Alex & Lynsey's Low Key Pub Wedding
Happy Thoughts
Our Unique Story
The Lowdown
How We Met
We met in London in 2008; Alex was in England from Australia to play some domestic cricket and I was working and training at Lords. We met there, found a connection through similar tastes in music and went on an unofficial date to a small gig in town. After that we spent more and more time together realising there was something more happening! I was already planning on spending the English winter in Sydney where Alex lived, so our relationship continued and grew over there.
That was in 2008 and we have been together since then, so this year will be eight years!The Proposal
Alex proposed to me on our six year anniversary. It was unexpected! We were celebrating our anniversary by staying at the Shangri-La Hotel at The Rocks in Sydney. On the very top level there's a cocktail bar with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the harbour. We had a fantastic little spot by the window and Alex popped the question! Followed by some lovely champers.
The Planning
We both live in Australia where the marriage laws are unfortunately archaic! So the decision to get married in England was sort of a necessity but also where we both wanted to have the wedding. It meant my grandparents and other family could all attend. Alex was playing in the women's Ashes that summer so it made sense for her family to come over for the cricket and the wedding! Alex also has English family so it worked out well for them too.
I wanted a local wedding close to where I grew up. This narrowed the selection of venues down quite quickly! We wanted an informal pub wedding and The Bull's Head in Chislehurstticked all the boxes. The amazing function manager there also confirmed the venue for us, she was incredible and made what could have been a somewhat stressful time easy and fun! We wanted a laid back ceremony with some people sitting but most standing in a horse shoe kind of shape with us in the middle, it was very intimate and people loved it.The (Actual) Wedding
After the ceremony we went to the local park for prosecco. Although it was cloudy, it wasn't cold and it didn't rain! We spent about an hour and a half at the park, we were able to do photos and chat to all the guests. We served prosecco in plastic champagne flutes served by my brother and other family and friends who were happy to help out. We also had a couple of buckets of walkers crisps to keep people going
After the park we returned to the room we had the ceremony in, the guys at the venue had set it up for the reception. We had a hog roast and got through seven speeches! All were of a great length so we were wrapped before 8pm and then danced until midnight. At about 9:30pm we had fish and chip cones for the evening guests and for anyone else who was still hungry! We ran an open bar of beer and wine only and that got cut off after we reached a certain cost and then became a full cash bar. My aunt organised the wedding cake which was a doughnut tower!We weren't into the whole cake cutting thing, so people were able to just help themselves to a doughnut or two from the tower. It was a Krispy Kreme tower but we removed the branded sign!Final Words
Our photographer - Ragdoll Photography- was fantastic, very much into natural photos and she was able to put everyone at ease with photos and make them laugh!
Overall the day went really well, everything ran perfectly but this is also because we approached it in a very laid back fashion, which meant we were able to go with the flow. The only disappointing bit was the way the food was served. But everyone got fed which is the main thing! The fact that we were laid back meant we could fully enjoy the day and that ensured our guests did as well. Lynsey even had prosecco poured all over her when Alex's uncle put the confetti cone in the same hand as his drink! It was one of the day's highlights!
