Barrow Primary School teacher Elie Edwards and her fiance, Alex Miles, had been trying to save for a travelling ‘adventure’ in the summer holidays instead of a traditional honeymoon, and friends decided to help them out.
Elie’s close friend, teaching assistant Wendy Partridge, who lives next door to Barrow School, offered the use of her garden for the wedding reception, and Elie’s dad John Edwards bought a second-hand marquee to accommodate the 160 guests.
Alex, who has a catering business, provided all of the food for the big day, and Wendy told the couple not to bother booking a bridal suite because she would arrange the honeymoon accommodation.
She then secretly arranged for the couple to use the exotic Mongolian tent at the Wyldwoods Rural Art and Crafts centre in Willey. The yurt was decked out romatically with ethnic fabrics and fresh flowers, and heated with a wood-burning stove to make the interior warm and cosy.
Arrangements were made for all of Elie’s 28 pupils at Barrow to sing in church to make her happiness complete, and local farmers Claire and Richard Davies, whose daughter Kate attends the school, provided bridal transport in a tractor and trailer. Children at the school also made decorations with a butterfly theme, and another friend, Jane Moseley, did the flowers.
When the big day arrived on Saturday, everyone was in such high spirits that even the torrential rain couldn’t put a damper on the joyful celebrations. The service was conducted by the Rev Mike Kinna at St Giles’ Church in Barrow, and then the guests, along with the bride, groom, and bridesmaids, exchanged their best shoes for wellies and danced the evening away.
“It was the best day of my life – the children singing in church were the highlight of my day,” said Elie. “The yurt was fantastic too, and a complete surprise. We thought Wendy had booked a hotel until we were driven down the woods to Wyldewoods – and then it suddenly clicked that we were going to have the yurt, which I’d seen there before.
“I had beautiful bejewelled high heeled shoes on, but when it rained I just took them off and put my wellies on.
“Alex and I really felt it was wrong to spend too much on the wedding when we need money for other things, and we had such a brilliant day – we felt so cared for.”
Wendy said: “I thought the yurt would be romantic, and I know Elie well so I knew she would like it. Elie is the loveliest person in the world and everyone was queuing up to make her day a happy one.”
