Roselyn + Jeremy

How did you meet?

Jeremy (Jez) and I met on the Bumble dating app. I had recently moved to London from Melbourne and was just starting to go on some dates, with the hope of meeting some new people. Jez had also recently moved to London from Manchester. We both went on our first date without any expectations, but immediately hit it off. What was supposed to be a quick coffee date ended up being 10 hours of coffee, wine, dinner and cocktails.

How did you know he was the one?

I knew Jez was different from the very first date. I felt like I’d known him a long time – it just felt easy and natural. I think I knew he was the one a couple of months into dating him – I just kept pinching myself that I’d met someone as wonderful as him – I still can’t believe it some days. Soon after we started dating, I’d just moved in to a new flat with a friend of mine and he came around with a housewarming present for me. He’d put together a box of all of the Aussie food and lollies I’d been missing since my move to London. It was such a thoughtful thing to do. It was the first of many thoughtful and wonderful things he’s done for me.

What are your three favourite attributes of your partner?

There are so many I love. He has a beautiful, calming presence, which perfectly balances my tendency to get easily stressed. He is always very positive and optimistic, which is infectious. He is really funny and always makes me laugh. I love that we can both be silly together. We always joke that we are each other’s favourite weirdo.

Where did you fall in love with your dress and why?

I’d seen the dress on Instagram before we were engaged and loved the elegance and simplicity of it. I tried on quite a few dresses on my search and found another one I really liked and was going to buy. For some reason though I couldn’t get the Georgie out of my mind though and decided I had to try it on before making my final decision. I went to Heart Aflutter Bridal in North East London and with the help of the wonderful staff there, tried on Georgie. As soon as I saw myself in it I knew it was the dress. I felt like it was very ‘me’ and couldn’t imagine myself wearing anything else.

Who proposed and how?

Jez proposed to me in September 2018. We had arranged to go for a Sunday lunch in Bermondsey, near where we lived at the time. Jez was acting a bit strange that morning, checking the time and pacing, which was very unlike him. On our way to lunch we walked through a lovely park and he asked me to sit with him on a bench. He asked me to close my eyes and hold my hand out. He then put an engagement ring in my hand and asked me to marry him. I couldn’t stop saying ‘What’s going on?’, even though I knew exactly what was happening. We still laugh about my reaction. We both love to travel, so I thought he may propose on one of of our upcoming trips. He told me that he wanted to propose near our home, because no matter where we ended up in the world, London will always be the place where we met and would hold special memories for us.

What was the best moment for you at the wedding?

There were so many, but I think standing up in front of our friends and family exchanging the vows that we had both written for each other was a really special moment. Spending hours on the dance floor with everyone was also amazing and was exactly what we had hoped for.

What surprised you most at or about your wedding

The biggest surprise for Jez and I was how excited our friends and family were for our wedding. We knew people would be happy for us, but it was truly heartwarming to have everyone so invested in our day and wanting to help make it special for us. It was so important for us to be able to celebrate with everyone we care about. Because we live in London and a lot of our UK friends couldn’t make it to our Melbourne wedding, we decided to also have a pre-wedding party in London, to celebrate with everyone there. It was one of the best decisions we made.

What advice would you tell other brides?

Before you start planning, sit down with your partner and discuss what’s really important to you and how you want the day to feel. We had a list of our top 3 important things and a top 10 sub-list. Whenever we were making decisions about our day and working out where to spend versus save money, we went back to our list and asked ourselves if it was going to add to the feeling we wanted for our big day. It also helped us to be on the same page and clear on our vision so that when other people weighed in, we were able to stay true to what was important to us. We really felt like our wedding reflected us and was everything we wanted.

What was the one thing you did differently for your wedding?

We broke tradition with our wedding in a lot of ways and tried to only incorporate traditions that meant something to us. We decided to have an evening ceremony followed immediately by cocktail reception all in the same venue. We wanted a short, meaningful ceremony with a big party afterwards. We also didn’t have a bridal party, but got ready in a hotel with all of our close friends and family, which was a perfect way to start the day. We chose to do a first look and have our photos before the ceremony, which i’d highly recommend, as it allowed us to have some time just the two of us and be able to spend time with all of our guests that night.