Back in September 2020, I had the pleasure of helping Lloyd & Brogan plan their wedding and was also privileged to be one of their bridesmaids. A real wedding in 2020 was a rare thing, so I sat down with Brogan after their big day to talk about what it was like planning and getting married during a global pandemic.
This isn’t just a story about a wedding, this is a love story, so we'll start at the beginning...
How did you meet? Lloyd and I met in 2014 when we worked for the same company, Lloyd took a year out from university for work experience and I had just started a new job with the same company. I remember when we actually first met, the company had everyone's photos on their Intranet and he took my picture.
Did you hit it off straight away?
We spent a few lunchtimes together, getting to know each other before we started dating. Along the way, we found out we both have different interests but managed to merge some of these. Our dog, Orca, arrived in 2016 just before buying our first home in 2017. We got engaged in 2018 while on holiday, got married and in the process of moving into a new house in 2020.
How, when & where did the proposal happen? I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal! I had always wanted to go on holiday to Vietnam and we had finally booked it after I would not shut up about it! I couldn’t wait, three and a half weeks travelling in Vietnam! But I didn’t know that Lloyd would make it an even better memory.
One of our stops was a 2-night boat trip in Ha Long Bay. It was magical and still the best part of that trip. How could it not be?! It was our first night on the boat in the middle of 1969 islands just after sunset, on the top deck he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
You would have never known that about four days earlier checking our hand luggage that I found the ring box and could have ruined everything but I was too stressed with the packing to open the box instead asked Lloyd what it was, he somehow managed a master cover-up and convinced me it was nothing important!
What were your original wedding plans? We always planned to have our wedding at Ashridge House and that was about the only thing that stayed the same. We originally planned to have an early morning ceremony with just our witnesses to get the legal part over with before having another ceremony (which would actually be a blessing) in the amazing chapel at Ashridge House. We then planned to have photos taken, a three-course wedding breakfast, party with a live band and a secret pyro-musical fireworks display that only ourselves, Ashridge and the wonderful Eleanor had the inside scoop on.
And how did you feel when Coronavirus took over? To start with we weren’t worried, as our wedding was planned for September we thought it was too early to tell how things were going to be affected. However the closer we got and the more restrictions that were put in place I pretty much lost it! I have no idea how Lloyd stayed so relaxed. But I was hell-bent on getting married so as soon as the UK Government announced that we would be allowed 30 people, we were all over it and couldn’t have done it without the help from our family and Eleanor taking the stress away.
When did you realise you had to change your plans? We didn’t really change our plans too much due to the ever-changing do’s and don’ts the government were announcing. We literally started changing everything with vendors and guests when the announcement aired that allowed up to 30 guests to attend a wedding ceremony. We then changed our celebrations to the ceremony only.
Do you have any plans for a bigger celebration later down the line, post-covid? We couldn’t have asked for a better day. Looking back on it I wouldn’t have it any other way. The small intimate ceremony and celebrations were far better than the stress of 100 people. The team at Ashridge, Eleanor and all of our suppliers were amazing and made everything run smoothly. Even our surprise marquee reception in a family members garden was phenomenal. Literally, nothing went as planned but the day was perfect and we wouldn’t change it for the world.
I'm not sure about a bigger celebration, but we would love to do a re-run where we don’t all have to wear face masks and social distance. One of the hardest parts was not being able to have a hug. But we won’t be forgetting our wedding day any time soon!
What are your plans for the future? We are both currently packing up our first home getting ready to move to greater pastures. What was meant to be our wedding fund turned into a house deposit? A big thank you for the wedding presents we received which topped us up enough to find the perfect home. Just in time to celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife!
Check out the amazing suppliers who worked so hard to make this wedding happen:
Venue - @ashridgehouse | www.ashridgehouse.org.uk
Blossom Trees - @rebeccamarsalaweddings | www.rebeccamarsala.co.uk
Pianist and Saxophonist - @k8lovesyou and @apollosoulband | apollosoul.co.uk
Photography - @katehopewellsmith | katehopewellsmith.com
Videography & Air - @bylumiere | www.bylumiere.co.uk
Custom Wooden Accessories - @stagdesign | www.stagdesign.co.uk
Dress - @randyfenoli from @bridesandbustles
Shoes - @jimmychoo | www.jimmychoo.com
Bridesmaid Dresses - @morilee | uk.morilee.com
Hair and makeup - @lizziemua_brides | www.lizpateymakeup.co.uk
Hair accessories - @libertyinlove | www.libertyinlove.co.uk and @brog’sbijoux |
Earrings - @swarovski | www.swarovski.com
Bangle - @tiffany | www.tiffany.co.uk
Suit - @tedbaker | www.tedbaker.com
Ties - @charlestyrwhitt | charlestyrwhitt.com
Shoes - @louboutinworld | eu.christianlouboutin.com