The Couple – Liam and Bethan

Wedding details

Partners name – Liam Vance
Venue – Norwood Park
Date – 15th June 2024
Dress – Enzoani Pebbles

The Couple

How did you meet?

We met at sixth form in 2012. We went to the same school, Liam had been in the year above. After failing his first year of sixth form Liam had to start over again, when I started sixth form. Having used “ask fm” to ask me various anonymous questions during the summer holidays, Liam had sussed out I was also taking Maths and Economics, meaning we had some lessons together and he got the chance to speak to me more in person. Wehn we had a inset day Liam asked if I wanted to go to town with him. We went to costa, went to Primark to get his sister a onesie, and to Maplin to get an adapter for his dad to play music in his car. Very romantic! On the bus ride home as we got near to my stop, Liam told me he was looking after his Uncle’s guinea pigs, bubble and squeak, and asked if I wanted to come and see them. So I stayed on the bus and went to Liam’s house. Then the rest is history! We have been inseparable ever since. We then went to separate Uni’s in Newcastle and Leeds, but continued to see each other, on a Wednesday afternoon when lectures finished, we would get a train or megabus, then get an early one back in time for uni Thursday morning. Until I finished Uni and moved to Leeds to be with Liam. We now have our own house, and our sausage dog Ralph, back nearer to family in Nottinghamshire.

Your engagement story?

We went to Mykonos for our 10 year anniversary in 2022. I had picked out a lovely restaurant to go to, compeltely not connected to the fact that a lot of the tripadvisor photos showed engagements! We booked their special “sunset table” – it was the perfect setting. We arrived at the restaurant just as the sun was setting. They advised we shouldnt sit at the sunset table as it was quite windy/ stormy and the table was out on the edge. The main restaurant was more sheltered. We sat at our table, as the sun was setting, and Liam said he needed the toilet. He was gone for 5-10 mins and by the time he got back the sun was basically gone, so I had a go at him for taking so long and missing the sunset! Little did I know he had gone to toilet to hype himself up to propose. Following the this he decided it didn’t feel like the right time. I by this point had just accepted I didn’t think a proposal was going to happen on this holiday. The next day as we were getting ready to go out for dinner, Liam set his camera up and said lets get a photo on the balcony- we had done this most nights. As he came over for the photo I said “you’ve not done it right! Its not flashing!!” he went over to the phone, pretended to do it agian and came back, I started to tell him its still not working when I then realised something else was going on. He was recording as he then got down on one knee and proposed. I was shocked as even though I did think it would happen that holiday, I never expected it in that moment! (I will send a photo)

What was the first thing you booked for your wedding and why?

Before we even flew home from Mykonos I was shortlisting venues. Once we got back we contacted a few, and Norwood told us they only had one Saturday left in the months we were looking at and asked if we wanted to hold it for 2 weeks. We did this, looked at a couple of others, but we were so sure Norwood was perfect so we went ahead and paid the deposit and got it booked in!

The Wedding Vision

What was your wedding aesthetic / decor?

Neutrals- sage green/ ivory, with pops of bright colours through the flowers- coral charm peonies with blue delphiniums, dahlias etc. Colourful, wildflower vibes. And our main aim for the day was for it to just be really fun, and everyone have a great time- we were set on having great music for the day so had Libby Wedding Singer singing throughout the day, and had The Distractions in the evening. We wanted everyone on the dancefloor and it was never empty!

Moment for the Dress

Dress name and designer, what did you accessorise with? What style did you choose for hair and makeup? Shoes etc

Enzoani Pebbles. Hollywood waves and glam rose gold/ bronze makeup. Had to be glam to go with the heavily beaded mermaid dress! Shows were ivory satin with pearls. Jewellery- diamante and pearl necklace, pearl drop earrings and a dainty pearl bracelet.

Wedding dress shopping

Let us know when you started dress shopping, how many boutiques visited/ dresses tried. Did you pick the style you thought you would go for? Did you know it was the one straight away? If not, how did you know it was the one?

I went to 4 in total in the end. I visited the first one, tried a few on and found a few I liked but nothing I LOVED. Same again for the second boutique. I then had mimi toko booked. I had spotted a dress I loved the look of – enzoani Paisley. I had been looking at both Pebbles and Paisley, but Mimi Toko only had pebbles. I contacted Rosie and asked about Paisley, she was super helpful in getting it loaned in from the designer for me. I spoke to Rosie quite a bit before the appointment, she wanted to get to know me, the wedding, what I wanted etc. I felt like I already knew her when I arrived. I tried the dresses on and even though I had decided in my head Paisley, I knew when I tried it on it wasn’t mermaid enough for me at the bottom. Pebbles however, I absolutely loved. Rosie then also through in a curveball with raquel which I also loved. I then had 2 more boutiques booked, but enzoani were increasing prices massively in a few days time, so I had to make a decision quickly. I went to the next boutique, and tried on a few nice dresses including enzoani posie, and a few martina lianna gowns, all of which were stunning but nothing was quite giving me the same feeling. At this point I knew I needed to go back to mimi toko. Rosie was amazing and managed to fit me in on an evening to get me back in time to order before the price rise. I brought family with me, having initially been on my own, and tried on Raquel, then Pebbles. As soon as I put Pebbles back on I knew, and everyone else agreed it was the one.

Tips for future brides

Is there anything you would have done differently? Anything you wish you knew before wedding planning?

Nothing I would have done differently- would just recommend to get suppliers all booked in asap as they get booked so quickly. The longer you leave it, the less choice you will have, and most just need a small deposit to get the date booked. And just go with whatever you want to do, it’s your wedding, not anybody elses!

Supplier Shout out

Please include any suppliers instagram handles or websites for us to share

Venue @norwoodng25

Florist @jacaranda_flowers

Photographer @a_big_neon_glitter

Videographer @hitched_productions

Makeup @theglossystudio

Hair @rock_n_roller_hair