We met on a dating site! I was hardly using it at the time and popped on out of boredom and there was a message from Dan saying he knew who I was, which intrigued me. We agreed on a first date to go bowling as we both didn’t want the awkward dinner first date vibe.

Dan proposed to me in February 2018 in our front room of our flat we were living in at the time. It took me completely by surprise as I was sitting on the sofa in my PJs relaxing after work! Dan came in wearing his best suit claiming ‘ he was trying it on for an important meeting’. He then told me he wrote me a poem and asked if I would to hear it. He suggested I stand up to listen to it, however I said I was fine sitting, not realising what was happening.

Dan then began to read me a poem he wrote himself, about our relationship and around half way through I realised he was about to pop the question

I of course said yes!

• Favours – we had personalised heart shaped biscuits with our names on as we had an afternoon tea theme
• Table plan – We used rustic ladders at Manor Hill House and put our table plan into frames as we only had 4!
• Centrepieces – we had floating teacups made by Dan’s mom who used to be a florist to tie in the tea party theme
• Flowers – beautiful flowers were provided by Bluebells Florist of Droitwich, I mentioned to Tanya that the main colour was blue and she wasn’t sure she would be able to get blue flowers for the time of year so I was happily surprised when they showed up blue and baby pink bouquets!
• Cake – we opted for a semi naked wedding cake with a drip effect provided by Merrivale Cake Company in blue icing to make it look a bit different! Each tier was a different flavour to suit everyone’s tastes
• Place names- we had printed luggage tags that we tied onto the teacups on the tables
• Table names- we chose 4 different names of flowers for the tables as our whole theme was very floral, vintage rustic tea party. We didn’t need to spend long thinking about table names only having 4!
• Any other venue décor- I had personalised bunting with Mr & Mrs Albutt printed for above our top table when we had our food, I had different types of bunting all around the venue. Our favourite were large light up letters saying ‘Mr & Mrs Albutt’ courtesy of Penny Lane Event Hire
• Transport- I (Charley) got ready at the venue so didn’t need transport but as a surprise for my husband to be I had a white Crysler pick him up and bring him to the venue to make the journey a bit special for him
• Catering options - Food played a large part of the day! We had large canapés after the wedding out on the lawn for all of our guests followed by an afternoon tea party for our small day guest party, followed by a trio of desserts! In the evening we opted for a large BBQ and the Manor Hill House ice cream trike. The weather was hot and gorgeous so we didn’t want anything too heavy but all of our guests commented on how amazing the food was.

Dan wore a grey three piece suit hired from Harvey’s Formal Hire in Redditch with sky blue cravats to match the bridesmaids dresses. Dan had personalised cufflinks I had made for him telling him what time to be waiting for me at the end of the aisle

How did you both feel on the day?

We both feel it went by so fast! But couldn’t have gone any better. We both have no regrets.

What parts stood out for you the most?

I loved seeing all of our families getting on so well and enjoying each others company in the sunshine (Charley)

I loved having all of my close family together all enjoying themselves and my friends all being there (Dan)

Any funny stories or unusual anecdotes from the day.

Dan’s speech! When he was talking about me becoming his wife, he said ‘we are so alike, so much so that I checked online that we weren’t somehow related’ the whole room just erupted! He went from a serious speech to humour it was a very memorable part of the day.

Who/what made your day extra special? Eg, a friend’s speech/ supplier that went above and beyond?

Dan’s best man Phil went out of his way to organise a surprise speech for Dan as he said he wasn’t going to say anything initially. Phil made the effort on the lead up to our wedding making a video of all our close friends congratulating us on our wedding day and summed us both up beautifully