LAUREN and Luke Croudace, who live in Newport, had a bit of juggling to do last year organising their wedding but they finally tied the knot in October.

Here they share their story with us:

Tell us bit about yourselves...

Lauren (nee Clark) – a solicitor who moved to Newport from Bristol in 2016 and Luke – a statistician and moved to Newport from Cardiff in 2017.

We got engaged on 'Barrytine's day' during a dog walk on Barry Island on Valentine's weekend in 2020. Watch House Bay is a special place for us as it's always quiet and is the only place we can safely let one of the dogs off lead, so we go there a lot. One of the dogs delivered the message with a specially made fortune cookie in a container attached to her harness.

South Wales Argus: Taken by Steve Wheller

Picture: Steve Wheller

Did you always know what kind of wedding you wanted?

We couldn't believe our luck when my dream venue, Oran Mor in Glasgow (where I'm from originally) had availability for Saturday, July 4, 2020, the only Saturday they had for two years. We were about to pay our deposit in March then lockdown hit. After lots of rescheduling and updating what should have been 100 guests, we realised we wouldn't be able to do a big wedding in 2020. We decided to postpone Oran Mor to a later date for a big celebration and see if we could do a small wedding in Wales.

Where did you have the ceremony and why did you choose that location?

We had our wedding at Carreg Cennen Castle, Carmarthenshire on October 23, 2020. We viewed a few dog-friendly places in Wales but this was the one that had the most beautiful scenery and lovely, down-to-earth people running the business. We didn't really want a big sales pitch or a lot of pretence as it wouldn't have suited us or the beagles (who steal food at every opportunity). The 'wood shed' (similar to a converted barn) suited the decorations as the style was rustic / inspired by nature.

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How did it go?

The wedding was originally booked for 30 people on the Saturday but with the announcement of another lockdown, we had to bring it forward with two days' notice.

There was a lot of stress in the morning as half our guests couldn't make the new date. Luke and my brother decorated the venue with help from the staff and Luke accidentally took my bouquet to the venue so my dad had to quickly get it from him on my arrival!

Our front door lock also broke before we left so my dad had to make a last minute trip to Wickes to fix that. Thankfully it happened before he'd changed into his kilt but the last minute issues meant I was left outside Asda in Duffryn for a while, waiting for a lift with my wedding hair and makeup all done up beautifully. I only had 20 minutes to get changed after that.

Despite these mishaps and severe storms in the morning, it actually all worked out really well in the end. The weather completely changed and we had some beautiful sunshine. The dogs behaved really well and didn't steal any cake and they even posed nicely for the photographer.

South Wales Argus: Taken by Anita Croudace

Picture: Anita Croudace

And what about the reception?

There was an afternoon tea reception for guests but Luke and I couldn't join in because Newport was still in lockdown and the reasonable excuse didn't cover receptions. We did manage to get some Prosecco while we had photos done though and everyone was able to be together outside after the ceremony without having to wear face masks.

Where did you get the dress, cars, cake, bridesmaids' outfits, grooms outfit, video, photography, flowers and menswear from?

I bought three dresses from eBay / Facebook. The total cost was hundreds rather than thousands of pounds.

I was going to wear a 50s-style dress but decided on a dress by Romantica of Devon and pretty shoes for the ceremony but swapped them for wellies to go up to the castle afterwards.

I'm saving my third dress for the celebration event and after that I'll lend all three to Benthyg Cymru so they can hire them out at a reduced rate to benefit future brides and also the local community.

Luke's suit was from the Wardrobe Clothing in Newport; photography was by Steve Wheller, of Art by Design Photography; the cake was from Waitrose with a beagle cake topper I bought from Etsy; the flowers were a sunflower bouquet from Post a Rose who thankfully changed the delivery date at the last minute; and my hair and makeup were done by Charlotte Perrott, of Beautystyle, Newport.

South Wales Argus: Taken by Steve Wheller

Picture: Steve Wheller

What was the best bit?

The weather was the nicest surprise. The best part was when they opened the doors and I saw Luke and the dogs waiting for me.

And the worst?

The last minute date change felt like the worst thing at the time but in hindsight, it gave us the beautiful weather and a lovely registrar (Ann Jones from Carmarthenshire registry office), so it was a positive thing in the end.

South Wales Argus: Taken by Steve Wheller

Picture: Steve Wheller

Tell us about the honeymoon...

We had to change the date of our honeymoon to fit the lockdown rules but we managed to do our original plan of a week in the Isle of Skye / Kyle of Lochalsh and it was absolutely beautiful. The best moment was being forced to get up early to let the dogs out then seeing three wild deer in the back garden of the cottage. Thankfully the dogs are rubbish beagles and couldn't have cared less.

Anything else you think we should know about the big day

Just to reassure others that even with the most stressful things happening before or on the day, you can still have a perfect wedding that you wouldn't change.