A
Perfect Match
Fate is a strange thing, and for Claire, a last minute change of heart about going to a party led her not only to a fantastic night, but into the arms of the man, who just a few short years later, would become her husband…
You’ll always find us in the kitchen at parties
I’ll never forget the day I first laid eyes on my husband to be. I’d been invited to a friend’s party on February 28th 2009. Having been out the night before and had a little too much to drink, I was feeling a bit worse for wear and not in the party mood. However, as I had recently moved to Leigh-on-Sea I knew it would be a good opportunity to meet friends in the area, and so, at around 10.30pm I finally managed to get my self ready and head to my friends house. Bottle in hand, I headed straight to the kitchen and there was Andy, lurking by the sink. He was also a little hung-over from being out the night before. Not that you’d have guessed because the minute he
Bride: Claire Witton, 29 Groom: Andrew Batey, 47 Home: Leigh-on-Sea Venue: Ingatestone Hall Date: May 7th, 2011
said hello we just talked and talked. Before we knew it we’d talked until the sun came up. After a little snooze on the sofa we got up and went to lunch. We didn’t leave each other until 9pm that night. I guess it was love at first sight.
The Perfect Match…
Though I tried to play a little hard to get, I could only hold off mine and Andrew’s second date until the following Thursday – I was dying to see him again! After that things moved very quickly. Andrew was very sweet by asking if I would be ‘his girl’ which I found very endearing and soon enough, even though we didn’t live together we were always at either my flat or his house.
An Empire State of Mind…
Almost a year to the day we met – on February 27th 2010 – Andy and I went on holiday to New York. On the afternoon of the 28th we paid a visit to the Empire State
Building. Andy is a keen photographer and I thought his odd fumbling and wandering around looking for ‘the right spot’ was his way of trying to get a great picture despite the rather dreary day and I laughed as the sun started setting and he had still not got ‘the shot’. What I didn’t realise was that he was looking for the right place to propose! In the end he looked at me, shrugged, and there among the Chinese tourists he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I was overjoyed and shocked but of course I said yes! Without me knowing he had taken my father out at Christmas and asked him for my hand in marriage. So my family knew of his plans and were thrilled. Wearing my new engagement ring with nine pretty diamonds we went off to The View – a revolving restaurant overlooking Manhattan, to celebrate.
A Spring Bride…
Though Andy and I were keen to tie the knot neither of us wanted to rush things. Besides, I’d always dreamed of being a spring bride. However I knew the time would go quickly so a few weeks after we got back from holiday we began looking at venues. Ingatestone Hall was the first place we saw and we fell in love with it. We loved the fact that we could have the wedding and reception in the same place, we were particularly blown away by the grounds and stunning avenue of trees. The stone banqueting hall, where we had our meal, was amazing. Though we wanted the wedding in late May our registrars were fully booked so we opted for Saturday May 7th and a relatively intimate ceremony with just 42 guests in the day and 40 more in the evening
Capturing the Moment…
With the venue sorted the choice of photographer was my next concern, but the answer was staring me in the face. I had worked with Simon Carr before he became a wedding photographer and had often looked at his work online and thought how beautiful his pictures were. Andy loved them too so he was the obvious choice and luckily he was free for our big day. We also had the lovely chore of choosing bridesmaids, a best man and ushers. Andy knew there was only one person he wanted as his best man – his son Rannoch, 13. I chose my friend’s daughter Lauren, 11, as my bridesmaid and our good friend Dan Jones was usher – we chose him because he’s so organised and I must say he did a great job!
Dressed for Success…
Shopping for my dress was such fun! My mum Carol and sister Tamara and friend Pippa accompanied me and we were expecting to go from one shop to the other in the search for something with a vintage feel that would accentuate my waist. We were shocked therefore when we only went to two shops and found my dream dress in the second – Precious Moments in Rayleigh. The gown I chose was a champagne colour with little cap sleeves and a corset style top with white lace overlay. It was stunning and perfect – just what I wanted. For Lauren I chose a sage green dress with a white bolero from BHS while Andy, Rannoch and Dan opted for morning suits with ivory and sage green cravats from Moss Bros.
