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Ian and Joanne Tyerman tell their story of meeting and falling in love, the arrival of their two beautiful daughters and the wait for their perfect family wedding.
Ian: Joanne and I met ten and a half years ago, when we were both guests at a mutual friend’s wedding. Little did we both know that from that evening, our paths were on course to spend the rest of our lives together, with two beautiful daughters arriving along the way. I saw Joanne very quickly – my immediate thought was “wow”. After a little Dutch courage, I went over to talk to her. I thought, and still do think, that she has the most beautiful eyes. We hit it off from the start, and pretty quickly found ourselves enjoying a wonderful courtship, spending time together on the evenings, both in and out. The months quickly turned into years, and it was then I decided the time was right to ask her to marry me.
Joanne: The bride had decided to do a little bit of matchmaking! Having already looked at rings, Ian knew which style to get. He proposed to me on the roof terrace of his Mum’s apartment in Murcia whilst on holiday. He’d carried the ring with me in my pocket, just waiting for the right opportunity. I of course said yes, and the excitement set IN!
Ian: On arrival home, we began looking for places to have an engagement party. Not far into the process, we found out that Joanne was pregnant! Over the moon with excitement and with lots of new responsibility in front of us, the engagement party didn’t materialise as we focused our attention on our baby, Erin. Our first baby girl was born in January 2010…thirteen months later we then discovered Joanne was pregnant again, with our second baby girl born, Neve, in August 2011. Keeping us very busy, we found that the wedding was nudged further back, as money to marry wasn’t available.
Joanne: It all started again in June 2014 on our return to Murcia – we hadn’t been since the engagement. We met another family from Great Ayton with children a similar age to our girls, and struck up a friendship. Sophie happened to have her own wedding planning company, Stitch and Glitz – this gave me us the boost we needed and we decided to get the wheels in motion upon our return to the UK.
Ian: Three years later we began to make plans. Having viewed every venue in the local area, we really had our hearts set on Grinkle Park Hotel (where we met), but it seemed out of our range. We tried everything, including village halls, but on return to Grinkle, Richard the General Manager was able to pull together a fantastic package at a great price, and we just couldn’t say no!
Joanne: Compared to the average price of weddings, we managed to have an amazing wedding on a pretty small budget. We kept our wedding simple and classic. It was a perfect day in a perfect venue with our family and close friends. Richard at Grinkle also let us upgrade to a barbeque on the evening at no extra cost, which was lovely as it was such a warm summers evening. I chose antique pink bows and lace with birdcages holding fresh roses and gypsophIla for the tables – it all looked so pretty on the day.
Ian: The build up to the big day was fantastic, and Joanne stayed at the hotel for the night before the wedding. The weather was perfect, 21ºC with stunning blue skies. I was very emotional when the day itself came, and seeing people arrive made it very real. It was happening! Our daughters walked down the aisle first, which made me cry straight away, followed by Joanne, my beautiful bride. She looked amazing, and it made me even more emotional! Our first dance was to Randy Crawford, ‘You Bring The Sun Out’, which we often listened to having romantic evenings together.
Joanne: I walked down the aisle to The Piano Guys version of ‘A Thousand Years’, which is beautiful and timed my entrance. When I first saw Ian I just remember how watery his eyes were, and how he looked at me as I stood beside him was just how your groom should.
Ian: Grinkle Park will live in our memories forever. The team were amazing and Richard really couldn’t do enough to help us; his relaxed attitude reassured us that our big day was going to be the best…and it was!
Joanne: It’s so hard to pick out one abiding memory. It would probably be the emotion of the day – Mum’s tears as she walked me down the aisle, Ian’s tears as I got to him. The emotion of Ian’s speech, especially about his departed Dad and brother. For me, marrying Ian in the place where we met was my fairy-tale come true. We also got our wedding on DVD, which was a last minute decision and I’m so glad we did. Our perfect day to cherish forever and for our daughters, who will be able to look back on in years to come.
Venue – Grinkle Park Hotel
Photography – Emma Marie Photography