Memories of my own wedding
Kirsten, Lovebird Ceremonies celebrant at her own wedding
It’s my 20th anniversary in 2025. Who knew back then what the future held and the path I’d take. Celebrants weren’t even a thing. My boyfriend and I weren’t particularly religious, so we knew our choices were either a hotel or a registry office.
I knew I didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding. What could we do that would be memorable and make our day spectacular?
My husband, mum and dad in the gorgeous gardens of Fischer’s
Intimate ceremony
We plumped on a small intimate ceremony at Fischer’s at Baslow Hall. It was Michelin starred, so we knew our lunch would be amazing and it was a beautiful venue – a country house in Derbyshire in the most gorgeous gardens.
There were just 24 of us for the actual wedding, which was in one of the hotel reception rooms. Interestingly, it’s the room that is registered, so we could get married by a registrar who came to the hotel. It was short (registered weddings are) so not a great deal of personality in our actual service. On hindsight this is where we could have had a beautiful ceremony that reflected the people we are and be able to share much more heartfelt promises – but that wasn’t a thing back then. It was short and sweet in less than 10 minutes the deed was done.
All about the food
That’s when our fun started – we had an extraordinary wedding breakfast. The food at Fischer’s has always been fabulous (we’ve been going now for 20 years!) and we started with canapes in the gardens. It must have been 30 degrees that day – toasty! Nick and I also did our photos in the grounds and then we all went into the main dining room and enjoyed 5 glorious lunch courses! We shook it up a bit and my best woman and I did speeches. I was never one to be quiet – I love that the bride gets to speak!
We look so young!
Black tie and diamonds ball
Our day didn’t end there though – I’d also organised a wedding ball for the evening. 150 of our friends and family, all dressed to the nines were invited to Baldwins, which was the go to banqueting venue in its day. My theme was ‘black tie and diamonds’, giving everyone the opportunity to wear their most glamorous outfits. What an evening it was! We had another dinner (I know, but we love food!), and my husband, my dad and his best woman got to do their speeches (finally, my husband said – he hates public speaking, and I made him wait the whole day). His speech was beautiful heartwarming and so memorable – even 20 years later I recall it.
We had a pianist to play through dinner and then ended with a DJ to the wee small hours.
It was a magical day – and I’m still married to the same man.
I do hope all of you have a perfect day, and I’m looking forward to helping you create happy memories that last a lifetime.