Lauren + Johnny at Tyne Bank Brewery
“Everyone said how amazing the ceremony was it was just unreal, our hearts are so full”
There was such a warmth and kindness to Lauren and Johnny, we got on instantly. And then that ‘kindness’ became a theme in the ceremony because Lauren and I discovered that we share a favourite film (Richard Curtis’ About Time) where a character says something lovely about finding your partner. It’s Lauren’s absolute number one film, but I have to confess it’s vying for space in my top three because I can’t resist the magnetic charm of the Meg Ryan-Tom-Hanks-duo in Sleepless and You’ve Got Mail.
Anyhoo, it was the first cosy movie night Lauren had with Johnny, and About Time happened to be showing on TV the very evening they planned to skip a boozy night out and stay in instead. How serendipitous.
If you’ve not seen it (ya should!), Tim’s dad (Bill Nighy) says, to Tim and Mary at their wedding:
“I'd only give one piece of advice to anyone marrying. We're all quite similar in the end. We all get old and tell the same tales too many times. But try and marry someone kind.”
And that felt so fitting for Lauren and Johnny. That simple but life-affirming advice is something they’ve already achieved. And to really drive the point home…Lauren is religious about making Johnny sit and watch the film every year haha!
Photos by Yuliia Mar Photography
Lauren and Johnny’s effortlessly cool day was at Newcastle’s Tyne Bank Brewery where I was reunited - for my first wedding of 2026 - with the total babe that is wedding planner Emma Jordan. Emma was born for the role of planner: she knows everything that’s happening at every moment, eyes in the back of her beautiful head, that head stuffed with information, but she manages to always seem completely chilled and unflappable.
This wedding was also my first time working with another wonderful woman - photographer Yuliia - who has captured the fun and feeling of Johnny and Lauren’s day so gorgeously.
Giggling photos are my absolute favourites
We realised in the lead up to Lauren and Johnny’s big day - on 7th March 2026 - that it was also his Grandma’s wedding anniversary that day, marking 67 years since she’d married her late husband. So we made sure Grandma Brenda had a little shout out in the ceremony. What a beautiful coincidence, considering Lauren and Johnny hadn’t twigged at all when they booked their day.
In other sweet grandparent news, Lauren had her Nana’s ring as her wedding band. I absolutely love when there are heritage pieces like that, with so much history. Love stories from the family tree; a wedding band bought in excitement many decades before.
What a shot
With a room full of Geordies, I revelled in telling the couple’s proposal story. How Lauren didn’t know Johnny was going to propose on their holiday to Rhodes, but hoped he would.
But night one? Nothing.
Night two? Nothing.
Johnny, in his wisdom, decided that night five was the night, the night Newcastle were playing Sheffield. Perhaps he expected to watch an uneventful game in the bar before suggesting to Lauren that they go down to the beach so he could propose with no one around. That - with starlight and waves lapping on the shore as he got down on one knee - he could make it one of the best nights of Lauren’s life.
But that night Newcastle ended up winning 8-0, Johnny was matching a pint per goal, and it ended up being the best night of his life! He had a spare shirt to change into, but by the time he came to pop the question he’d completely forgotten that part of the plan and ended up proposing in his Toon top!
Cue: lots of laughter from friends and family who know and love Johnny.
And that was the feeling of the ceremony: that everyone knows and loves this pair, as individuals and as a couple, and can see as plain as day how suited they are. Whether suited-and-booted and in a wedding dress, in a football strip on a Greek beach, or in pyjamas at home enjoying a romcom.
“We are SO pleased we found Sarah! She made our wedding day incredibly special and so full of love....the ceremony [felt] very relaxed and fun, with lots of laughter!”