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Share Your Wedding – The Mummy Stylist

Hello! Welcome to Share Your Wedding, a weekly feature that gives you the chance to re-live your wedding day and may just give soon-to-be–weds some inspiration.

This week we have an invitation to Sabrina’s wedding. Sabrina blogs over at The Mummy Stylist and can also be found on Twitter so go say hi!

Hi Sabrina! Introduce us to your family. 

Hello, I’m Sabrina and I’ve been married to my husband Ganesh for 5 years. We have a 3-year-old boy called Tyler.

Let’s set the scene..

How did you meet?

I met my husband at Woolworths (remember that store?) For both of us it was our first ‘real’ job after uni. We sat on the 5th floor at Head Office, I was in Events and he was in Toys & Stationery. I chatted him up at the 2002 Christmas Party, which was in our canteen. I said to him, “What’s your name Toys person?” He said “I’m not Toys, I’m Stationery!” I didn’t catch his name that night as they started playing that birdie song and we got dragged into it. Anyway it all worked out, he gave me his blue Superflex ruler, and we got married 6 years later 🙂

How long have you known each other?

We’ve known each other 12 years now (scary!)

How did he propose?

A bit of a hashed-up proposal. It was April 2009. He had booked a table at the restaurant in Tower Bridge. But that morning he phoned me all flustered in a panic that he couldn’t find the ring. He’d looked everywhere and really didn’t know what to do, so had to cancel the planned proposal. It turns out that he had never picked up the ring from the jewellers in Hatton Gardens, and they were like, “We were wondering when you were going to pick it up!”

That evening, he called and said he’d picked up the ring. So we met last minute to go to the cinema in Harrow. We had just bought the tickets for the film (can’t remember what film it was), and he said to me, “Do you want it now then?” How romantic. I said, ”Alright then”

He took out the box from inside his jacket and opened it. And, oh my god, with the lights of St Georges Shopping Centre and closed down Harrow Woolies in the background, the ring sparkled so bright – it was the actually most perfect magical moment!

How long were you engaged before you were married?

4 months

Share Your Wedding

When did you get married?

Registry Office: Saturday 15th August 2009 Reception: Sunday 16th August 2009

Registry

How many guests, bridesmaids etc did you have?

We had 100 guests, 5 bridesmaids, 1 flower girl and 3 best men

Tell us about the Venue: Day / Evening

The Registry was at Ealing Town Hall. It’s a Grade II listed building, with steps leading to a beautiful arched doorway.

The Reception was at Uxbridge Golf Club. It’s a hidden venue that my father found. Lovely views across the green of the golf grounds, and the inside had a cosy and relaxing feel.

Preparations

Did your wedding have a certain style?

Yes the theme was fuchsia pink and turquoise blue – and we carried this theme through my bridemaid’s saris and accessories, the men’s cravats/ties, my shoes, the cake which my mum made and all the decorations which we put together ourselves with the help of family – placecards, flowers, tealights, wedding favours etc. The party favour boxes contained pic n mix sweets – in reference to how we met at Woolworths.

Tell us about the most important thing, the Dress?

My dress was a real fairy-tale dress by Sophia Tolli, with Swarovski crystals in the fabric. I wore one of those underskirt things to make the skirt even bigger, and fuchsia pink high heels. I really felt like a princess, and my flower girl (who was 3 at the time) kept following me around in awe saying, “You look like Barbie”

Reception

Description of your Wedding, as brief or as descriptive as you’d like, flowers, clothes, food, speeches, gifts?

We got married on the Saturday at the registry office. I arrived with my bridemaids in a Bentley driven from Cornwall that morning, and we were ushered into a secret room so no one would see me. Then I made my grand entrance! Our registrar had sideburns a bit like Elvis Presley, and kept pronouncing our names wrong – did make us giggle! It was a small ceremony with close family and friends only, and we were the first in the day at 10.30am, so we took our time taking photos afterwards. Afterwards we had a casual barbeque in my mother-in-law’s garden, really chilled out. Then in the evening I rounded my family together and set to decorating the venue!

