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Sandra Thomas and Steven Pitman-Daly 21st December 2002
How did they meet?
Steven and I met at a Halloween masquerade party being held at Earls wine bar 31st October 2000. Meeting him just goes to prove what a small world we live in, we have the same circle of friends but had never met each other until then.
The Proposal
He proposed to me during a conversation in my kitchen on 23rd December 2001 - not the most romantic of venues but a very unexpected lovely surprise all the same and a wonderful Christmas present. We broke the news to our families and close friends on Christmas Day.
The Planning - leading up to 21st December 2002
We had a year a head of us to plan our wedding day and believe me it took a year. Not because we didn't know what we wanted but because my job involves a lot of overseas travel we really did need that time. I wanted a fairy tale wedding and having the time and the support of our closest friends and our families that is exactly what we had. The day could not have been more perfect.
We decided on a winter wedding because we thought it would be romantic and I really prayed for snow, that would have topped it off. It did not snow but we had a perfect day.
The theme was love birds and crystals, the colour scheme was Ivory and Gold.
I saw my dress in a wedding magazine, it was an Ian Stuart design and as soon as I saw it I knew that was it, I went to try it on early January 2002 and that reaffirmed that this was it. My mother bought it there and then in January. All my other accessories were bought throughout the year. My tiara was commissioned specifically for the dress, thank you to London Bride & Groom on Walworth road foorganisingng this for me.
My sister Tricia was my chief bridesmaid and close friend Patricia Beaumont was my maid of honour. The Flower girls were Steven'daughter Billie, my goddaughter, Ayisha Beaumont and her cousin , Miss Charmaine Mitchell. The page boys were Master Branden Macintosh and Master Carey Stevens.
The bridesmaids and flower girls dresses were made by my mother and the page boys suits were bought along with Steven's suit, however their waistcoats and cravats were made by my Aunt. Steven's father and my Aunt made the cake between them, it was iced and decorated by my Aunt
Steven's father and my Aunt made the cake between them, it was iced and decorated by my Aunt.
The venue was One Great George Street Westminster - we chose the venue because of its location being quite central, it's size and its grandeur as well as the fact that they offered a complete package in the price quoted. We looked around at a few places but always came back to this one. It was booked in February 2002 to secure the date we wanted. We designed our own invitations, which were then printed and sent out by the venue. They played a key part in the planning.
The co-ordinating of the whole event was left to a very close friend of mine Miss. Veronica Clarke and her company Precious Moments. She took care of all the details, the flowers, setting up the night before, making sure the day ran smoothly.
My bouquet consisted of pale cream Singapore orchids with a hint of pink and complemented my dress beautifully. I did throw it but regretted it afterwards - that is the only thing I regretted doing on the day.
My hair was done by a close friend Sandra Webb and my make up was done by Nina. They both turned up at my mothers house on the day to make me look beautiful.
The photographers were Floyd and Ingrid of FloIng photography and the videographer was Bobbi Gee of Bobbi Gee videos. 6 months later and we still cannot decide on photographs for the album, the wedding video is such a beautiful memory of how the day went. I cried when I first saw it. Steven still cries everytime he watches it.
For the entertainment we catered for both young and old, during the ceremony we had a string quartet, supplied by The Wedding Music Company it was only fitting for such a venue. During the wedding breakfast we were entertained by Los Tropicanos a 9-piece band headed by Lord Diamond, I would recommend them for any function they were fantastic.
I am glad we made the decision to have a civil wedding, having everything under one roof made a difference in how smoothly the whole day went.
We had so many beautiful surprises on the day but the one that topped it was Omar who came along to sing to us for our first dance "There's nothing like it". This was a wedding gift from Lewis Benn, the best man aSteven'sn's best friend and the rest of the Mastermind Roadshow.
The Ushers
Steven's ushers were -
Elick Daly - one of his brothers
Aidan Cotterell
Danny Simpson
John Malcolm
Waseem Rehman
Lewis Benn, his best friend, was his best man.
The Wedding Day
I discovered on my wedding day that the limelight wasn't for me - I felt hounded by the photographer, Floing photography and the videographer, Bobbi Gee videos - they both did an outstanding job. The package we took was for unlimited coverage of the whole day. The video is such a wonderful memory and was really my only way of seeing what the whole day was like, the photographs captured so many beautiful moments.
The Honeymoon
We spent our first night at the Ritz Hotel in central London. We chose the Ritz because earlier on in the year, September, I held my 35th birthday brunch there and we all had a tour of the hotel and some of it's suites. We booked a suite there and then having negotiated an excellent rate.
We flew off on honeymoon to Brazil at 8pm Christmas day, having spent Christmas with our families and friends. We arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Boxing day. After spending our first couple of days in Rio we flew to Sao Paulo to pick up our cruise. The ship was part of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and funnily enough the crew were English. We spent 7 days cruising around tthe Brazilian coast stopping off at a different location every other day - the highlight of the cruise was the New Years Eve celebrations. The ship docked just off the coast at Rio de Janeiro and we all had the most spectacular view of the New Years fireworks display.
After our cruise we headed to Iguassu Falls for three days. These water Falls border Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and area sight to behold.
We flew back to London on 12th January.
Their Thank You's
Thank you to Veronica Clarke, my wedding planner, and her team for turning the venue into a fairy tale with beautiful flowers and garlands wrapped around the staircase.
Thank you also to my sister Trisha for being my chief bridesmaid and to my maid of honour Patricia Beaumont just for being there.
Thank you to my friend Sandra Webb and to Nina for making me look beautiful on my big day.
Thank you to Lewis and Mastermind Roadshow for the wonderful surprise gift they gave us on the day - Omar sang our unofficial first dance "There's nothing like this". That was something special just the two of us on the dance floor with Omar singing to us live. A moment that will always be treasured.
Thank you to both sets of parents - if it wasn't for them Steven and I would never have met each other.
There are endless thank you's to all our friends who helped make our day so wonderful.
A special mention to Dawn Blackett and Lana Ross. Dawn did a reading at the ceremony and Lana sang a very heartfelt rendition of the Shania Twain song "From This Moment".
Thank you also to Sarah Holcroft for rewriting the sheet misic for "From This Moment" for a vocal and string quartet.
Black Weddings would like to offer our congratulations and we wish them all the best for the future.
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