Kinver Miles Photography: 02/01/2011

I know its not Valentines Day until tomorrow (Officially) but I just couldn't wait to share this feature. I did a little Q&A feature with them for a wedding blog about life after your wedding day. Here is what Sally and Latham had to say....Latham's proposal story is amazing!

1. So how did you two meet?
ST: I was a Physio working at rugby league club that Latham played for. We knew each other for a while before we got together. When I left the club we stayed in touch and it went from there really.

2. How did Latham propose?
ST: I'm going to leave this to Latham. He tells the story better. He made the girls in his office cry when he told them how he proposed!

LT: Well...I had been planning to propose for a few weeks and wanted to do it in a most special way, but I wasn't sure how that would be. I thought of the nice restaurant, ring in a glass of champagne job, or maybe travelling to Paris and propose on top of the Eiffel Tower, and all the other 'cliche' proposals which are cool for some people but that just wasn't me. I wasn't against spending money, I just didn't want to have to 'create a moment' and always thought that the perfect 'moment' would present itself!

One weekend we had been out for dinner, a nice dinner but just enjoying each others company really. The next morning I awoke and rolled over to see Sally sleeping peacefully...she looked so beautiful! It felt wonderful waking up next to her. So I leaned over and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. As she slowly opened her eyes she broke into a little smile of delight and sleepily whispered "Mmmm, that's nice."
It was an incredible moment...it was that special moment that made me think "I want to experience this feeling every morning!" As weird as it may sound, it was that perfect moment I knew would present itself! So I leaned over and whispered in to her ear..."shall we do this forever...will you be my wife so we can wake up next to each other forever...will you marry me?"

With 'glassy eyes' of joy she put her arms around me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "yes, yes I'd love to!"

...and that was that.

I never imagined I would propose like this but the 'moment' felt so right. It didn't exactly cost anything but the fact I didn't have to orchestrate anything or 'create' a moment is what made it so right and...just perfect!

3. Was it love at first sight?
ST: Latham claims that for me, it was love at first sight........he says I wore him down! I think it is great that we knew each other first before we fell in love...........I knew what I was getting myself in for.

4. Whats been your best Valentines Day?
ST: we have never really done the whole hearts and flowers thing on Valentines day. We always have a nice meal together at home. It might sound cheesy but we feel that you don't need to spend a fortune on one single day to show each other how much you love them, the other 364 days of the year matter just as much.

5. What was your wedding day like? And in retrospect would there be anything you'd do differently?
ST: Our wedding day was so much fun. We actually had it over two days and I honestly don't think I would change anything. We had a few people travelling long distances and we just wanted to be able to spend some time with everyone. Our DJ was a bit naff, when he started playing Stevie Wonder's - Happy Birthday it made me think he wasn't paying that much attention to his audience, but that just made me laugh more than anything. We had all our friends and family there - what more could you want? Not even a 2 hour power cut could spoil it - in fact that actually made the night even better. We had candles everywhere, our amazing band (The Mabs) went acoustic and we all had a good old sing along.

6. Do you have any words of wisdom to pass onto couples planning their wedding?
ST: Make the day what you want it to be, not what you think it should be. Don't worry about the little details. Most couples need to work to a limited budget - work out what is most important to you, get those things in place first and the rest will be a bonus. Most importantly don't loose sight of what the day is actually about, it is all too easy to start stressing about the fact that you want the tables at the reception to be round not square (yes I did that) when what really matters is that your friends and family are sat round them having a great time celebrating with you. Don't worry too much about getting the 'perfect' ring before you propose. Especially if you're not sure what she might like. We actually went and chose the ring the day after I proposed. I wasn't entirely sure what to get but I wanted Sally to have the perfect ring so I let her choose!

7. A year on after marriage, what does the future hold?
ST: That's the exciting thing about the future..... You never know what it has to hold! We are not the best couple at planning ahead. We have a new business venture that we have just started and are excited to see where that takes us.

8. How will you be celebrating Valentines Day this year?
ST: it's a Monday this year isn't it? Not a very exciting night for celebrating. As I said before we are not very good at planning ahead! I think maybe a movie and a lovely home cooked dinner, and maybe an early night ;-)