JOsIe AnD KYLA
SUGAR AND SPICE
Josie met Kyla at the supermarket. Before long they were swapping one aisle for another on the biggest day of their lives
We first met at a supermarket. Kyla worked there and I got a job there while finishing off my A levels. We both worked late nights on Thursdays and because they were always quiet, we just got talking. One day Kyla gave me her number and we started texting a lot. After that we just clicked and started seeing each other.
Kyla proposed to me in February 2014 – our second year anniversary. We discussed getting married and always thought we’ d wait a while. But after the proposal we lost a few people very close to us and it made us realise even more that we wanted to be together.
Deciding on the style of our wedding was tricky. In the end we just went for everything we wanted while keeping it simple and elegant so nothing clashed or looked ridiculous. We knew we
66 » pink weddings magazine wanted a photo booth, postbox and sweets, so picked out what we liked and made it fit together.
We had both gathered loads of ideas from wedding maga zines and Pinterest, so we started brainstorming which ones we really wanted and which ones we didn’ t mind not having.
We were going to do DIY invitations but as we only had less than a year to organise the wedding, we used zazzle. com instead, but we made our own name places, centre-pieces and seating plan. Our venue was amazing and didn’ t need decorations, so we kept it simple with uplighters on the pillars.
Our favours to guests were sweet bags that they could fill up from large vases on the tables, and we gave our bridesmaid and maid of honour gorgeous person- alised silver bracelets from wish. com.
I don ' t like attention, so the proposal was very private. Kyla did it in our flat that we were renting at the time. She made a trail on different notes saying how much she loved me and then at the end was an empty ring box. I found her back in our bedroom with the ring. I said yes straight away and I still have all the notes from the trail.
The venue came about as Josie ' s sister was working at London Zoo at the time and suggested it for our wedding. It was so different to anything else we knew – we had to go ahead! The staff were amazing and did everything for us. Kyla wore smart trousers, shirt, braces, bow tie and waistcoat and her bridesmaid wore the same, with a smaller version for our page boy.
I saw my simple knee length white dress on Pinterest, from a Chinese supplier – all I had to do was send them my measurements. My bridesmaids wore aqua blue dresses, with the colour picked up in my dad and brother’ s ties.
Our ceremony was very unelaborate. We didn ' t write our own vows or have any special reading because neither of us like attention, so wanted to keep it simple. The ladies that did our ceremony were lovely and reassured us both.
Both our families were involved and we both had wedding parties. We each had our best friends as our maids of hon- our, with Kyla’ s sister and our close friends as bridesmaids. Kyla ' s nephew was our page boy and held the rings. Kyla’ s mum and my dad walked us down the aisle.
We invited many of our friends and family up to London Zoo to celebrate our reception with us and our guests that were there for the ceremony were able to walk around the zoo for a couple of hours before coming back to our venue for a sit-down meal. Our evening guests turned up just after the speeches to enjoy the evening party.