Megan and Dan met on Bumble nearly 5 years ago. Dan was living in Manchester and Megan was living in London but luckily, Dan was about to move down to London for work. They met up that weekend and have been together ever since.
Covid-19 changed all their original plans for a big 90 person wedding day. But Megan says despite things going wrong up until the day “it was completely perfect whilst being so far away from the day we had originally planned.” Read on to find out how they made their wedding day special against the odds.
How did you get engaged?
Turns out coincidentally we are both from Bournemouth which we didn’t realise at first having met online. We absolutely love the beach and my parents have a beach hut in a lovely spot on a local beach. We were home for the weekend as we were heading to Kenya on holiday the week after.
Dan suggested we go for a walk to have tea and bacon sandwiches at the beach hut on the Saturday morning. I unknowingly tried to sabotage it by asking why my parents and nephew couldn’t come along….! Dan had secretly recruited my sister to head to the hut before us to set up. So when we got there, I drew back the curtains and there was champagne, flowers and a huge bumble bee balloon.
It still didn’t really sink in until Dan was down on one knee and at that point I just burst into tears! I had been left a beautiful diamond ring by my Nan in her will years ago and Dan had got the ring re-set, making it such a special moment.
What kind of wedding did you plan?
We planned a 90 person wedding in a huge, beautiful church in Dorset. Dan’s parents were married there and Dan was christened there, so it was really special. Afterwards, guests were going to walk all of two minutes over the road to a gorgeous cricket pavilion linked with the local hotel where we were going to have firepits and games on the green and a BBQ wedding breakfast.
How did Covid-19 restrictions affect your wedding plans?
When Covid first hit, we were hopeful that by October we would be ok. But we started scaling down our vision during the summer when this was looking increasingly unlikely. When weddings were first reduced to 30 people we were gutted. However, 30 somehow worked perfectly for us as this was all close family and the bridal party plus partners.
We were on our lunch break from work at home when the announcement came that weddings were being reduced again down to 15 people. Again, we were gutted, but were determined to make it work. We had to cut down on lots of our friends including my bridesmaids and most of Dan’s groomsmen. We had things go wrong right up until the last minute. There were venues pulling out and people dropping out due to self-isolating, but it ended up being a perfect day.
We had our Covid secure wedding in the same church. They put on the most amazing livestream from three different angles. This meant all our guests who could not make it, could watch from home and still be a part of our day. We then had our wedding reception in a lovely little harbourside restaurant overlooking the river. It was completely perfect whilst being so far away from the day we had originally planned.
What were the upsides of getting married during a global pandemic?
The uniqueness of the day! We will never forget it and the photos we will have forever of us in our lockdown bride/groom masks will always be a reminder of what was happening in the world when we got married. We had so many guests who couldn’t come on the day. However we had so many local family and friends who still showed up at the church. They came to see us arrive and people went to such an effort to show their love for us without being able to spend the day with us. Friends watching the livestream from home on the day was also amazing and so unique. Everybody said it was like watching the royal wedding!
What was your favourite part of the day?
We couldn’t pick. It was one long, incredible, memorable day that we will never, ever forget!
Why did you choose Patchwork for your gift registry?
We saw it advertised at a wedding fair last year and it gave us all the options we had been looking for in a wedding website. It allowed us to build our perfect honeymoon and for people to pick up unique events whilst on honeymoon. How fun and simple it was to create patches of experiences. They found it easy and fun to use. We aren’t going to be able to put the funds towards a proper honeymoon for a while, sadly, but we will one day.
What did you invite guests to contribute towards?
Unique experiences on a dream honeymoon. We didn’t know due to Covid where we would be able to travel but Patchwork allowed us to build our own and keep it open and flexible, allowing us to use the contributions wherever and whenever we wanted to.
What are your plans for the coming year?
We were hoping for a honeymoon trip to Costa Rica after a small mini-moon in The Cotswolds. Sadly, we have not yet been able to do either but hope to be able to one day soon. We are also hoping to have a big party with all our 90 guests in our original venue just before our first anniversary this year. We hope to renew our vows and then have all the food, music and speeches we originally planned! Fingers crossed.
Thank you so much Megan and Dan for sharing your very unique experience of celebrating your wedding during a global pandemic. It’s wonderful to hear that despite all the obstacles, you celebrated the beginning of your marriage beautifully and made the very best of it!
If you’ve been inspired to create your own Patchwork honeymoon fund, browse our 100s of readymade templates or get creative and build your own page from scratch.
Here are some of the amazing suppliers who helped make Megan & Dan’s intimate wedding even more special:
Megan’s dress: David’s Bridal, London Stratford
Hair: Lucy Wellgreen Hair
Make up: Kate Carroll
Venue: Christchurch Priory, Dorset for the ceremony and then The Boathouse, Christchurch
Flowers/catering: MJ Lifestylist
Photographer: Ashleigh Gregory
Videographer: Sophie Jane Photo and Film
Lockdown bride/groom masks: Etsy