The Wedding Album - Kevin and Katrina Hard August 2013 | UKbride

Kevin and I first met at school - I had to do my A-level in Design & Technology at the local boys’ school as it wasn’t available at the Girl’s school. That's where we met, but we didn’t get together until the Summer between our second and third year at University. Kevin was studying Building Services in Nottingham whilst I was studying Interior Design at Bournemouth, and I moved to Nottingham after graduation and started work whilst Kevin started towards his Phd.

We have been together for 12 years last July, and I had made quite a point of it being a leap year last year and that I was thinking that perhaps I might ‘pop the question’ in February, but Kevin is quite traditional about things like that though, and made it clear he really didn’t want me to.

He’s an Entrepreneur and works hard for his solar energy business EvoEnergy and as such he doesn’t have much time to plan things outside of work, so it was quite a surprise when, shortly before Valentine’s Day, he announced that he wanted to take me away to Las Vegas. I was given the laptop and a glass of rosé, and asked to organise our break. I planned a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon and thought that would be a great opportunity for him to propose. However he manage to surprise me instead, by asking me the day before in the middle of the Nevada desert after dune buggy driving experience.

I bought my first wedding magazines in the US on the way home and loved the extravagance of how they plan weddings over there. I found a clear picture of the type of dress I wanted: huge, period, satin and theatrical!

We looked at six venues in the area and found a few but we both knew we wanted somewhere a bit different & unique. We carried on looking and immediately fell in love with Harlaxton Manor. The availability of the venue set our wedding date, so we had a year to plan the day.

I lost count of how many hours were spent at weekends and eventually evenings too making all the handmade details I’d designed. Luckily I had lots of willing family and friends to come and lend a hand with payment of wine and chocolate.

I’m generally a bit of a crier, so I was convinced that I would cry all morning on the day and blub all the way down the aisle. In fact, it turned out that I was about the calmest of the bridal party and didn’t shed a tear. It was amazing to have the sun streaming in through the windows and to know all our friends and family were there to support us, however my attention was focused entirely on Kevin and making sure I didn’t mess up my lines!

We had quite a big list of attendants; my sister Jo was chief bridesmaid and my three year old niece Caitlin as flowergirl. My best friend from school Amy her two young daughters Charlotte & Chloe my university friend Lorna and friend Jess were also bridesmaids and flower girls. Meanwhile, Kevin chose Simon and Tom plus four other Ushers for his groomsmen.

I had seen some amazing wedding dresses in an US magazine by Amalia Carrara, so I searched for a wedding dress in the UK of similar design. Big theatrical satin dresses aren’t as popular in the UK, so it was quite disheartening at first. However, I found my Ronald Joyce wedding dress in a local shop and with the help of a dressmaker, added extra removable tuille under the skirt to make it fuller, plus some extra ‘sparkles’ and removable shoulder shrugs so that I could wear a sparkly choker in evening.

The whole day was at Harlaxton Manor - the champagne reception took place in the Gold Room, Conservatory and in the Gardens. We had giant garden games and a magician to keep the guests entertained, accompanied by a harpist and pianist from the ceremony. A wedding breakfast was held for 120 in the Long Gallery and the Magic Parlour show and disco took place in the Great Hall in the evening.

One of Kevin’s Bestmen is a Barrister and so they put Kevin ‘on trial’ during their speech: he was charged with having the same haircut for years, numerous crimes against fashion and for not living up to his name; Hard. He was found guilty by the bridesmaids and sentenced to a lifetime of marriage!

After the first dance the bridesmaids and hens had planned a ‘flash mob’ surprise dance for Kevin to Bruno Mars’ Marry You, where the bridesmaids ran onto the dance floor and the children danced with pink ribbons.

After the wedding day we went off on our honeymoon and it was amazing. We left for Bali on the Monday after the wedding to begin our three week honemoon where we spent the first nine days in Sanur & Ubud. It was wonderful to relax in beautiful surrounds and watch the first of the wedding photos appear on Facebook. We then flew to Melbourne where we explored the city for a couple of days before starting our three day drive to Sydney, were we finished our honeymoon with three wonderful days before flying back to reality.

Our wedding coordinators Simon and Ellen did a fantastic job at Harlaxton Manor. Simon worked incredibly hard on the day and the day before to ensure everything ran to plan. My wedding team were all awesome - Yvonne Charlton for making my dream wedding dress, Rebecca at Floraldeco for our unique ‘peacock’ flowers, Nicola at Little Cakes for my wedding cake, David Fox for keeping our guests entertained all day and of course Sam Hook for producing stunning photos of our magical day to keep forever.

Advice for brides-to-be? I’d recommend that they don’t leave things until the last minute. You’ll be less stressed if you plan well in advance and enjoy the experience so much more. Also, be as imaginative as possible and don’t give up! Just because what you want isn’t standard, normal or fashionable doesn’t mean you can’t have it!

Venue: Harlaxton Manor.
Cake: Little Cakes.
Flowers: Floral Deco.
Magician: David Fox.
DJ: Sight & Sound.
Pianist: Alice English.
Harpist: Jessica Sutton.
Images: Samantha Hook.