Danson House Wedding - Bethany & Luke Granger

A little different to our usual wedding blogs, I am delighted to be writing about our own wedding day. Those of you who have followed our wedding planning process or read our 'How To Plan A Wedding In 3 Months' blog may already know some of the details but just as I love writing blogs about the wedding days we attend as photographers, I felt it was important to document our wedding day too and share some more details of how we made it happen. Not only did we plan it in just 3 months, we spent just £3500!

Luke and I met in February 2018 and knew from fairly early on we had found a great match. Luke made it clear from the off that his daughter Jessica (aged 6) was his priority and only when he knew for certain I was "The One He Would Spend The Rest of His Life With" would he allow me to meet her. On July 15th 2018, I met Jessica for the first time and from that day the three of us became a family. The following year I proposed to Luke, and we have navigated life together as an amazing team, so it was about time we officially tied the knot.

It was well known I would have married Luke the next day, but although attending so many grand and elaborate weddings is fantastic, we realised that there were lots of elements of a wedding day that we didn't feel suited us.

We instead chose to have a relaxed, non traditional wedding day with a family friendly focus and managed to do so on a budget of just £3500, we do love a challenge =]

Wanting to stick with the tradition of not spending the night together before we got married, Jessica and I would be spending the night at the Premier Inn Hotel in Bexleyheath, alongside my Sister (Abbie), Brother in Law (James), Neice (Isla aged 2) & Nephew (Jack aged 5). We checked in and found our adjoining rooms, began to unpack and were soon joined by the others.

The children played and casually watched tv, we headed downstairs for dinner and spent the evening relaxing together. I had a nice long bubble bath before getting in my PJs and heading to bed next to a sleepy Jessica and her Cuddly Elephant, Luna who were taking up most of the bed. Luke, who was enjoying a peaceful night at home, messaged me gloating that he could starfish and that he had eaten a whole gammon for his dinner.

Jessica and I were woken up the next morning by a very excited Jack and Isla wishing me happy birthday, Today was not only my wedding day but my 30th Birthday too! Sunday mornings are usually quite slow for us, so Jessica and I chose to stay in our room watching tv, whilst the others headed down for their breakfast. With cards, decorations and a selection of messages wishing us the best day ever, It was soon time to begin getting ready for my wedding. Eeek!

Wedding At Danson House Registry Office

Jessica and I were soon pulling up outside Danson House and chose to wait in the taxi until Abbie, James, Jack and Isla had made they way to us from parking the car. Father of the Bride, my Dad Martyn, met us at the bottom of the steps as planned and we were soon on our way in.

Isla was a little unsettled, not quite sure what was going on so Jack stepped into wedding dress holding duties and we made it into the warm, where I was whisked off for my registrar chat. Just a few minutes until I can see Luke and I was very excited.

As Canon in D played, Jessica and Jack lead the way hand in hand. Both of them can be a little shy so I was worried for them; after seeing lots of familiar faces around the room, plus the fact the walk is probably the shortest aisle in history, their nerves were eased very quickly. Abbie and Isla then followed and waited at their seats before Dad and I made our way in. I just remember seeing Luke standing there and feeling such a relief, I was smiling like a Cheshire Cat. I could tell he was a little nervous but held onto his finger and kept mentally pinching myself that we had finally made it to the alter. I did also think, I hope he doesn't change his mind in a minute and walk back out, but thankfully that didn't happen.

The Kentish Ceremony, who manage all the Registrars in Kent, offer a series of choices to the wording of each wedding ceremony. Couples select the options that they feel suit them best and there then are standard sections that must be read alongside. Our registrars were XXX & Christine and did a lovely job of hosting our ceremony at Danson House, all weddings in Kent will follow the same script with just minor variations such as adding readings if desired.

We chose the following options: Entrance One, Presentation One, Personal Promises One, Marriage Vows Two, Exchange of Rings Two. Wording may change in the future, but here is the options booklet we were issued which explains further, If you are planning a wedding with a Kent Registrar this might be helpful.

We had chosen our Mum's to act as our witnesses so we all signed the register and took a handful of photos to celebrate. In our opinion, the great thing about Registry office weddings is that the ceremony itself is kept quite short, neither of us are big public speakers so this suited us perfectly. We were soon presented with our certificate and sent on our way, the whole ceremony had taken around 15 minutes.

We headed outside to join our guests and began to take our group photographs at the bottom of the steps. There was a short delay as my Great Auntie Mickey, was being held hostage by the lift but thankfully the team managed to break her free and everyone was able to join us.

