We have a wonderful relaxed Cardiff Castle wedding for you today with amazing photographs by Sacha Miller . Lee & Julian threw away the rule book and (in their words) followed their own path, the result was a relaxed and happy day which I think you’ll agree looks amazing!
What was your budget? We never really set a budget, but from the start decided to try and keep things relatively small and simple, but not skimp on the things that were important to us, like ceremony location, photos and food. We kept track of every bit of spending, and it ended up at £9,500. More than we’d anticipated, but looking back, it was worth every penny!
How would you describe your wedding theme? We didn’t have one, and never even thought about a theme. The Hotel did ask us to choose a colour for chair sashes, and not having any colours in mind, we chose olive green just to match the reception room curtains! Luckily, it was a colour we really liked, so we then bought ties and pocket squares to match.
What was your favourite part of your wedding? One of our favourite moments was when we arrived at the Guest Tower Rooms at Cardiff Castle , and saw our family and friends waiting there for us. Everyone had a glass of bubbles, were all dressed up smarter than we’d seen most of them before, and with beaming smiles. It was at this point that the day became very special.
Tell us about your Wedding Outfit We both decided early on, not to go with a dress as neither of us could fill one out up top! We quickly settled on matching dark blue 3 piece suits, and ended up choosing T.M.Lewin who tailored them for us. Luckily, they went with the reception room curtains.
Who did you pick as your bridesmaids &/or best man and why? The distinct lack of a bride meant that no maids were required, but we wanted to make Julian’s nieces, Delphina and Pearl, feel more involved in the day, as they were so excited about it all when we said we were getting married. We asked them to be our ring bearers, which they did amazingly.
We asked our very good friends Wayne & Lee to be Ushers for us, and they did an amazing job of handling things when we weren’t there, which allowed us to relax knowing our guests were being looked after. 
Why did you choose your venue? I (Lee) grew up just outside Cardiff, and lived there for 18 years. We spent our first few years together there too before we moved to London. I always wanted a nice venue to get married in, and I think that Cardiff Castle always featured in my mind. We went to look at it, and both thought it was perfect for our small wedding (30 guests). We also arranged for our quests to have a tour of the castle before the wedding, as most people were not from Wales, which went down well.
How did the proposal happen? It was a month before same sex marriage became legal in the UK, and we were on the way home to London from a lovely weekend we’d spent visiting friends in Belgium. Julian had always said that I had to be the one to propose, as I’m the older one! I’m not sure if I proposed in France or England as we were somewhere in the Channel Tunnel at the time. Not the most romantic of places I know, and it wasn’t something I’d planned or even thought about until it was pretty much coming out of my mouth. We were talking about how great the weekend had been, and I just asked him. The rest is history.
What was your first dance & why? We didn’t have an evening function, but this is not a tradition we would have followed anyway.
In hindsight, was there anything you would have done differently? I wish we’d provided some finger food either just before or after the ceremony. We were told by a number of people that we’d provided more than enough alcohol from the start at 10:30am, but some people were feeling hungry well before the wedding lunch was served at 2:30pm. Everything else was just perfect.
Do you have any advice for future couples? Heterosexual couples seem to have the wedding thing all sorted out, and tend to follow a traditional format with most things centred on the bride. I’m finding that gay couples are making their own rules on the format of their weddings, and some people seem quite shocked that “You’re not having a cake?!” for example. I think our advice would be to follow your own path, and do whatever you want to make your day special for you. We did, and it was an amazing and relaxing day. A lot of people (even castle staff) commented on how laid back and enjoyable it was. Oh, and it whizzes by so quickly. Soak it all up!
What’s the best piece of marriage advice you received? To take time out together throughout the day. The day goes by so quickly, and you’ll both be trying to get around and spend time with all of your guests.
What was your favourite thing about planning a wedding? It was a really special moment when our rings arrived, as we’d never seen them other than in a picture. They had been made to order in America, out of a meteorite. It does feel good when it’s all done and arranged, and you can just sit back and look forward with excitement to the big day.
The Suppliers
Photographer: Sacha Miller
Ceremony Venue: Cardiff Castle Guest Tower Rooms
Reception Venue: Park Plaza , Cardiff
Groom’s Outfit: T.M.Lewin
Caterers: Laguna Restaurant , Park Plaza
The Wedding Album
Love it! I would love to hear from more couples who have walked their own path, leave us a message to tell us how you are doing things your way :)
