Ceremony - St Mary's Church, Wedmore
Gemma and Rob's story
Rob and I have known each other for all our life. We grew up in the same village, attending the same playgroup, first school, middle school and senior school! We decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together when our eyes met across a room full of toys. Rob was 3 at the time, and it was my first day at playgroup. It was love at first sight!! We knew nobody would take us seriously and that they would say that we were too young… so we decided to wait until making it public!
It was on a crisp April’s morning, some twenty years later, that Rob got down on one knee at the top of Glastonbury Tor, with homemade shortbread biscuits, spelling out ‘MARRY ME!’ Without hesitation I said ‘YES!’
We are both from local farming families, so it was important for us to get married locally. We wanted to celebrate our special day in a place that meant something to us and would involve all our family and friends!
We were fortunate enough to have some very kind and talented Aunts who together arranged all of the flowers, a Mother who made the wedding cake, and another Mum who hand wrote all the invitations in calligraphy!
I wanted something a little different and a bit quirky to travel to the church in so I asked Rob’s Uncle if we could borrow his vintage cream mini! I think he thought we were joking to start off with and it took him until the third time of checking to realise we were being serious!
On arrival at the Church, I remember this being the most emotional part of my day! I was so taken aback at how many of the local community had turned out to wish us luck! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces. I remember trembling down the aisle, but as soon as I saw Rob I knew I was safe and the nerves seemed to slip away!
The ceremony was traditional, but not without laughter! I have four younger brothers whom we had asked to be Ushers for the day. They had kindly taken it upon themselves to write ‘HELP ME!’ on the bottom of Rob’s shoes. This of course had the whole congregation in stitches!
The transport back from the Church was exceptionally special and the best kept village secret! It had been arranged for Rob’s Grampies’ old tractor to be painstakingly restored especially for us to use! And what made it even more special was that Robs Uncle, and my Godfather, Rich (…being local everyone’s connected somehow!) dressed up and drove us back to the Wedding Reception!
Not only did the location of the Wedding Reception, being in a Marquee at home overlooking the farm make it so special – but also that we could see Glastonbury Tor in the distance, where Rob proposed!
In order to fit all of the Wedding Party in the group photo we used hay bales to create different levels for people to sit and stand on. The Massey Ferguson tractor that the Ushers used was also parked up next to everyone, and we had people climbing and hanging off it for the group photo!
The day quickly moved into the evening and more guests arrived! I still cannot believe how quickly it all went! Looking back through the photos that Ross took helps me to relive those happy memories all over again! It was so nice to have such a fun and relaxed feel throughout the day, and Ross was able to capture these very special moments perfectly!