A Sheffield wedding and St Lucia honeymoon fund

We’re so happy to be chatting to lovely couple Izzy and Dan on our blog today! Izzy is from Sheffield and moved to London ten years ago, and Dan’s a born and bred Londoner. They met the good old-fashioned way – via a dating app – 6 years ago. Izzy says “Our first date was the night before I was going off to Glastonbury so when it came to our second date, the day after I got back from Glastonbury(!), I was a shell of my former self. Thankfully that didn’t put Dan off and things moved pretty quickly after that.” Izzy and Dan were married (by Izzy’s parents no less!) in November 2021 and used Patchwork to invite guests to help them fund a honeymoon to beautiful St Lucia. A gorgeous couple, and such a lovely read. Enjoy…

Bride Izzy and groom Dan stand at the alter in an ornate church during their wedding ceremony. Izzy's mother is the priest marrying them. They are holding hands and Izzy looks back in to the congregation, smiling. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short fair hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers.

How did you get engaged?

Izzy: We got engaged in Summer 2020, we were very fortunate to be able to travel to Denmark in that sweet spot in between covid lockdowns. My dad is Danish, and we always make the annual trip to Rømø, a small Island off the west coast of Denmark, to see our family. It’s a beautiful island full of traditional thatched roof cottages and a vast sandy (and windy!) beach. Dan proposed on the sand dunes just as it started to rain (classic Danish summer). He’d got all my family involved so my brother and sister-in-law were waiting on the beach with a bottle of champagne. The rest of the family had decorated the summer house in preparation to celebrate, it was so much fun.

Bride Izzy and groom Dan leave the church after their wedding ceremony. They walk together with their guests on either side of them. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short fair hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers and white shirt. Izzy carries bright yellow and orange flowers, both are smiling.

Bride Izzy and groom Dan stand next to each other outside the church where they were just married. Their bridal party stand either side of them wearing rich colours and carrying bouquets of flowers. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers and white shirt. They are looking at each other.

What kind of wedding did you plan?

As we got engaged mid-pandemic, we were very realistic and pragmatic about what may or may not have been possible. So, whilst we were aiming for our ‘ideal’ plans, we made them with plan B/C/D in mind too. My parents are in the church (they married us!) so a church wedding was always on the cards, and we wanted the reception and party to be very relaxed to contrast the formality of the church. We liked the idea of having an open plan space that was flexible – and after viewing a few venues in Sheffield, we visited the Trafalgar Warehouse and knew it was the one for us. It also happens to be next door to Corporation night club, an ‘alternative’ club that has many memories for me and my pals from school, so it felt nostalgic too. Ultimately, we wanted a party with all our loved ones with good food, good drinks and good music.

The band at Izzy and Dan's wedding. A brass band consisting of 7 musicians all play their instruments in front of a wall of fairy lights.

Bride Izzy and groom Dan dance hand in hand at their wedding reception. Bride is a white woman, with short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short fair hair and a short beard, he wears a dark waistcoat, dark trousers and white short. There is a wall of fairy lights behind the band.

Did you have a first dance?

We did – our favourite song didn’t quite cut it as a first dance, so we decided to ask our wedding band to play something fun and chose Club Tropicana by Wham! It’s a bit of a running joke that there’s a ‘story’ with the song – but Dan has zero recollection of this. I don’t think I can remember exactly anymore either, but it was great having it played by a brass band either way!

Bride Izzy, a white woman with a blonde bob wears a lace floral wedding dress and a flower headpiece she has her mouth and eyes wide open in amused shock. She sits next to her husband Dan, a white man with fair hair and a short beard and glasses. He wears a navy suit. Behind them is a neon 'bar' sign.

Bride Izzy and groom Dan stand among all of their wedding guests at their reception venue in Sheffield. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers and white shirt. Everyone has their hands held up in celebration.

What was your favourite part of the day?

Ah so many – my mum roasting Dan about his thinning hair in the middle of her Sermon in the Church was pretty damn funny and unexpected. The best surprise came when, following all of the speeches, (where my love for Corporation night club was referenced many a time), the venue coordinator came up to as and said we could sneak next door to the club for some photos. Our photographer Danni was just as excited to be going in, so we had a blast; hopping on the bar, having the dancefloor to ourselves, being in the “backstage” band area. I was essentially living my 18-year-olds self dream in an emo night club on my wedding day.

Bride Izzy and groom Dan on their wedding day in Sheffield. Dan stands in front of a bar with the words Tennessee Whiskey across the front. Izzy lays on top of the bar and both make the rock and roll sign with their hands. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers and white shirt.

