It’s always really lovely to be asked to perform a ceremony by somebody who’s seen you in action before, and this was the case with my Bride Sarah, who’d previously strutted her way through the infamous ‘Woodland Parade’ back in 2016 as a rabbit Best Woman (yes, you read that correctly!) when I was still only wedding planning. She also came to a naming ceremony I led for the same couple and their new arrival a few years later.

Sarah and her partner Emily began planning their wedding almost three years before they were finally able to walk down the aisle together. This delay didn’t dampen their spirits though and actually gave them the time to put together one of the most heart-felt and tender ceremonies it’s ever been my pleasure to perform.

With live acapella performances from the Lovenotes, an all female four piece who sang an original arrangement of the poem ‘Say Yes’, and the sun-drenched ambience of the Whitworth’s beautiful high-ceilinged rooms, it couldn’t have felt more light or effortlessly joyful. Both Brides certainly seemed as if they were walking on air.

Sarah and Emily are self-confessed city lovers and met in the metropolitan hub of Manchester. It was important to them that their wedding reflected their shared love of art and culture in a venue that was laid-back, untraditional and yet utterly oozing with class and character. Where better to celebrate their big day then than The Whitworth Art Gallery, whilst making sure that every element of their celebrations was a masterpiece of harmony, beauty and love?

This was also my first ceremony where the script itself was requested by the Bride’s mother to be translated into German, so that relatives unable to make the journey could share in the joys of the much-anticipated day. Other friends and relatives did travel from all corners of the globe to be there however, and the tiniest member of the audience was only a few weeks old.

It was an extremely hot midsummer’s day but both Sarah and Emily looked effortlessly cool in their gorgeously bespoke yet complimentary white gowns. The pictures taken by Lucy Sharrett of Starwinkle Photography capture perfectly the calm embodiment of the phrase ‘good things come to those who wait’, and I think you’ll agree that this very patient couple couldn’t have been more happy or content.

Congratulations Emily and Sarah, may the rest of your life be a masterpiece co-created everyday!