OUR KENTISH CEREMONY
MARRIED AT WELLINGTON HOUSE
CANTERBURY AFTER POSTPONING THEIR CELEBRATIONS SEVERAL TIMES , NASIRDEEN ALIMI AND SARAH TODD FINALLY TIED THE KNOT IN FRONT OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THEIR HOMETOWN OF CANTERBURY
Photography by : Photography by Petrina
THE VENUE We had hoped to get married in a castle estate in Sarah ’ s hometown in Scotland in November 2020 . However , as Covid cases were rising again and talk of another lockdown increased we chose to go ahead with our religious ceremony alone . Our guests joined us with one days ’ notice on Zoom on a random Thursday night in November to watch our religious ceremony with the promise of a later reception . We planned another wedding day in January 2022 but with the escalating crisis in Eastern Europe my dad was unable to attend , and we decided to delay . Unfortunately , Nas forgot to tell his sister and mum who travelled from America for the wedding that wasn ’ t happening !
In the end , we chose Wellington House because it was convenient and in the city we had built a life together . We took our pictures in Westgate Gardens because of the beauty of the place and we love the canal and boats so much . Our photographer arranged with a local punting boat company for us to have a short boat ride after our ceremony as a surprise .
The groom ’ s mum travelled to us from New York , the bride ’ s mum , brother and friends attended from Scotland and the bride ’ s father attended from Russia .
THE DRESS I ordered my wedding dress two weeks before Nas proposed ! It was strapless which obviously didn ’ t work for me as a hijab wearing woman so once he had officially proposed I ordered another of the dresses and had it redesigned by Alter Girls in Glasgow to be more modest .
As we delayed our wedding a few times I had to buy another dress due to being pregnant but just couldn ’ t fall in love with it the same way and eventually decided to squeeze my bump into the original dress anyway .
On the day , as I was getting dressed one of the hooks in the zip broke … but I refused to see this as a sign to wear the second dress ! I met our photographer in the hallway of the Falstaff Hotel and she accompanied me across the road to Westgate Dry Cleaners to have them help repair the zip and take some funny pictures of me being wrestled into the dress .
THE CEREMONY The bride did get a little lost in the venue but when we were eventually found it all smoothed out . The father of the bride led her down the aisle without waiting for the music because we were so keen which was very surprising for the celebrant ! The groom caused tears with his reading of a poem and caused even more laughs with his insistence of kissing the bride multiple times before it was scheduled .
THE RECEPTION We held our reception at home with event hire items from Canterbury Catering and Event Hire , Nigerian catering from Jays Events and Scottish food by the bride and her father .
48 | AKENTISHCEREMONY . COM | SPRING 2023