Hear from our amazing bride Lorna about her 2020 wedding in her own words

We were due to get married in June 2020, but due to Covid our original date was cancelled, myself and my fiancé then made plans to elope on what would have been our honeymoon. Unfortunately this was then cancelled too.

In August my fiancé and I decided to bite the bullet and arrange a wedding under the current Covid restrictions in September.

We understood our wedding would not be “normal” in terms of wedding our friends and family had seen before, but we knew that the essence of what we were trying to achieve on this momentous occasion would be exactly the same. We both felt that the wedding itself was not the goal, but a means to a much greater and higher purpose; we just wanted to be Husband and Wife.

It seems fairly easy to become entangled and overwhelmed with the details that make up a typical wedding, with the significance of the journey that the couple are about to embark becoming muddled under the layers of other aspects that compete for our attention. In contrast to our original plans our wedding was completely stripped down to a bare minimum.

Obviously, we were limited in terms of guests, venues, catering and receptions. To us, that “bare minimum” became something worth so much more, our wedding day became about myself and my husband again. We were no longer worried if someone didn’t eat salmon, or where people would sit if they didn’t get on…

The day itself was completely stress free and I’m confident that that was due to it being so intimate, with the focus being nothing other than us. The day itself was amazing and despite being bereft of the original frills and embellishments, was NOT a compromise, and still remains the best day of our lives, all of our suppliers went above and beyond our expectations to make it the most amazing experience.

Believe it or not, we would not have changed a thing about how the day turned out. Being able to focus on my husband, closest friends and family on the best day of my life and not worrying about anything else really helped me to enjoy the moment and appreciate it for what it was – the beginning of our forever.

Our advice to anyone considering a small, intimate wedding would be to just do it – forget about what weddings are “supposed” to be, follow your heart and get married because life’s too short to wait.

I cannot recommend The Wedding Workshop highly enough.

Before I made an appointment with the wedding workshop I scoured local boutiques looking for a dress that suited my style, figure and personality but to no avail. I found The Wedding Workshop online in the end, and was delighted to find they were only 5 miles away, we had tried to keep to supporting local suppliers for our wedding so it was perfect. I was convinced after I’d arranged my first appointment that a hand made dress would be completely out of my budget so was completely shocked when I found out it was within it!

Hollie was fantastic to work with, she knew exactly what she was doing throughout the process, left me to make decisions where needed but provided a professional and friendly opinion when I needed support to decide. The process of the dress creation was easy and I had plenty of opportunities to amend areas, details and lengths. I had a mock up dress made for me before any expensive work started so I could check I was happy with the style I selected.

Throughout the drama and despair Hollie was supportive, thoughtful and above all always cheery, she made me feel that my emotions of my cancelled attempts were justified and offered oodles of support (despite the fact her business must have been going through considerable more stress than I as a bride was!)

I gave Hollie just 4/5 weeks notice that I would need my dress, she didn’t bat an eyelid, got me booked in for the final fittings and completed the dress a week before our wedding as she was off on holiday!

The finished dress was without a doubt stunning and everything I had dreamed of and in my opinion the design and detail just completely speaks for itself. I have included a number of pictures throughout the process and of the final dress. If you are considering using the Wedding Workshop, please do – you won’t be disappointed.

THANK YOU

Venue - Swiss Gardens at Shuttleworth

Photographer - Ellie Merridale

Back Jewellery - Rachel Sokhal

Flowers - Hopyard Lane