Bright and beautiful

Helen and Ryan looked radiant and beamed with joy on their wedding day

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Early days…

Helen and Ryan met at a work conference when they were both working for a local estate agent, and have been together since September 2006. Ryan surprised Helen during his mum and dad’s 25th wedding anniversary party. Over the microphone and after making a short speech for his parents, he got down on one knee, proposed marriage and presented her with an 18-carat yellow gold with four diamonds in the centre and five diamonds on either side.

Hen and stag parties…

Helen celebrated in Bournemouth with eight of her friends. “The girls had a cake made for me with a photo of Ryan and I on it, and also had a t-shirt printed up with embarrassing photos from my early years. Thanks mum!” Ryan and 12 of his friends headed for Amsterdam where they went go-karting. He came third, but had to do the ‘wall of death’, which meant driving at speed up the side of a vertical cylinder “with gravity keeping the car from falling”!

The venues…

Helen and Ryan had been looking at several venues - somewhere between his parents' home in Aylesbury, and High Wycombe, where Helen’s parents live. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find one that they liked, so they started looking further afield.

“On the day we first visited Burnham Beeches Hotel, it was snowing heavily and we fell in love with everything about the hotel - the drive up to the entrance, the grounds, the function room, etc,” Helen recalls. They booked the venue 14 months in advance.

The attendants…

Helen’s three bridesmaids were her good friends, Kate and Amy, and Toni, Ryan’s sister. They all wore dusky pink satin dresses with calf-length bubble skirts, accented with a diamanté headband, necklace and earrings. Their bouquets were white calla lilies with white feathers. The best men were Ryan’s good friends Ben and Fraser. The two ushers were Helen’s brother, Daniel and Ryan’s brother-in-law, Stephen, and the pageboys were Adam, Ryan’s nephew, 4, and Ewan, Helen’s nephew, also 4.

They all wore charcoal grey tailcoats and trousers, white waistcoats, dusky pink ruche with matching hankies, and white calla lily buttonholes. Ryan’s outfit matched the best men’s, but his waistcoat had white patterns and his buttonhole had a small feather and a diamanté in the centre of the calla lily.

The dress…

Helen’s princess-style dress had a satin bodice covered in pearls, pink and clear crystals. The tulle skirt and veil were also scattered with crystals. To complement, she wore a matching tiara, diamanté necklace and earrings. Something old, borrowed and blue was the garter. Helen carried a pink calla lily bouquet embellished with feathers and diamanté in the centre.

The food…

A total of 86 guests enjoyed a three-course meal consisting of chicken liver parfait for starters, followed by chicken wrapped in sage and Parma ham, and white chocolate and blueberry cheesecake for dessert. In the evening, cheese and biscuits were served as an alternative to a buffet.

The transport…

Helen stayed at the hotel the night before the wedding. Ryan’s dad works at Audi and managed to borrow an Audi R8 to transport Ryan for the day. A white stretch limo transported the newlyweds to the airport for their honeymoon.

The decorative touches…

There was no particular theme, but the colour scheme was dusky pink and plenty of feathers. Tall vases standing on round mirrors were filled with gel and pink ostrich feathers. In addition, they had a sparkly backdrop with fairy lights, and a tunnel of lights going across from each chandelier in the centre of the ceiling to each corner of the room.

“The venue decoration was all left in the capable hands of Phil and Gina of First Class Events, who decorated the room and then collected all the bits the following day for us.”

Each guest received a small, personalised box filled with three rolls of mini love hearts. The three-tier wedding cake was decorated with feathers, foliage and calla lilies.

The music…

Helen walked down the aisle to Leona Lewis’ ‘A Moment Like This’, and they signed the register to Shayne Ward’s ‘Breathless’ and Cascada’s ‘Every Time We Touch’ (Yanou’s Candlelight Mix). They walked out to Michael Bublé’s, ‘Everything’. They chose Lonestar’s ‘Amazed’ for their first dance. “The song was playing on the radio when we pulled into Burnham Beeches while visiting the hotel for the very first time in February 2007,” recalls Helen.

The photography…

The best bits…

“The best part of our day was the actual ceremony itself. Looking into each other’s eyes as we exchanged rings and said our vows gave us both a feeling of total happiness that we will never forget. A close second has to be our first dance where we were completely alone on the dance floor, in each other’s arms and together as one. We both felt an immense feeling of love for each other throughout the whole day that we hope will only grow stronger. Everything went totally according to plan and we couldn’t have had a better wedding day.”

The honeymoon…

The newlyweds chilled out for 16 days in Cuba, which appealed to them mainly for its tropical climate and gorgeous beaches. “Cuba is an interesting country with lots to see and do and the people are very friendly. We highly recommend it!” They stayed at the Melia Cayo Coco, the only adult-only five-star hotel on The Cayos. “Cayo Coco was off the mainland of Cuba and was quite a quiet resort but that suited us perfectly and the mainland was only a 40-minute taxi ride away. We would highly recommend the hotel - it was very clean, the food was great and as honeymooners we enjoyed some added extras, including a free room upgrade!” They booked the holiday with First Choice.

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