Your Herts and Beds Wedding - Page number 25 - October/November 2021 (Issue 88)

K ylie first met Billy during a night out in London, where they were introduced through mutual friends. She was attracted to his eyes, charm and humour, while he thought that Kylie was the most beautiful girl in the club. She says, “People talk about that special spark, but I honestly remember a moment during the night when sparks flew – we both had met our match.” Billy proposed on Christmas day after the pair and their son had finished opening presents. She says, “Billy and Leo disappeared upstairs together, which I didn’t think much of at the time. I stopped in my tracks when my little boy came running towards me with a box and Billy was standing behind him with a smile.” She continues. “I cried as I opened it and saw Billy down on one knee, the rest was a blur really and I couldn’t even say ‘yes’ because I was crying so much! It was simple, sentimental and cosy – just how we like things.” SETTING THE SCENE The couple’s main goal was to stay calm during the day and not to let other peoples’ opinions get in the way of their perfect wedding. As wedding plans were well underway, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK and caused them both to change the venue and date to work with the restrictions in place. The bride says, “Even though we changed our plans a couple of times, we ended up having the wedding of our dreams. The pandemic forced us to have a slightly more stripped back version of the day that suited us both really well. If it wasn’t for the restrictions, we could have ended up having a wedding that really wouldn’t have been us.” The wedding took place on the 26 th June 2021, which worked out well because some of the restrictions started to lift and allowed them to have even more guests on the day. The bride travelled to the venue in a 1962 MkII Jaguar in white, which looked beautiful in photographs. The ceremony took place at St Peter’s Church, in the couple’s home town. Here, many of Kylie’s family had tied the knot and it’s where her brothers and herself were christened. Her grandma also used to be the church florist and her uncles were choir boys. The atmosphere on the day was magical, with so many loved ones in one place, ready to be part of a celebration of love again after such a long time. The Loft St. Albans is a 600-year-old building that provided the perfect reception space with open beams, soft lighting and rustic touches. The naked-style cake looked beautiful and was a massive hit with guests and included lemon, vanilla and red velvet flavours. Fresh flowers and foliage finished off the design beautifully and the cake sat on a wooden stand. The day before the wedding, the couple started to panic as they’d realised that no one had been arranged to decorate the venue and they decided to call the cake supplier Kate for help. Kylie says, “She answered my desperate phone call and saved the day! Kate decorated the venue perfectly and we were blown away with how beautiful everything looked.” The horseshoe-styled table sat 60 people and featured different bottles and vases to decorate the space. Fresh and contemporary British cuisine was served to guests, which tasted delicious. Each place name was handwritten and each guest was given sweets in a little cone-shaped bag for the favours. For those with a sweet tooth, they could tuck into the pick ‘n’ mix station. REAL WEDDINGS 25 