Despite numerous opportunities for our paths to have crossed in person (that we later discovered), Ben & I finally met on Tinder in May 2014. After 8 months of dating we moved in together in Cardiff. In November 2016 Ben & I were in London for my birthday (I’d just been wedding dress shopping with my best friend who I was due to be bridesmaid for the following August – 11 times a bridesmaid…). We had a quick drink in a bar in Angel to celebrate her saying ‘yes to the dress’ – Ben was a bit of spare part with all us women! We left everyone and went to find somewhere to have a quiet drink just the two of us. We managed to find the Fox on the Green, I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was quiet but it was right up our street. I went to order a few drinks and Ben gave me a handful of change to pay – when I looked down I realised I was holding a diamond ring! I was speechless and getting glared at by the barmaid for dilly-dallying so I rushed to pay and we found somewhere to stand away from the bar where I promptly asked repeatedly, ‘are you joking’… Turns out he wasn’t, he’d asked my dad’s permission and spent ages browsing the ring collection in Claire’s Accessories… (ok, so it wasn’t a real diamond ring…I’d always insisted that I had to be involved in choosing my engagement ring myself, some might say I’m a bit of a control freak…). After ringing around my parents and Ben’s mum with the good news we headed for the train (with a celebratory McDonalds…a tradition we then repeated on our wedding night!).
We knew we didn’t want to wait to long to tie the knot and already had the perfect venue for our reception in mind – we’d made lots of great memories at 29 Park Place and had said since day 1 that it would make a great wedding venue; relaxed, a bit different and in the middle of a city we love. The next challenge was finding a ceremony venue close by, we wanted the day to be relaxed and simple and liked the idea of walking between venues. The Temple of Peace was one of the last places on our list and was perfect, Emily and the team there made us feel so welcome and that nothing was too much trouble. We booked the date and the registrar and then got to work on the planning. We really didn’t want a fuss, the priority for us was to have all our favourite people in one room, to have fun and share with our nearest and dearest the first day of the rest of our lives. We decided on afternoon tea and were lucky to have a friend with a crockery collection to die for! All our friends and family chipped in to help make the day special and unique, my artistic sister designed all the artwork, from invitations to order of service and signs for the day. Our friends helped with the flowers for the tables, my bridesmaid Jo made our three bouquets, Ben made his own buttonhole! My wonderful friend Carrie made our cake and my brother decorated it on the day. Our friends, Art Bandini, played a few songs and we made a playlist for the rest of the night.
The day and night were perfect, I was, as expected, fashionably late, for once in my life it wasn’t my fault, the car didn’t show up and we had to get a taxi! The rest of the day was magical, the ceremony was perfect, our friend Leah played some beautiful songs on the harp and our sisters (Sarah & Bethan) and friend Louise did the readings. The rain held and we had a fun walk through Alexandra Gardens with a glass of bubbles at the end. Jon and the team at 29 Park Place saw the day off without a hitch, everyone was relaxed and having fun and we had all our friends and family under one roof! The speeches made us laugh and cry in equal measure and I only missed one twirl on our first dance (Ryan Adams, Answering Bell).
We ended the day as Mr & Mrs Innes, and we’d do it all over again in a heartbeat!