Hi my lovelies,
Last week I asked on my Facebook & Instagram stories for questions you wanted answered about a) weddings in general and b) my own upcoming wedding. I filmed a Q&A which is on my Facebook & Instagram feeds, but I’ve also written one out for those who prefer a written version and for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
So firstly, we have questions about weddings in general:
1. What are your favourite venues?
Now that is a hard question! I have three favourites (I love SO many that it’s still hard to pick just three!) and these are All Manor of Events, Alpheton Hall Barns and Fynn Valley Cafe Terrace.
All Manor of Events – four ceremony areas (the big barn, Poplar Barn (hello cute fairy lights), Garden Room (legal outside ceremony! Yay) and Woodland (gorgeous for celebrant led ceremonies!)
Alpheton Hall Barns – beautiful DIY venue, gorgeous sunsets, Nic will go out of his way to help you!
Fynn Valley Cafe Terrace – so much light, wonderfully decorated and lodges you can stay in!
2. Favourite time of year to photograph?
I have two months of the year which are my favourite (but there are NO bad months!) and these are September, and June. What I love about September is it’s the tail end of the Summer so it’s not too hot, but still pleasant (usually), and the evenings are drawing in but there’s still loads of light in the day. June is very similar but it’s a little bit warmer!
And secondly, lots of questions about my own wedding:
1.Where are you getting married? Have you set the date?
We have indeed set the date! Saturday 3rd July 2021 at All Manor of Events. We originally wanted Saturday 26th June 2021 (as it’s exactly a month before our 10th anniversary) but we were a little late to the game – the date was already taken everywhere! So we went for the first Saturday in July – which happens to be the same week as my parent’s 10th wedding anniversary… and they got married at the same venue… All Manor of Events! It looked very different then, but it’s still the same wonderful venue. So I guess that’s quite special 🙂 (it wasn’t our intention to line up the dates with my parents… It just happened!)
We’ve chosen the Woodland ceremony, we have Michelle Taylor writing our ceremony and will be having a friend as our officiant 🙂
2. How did your fiancé propose?
I tell most people the short story, but seeing as we have all the time in the world right now on lockdown – I might as well tell you the full story!
Saturday 2nd November 2020 Ben was out doing his volunteering work (he’s a first responder in his spare time), I got home from work and there was a letter waiting on the doorstep addressed to Ben – a plain envelope, it looked like a bill or something so I opened it with the intention of putting it on the shredding pile (because if Ben opened it, it would never make it to that pile hahah) except I opened it and it said “insurance for a diamond ring” uh oh… What had I done! Ben was going to surprise me and propose after eight years and I’d gone and ruined it… Cue me calling my sister and my best friend, asking what I should do with the letter… Do I burn it? No, I can’t burn it, it’s an important letter… Do I put it in a new envelope? No, too obvious… So I hid it somewhere he would never find it. Except then I started thinking and worked it all out… We were planning to go to Southwold Maize Maze the next day for a date day (where we had gone for our second anniversary)…
The next day Ben was acting so weird while getting ready (it was so nice to have the hindsight), and while walking around the maze he kept walking behind me and I’d turn round and he’d be on one knee… doing up his shoelaces (he said later that he had caught on to the fact I’d figured out his intentions)… Near the end I was walking ahead looking for clues when I heard him say “Zoë” and it was that moment I knew… I turned round and there he was on one knee 🙂
I did admit later that I had found the letter and it turns out that the company Ben bought the ring from were specifically told not to send any correspondence to the house because he knew I’d open it (we do open each others mail after all… Well, not anymore hahah) so oopsie on their part!
3. How are you going to choose a photographer?!
This question was asked three times so I’m guessing this is a big question you all have! Choosing a photographer was actually easier for me than choosing a venue (Ben knew he had no part in choosing a photographer haha), I knew it was going to be Karen Fuller (Fuller Photography) from Norwich before I was even engaged. Her work is amazing and she’s a good friend of mine – it’s so important that you can tolerate your photographer (you’ve got to spend all day with them!)
4. What wedding themes have you chosen?
I always feel judged when I tell people the colour theme we’ve chosen because it’s a bit of a weird one… Purple and orange – but pastel! So we’re thinking more lavender/lilac and peach. The bridesmaid dresses will probably be lavendar and peach will make it into the flowers and other things. The reason for purple and orange is that purple is Ben’s favourite colour and orange is mine – we used to have matching xbox controllers (Ben was purple with orange triggers & joysticks and mine was reverse – orange with purple)
This brings me onto our other theme which is games! We’re gamers ourselves – we’ve actually spent most of our evenings in lockdown either playing board games over FaceTime or on the xbox with our friends. Craig from KeaKreative designed us some fabulous Save The Dates (please see the video for these!)
That’s all for now but if any of you have any questions you know where I am – always happy to help. Missing you all! Z xx
