Real Wedding: Rhiana & Jake at The Moonraker

Real Wedding: Rhiana & Jake at The Moonraker's Crossway Suite

• Ana Kelly, Celebrant
• 04 / 2018
• Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire

This wedding of Rhiana and Jake just shows how you can have a gorgeous wedding without a huge budget. Whitewed Approved Ana Kelly of Kelly Celebrant tells us about this special day.

"My involvement with this wedding was, as I naughtily describe myself, as a 'Mistress of Ceremonies'. The couple chose a church wedding because they have faith - both are actors in a Christian theatre company. Jake's vicar grandfather Derek came out of retirement especially to take this service. Very special all round.

Not being the Celebrant for this service was interesting, and I very much enjoyed my role in helping to organise the details for the timings for arrivals and departures, the organisation of the food timings, the announcements, the speeches, the cheese cake cutting, and -- of course -- the first dance. After that time, the fabulous DJ was happy to take control of events and some of the dance challenges, so there was natural flow to the evening.

This was not an expensive wedding, coming in at around £7k total, but it really was a display of how stylish and imaginative a low-budget wedding can be. The church -- in St Batholemew's in Wootton Bassett -- is truly gorgeous. The reception was held at The Moonraker's Crossway Suite, where the landlady made an amazing job of making the venue absolutely beautiful, and I was told that the (very good) food was priced very reasonably. The tables were laid out exactly to the specification/photograph supplied by Rhiana's mother, Emma.

As the service was in the late afternoon, I did have my work cut out ensuring that there was good time for everyone to arrive at the reception in time for food and speeches before the evening guests arrive. Luckily, the photographer was very helpful at getting the church photographs completed speedily."

For more information about Ana check out her page Kelly Celebrant.