Directors of Swansea’sKitchen Fascination, Lydia51, and Grant 47, met whenGrant came to design akitchen for Lydia - but endedup staying to fit it all himself!

tiara | real life bride

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Purple Haze Lydia and Grant had anintimate celebration atLamphey Court Hotel withtheir closest friends and family

tiara | real life bride

Proposal Grant proposed to me during Christmas dinner atLamphey Court Hotel near Tenby, in 2009. Wehad snatched time for a short break, and eventhough Grant had presented me with his divorcepapers from a previous marriage that morning, itwas still a surprise when he proposed in therestaurant. With the help of the hotel staff, andmy daughter who was with us, Grant excusedhimself from the table, then returned with a hugebunch of red roses and got down on one knee infront of everyone. He told me that there was arose in the bouquet for every hour of the day hethought of me - 24, and that he’d chosen theplatinum engagement ring with three diamondstones, because its shine and brilliance remindedhim of me. On bended knee, Grant said that thefirst diamond on the ring represented our past,which we cannot change but makes us who weare. The second diamond stood for the present,which was so wonderful, and the third stonesymbolised the future we could have together. Itwas so romantic, especially since he was wearinga dinner suit. I was crying as I said yes, thencouldn’t stop laughing and smiling! It wasn’tuntil everyone around us started clapping that Iremembered where we were. It was a proposalthat dreams are made of, and meant so much tome.

The Ring Grant searched for the perfect engagement ringfor weeks, but didn’t find ‘the one’ until he visitedPravins in Cardiff the day before Christmas Eve.When he later told me about his search for thering he couldn’t stop praising the Pravins staff,who had helped him get the ring resized that veryafternoon.

Planning We began planning things the very next morningon Boxing Day. As we ate breakfast in therestaurant at Lamphey Court, a waitress cameover to congratulate us, and said she thought itwould be perfect to get married in the same placeas the romantic proposal. The idea just seemed soright. We saw Ian at the hotel (who soon becameknown as the best wedding planner ever) andstarted to make arrangements later that day. Theonly theme we had was that it had to be a happy,intimate and romantic day. Later on purple didbecome a big feature though!

Outfits I went shopping with my youngest daughter

and my sister to get the bridesmaids’ dresses,which we found easily in Perfection Bridal inSwansea. I also bought a wedding dress that was‘sensible and suitable’ for a bride of my age, butwhen I got it home I just didn’t feel like a bride.So the next day Grant and my daughter took meto Posh Frocks in Uplands to search for anothergown. The store was actually shut to get ready fora sale, but they opened it up especially for us.The second dress I tried on made me feel like aprincess, and I just knew that was how I wantedto feel on my wedding day. The sales assistants inPosh Frocks were amazing.

All the men wore kilts that we hired from MossBros, with cravats from Perfection Bridal. Grantand I are both English but have lived in Walesmost our lives, so we really confused everyone bywearing the Scottish Kilt! We chose the ‘Spirit ofBannockburn’ kilt because the purple in itmatched my colour scheme perfectly. Grant alsohad a garter hand-made for me using the sametartan - that was a fabulous touch.

Hair and Make-Up Rachel from Seren Style did my hair and make-up, along with my mother’s, my mother in law’sand the two bridesmaids’ as well. Rachel wasbrilliant and we were all really pleased with howwe all looked.

Cakes and Flowers For years Grant has bought me flowers fromSimone Robins in Mumbles, so it was only rightshe did our beautiful wedding flowers too. We hada funky cake that we loved so much, made byMarie and Julie at Jam Tarts. We were going tosave pieces of the cake for friends who couldn’tmake it to the wedding, but ended up eating it allourselves!We did our own stationery, which was actuallyquite fun, and tied everything with purpleribbons to match my bridesmaids’ dresses. Thetables and chairs at our reception were decoratedby RSVP Coordinators, again using purple.

Entertainment Grant had organised the most amazing fireworkdisplay set to music on the front porch ofLamphey. It looked absolutely spectacular againstthe hotel’s setting. We also had a bagpipe playerto tie in with the kilts, and he played as Idescended the stairs of the hotel into theceremony, during the signing of the register, whilewe had photographs taken outside, and evenwhile we all sat down for the dinner. Grant sangto me later on while his best friend Martin playedthe guitar. They’d rehearsed all the songs that aremeaningful to us, including Wonderful Tonight,and Layla - but he changed the words to Lydia.

Special Touches Our whole day was just magical. The sun shonein February like a summer’s day, and we dancedoutside in the hotel grounds after the fireworks,feeling no chill. The setting was perfect, the staffat the hotel couldn’t have done more for us, andit just felt like we were one big family. As wewanted to keep everything intimate, we invitedjust our closest friends and family. With only thethirteen of us it felt like the most intimate dinnerparty ever, especially when everyone gave theirown short (and not so short!) speechesafterwards.

Photography by: Peter Russell at Essence Photography www.essencephotography.org.uk Tel: 07854 124569 00