How We Met
Oli The Groom to be: I had just come up to Derby from London to study at university. I needed a job and the first place I went to try my luck was
Schuh. Mills was working behind the counter and as she tells it after I had handed in my CV and had left she insisted to the manager that they give me a job (purely selfish reasons I see know!)
I then spent the next few weeks building up enough courage to talk to her (and apparently staring a lot from a distance.) I finally managed to and after we started talking we clicked, we went on our first date on Mills 18th birthday and have been inseparable ever since. That was 13 years ago!
The Proposal
We had booked to go to Mykonos and I knew that it would be the right time to ask Mills to be my wife. I booked a table at a restaurant in the hills above the old town that over looked the sea and provided unrestricted views of the sunset. I had colluded with the restaurant staff who could barely contain their excitement and were so helpful in getting things right.
As the sun was setting we walked down onto the private terrace where the staff had set up a bench with champagne ready, lovely lights and flowers. I proposed as the sunset and Mills even cried (very rare). We then strolled down to the town and Mills picked out her ring from one of the boutique jewellers.
That day always puts a smile on our faces and I'll always be proud of how I kept it an absolute secret until I saw the priceless look on her face!
The wedding plans/vision/ideas
Our wedding is taking place at
York House in Twickenham. We had never planned for a massive wedding (it will be 70 guests) and we were really keen to keep it very intimate. The location of this particular registry office is lovely and fits in perfectly with our botanical theme as the gardens are lovely in the summer and it backs out onto the Thames.
Our reception continues the intimate nature of the gathering and is at my parents house. My dad has an amazing garden and we have rented a marquee to allow our guests to enjoy all the lovely flowers and plants. The theme like I said is botanical and there will be strong cues to or love of plants from the garden setting to the table displays that will include our favourite plants such as ferns, olive branches and ivy. There will also be a strong theme of light and we have planned to light the garden with fairy lights and lanterns to provide the perfect mood. I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is seeing Mills in her dress.
As we have planned the whole day together it's the only thing that's a secret to me and I cannot wait. Milly is most looking forward to seeing our close friends and family there to celebrate and support our marriage and have fun after all our planning.
Photography
We found Alline Beatrici after looking online at photos of the registry office. One particular set of photos stood out from the rest, they were on another level.
After doing some research we discovered they belonged to
Beatrici Photography and we knew she had to be our photographer! After arranging a meeting in London for a chat about what she was about we knew she was the one.
Her passion for photography and love for life was infectious and made us feel so confident that we had made the right choice. I am not the most comfortable person in front of any camera, but during the shoot she was so relaxed and confident in her style of photography that I pretty much forgot we were on a photo shoot.
Her vision for capturing images is out of this world and the photos she produced speak for themselves. It just felt like 3 friends hanging out, we had so much fun! Mills would say the same and it just galvanised our thoughts that she was the perfect choice.