Sophie + Dave at Healey Barn | June 2026
“We couldn’t have asked for a better celebrant! From our first chat, she was so warm, friendly and helpful, and immediately made us feel completely at ease. [It] was everything we could have hoped for and more – personal, romantic, heartfelt and full of fun. She told our story better than we ever could have imagined...”
Sophie and Dave were over from a new life Down Under to celebrate their wedding with their loved ones back home. Guests had travelled from the local north east, but also Belfast and some even from Australia, and we were all in Northumberland’s gorgeous, cosy Healey Barn for a gorgeous, cosy Thursday wedding.
And “cosy” was the operative word.
I felt for Sophie and Dave, having left behind the Aussie sunshine for the June gloom of a rainy British “summer’s” day. Even though it would have been winter back home, in the southern hemisphere, I was still picturing warmer and brighter than what the low-lying, grey Northumbrian clouds had dished out for us. But, if you’re going to be anywhere for a wet wedding, Healey Barn is cosiness personified and we all settled in away from the elements. Candles lit and spirits high.
Photos by Amy Hawker Photography
Although when I say we were “all” in Healey Barn and that spirits were “high”, there was a little drama. And you might not believe your eyes when you read this next sentence, but:
A taxi transported the bridesmaids from the bridal accommodation to the barn, but then forgot to go back for the bride.
Forgot. to. go. back. for. the. bride.
Bless Sophie, waiting all that time! The guests were seated, and we had no idea what the delay was so I made a couple of little jokes about it being her prerogative to be late. Especially knowing that Dave had said one thing that winds him up about his gorgeous partner is her “pretty poor timekeeping”.
When she arrived we still didn’t know what the delay had been, because she came down the aisle - resplendent! that corseted bodice! that lace veil! - and we began the ceremony. Singer Daisy Kate sang Sophie down the aisle, accompanied by her dad (also Dave), to I Get to Love You. And it was absolute goosebumps. There’s nothing lovelier than live music for a wedding entrance.
Then, further into the ceremony, I regaled guests with things Sophie and David love about each other, and things that irritate them about each other. Like Sophie’s timekeeping.
It wasn’t ‘til afterwards that I found out that Sophie had been forgotten and I felt terrible. What a way to begin your day! I took Dave to one side and said “you have to make sure you mention in your speech that it absolutely wasn’t her fault we started late!”.
But credit to Sophie, she was wonderful about it and the ceremony itself was just as I hoped.
Might sound weird but one of my favourite things about life in this job is the chance to be up close to men’s real, raw emotions. I live for my female friendships - I get to see women cry all the time. But allowing the space for men to be just as vulnerable? I LOVES IT I DO.
Away from guests arriving in their twos and threes, in a quiet room, Dave cried practising his vows. And it was such a special moment for me, as their celebrant.
And in another cute moment, full of emotions - be they nerves, excitement or pure love, he then said “I do” before I could finish asking the marital question. Absolute green flag behaviour.
It’s been fun this year, in 2026, working with more wedding content creators than ever before. Feels like they’ve exploded in popularity this year, and Dave and Sophie booked the lovely Layla from Your Everlasting Edit. Sometimes it feels like even though I “only” got married 12 years ago, it might as well be 112. Not only did we not have a content creator, it would be another couple of years before instagram stories were even invented.
But Sophie and Dave will have beautiful, emotional footage of a beautifully emotional day. And even though there was that half hour delay to getting married, they have the rest of their lives to spend as husband and wife. And - for this adventurous chapter - somewhere deliciously warm.
“Everyone has commented how much they enjoyed the ceremony...thank you for making us both feel so comfortable.”