Cake (1)

On the Sunday, we had the reception. My friend had flown in from Hong Kong which was amazing, especially as she had just had a baby 6 months earlier. So my uni girls and I had a girlie giggle and a catchup outside first.

We didn’t plan any order of things, just went with the flow. As lunch was to start at 1pm, we did the photos first on the green. Then we walked in, each bridemaid paired with one of the groomsmen, and Ganesh and I walked in last. We could hear people gasp as we walked in.

Lunch was served, which was melon for starters, salmon for main (lasagne for veggies) and chocolate profiteroles for desserts. They had grander descriptions, but I can’t remember them!

Speeches were before dessert, my brother started and then one of Ganesh’s best men. He read out 3 speeches in one go (as there were 3 best men), so it did go on! Then finally Ganesh’s granddad made a speech. After dessert we did our first dance, followed by all the guests dancing, and sometime after that I threw the bouquet.

What was your favourite part of your Wedding?

My favourite part of the wedding is the moment that I will never forget. It was after we actually were married at the Registry Office, and we were walking out hand in hand and looked at each with glee. In that look was the ‘Oh my god we finally did it – yes!’ It was such a long road to get to this stage, we both could not believe it.

What extra touches made it special for you both?

The fact that everything was hand-made, and how family helped make this wedding, from my mum making the cake, to my siblings and cousins making the flower decorations, the pic n mix wedding favours, the ribbons on the placecards, decorating the venue – it made the wedding feel very special to us.

Decorations

Did anything not go as planned? Any funny stories?

I suppose that main thing that did not go to plan was that my extended family were so scattered about, that they weren’t in the official photos. And one of my best friends couldn’t make it (long story). But it’s best not to focus on the bad, the day was amazing.

Funny story, when I threw the bouquet, my sister caught it (she was 17). My brother went ‘NO!’ and grabbed it off her. The DJ said something that insinuated they were going out. My brother was like ‘THAT’S MY SISTER!!!’ So the bouquet went up in the air again and this time my cousin caught it and she was only 16! She actually did get married next – young love!

Would you do anything differently with hindsight?

Yes, I would tell the photographer exactly who I want in the photos, and tell my family to be ready in the right place!

What song did you walk into and what was your first dance song?

First Dance

I walked into the classical violin version of When You Were Young by The Killers. Our first dance was to Let’s Stay Together by Al Green, which turned into a Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ dance by my husband, siblings and cousins. It’s on YouTube if you want to see it:

Do you have any advice for the soon to be married?

My advice is to go with the flow on the day. The day will go so quickly, so savour every moment! And use your family to help, with preparation and on the day – then you can concentrate on enjoying yourselves.

Where did you go on honeymoon?

We had a mini-honeymoon in Bath, where I drove to in my little red mini, which we put wedding ribbon on. We went in the evening after the reception, I got out of my dress, and we set off down the M4, stopping off for a wedding dinner in the motorway service station!

Then one month later we went to our proper honeymoon – 8 days in Hawaii, with 4 days in San Francisco first. It was truly a dream honeymoon.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your wedding?

It was the happiest, most unforgettable weekend of my life, and I wish I could relive it again and again!

Love the video Sabrina! Couldn’t stop staring at your dress- so beautiful! Love that you met in Woolworths and that you had pick n mix for favours, very sweet. Did laugh at the bouquet story too! 

Thank you so much for sharing your wedding with us all!

share wedding logo

 

Elaine @ Entertaining Elliot

Wednesday 24th of June 2015

Great story, I love that you had pick n mix! My sister used to work at woolies and I always associate it with pick n mix! x

Sabrina (The Mummy Stylist)

Wednesday 17th of June 2015

Ahhh thanks Katy for letting me share my wedding. It's been so lovely to relive the day after nearly 6 years! Hopefully it might inspire any brides-to-be out there :-) Sabrina xx

Katy

Thursday 25th of June 2015

Was a beautiful wedding to share x