Our Wedding: The Ceremony

Friday 28 August 2015

Our marriage ceremony was held at St Michael and All Angels, the local parish Church in my mum's village of Hathersage.


There were several reasons for this choice of venue: it was important for both of us that we had an Anglican wedding ceremony, it is a beautiful building based around a decorated Gothic Nave dating from 1381, and it is literally five minutes down the road from home. Oh, and it also happens to be where one of my heroes Jessica Ennis-Hill tied the knot back in 2013!

As we arrived at the venue, I was so incredibly excited. Not only was I about to marry my best friend and soulmate, but I was also about to lay eyes on all of my favourite people in the world, all in one room. Some of these people I hadn't seen for well over a year! I marched down the path, my bridesmaids diligently helping me with my train and veil behind me. In my rush to get to the door, my garter had slipped down to my ankle, and my very selfless sister in law bent down to help me to put it back on! I then had a slight wobble, as I caught sight of my friends Tiara and Nissi who had made the journey all the way from Sri Lanka slipping late into the Church...but I composed myself, my dad put my veil over my face, I gripped onto his arm, and we were off...




















Here are the details of the most important, memorable and magical hour of mine and Mr Sunshine's lives to date!

Vicar: The Reverend Jude Davis, who is young, female and LOVELY
Flowers: Gysophila hearts either side of the front porch; jam jars and of pink roses, cream freesias and gysophila inside the porch with candles, and the same jam jars hooked over every pew end; larger displays on the font, in front of the lectern and at the alter, all put together by Katie Peckett and my mum!
Entrance music: Pachelbel's Canon in D Major by our string trio, Simply Strings
Hymns: Be Still For The Presence of the Lord, Shine Jesus Shine, Oh Perfect Love
Readings: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 by Lisa (Rich's older sister) and Shakespeare Sonnet 116 by Tim (my older brother)
Signing of the register: Our witnesses were our mums while Simply Strings played Everything by Michael Buble and Make You Feel My Love by Adele.
Recessional: Mendelssohn's Wedding March by Simply Strings


















































































































  








Yes, the most magical hour. But luckily for us, we had several more to look forward to. My husband and I piled happily into our car, and started out on our short journey to Chatsworth House.


 












We couldn't wait to celebrate what had just taken place with all of our favourites!

All of the photos in this post were provided by our wonderful wedding photographer Brett Harkness. Check out his page for some truly stunning wedding, fashion and commercial photography, as well as his beautiful blog. 

22 comments:

  1. Wow stunning you both look like you are on a movie set, the smiles are infectious. It looks like such a magical day, thank you for sharing Lucy x

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    1. Aww thanks for your lovely comment Lucy! Thank you so much for reading, I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!

      Polly xx

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  2. Oh my goodness, all of these photos are GORGEOUS. I've never wanted to get married, but the idea is slowly growing on me ;) Your dress is perfect! The exact type of dress that I would pick for my own wedding day :) FSdkfdkd. Wedding stuff. Definitely growing on me.

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    1. Thank you so much!! You know what, you should totally go for it! I know it's a cliche, but getting married seriously was the best thing I ever decided to do! I'm incredibly happy that this blog post might have gone a little way towards changing your mind about the whole thing :-)

      Polly xx

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  3. Thanks for sharing with us Polly, amazing photos of what must have been a perfect day and you can really feel the emotion through these.

    Suze | LuxuryColumnist

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    1. It certainly was emotional! Our photographer Brett captured it perfectly I think. Thanks for your lovely comment Suze.

      Polly xx

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  4. You look so so beautiful!! I love everything!!! The flowers, the bridesmaids, the adorable page boys what a wonderful day!
    Lots of love,
    Angie

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    1. Thank you lovely lady!!! The adorable page boys are my favourites! #hearteyes

      Polly xx

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  5. Absolutely beautiful ceremony, Polly, you all look stunning. AND YOU WORE FLATS! You hero. You big, tall, gorgeous hero xx

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    1. FLATS ALL THE WAY!! Seriously ladies, what is this taboo about flats on your wedding day?! I did not want to stand at the alter and be taller than my groom and I definitely did not want anything to impede my dancing later on! Bring back the flats I say.

      Thanks for the support ;-)

      Polly xx

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  6. Awwww Polly you look stunning and you wore flats...respect!! Have a tear in my eye as I scrolled through the photos; what a beautiful ceremony and so cute about the garter falling off
    xxx

    Around the World in 80 Pairs of Shoes

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    1. Ahh you cutie!! I knew you were a big ol' romantic at heart Kelly! The garter incident was embarrassing at the time, but looking back at this photos, I'm relieved to see that everybody seemed to see the funny side!

      Polly xx

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  7. Oh my goodness, Polly - I am just catching up with your posts and this one DEFINITELY brought a tear to my eye. You looked so stunning and the wedding looked like a fairytale; so perfect!!! I'm so glad that you and Rich had such a beautiful day. You absolutely deserved it. Sending you so much love!!! xoxo

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    1. Thank you so much for your lovely lovely comment Jaime! It was perfect in every way. So so happy!! Lots of love back!!

      Polly xx

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  8. Oh Polly, what a beautiful day :) You looked stunning and so happy! I love your dress, the whole day looks so magical! P.S Did I spot you wearing flats? If so, thank you! I now feel brave enough to wear flats for my wedding :)
    Simone x | The Aussie Flashpacker

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    1. YES!!! A flats convert!! I feel very chuffed with this. DO IT! I felt so comfortable and relaxed all day. Thanks for your sweet comment :-)

      Polly xx

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  9. It is simply impossible to beat the joy & beauty of a quintessential English Church wedding - stunning!

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    1. I completely agree! I feel so lucky that we were able to do it this way, with all the history and village community feel...just perfect :-)

      Polly xx

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  10. You look really stunning! Congratulations on your new life adventure :)

    I invite you to visit my travel blog :)

    http://www.travelekspert.com/2015/08/throwback-friday-patagonia-place-that.html

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    1. Thank you so much! I will take a look.

      Polly xx

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