the parish, born in the parish or have a family member that lives there. 

For those of you who don’t know, and just for a little FYI in case you’re looking to get married in a Church, if you’re not getting married in your parish Church, you have to get your banns read at both Churches and receive a certificate before you can legally get married. This was all organised months before the wedding ceremony though, so you do get plenty of time to sort the fine details out.

It’s funny looking back to a year ago when we got engaged as we never really considered a Church wedding. We thought we would find a cool venue that you can get married legally at, however when it came to actually search for venues there was nothing we liked apart from Captains Wood Barn. The barn did offer a blessing ceremony however you had to get married beforehand and we didn’t like the thought of maybe getting legally married on a different day. We are so glad now though that we picked St Peter Ad Vincula in Coggeshall for our wedding ceremony as it was honestly so beautiful.

BEFORE THE WEDDING CEREMONY

I was clueless about what went on before the ceremony until I saw the photos after the wedding. There’s a pub right next to the Church so a lot of our guests met everyone there and had a quick bevy. It was so lovely seeing the photos of our guests arriving and catching up with one another. It’s a shame I missed out on it, that’s one part of the day most brides miss out on. But hey I was on route in my colourful car letting the nerves build up!

Robin and his Ushers also played an important part before the wedding ceremony; I had given them a list of tasks to be done! I’m pretty sure every bride hands over a long to do list to the groomsmen. It was to basically set up the Church before the guests arrive: get the confetti ready, place an order of service on each table, check the florist had set up and confirm everything was ok with the vicar. I’m pleased to say they did their tasks well!

THE WEDDING CEREMONY

You’re probably looking at the detail shots above of the flowers at the wedding ceremony and thinking WOW. I hired The Flower Arranger, who also did my bouquets and flower crowns, to create my vision I had for the Church. I had sent over a few images of ideas that I liked a few months before: a flower arch over the Church door and succulents down the sides of the aisle and I have to say, she did a blooming good job. I remember arriving and getting a little emotional at just how beautiful the flower arch display was!

The wedding ceremony started at 1pm and I actually think I arrived a few minutes late! I didn’t mean to but because there were a lot of cars parked out the front of the Church, it meant the road became slightly too thin for cars to past and we got stuck because of a bus; typical I know. Robin actually commented saying I was about 6 minutes late, woops! It didn’t matter though and when I arrived I was greeted by my brother and the vicar. I sent off one of my Bridesmaids to quickly get the flower girls ready; we had balloons from Bubblegum Balloons for them to hold whilst walking down the aisle and cute little succulent crowns for their hair. I then had a nervous stroll up to the Church and by the time I arrived at the door we were ready for the wedding ceremony to begin.

I remember saying to myself over and over ‘don’t cry, don’t cry’. I felt so sick with nerves but at the same time excited and in shock that I was about to get married. So many emotions came over me, it was crazy! We hired a singer for the Church called Sam Ryder, who is unreal by the way, to sing whilst I walked down the aisle and I remember hearing the song I chose ‘Finally’ by Ce Ce Penniston and being like oh my god this is it! I said good luck to my flower girls and bridesmaids and they were off. They walked down the aisle first as I liked the fact everyone was then able to see me walk down.

It was then my turn… I remember it being difficult to walk comfortably as my brother kept treading on my huge dress, I was so worried I was going to fall! But luckily we managed to get a good rhythm going by the time we reached the top of the aisle. It was quite daunting having everyone staring with an emotional face, but when I could see Robin, I just glued my eyes on him. It sounds cheesy but it was such a beautiful moment I will never forget. Once I’d managed to get to the end of the aisle with only a shed of a tear, I felt such a relief. The nerve wracking bit was over and it was time to become husband and wife.

 The ceremony lasted around 50 minutes and featured two hymns, two readings and two songs sung by Sam. We got Robin’s Dad and Auntie to do the readings and we chose: Corinthians 13:4-13 and A lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton. We felt these were perfect for us, our relationship and the overall wedding ceremony. When we signed the register, Sam sung his version of ‘Ready For Your Love’ by Gorgon City which was absolutely beautiful. He was really refreshed that we picked songs that weren’t your typical wedding ceremony songs. Picking the songs for the Church was one of the hardest things we did actually, as Robin and I don’t really have a song that we both listen to together or anything.

Everything about the wedding ceremony just worked. The hymns, the readings, the songs, it really represented us as a couple and was just so memorable. I even saved a seat for my late Dad and made sure a photograph of him was placed on it. The day we got married was actually the 8 year anniversary of his death, so I wanted to include him somehow, and I had read about people leaving a seat in the ceremony and I thought it was lovely idea. Robin and I both said afterwards that that was our favourite part of the day. I think it’s because that was actually the legal bit and how we became husband and wife – still feels so weird saying that! It was emotional and real and I’m so glad we picked that Church. Once the ceremony was over and we had become husband and wife, we led everyone out of the Church to Sam singing ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Florence.

WE WERE NOW HUSBAND AND WIFE

I love looking at the photographs of Robin and I strolling out of the Church as husband and wife. They make me smile so much as I can remember how happy we both were and how that moment was the start of a new beginning. Originally I wanted to sneak back into the Church, wait for everyone to leave and then come back out again for celebrations and confetti. But instead, Robin and I stood right by the flower arch and thanked our guests for coming. I’m so glad we did that, as it meant I was actually able to greet everyone as I hadn’t said a word to any of my guests at that point! It took a while to kiss and hug everyone as we had over 130 guests, but once we did everyone took a position down the footpath in front of the church ready for the confetti.

We got real dried flowers for our confetti in a beautiful pastel colour to match our theme of the day. It was so much fun walking through everyone having confetti thrown over you. It did go absolutely everywhere, even in the back of my throat at one point! Confetti photos became my favourite shots whilst searching for a wedding photographer, and I’m so happy with ours. So much joy in one photo! After the confetti we had some family photographs and then everyone started to make their way to the wedding reception venue. We hired two buses from Lodge Coaches for transport and it was time to celebrate.

Photographs by Jess Soper

For more wedding posts click here.

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