Black and white image of bride Izzy & groom Dan dancing, Izzy has her arm around Dan and is smiling at him. Izzy wears a dress with floral embroidered bodice. Dan is a white man with short fair hair and a short beard, he wears a dark waistcoat, and white shirt. There is a wall of blurred fairy lights behind them.

Why did you choose Patchwork?

We live in Brockley, SE London, round the corner from where the Patchwork office used to be. I remember walking past the huge brightly coloured Patchwork signs in the window when we first moved to the area and immediately googled what it was. So even before we got engaged (sorry Dan!) I knew we would choose Patchwork for our gift registry. It was an easy choice really!

Bride Izzy and groom Dan stand next to each other in the narrow corridor of Corporation nightclub lined with music posters. Bride Izzy is a white woman, with a short blonde bob, wearing a dress with floral embroidered bodice and pleated skirt. Dan is a white man with short fair hair and a short beard, he wears a dark jacket, dark trousers and white shirt. They are looking at each other.

Haha that’s a great anecdote. And what did you invite guests to contribute towards on your Patchwork?

We asked guests to contribute towards our honeymoon. We felt it would be a once in a lifetime holiday and wanted a more interesting way of asking for cash. Originally, we were hoping to go on a Mexican adventure travelling across the country. Sadly, a month before the wedding we realised with covid that it wasn’t going to be possible, so changed our plans for a relaxing trip to St Lucia instead (not a bad compromise!) Thankfully, as Patchwork is so easy and flexible to use, we were able to amend our ‘patches’ to reflect our new destination and the experiences we were planning to have.

What was the best bit about using Patchwork?

It was a lot of fun creating the patchwork and although we didn’t end up going to Mexico, it really helped influence our initial Mexico itinerary planning as we wanted to include experiences we really wanted to go on. The bright colours, choices of styles and options to make it as personable as you wanted were brilliant. The ease of it all and seeing all our friends and families’ messages together on one page was so nice to read when we were on honeymoon too.

Izzy and Dan on their honeymoon to St Lucia.

View from mountain top, looking down across St Lucia, over houses, lush green mountains and the sea.

What did your friends and family think?

They loved it! It’s so user friendly and colourful and they enjoyed being able to look through the different activities and experiences we had made as patches. It made everything more personal rather than just asking for cash!

close up photo of man and woman scuba diving on homeymoon, taken with an underwater go-pro

What have you done so far with the wedding gift money you received?

We jetted off to St Lucia pretty much straight after the wedding. It was amazing, neither of us had ever been to the Caribbean so it was pure bliss. A highlight was a catamaran trip down the length of the island which involved snorkelling, visiting the volcanic mud baths and a beautiful waterfall. We also hiked up the Petit Piton – a 5 hour hike that was so exhausting but the view at the top was incredible!

We were and will always be so very grateful to our family and friends; it was a once in a lifetime holiday.

The 'pudding' table at Izzy and Dan's wedding. Mini lemon glaze doughnuts and mini apple tarts. with a purple neon light sign reading 'Pudding'

And finally – do you have a top tip when it comes to planning / preparing for your wedding?

Prepare for some last-minute hiccups – no matter how organised everything is, sods law something will trip up. Apart from that I’d just recommend trying and be on the same page with your partner as much as possible – Dan and I agreed on almost everything (which never happens!). And trust your instinct when it comes to suppliers – we were so lucky with ours. They were all small independents that all knew each other from the Sheffield wedding scene, and they were so friendly and helpful. It really made such a difference on the day knowing that they had our backs, and everything came together seamlessly.

Thank you so much Izzy & Dan for sharing such a joyous occasion with us. Huge congratulations again from all of us. We’re so pleased that you got the honeymoon of your dreams with a little help from your family and friends! If you’ve been inspired to create your own unique honeymoon fund – or a registry to fund absolutely anything else you’re dreaming of – take a look at our templates and start planning yours.

Here are some of the suppliers that helped to make Dan and Izzy’s day even more amazing:

Photographer: Maytree Photography

Ceremony venue: St Johns Church Ranmoor

Reception venue: Trafalgar Warehouse

Wedding Coordinators: Innercity Weddings

Caterers: S17 Caterers

Donuts: Eve Kitchen

Bride’s dress: Self Portrait (Izzy’s stunning actual dress here)

Grooms Suit: Hugo Boss

Flowers and Flower Crown: Moss & Clover

Band: New York Brass Brand

Hair: Billie-Mo at Wilhelmina’s

Make-up: Brides DIY

p.s. You can listen to Izzy and Dan’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

We've got a lot of love to give.

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