Tell me about the proposal, (did you see it coming, how long was it in the planning, how did you feel, nervous, excited, freaking out?)
I had absolutely no idea!!!!! I left work as usual on a Thursday evening still thinking about various things I had left to do at work on the Friday and met up with Andrew for our commute home.
He announced on the walk to the car park that he was taking me to our favourite log cabins in Wales the following day so I didn’t need to go to work.
I was really confused as my colleague had the day booked off and I just kept saying “but I can’t go!! Susan is off work tomorrow!”
As it turns out he had conspired with Susan a while back and booked me a day off without me knowing and whisked me a way on a surprise weekend to North Wales. Still not clicking what was going on I was telling all my friends how amazing he was doing this for me and they were all nodding and smiling!
We got there on the Friday and then on the Saturday woke up to torrential rain but Andrew had this plan to go for a walk up this mountain to a place called Blue Lake which was an old quarry with a massive deep blue/green lake at the top which overlooking Barmouth beach.
So off we went, it was a little bit soggy still but the sun was trying to come out. The climb up the mountain was practically vertical so we were both swearing and sweating and wondering “whose bloody idea was this anyway?”! but it was definitely worth it!
We had a little walk around but Andrew kept wondering off on his own and I eventually found him sat on a rock looking over at the beach so I went to join him. The sun had finally come out and the view was beautiful.
Suddenly Andrew started fiddling around in his bag and then there it was! He was on one knee asking me to marry him! I was genuinely shocked as it was completely unexpected but obviously I said yes straight away!
Tell me one thing that you love most about each other.
How can I pick one thing?! He just completely gets me and makes me laugh every day even when I am not in the mood for laughing.
I have never met anyone that I have felt so in tune with before – we often say the same things at the same time and have even emailed each the exact same words at the same time without having had any previous contact throughout the day (and it wasn’t just hello!).
He often answers questions I am thinking about without me having even said anything. It’s quite creepy sometimes actually.
I also love the fact he has allowed me to adopt 3 cats when actually all he really wants is a puppy. No chance of that now!
Why did you choose The Bond as the venue for your wedding?
Our first idea was to have a festival wedding in a field with camping and a marquee but right from the start we said if we have a non-festival wedding we wanted to get married in Digbeth as it has a big place in both of our hearts.
Andrew lived in Digbeth when we got together and we spent a lot of time going to clubs and bars in the area on weekends so it has a lot of memories for us both.
We looked at a field wedding and in the end decided it was too weather risky and too expensive! So we half looked at the Custard Factory but decided it wasn’t quite right for us and then I stumbled across The Bond.
We needed a big venue which would hold the amount of people we wanted but also have a quirky edge as neither of us are traditionalists.
The Bond was exactly what we were looking for – the industrial features, the canal, the graffiti and more importantly the large canopy over the outside area.
We felt that we would be able to hold most of our wedding outside but not have to worry about being in a marquee or getting wet and still have the luxury of having an inside for the evening time. It was perfect!
Besides getting married, what is the one thing that you are looking forward to the most on your wedding day?
Having everyone we love in one room together for a whole day – when does that ever happen!?
How have you find the wedding planning? Do you have any tips for other brides?
I am reluctant to say easy…but generally everything has gone really well. Andrew and I are very laid back people and whilst I admit I have a bit of organisation OCD (I have a very big spreadsheet!!!)
I have never once felt like it has been too much or felt stressed, everything seems to have just happened. We got in there pretty early with our save the dates so everyone knew it was happening then followed up with invites 6 months before the date.
This might seem a bit early but actually we had 99% of our RSVPs back a month before the deadline date. We didn’t post them, we emailed them and we set up a free wedding website with all the info on and a section where they could RSVP.
I think this definitely helped as people tend to forget to post things back!
I do have to thank my mum, she’s been helping me make various decorations and gathering bits and bobs that I need. I got my dress quite early as well but that was purely because I knew if I didn’t start looking early I’d worry about not finding what I wanted.
Turns out I found my dress on the first day!
Jo at The Bond has also been great – definitely make the most of your wedding coordinator! I have lost count of the amount of emails I’ve sent her asking her what I keep thinking are silly, small questions but things she must hear all the time!
She also comes up with questions for things I would never even thought of so it’s good to have an open dialogue going.
- Birmingham Wedding Photographer -