Family group shots naturally take a considerable amount of time at any wedding, but we had listed around 10 group shots that we required so between Geraint and Alex they herded people in place. We were so lucky with the weather throughout the day, at times the wind was strong but the afternoon was bright and dry which is all we could have asked for.

With group shots complete, our guests made their way to Danson Stables, the local pub restaurant we had chosen to host our wedding reception, whilst we spent a few minutes on the steps before heading into the English Gardens for some photographs together as a couple.

Our Wedding at Danson Stables, Bexley

With everyone we love sat around us, it was amazing to hear chatter and see so many happy smiling faces. The children were either blowing bubbles and colouring or on the dance floor, family members were catching up and everyone was congratulating us and saying how they were loving our relaxed approach to our wedding day.

As dinner was due to arrive shortly, It was time for the speeches to commence. Having been to many weddings as photographers, we always find that speeches before food are preferred by the speakers. They can then relax and enjoy their meals without their nerves getting the better of them, plus if there is less impact if there are any catering delays and no one has to rush.

My Dad took the attention of the audience first, telling our guests of the time I embarrassed him in our local Tesco Cafe. I must have been around 5 or 6 years old and somehow had learnt the word Lesbian. Sitting together over a Daddy Daughter breakfast, I pipe up really loudly and say "Daddy, I must be a lesbian, because I love Lily".

For context, Lily was my childhood best friend, my parents had brought me up to be fairly open minded so my Dad's response as he turned a little pink was "Yes, Dear" followed by raising his morning paper a little higher as we received some interesting glances from fellow diners.

It was then Luke's turn but despite planning a traditional speech, his nerves got the better of him and he decided to wing it a little, opting for the shortest Groom's speech I have ever heard. He briefly thanked everyone for coming and said how beautiful Jessica looked, she beamed with pride and we were both sat waiting for him to share the secret.

"Yea thanks for coming that's my speech. Enjoy some free food, buy yourself your own drinks because that's going to get expensive otherwise. We won't keep Beth waiting as a lot of you will know she will get very hangry and she is now eating for two"

He said it so quickly that there was a hum of "What did he say?" then the cheers, claps and tears began as everyone in the room realised that we were not just celebrating our wedding and my birthday, we had a new member of the family on the way too.

After the shock of the announcement had sunk in, and tears of joy had been wiped, our food began to be served and we were all soon tucking into our dinners. We had narrowed down the full Danson Stables menu to a small selection but we specifically chose a range of options that offered flexibility to cater for our guests.

My parents had had the final dance of the evening as their own wedding song "Lady in Red" which featured in my playlist which was lovely to see. Together we packed up the decorations and gifts into the car plus the remaining wedding cake came with us too. At 7pm we left Danson Stables and made our way to drop Jessica back to her house. She was tired and excited in equal measures, armed with cake for her pudding the next day. In the car told us she had such a great day being our bridesmaid and was now excited that her next special adventure was to be a big sister.

After doorstep cuddles and goodbyes, we headed home ourselves and settled on the sofa. We spoke about our favourite parts of the day whilst opening all the lovely cards and gifts we had received, generally soaking up the happiness bubble that we were in. After removing my dress our floor was covered in confetti and we spent the rest of our evening enjoying life as newlyweds.

The Best Budget Wedding

Our wedding day had been more like a big family gathering, it wasn't formal or traditional but it was important to us and we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating in our own way, with the people who loved us the most around us.

Neither of us have ever smiled so much, nor could we dream of having done it any different.

If you are planning your own wedding day my best piece of advice is to focus entirely on what as a couple YOU want. Don't be swayed into making endless choices to suit other people, be practical by all means but don't let how you envisage your day to be completely influenced by tradition or other peoples opinions.

Every wedding day is special, so make your wedding day memorable for all the right reasons.

Thank you to everyone who made our day fantastic, you can read about our Minimoon below if you wish, or check out our planning blog if you haven't already.

Minimoon at The Cave Hotel, Canterbury

Our first morning as a married couple was very us - after a nice lay in, we spent it editing! Before he had left, our photographer Geraint had handed over the memory cards used to photograph our wedding so we were very keen to get cracking on editing our photographs. This was such a lovely experience to do together and certainly not the norm but was really important to us. I selected all my favourites and then we went through them together, choosing how we wanted them to be finished. Luke worked his magic and we created a sneak peek gallery of photographs we loved, setting aside the rest to work on another time. After all, we had a Minimoon to get to!

