Stephanie & Patrick live in Otley with their dog Maui; the pair met in New York in 2014 where Stephanie was studying at university. Patrick was there visiting friends and the two hit it off at a bar and continued talking even when Patrick came back to the UK.
After a long-distance relationship for a few years, Stephanie made the move to the UK and the couple have lived together since.
Their engagement location was the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado in 2018, as they had been before and loved it. Stephanie and Patrick were visiting her family at the time and decided to go hiking to the park. They got to the top, Patrick proposed and of course, Stephanie immediately said yes.
The couple actually got married soon after their engagement as Stephanie’s student visa was due to run out. They had a small ceremony at the end of 2018, with plans to have a big wedding in 2020 with family from both sides coming together.
Stephanie remembers, ‘Obviously covid hit, with our wedding right at the start of pandemic, so we had to delay for 2 years. We had family coming from Brazil and friends from the States; with so many travelling from different countries we couldn’t risk anyone not being able to come’.
So the couple delayed and finally got their dream wedding day in May 2022.
Stephanie and Patrick settled on Chevin Country Park in Otley pretty quickly; ‘I had a spreadsheet of all the venues in Leeds, and with so many travelling from abroad, we wanted something easy to get to as a lot of our family would be without a car’.
The venue ticked all the boxes for the couple as it was easy to travel to from Leeds, with cabins in the woods and was very green and beautiful.
When shopping for her wedding dress, Stephanie found hers in 2019 from Wed2B, but had to wait 3 years until she could actually wear it. Luckily it still fit, and she still liked it. ‘You start worrying for no reason, and look at pictures wondering if you still like it, but then you try it on and it’s a different experience’, Stephanie says.
When the wedding day came, it was a real coming together with so many guests travelling from abroad. Stephanie’s parents came from Brazil and her bridesmaids and closest friends came over from the US. The couple were so happy that everyone flew all the way to Leeds and were able to attend the wedding.
Even their dog Maui made an appearance! At only 9 months old, Stephanie said she was worried how he’d behave, but Patrick’s cousin held him and kept control. ‘You could tell he was trying to get to me as he started barking, but there was no chance with my dress’, Stephanie remembers.
Maui was even dressed for the occasion with a doggy bowtie attached to his harness.
The theme of the wedding had a nod to rustic style featuring wooden logs within decor, but with contrast to include a mixture of purple, pinks and bright reds for the flowers.
‘We wrote our own vows because we’d already gotten married at Leeds Town Hall, so didn’t need to do the legal ceremony’, Stephanie says.
So instead, Stephanie and Patrick had one of their best friends deliver the ceremony and personal vows were exchanged.
‘I was really nervous to read mine, but afterwards we had loads of people telling us how nice it was and unique and different’.
For their wedding cake, the couple chose The Candied Peel Cake Co to create it. It was a two-tier cake featuring one lemon sponge and a chocolate sponge with a semi-naked finish and including flowers to match the bouquet.
‘We loved our Candied Peel cake and got so many compliments on it on the day! He did such a great job and was thankfully able to lend us a rustic wooden cake stand at the last minute which we really appreciated. Everyone loved the lemon and chocolate flavours and we’re really happy with how it turned out’, Stephanie said.
The cake was finished with wooden peg figurines of the happy couple.
For their wedding entertainment, Stephanie and Patrick had a Ceilidh band in the evening, meaning the guests got to meet and get to know each other as they had to keep changing partners during the dancing.
When asked their advice for other couples getting married, Stephanie said, ‘Try not to think about the small things and just try to enjoy the day, and not focus on little things going wrong because there always will be something, in the grand scheme of things it’s the only time on your life where you’ll have all the people you love in the room together.’
Stephanie and Patrick enjoyed their honeymoon in Majorca; we wish them a huge congratulations and a happy future together.
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Venue: Chevin Country Park Hotel
Flowers : Hyde Park Flower Club by Dottie’s
Photographer: Photography34
Wedding Dress: Wed2b
Groom Suit: French Connection
Ceilidh Band: Aluinn
DJ: Prestige Event Company
Hair & Makeup: Nicola Whitfield
Photo Booth: Limelight hire
Favours: Charity pins from WWF, Mind, MacMillan and Cancer Research
Wedding Stationery: Claire Blake Stationery
Cake: The Candied Peel Cake Co