A Family Affair with a Firework Finale – Lucy & Chris at the Clifton Arms, Lytham

Lucy and Chris tied the knot at The Willows Church, Kirkham
and The Clifton Arms, Lytham on 20th June 2015.

We met each other at work. I moved into a new department at
work which was predominantly a male environment so to have a female move in to
the department caused quite a stir. I was due to visit the department the
Friday prior to starting for a quick brief/meeting with my new manager. Chris
heard about this and decided to stay late at work to try and get a glimpse of
me & say hello, but he ended up getting bored waiting and left. The
following Monday I arrived at work but my desk wasn’t ready – so I ended up
sitting at a vacant desk which happened to be attached to Chris’s. He often
liked to complete the newspaper crossword at lunch with his colleague and as
they were working through the clues out loud an obvious clue/answer arose and
they were taking far too long to come up with the answer! So I turned around
and said “it’s obvious, it is……” and then we started talking. Chris took me on
a date for my birthday almost 6 years ago and we haven’t looked back since!

His proposal was very special. It was just a regular
Saturday in January and I had been out in town with a friend browsing the last
of the Christmas sales. I returned home with our friend who decided to pop in
for a drink and to catch the last of the football match – much to Chris’s
disappointment, because he had set up a proposal upstairs in the house and so
he had to quickly try to blow out candles and keep me away from the set up!

My friend left and Chris disappeared off upstairs. He asked
me to call our dog Bruno down the stairs, so I did this, thinking that the dog
was getting in the way of him making the bed or tidying up! When Bruno came
down I noticed his blue collar was replaced with a new red collar. I knew Chris
had visited the pet shop so I shouted up ‘Oh, you have bought the dog a new
collar…’ I glanced at the tag which was covered in red diamantes and it said “Will
you marry me?” – then attached to this was my beautiful engagement ring! So I ran
upstairs to find candles, rose petals, flowers, heart shaped balloons and Chris
who said “So what do you think then?” – and
of course, I said Yes!

We were fortunate that so many friends and family got
involved with our big day. We feel truly blessed to have a large family that is
so close. From my Aunty and Uncle decorating the church; to friends helping
with the designs and Grandad making the table name frames; and family making
the mass so very special with the lovely readings, singing and offertory – it
felt like a lot of love had made our day so very special.

Our family friends own some stunning 1930’s buses that have
been restored to their former glory, and we were very fortunate to have the bus
available to us for the guests to travel on and everyone had great fun hopping
on and off the back of the bus! To make the journey extra memorable all the
guests were issued with an old fashioned ticket with the wedding date on it.
This very much incorporated the family business – Walton’s Coaches! I managed
to get the day off for the wedding and
I didn’t have to drive the guests!

Our first dance was very special as I am a dancer although
Chris is most definitely not! However he spoke to me about learning a short
routine for our special day. This was a big step for my shy other half who does
not have a passion for dancing – but it meant the world to me that he wanted to
make our first dance special. He also wanted to choose the song and his choice
was perfect – Lucky by Jason Mraz.

My mum has a wicked sense of humour and after seeing the
film Marigold Hotel 2 she decided we needed to do a flash mob! So I sent out a
very last minute Facebook message to family and friends to meet up at the
Holiday Inn for a rehearsal that very evening. I wasn’t sure how many people to
expect but was overwhelmed that nearly 30 family and friends turned up to
support the idea! We chose a Eurovision Song contest song as we both have a
love of Eurovision and we host a yearly Eurovision party. We asked Robin our DJ
from Dancefloor Couture to state there was a technical issue and could everyone
leave the dancefloor… and as they did, the flash mob team came on to the floor which
is when the magic happened! We had so much fun doing the routine and it’s
definitely something we will always remember – although the hubby won’t let me
live it down that the dancer of our relationship got it wrong…

The entertainment for the evening was amazing. On getting
engaged I had only one thing I really wanted at my wedding – STEPHEN BAYLISS! I
didn’t mind the venue, I had no idea what dress I wanted but what I did know was
I wanted Stephen B to sing on my big day! He definitely didn’t disappoint,
everyone thought he was fabulous and has been talked about a lot following the
wedding day. DJ Robin kept the floor full until 1am and, if he could, he would
have kept the party going until 4am!

Our big finale was the firework display by Wayne and Nicola
from the Firework Shop in Preston. I don’t know how to put in to words how
fabulous the display was. It had all the guests talking as well as half of
Lytham! I felt very lucky as I looked over the water at the firework display
enjoying this moment together – it really made for a special day and some
amazing photographs.

It was the best day of my life and I wish I could relive it
every weekend! In fact, we honeymooned in Italy where we continued the
celebrations with a wedding blessing with Chris’s Italian family.

Many thanks to Ashton Photography for supplying images of Chris & Lucy’s big day!

Venue Flowers & Bouquets – Margaret Mason

Wedding Dress – Dan Kerr Brides, Preston

Bridesmaids Dresses – John Lewis

Suits – Moss Brothers, Preston

Leave a comment