Having worked regularly with The Cave Hotel in Canterbury, we had been gifted a two night stay and were looking forward to having a few days to relax together. Given that we work and live together, we are lucky to spend so much time in each others company, however despite our efforts work and general life can easily create distractions and interrupt our quality couple time together.

A short drive from home, we checked in at around 6pm with a warm welcome by the Cave Hotel team. Allocated a lovely Cave Room on the 1st floor, we settled in and soon made our way straight down to dinner in the Korean Cowgirl restaurant.

Luke ordered himself a cocktail (where he was dubious about eating the edible flowers) whilst I opted for an Orange Juice and a jug of water. Then I was soon tucking into my favourite - a Cowgirl Burger with fries and Luke chose a double portion of honey butter chicken wings with fries. Service in the Cowgirl is always fantastic but also very quick. The food is fantastic quality and the flavours are amazing, the Cowgirl burger is probably my favourite meal from any restaurant ever!

By 7:30pm we were tucked up in our super comfy Kingsize bed, watching TV which is one of our favourite past times. We are big Netflix fans and love to binge watch tv of an evening so after a busy few days this was a much needed rest.

The following morning we enjoyed another lay in and after a rainfall shower, headed to the Firepit Restaurant for breakfast. On recommendation from Josie (Cave Hotel Bride who we are now friends with) I chose the breakfast quesadilla which went down a treat. Cheesy, a little spice and absolutely huge, I am not ashamed to say I ate every last bite. Luke selected Nutella & Biscoff French toast on recommendation from Dan (Cave Hotel Groom and friend, Josie's Husband) and I think Luke even sent him a photo to rub it in.

Luke flew his drone for a little and then later on we headed to The Korean Cowgirl again for dinner. We have eaten an evening meal at The Firepit before but the Cowgirl was now our preferred option. After a recommendation from Josh, we had chosen to share a platter this evening so we were soon tucking into a mix brisket, pull pork, boneless chicken wings. Each element was perfectly cooked and the flavours tasted great but for me it didn't beat my signature cowgirl burger. Luke enjoyed a lemon based cocktail and I stuck this evening with water.

Another evening in our comfy bed watching tv, I woke up the next morning and enjoyed some fresh air on the balcony whilst Luke had a lay in. I wasn't feeling fantastic as my chest infection had returned but I was still a very happy wife.

When Luke woke up, we packed our bags and headed down to breakfast. I chose a simple breakfast of toast this morning, which came with an assortment of jams and spreads, whilst Luke stuck to his choice of French toast.

Our minimoon was over but we felt really relaxed and were ready to return to reality, which was good as we had some work to do before we left. At this time of the morning the Cowgirl was empty so Luke was able to get some great shots of both the lounge and restaurant as discussed with Josh. Combining business and pleasure certainly isn't bad when you visit fantastic places like this.

How We Planned Our Wedding On A Budget

Some costs have been rounded up/down but as a general ballpark these are the costs spent on our wedding day and the suppliers we used.

Total Cost - £3510.50

Registry Office - Danson House £915.00

Reception Venue & Catering - Danson Stables £798.00

Photographer - Geraint Roberts and Alex Kitchener working for Luke Granger Photography £400.00

Wedding Dress - Justin Alexander Purchased Via StillWhite £350.00

Alterations - Bridal Alterations Maidstone £250.00

Jessica's Dress - Chictry Via Amazon £18.00

Isla's Dress - Ebay £8.00

Jack's Waistcoat & Tie - Charity Shop £2.00

Hair (Beth & Jessica) - Becky's Unique Creations £75.00

Bridal Make Up - Rosanne Make Up Artist £40.00

Underskirt - Ebay £12.00

Rings - H Samuels £300

Flowers - Design Gifted by The Kentish Wreath Company Materials only £75.00

Invitations & Stationary - Handmade £30.00

Table Decorations - Amazon & Facebay £55.00

Cake - Sainsburys £24.00

Cake Topper - Ebay £1.50

Children Goody Bags - £6

Father of The Bride Tie - Amazon £6

Accommodation - Premier Inn Bexleyheath (2 Rooms) £115

Bridal Transport - Richard Ashley £30

Spotify Playlist - Homemade

Venue Set Up - Gifted By Silk & Confetti Events

Minimoon - Gifted by The Cave Hotel Canterbury