Modern romance

Standfirst Kelly and John's long distance relationship survived via emails and phonecalls ... as well as John's 200 mile train trip every two weeks. Photos by David King

Click on any of the images below to view a larger version

Early days…

John and Kelly's meeting was a very lucky one. As John explains: "I was living in London and had gone to Manchester for a weekend away with my close uni friends. Kelly was a teacher in Manchester at the time, and we bumped into each other in a bar. We spent the whole evening chatting."
That was back in November 2002, and the couple managed to keep their long distance relationship alive via the phone, the internet and John's fortnightly trips north.
Both Kelly and John had realised pretty early on that each had met someone worth making the effort for. As Kelly says: "I found we had so much in common and he made me laugh lots. After a couple of months of dating, I just knew that John was the man I'd marry."
For John, attraction was instantaneous and he realised it was the real thing after Kelly cooked him a meal one evening. "I knew I loved her when I had to lie about a meal she had made especially for me. It was disgusting but I told her I'd enjoyed it," laughs John. "On a more serious note, I hated saying goodbye to her and having to jump on a train back to London."

The proposal…

John asked for her father's permission, and then proposed to Kelly on a romantic weekend in Paris.

Hen and stag parties…

As with many brides, Kelly had two hen dos, one with close family and a few friends, and another with just her closest friends. "These were both surprises," says Kelly. "For the first one I was taken to the London Eye and then out for some tapas, and for the second we boarded Eurostar for a trip to Lille. We went to a specialist tea and cake restaurant and did some shopping before having a delicious meal with wine. My perfect day."

For his part, John and 10 close friends also ventured abroad and spent four active days in Prague. "We had a Top Gun theme, all official uniforms, including call-signs, badges, hats and lapels with the appropriate ranking system," he says.
"When we checked into our apartment, I had to put on a surprise outfit for the day, which was a brightly coloured scuba outfit complete with flippers. I wore this for the entire day in the height of Prague's tourist season. If the brightly coloured suit didn't catch the attention of the public, the sound of my slapping flippers definitely did."

The dress…

"My dress was very much the traditional wedding dress, although I did opt for a cream colour," says Kelly. "The bodice was very detailed with pearls, diamanté and sequins. The dress had a small train which I was able to pin up during the party."
To accessorise, Kelly wore a simple tiara with decorative pearls and a mid-length veil scattered with diamanté, both of which complemented her dress perfectly.
John wore a dark grey morning suit, waistcoat and striped grey tie. He gave his classic style a twist by choosing some pointed black shoes from Dune. "It's funny, but as I entered the store I knew exactly what I wanted but I left with something completely different!" he laughs.
The two bridesmaids were Kelly's sister and a close friend. They each wore a dark pink dress. "As the bridesmaids were both adults we didn't go for a long dress as we wanted them to wear something that they would feel completely comfortable and glamorous in," says Kelly.
On the day, John was helped out by two close friends who each wore a dark grey morning suit, white shirt, waistcoat and a tie which incorporated the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses.

The flowers…

The couple chose St Peter's Church in Boughton Monchelsea for the ceremony as this was where Kelly was christened. This wasn't the only reason, though. "The location is breathtaking and overlooks a field of deer," says John.
For the celebrations the couple moved on to The Harrow in Hadlow. "We looked at several venues. We really wanted somewhere with a large garden as the plan was to have everyone outside because the wedding was in August and we thought the weather would be warm. We also didn't want anywhere too big as we were having a fairly small wedding. The Harrow was perfect and exceeded all of our expectations," says John.
Simplicity was the key to the floral décor. As Kelly says: "The church was really decorative already so I chose white roses for my bouquet. For the table centrepieces, we had a single large pink rose in a vase on each table."

The best bits…

Kelly and John started off their celebrations with a difference. Rather than offering guests a drink as they entered the reception, they were each provided with a cooling ice lolly. Their wedding breakfast menu was a little more traditional and comprised seasonal food. "We decided to have a sit-down meal for our 50 guests," says John. "We wanted to use summer vegetables, so for a starter we had asparagus wrapped in Parma ham, followed by chicken with summer veg and a dessert of strawberries and cream," says John.
Music was an important part of the couple's day. Kelly walked down the aisle to Mendelssohn's Wedding March and the couple signed the register to Stephen Warbeck's Romeo and Juliet.
In the evening the couple had a disco with music from the sixties onwards, which everyone really enjoyed. "Our original DJ let us down about six weeks before the wedding," says Kelly. "This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we soon managed to find another DJ, and he was brilliant; he got everyone up and dancing all night long."

The honeymoon…

"We weren't particularly organised with our honeymoon and left booking it until pretty late in the day," says John. "Initially we had thought we would go to Tuscany, but every hotel seemed to be booked up, so we ended up going to Cuba. This was an excellent choice as we both enjoy salsa dancing, the beaches are lovely and there is so much history.
"We stayed on a small island just off mainland Cuba called Cayo Coco, but we had a two-day trip to Havana, which was really fantastic. Our honeymoon offered everything we wanted," says John. "We had a brilliant time."

Useful Contacts: