Sam + Andrew | February 2024
“Sarah made our day, never lost her cool (even when the fire alarm went off), she kept everyone laughing and couldn’t have been kinder to us and our guests”
When I meet a couple for the first time I’m always dying to hear how they met: who fancied who first, who spotted who first, how they first set eyes on - or swiped right on - each other. For groom Andrew, it was in the staff room in his new job as a fresh-faced, first-role primary school teacher, and he was so taken with this fellow teacher that he nicknamed her “Hot Miss Kerr” behind her back.
So, cut to their wedding day years later and it seems only fitting that Hot Miss Kerr (Sam to her friends) should be so hot that the fire alarm pierces the quiet, just as she was about to say her I Dos. And not just once, which added a little spicy drama to the proceedings. And not just twice, which brought out the nervous giggles in us all. No, the fire alarm went off (and quiet for a minute or two again) and off (and quiet again) six times in succession just as we were about to proceed with Sam and Andrew’s vows. And you know what? It made me love them even more. I knew they were a gorgeous couple, more excited to be married than any of the detail of the day, but that hiccup proved it. They were able to see the funny side and - as I tried to keep the guests’ spirits high, do some off-script jokes and work out what was happening - I whispered to the bride and groom, stood waiting at the front for the commotion to die down “You’ll laugh about this, I promise. The things that go “wrong” are often the bits we end up remembering fondly”.
Photography by Tom Richardson Photos
And, although it was clear their main focus was marrying each other…that’s not to say lots of thought hadn’t gone into the little details. The afternoon before, when we met for a wedding rehearsal at Shortflatt Tower, I got to see some of those details being finalised. Sam, also known as Little Miss Tick List, had procured a personalised velvet banner, vinyl album covers for each table, a jar with ribboned-notes for guests to leave messages for their wedding anniversary and, my favourite, scratch cards as place setting flavours…complete with pennies Sam had cleaned in coke.
The rehearsal was brilliant and we were all laughing - almost every family member from across both sides was there, along with a couple of friends too. It didn’t feel like a rehearsal as much as a mini wedding, Sam in her Bride t-shirt and glittery skirt, and giddy friends and family spilling out over the first few rows. The vibe was set and I knew the next day would be fun.
And it was. The fire alarm wasn’t the only fiery bit - after their vows Sam threw on her personalised pearl-studded leather jacket, she and Andrew knocked back a shot of tequila as I toasted them, and then they danced out to T-Rex’s Get It On. Memorable, in every perfectly imperfect, real love and real life way. And I know they wouldn’t change a thing.