Photography by White Orchid Photography

We take a look at the romantic wedding of crane operator Shaun Ellis and Lisa, a maternity care assistant based at Ipswich Hospital.

How we met

We met on the Cornhill where the Angels used to be in Ipswich town centre aged just 13 and 16. Shaun asked me for the time and then asked me if I wanted to go out with him. A few years later, after lots of chatting on the phone and casually just meeting-up we finally got together at the ages of 17 and 19.

We have been together ever since and now have a five-year-old daughter.

The proposal

I knew Shaun was going to ask me to marry him, as in April of 2005 he said: “Well we had better book a party then”. I said “for what?” and his reply was “our engagement”. So in a way that was him saying ‘will you marry me?’

He proposed to me properly with a ring on the boat restaurant Il Punto in Ipswich in July 2005.

The planning

We started planning for our wedding in September 2008. I didn’t mind that when we got engaged in 2005 we didn’t have a date set then as we were happy enough being engaged. But I must admit it is a lot nicer saying husband that fiancée.

It is also nice to have the same surname as our daughter Raven.

The dress

My gorgeous dress was from Pronuptia and was made by Alfred Angelo. Initially I didn’t like it and wouldn’t even try it on, but after a little persuasion by my mum I did, and I’m so glad I did. It fitted wonderfully, had a lace-up back and flowers on the hip with crystals and diamantes on the top and scattered on the skirt.

The groom’s outfit

Shaun and all the groomsmen got their dark grey morning suits from Coes in Ipswich. Shaun wore an ivory waistcoat, cravat and handkerchief, and the groomsmen wore ivory waistcoats with a caramel-coloured cravat and handkerchief.

The flowers

My mum made the majority of my flowers with foam roses bought from W and M Smith.

Mine and my sisters bouquet were bought from BOA in Ipswich. I had a hand-tied bouquet consisting of Avalanche , Pink Avalanche and Quick Sand Roses with diamantes in the centre. Having foam roses has meant that all my buttonholes, corsages and flower decorations could be kept by wedding party guests for mementoes.

The ceremony

We were married on Thursday, April 1, which got some strange remarks when we told people.

Our ceremony was held at the wonderful Butley Priory in Woodbridge. I had fallen in love with it on the internet and wasn’t disappointed when I saw it in real life. The grounds are gorgeous and the building itself is something to be admired. I was given away by my older brother and my older sister and our daughter as bridesmaids. I had a pianist to entertain guests and walked the down to Pachebels Canon in D I had 2 readings from my friends, ‘Soul Mate’ and ‘The Wedding Day’ and one of my other friends sang Eva Cassidy’s Songbird.

After searching the net for hours and hours I finally found the perfect recessional song ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’, appropriate for the day we both thought.

The rings

We bought our rings from Riley and Riley in Ipswich who were fantastic in helping us to design the rings we wanted.  Mine is a platinum band with 15 tiny diamonds that fits around my engagement ring. Shaun’s is a plain polished band with a bevelled edge to give it some shine.

The reception

Our reception was held at the gorgeous Woodhall Manor in Sutton. The tables were decorated with shabby chic style candelabras and photo frames,  my mum made the lovely organza and rose garland to go along the front of the top table. The day was lovely.

Having the use of two rooms, one for the wedding breakfast and one for the disco later, made the day go with more ease. We had also hired out the mansion house with 12 bedrooms so we spent our first night there with our immediate family and a few friends.

It was lovely having the run of the whole house and getting-up and having breakfast with our friends and family. After breakfast Shaun and I went for a walk around the gardens. Our gorgeous bridal suite (there were 2 to choose from) had a Jacuzzi bath and double walk-in shower.

The catering

The Spice Outside Catering team based in Woodbridge provided us with Pimms and mini scones at Butley Priory and then a two-course wedding breakfast at Woodhall Manor, which consisted of tomato soup and rolls to start then a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. Our wedding cake was our dessert served with tea or coffee. Spice outside also did a fantastic job with our evening BBQ, serving burgers, hot dogs and bacon rolls outside in the lovely surroundings of Woodhall Manor.

The cake

Our cake was made by Cakes Supreme in Ipswich and was a square three- tier stacked carrot cake and lemon sponge cake. I had seen similar designs in magazines and thought they looked good.

It was decorated with light pink and gold ribbon, a row of diamantes and some edible pearls. I had a bow with a brooch which I had bought from a car boot sale on it as well. On the top of the cake I had a lady from Wales make a mini Shaun, me and Raven dressed in the clothes we were going to wear on the day. It looked really good on the top of the cake and is something we can keep forever.

The entertainment

Being a chocoholic, one thing I had to have was a chocolate fountain supplied by Zoe at Chocolate Occasions. It went down a storm, but the only thing is I was so busy I didn’t get any of it. We hired Eclipse for the disco in the evening and our first dance was to Etta James’ At Last. My friend who sang earlier that day had also bought her guitar and was singing and playing outside near the BBQ in the evening.

The photography

Olga Becker was our photographer, we liked her style of photography and she was familiar with the best places to take photos at Butley Priory and Woodhall Manor.

Most memorable moment

Our daughter, who I had rarely seen that day, saw me coming out of the room where we had had our wedding breakfast and stopped dead in the middle of running fast and just started singing ‘here comes the bride’ It was so sweet.

Also memorable was getting back from the hairdressers to see that Shaun had sent me three bunches of flowers with little cards saying ‘see you at 2pm’,   ‘Love you loads’ and also my other surprise was he had a tattoo on his arm with our wedding date and the word ‘forever’ in the middle.

The honeymoon

We had a short three night stay in a lovely five star hotel in the New Forest called The Rhinefield House Hotel, and have just booked our familymoon to Orlando and the Caribbean for next April.

Plans for the future

To live a long and happy life together.