“He spotted that the Northern Lights were glowing brightly above us and shouted at the bus driver to pull over for a last look.”
The couple: Gemma Louise Faux & Derek William Daly
Length of engagement: 18 months | Date of wedding: 12th September 2014
Wedding ceremony: St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham, England
Wedding venue: The Walled Garden, Beeston Fields, Nottingham England
Bridal Shoot Location: Wollaton Hall (location of Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight!)
Photographer: David Frain – FrainPhoto
We met…. On a tropical island in the Indian Ocean haha! It is true I promise! We were both on separate backpacking adventures and met randomly through a mutual friend in an Irish bar on Gili Trawangan (which is just off the island of Lombok, near Bali). Derek had spent a couple of hours trudging through the jungle and got himself lost on the way to dinner which worked in my favour, or we may never have met! We both separately travelled through Australia and then Derek followed on to New Zealand a month earlier than planned to see me again.
Our proposal…. We organised a trip to Iceland with our best friends Elly and Bryan and on the second night we did a Northern Lights sightseeing tour (Derek was disappointed as this was organised for the previous night, but it was cancelled due to bad weather). During the evening we saw the Northern Lights, but it wasn’t as impressive as we had both hoped. On the way back to Reykjavik, I was dosing off to sleep, and the rest of the bus was too, but Derek having not found the right moment to propose was wide awake. He spotted that the Northern Lights were glowing brightly above us and shouted at the bus driver to pull over for a last look. Luckily he did, and whilst I was distracted taking photos, Derek got down on one knee! I turned around in utter shock, and the look on my face made him forget all of his words! Luckily, I realised what was happening when he used my full name to ask me to marry him – of course I said yes! Our friends took photos so we will be able to cherish how we looked at that moment forever!
His suit…. was made by a friend of the family, Mr Tony Byrne who runs the company Adastra based in Dublin. All of the groomsmen suits were made by him, as were the father of the bride and stepfather of the bride. Derek chose a 3-piece mid-grey suit and a mint green tie. Tony was so helpful, and even shipped the suits over to us.
My dress… I actually found it quite an easy process finding my dress – I knew what shape would suit me, but thought I should try a few styles to make sure! I found my dress in the first shop that I went in to, which is called The Little White Dress, and is based in Derby, England. My dress was by a Spanish designer San Patrick and it was a strapless fish tail with heavy lace design. I wore a sparkly belt with it to compliment. I can’t even explain how much I love this dress!! I also chose some shoes with a little bit of colour – Rachel Simpson’s shoes were perfect and they came in mint green so that I could match my bridesmaids.
Our favourite part of the wedding day… was seeing each other for the first time in the church.
Our ceremony…. was at St Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham – it was a Catholic service, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! The inside of the cathedral is stunning and it was truly reflected in the photos! We had readings from family members and the ceremony was filmed by my cousin Adam.
What our bridal party wore…. the ladies (except for my sister Laura) wore mint green dresses from Debenhams which were so pretty and went perfectly with our theme. Laura wore a shirt and trousers and a mint green bow tie (made from the offcuts of one of the girls’ dresses once it had been adjusted). One of my bridesmaid’s mum made this for us! The fellas wore suits by Tony Byrne.
We chose our photographer because… Dave of FrainPhoto is a friend of Derek’s brother Stephen, so we were lucky enough to already have a connection. We had previously seen Dave’s work because he photographed both of Derek’s brothers’ weddings, so we knew his work was fantastic. Both myself and Derek are very interested in photography, and we take a lot of photos ourselves, so the photography for the day was one of the most important things to us. Dave didn’t disappoint at all, and some of the photos outside Wollaton Hall are just stunning! After the church service, we stopped off at Wollaton Hall (which is an iconic stately home and a part of most people’s lives in Nottingham! Oh and the place where they filmed “The Dark Knight” – just to name drop) to have a few photographs. We’re so glad we did as the results are fabulous. One of our favourite photos of the whole day is outside Wollaton Hall.
Our honeymoon… was one of the bits we were most looking forward to, hehe! When we first met, we spent quite a lot of time together in New Zealand, so we were both really keen to return there. We were excited to get a stopover in Tokyo on the way, and one of our highlights was watching the sumo wrestling! Such a fun experience. We spent 4 nights in Tokyo, 9 nights in New Zealand and then 5 nights on the beautiful Cook Islands, where we did nothing but relax!
We chose our venue because… the moment we saw the Walled Garden, we knew it was going to be the place for us! It has a static marquee and a beautiful walled garden at the back, with a lot of original features. It was also not very far from where we live, so it made it all the more personal. The staff at the Walled Garden were so helpful and helped us decide on the running of the day, and one of the most important things – the food and drink! We were able to choose our own beers and cocktails for reception drinks, and we had mini fish and chips and beef and yorkshire puddings as canapes.
The food… The food on the day was absolutely wonderful and so many of the guests commented on how good it was! We had herb crusted lamb and dauphinoise potatoes, followed by raspberry cheesecake yum yum! For the evening guests, we had a BBQ, and we didn’t even see any of that food, so it must’ve been good! We were – also lucky enough to know some wonderful bakers, so our friends and family made our wedding cakes! My sister Carly made a green ombre sponge cake, our friend Bryan made a chocolate Guinness cake, and our friend Gen made a red velvet cake. They were all delicious!
My piece of advice for other brides…. keep it simple and focus on the bits that mean the most to you both. You won’t have time to do everything you want, but honestly, on the day, you won’t even notice! I know everyone says it, but make the most of every minute, as the best day of your life really does fly by! I wish we could do it all over again exactly as it was!
Suppliers
Invitations, Favours, Table Plan: DIY | Wedding dress and veil: The Little White Dress, Derby | Headpiece: Debenhams | Bridesmaid dresses: Debenhams | Suits: Adastra, Dublin | Bride’s shoes: Rachel Simpson | Make up: Chanel | Hair : Time to relax, Stapleford, Nottingham | Bunting: Cliffs cushions | Flowers: Fruits of the Florist | Chair sashes: Lush occasions | Entertainment: The one step band (amazing three piece band with a reggae twist) | Cakes: DIY | Thumb Print Guest Book: Neil Housego | Venue: The Walled Garden, Beeston Fields, Nottingham | Camper van hire: CW Campers | London Bus Hire: Blackmore commercials | Rings: Temprells (Nottingham), Lance Grossman (Dundrum, Dublin)