Personal Touches…
The beauty of Ingatestone Hall was that it was ours for the weekend. We could decorate it to our taste. So over the months I collected candles, framed family pictures of our parents on their wedding days and cleaned out jam jars to fill with flowers. I also bought twinkly fairy lights. The flowers were very important to me. I wanted something pretty and very English. Claire at Lily and May in Chelmsford created a stunning bouquet for me using Avalanche roses, Lily of The Valley and little daisies which I also wore in my hair and used to adorn our cake.
The Big Day approaches…
A month before the wedding Tamara and my friend Pippa organised a great fun hen night for me which included a trip to a hotel in Chelmsford for afternoon tea and then a mini bus to London with friends and my mum where we had a photo shoot, cocktails, dinner and a night of dancing. I couldn’t believe the time had passed so quickly! Before I knew it I had only two days to go which I spent decorating Ingatestone and getting my nails done! The night before we had dinner as a family and then Andy and his son went home and I checked into the Ivy Hill hotel along with my mum, dad, Paul and Tamara.
Rain, rain go away…
The morning of the wedding I was up at 5am and it was pouring down! I was panicked all through breakfast, but by the time my brother and his girlfriend Lauren and her mum Clare arrived the sun had broken through. Dad disappeared after breakfast while I was having my hair done, to go and collect his lovely 1965 classic Fastback Mustang which he was using as my wedding car. ‘My two precious girls’ he had joked. The only problem that morning was when mum and Tamara helped me into my dress – I had lost so much weight that it was hanging off me and it took some frantic corset adjustments to get it to fit!
Tears of joy…
By the time dad arrived back at Ivy Hill I was ready to go. But oh, dad was horrific! He was so emotional and said ‘Well Claire, we could always just drive off’. I know he was trying to lighten the mood but we both ended up sobbing with emotion. And the tears didn’t stop there – I even had tissues stuffed in my cleavage
Recreate Claire & Andrew’s Wedding Venue
Ingatestone Hall www.ingatestonehall.com
Photographer
Simon Carr www.simoncarrphotography.com
Bride’s dress
Precious Moments, Rayleigh www..preciousmomentsbridalwear.co.uk
Bridesmaid dress BHS www.bhs.co.uk
Menswear
Moss Bros www.mossbros.co.uk
and I needed them because the ceremony was so lovely and heartfelt. I walked down the aisle to ‘I Was Made for Loving You’ – a string quartet version of the song by Kiss. Andy had been plied with wine, champagne and whisky and I started giggling at first, but as we took our vows we both had a few tears and there were more as Clare and Lauren did their reading – ‘I Do I Do I Do’ by Pam Ayres. As Andy and I walked back up the aisle as man and wife to ‘L-O-V-E’ by Nat King Cole the sun was fully out and all our guests were able to have Pimms outside in the courtyard.
Such a perfect day…
Our wedding breakfast really was beautiful. The caterers Bouquet Garni did us proud with roasted Mediterranean salad, individual beef Wellington, tarte tartin and Knickerbocker Glory – Andy’s favourite. As a bit of a change from the norm, after dad and Andy made their speeches I did one too – we hadn’t asked Rannoch as he was a little young. I spoke from my heart about my love for Andy and how much Rannoch meant to me which had everyone in floods of tears. To lighten things up Andy and I got everyone on the dance floor and I don’t think many people sat down again until the DJ finished at midnight, except for maybe grabbing some food from the fabulous outdoor BBQ under twinkling lights outside!
Mr and Mrs Batey…
It was amazing to be Andy’s wife and we were both ecstatic all the way back to the Ivy Hill that evening and for the two weeks we spent on honeymoon in France. I still don’t think we can top our wonderful wedding day and it’s hard to sum it up. All I can say is that it was wonderful, fantastic, and I wish I could do it all over again!’
Florist
Lily and May www.lilyandmay.co.uk
DJ
Groovy Tunes www.groovytunes.net
Hair
Headlines, Shenfield www.headlines-hair.co.uk
Cake
Leigh Cakes www.leighcakes.co.uk
Catering
Bouquet Garni www.bouquetgarni.co.uk