A Postponed Paramedic Wedding at The Beautiful Dunton Lodge Farm in Hertfordshire
Bride and groom-to-be Emily and Ben are both paramedics for the London Ambulance Service. 2020 was supposed to be the year that they got married, but it wasn't to be.
Following Ben's romantic proposal on a mountain top in New Zealand a year earlier, they began to excitedly plan their big day.
“Wedding planning began immediately, after waiting 9 years for Ben to propose our plans were almost finished before we flew home!”
At the time they could never have dreamed that their wedding would be postponed and they certainly had no idea that they would instead spend it on the front lines of a global pandemic.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has shattered the wedding plans of countless couples. As paramedics, Emily and Ben witnessed first-hand how the virus devastated lives. They worked non-stop through unprecedentedly difficult circumstances to help keep London safe.
“Hours and days at work quickly got longer and longer so I moved into a hotel in London to be nearer to work. I was responsible for PPE distribution which was one of the most stressful times of my life. Ben worked solidly 7 days a week to cover some of the vacant shifts on ambulances. We worked together on an ambulance a few times and worked together as hospital liaison officers to help triage patents waiting to go into A&E. These were the only opportunities that we had to see each other for much of that period”
Emily and Ben’s decision to postpone was a particularly difficult one, not only were thoughts of their approaching wedding day the perfect distraction from the tremendously difficult and challenging circumstances they faced at work. But, for Emily’s father, walking her down the aisle was his motivation to get through radiotherapy having been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“As time went on we knew that we were not going to have the big white wedding we had planned this year”
Dunton Lodge Farm is a gorgeous outdoor wedding venue set amidst the North Hertfordshire countryside. It’s pretty farm house sits atop a beautiful lawn and formal garden with wide open rural vistas on every side. In short it is a photographers dream. So when the owners asked me and a team of [very awesome] Hertfordshire wedding suppliers to showcase their venue in a styled shoot we couldn’t refuse. Our team also ceased this as an opportunity to say thank you to our very special NHS couple by creating a taster dream wedding to tide them over until they can say ‘I do’ for real!
“To me it was an opportunity to get dressed up and wear a white dress this year and feel special for one day, instead of wearing green and steel toe cap boots!”
Lisa Lyons Bridal created a gorgeous bespoke hand-made wedding dress for paramedic bride-to-be Emily. The mermaid silhouette design was completed with soft Chantilly lace, a grosgrain waist cinching belt, with a matching caplet for the ceremony.
Claire Barberella of Barberella Bridal Hair created a gorgeous textured and braided low bun hair style, complemented with a delicate floral hair piece by Sarah Maylin Flowers.
“It was a super-hot day so we opted for an updo. It’s a good idea to have an updo in mind as a plan B even if you are thinking of wearing your hair down in case the weather turns out to be scorching”
Sarah Maylin used beautiful pale blue oxypetalum, also know as tweedia, for the bride’s bouquet and throughout her floral pieces
“I love to choose and arrange flowers that reflect the day and the setting. The beautiful farm setting lent itself to a delicate blue colour palette topped up with some gold sparkle from Alice and Ella of Fleur De Lace”
Ben wore a sharp three-piece blue tweed suit from HRH Holmes of Hitchin, with gold tie to complement the wider colour scheme. Emily thought that Ben looked so handsome in it that she now won’t have him wear anything else when their real wedding day comes around!
“The wedding shoot was amazing, despite being the hottest day of the year. All the suppliers were so lovely and made us feel so special, even though it was only for a photo shoot. The surprises were not over there, the team had arranged a celebrant to attend and set up a mock ceremony.”
Everyone had major goose bumps as the bride and groom, led beautifully by civil celebrant Charlotte Roscow, recited their personal vows to one another and exchanged their real wedding rings. Rings already engraved with their now cancelled wedding date.
Experience a taster of this in the emotional video produced by Ayelle Photography
“We said our vows and exchanged rings and it felt so real. Not many couples get the opportunity to practice before their real day!”
As the sun began to set Emily changed up her outfit to shimmy and sparkle amidst the warm vibes of the August sunset. Swapping the chantilly lace cape for a feather and gold paillette sequined capelet by Electric Plume and adding a delicately jeweled vintage head piece by The Lucky Sixpence gave her a glitteringly glamorous second look.
The centre piece of the shoot was a striking “naked” nimbus tipi. Provided by Country Tipis, it was set up on the front lawn at Dunton Lodge Farm and adorned with fairy lights. Fleur De Lace and Sarah Maylin Flowers dressed the structure further with a stunning hanging floral display. For the tables and installation Sarah added different tones of blue as well as white. These were complemented by the gorgeous metallic gold and vibrant blue stars, lanterns and glitter balls by Alice and Ella of Fleur De Lace.
“Never mind the January Blues, it’s been 2020 Blues! We embraced the blue and threw in a whole load of sparkle. We loved working with a team of local professionals at this gorgeous new venue”
All of the elements came together beautifully, creating a romantic outdoor candle lit space where Emily and Ben toasted with Champagne, but not before ceremoniously cascading a bottle over a tower of glasses!
To perfectly round off the day James of Disco Nyts created the perfect atmosphere for the evening with music, dramatic lighting and smoke effects and our amazing paramedic couple danced together beneath the stars.
Watching our couple embrace on the dance floor I was reminded of why I love my job so much. Despite all of the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty that this crazy situation has brought about for couples and wedding suppliers alike, love always prevails and weddings will always be awesome.
Thank you weddings.
Thank you NHS.
Stick it Covid!
Feature on Unconventional Weddings
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