Real Bride: Jodie Calleja

Jodie and Steve had an absolutely magical Harry Potter themed wedding! Every part of their wedding was simply stunning!

Your name: Jodie Calleja (was Sewell-Piper)

Grooms name: Steve (Stephen)

Wedding date: 18th August 2017

City, State: Hythe, Kent UK

Tell us more about you!

How long have you been together?

8 years in February. We met through Facebook when I was only 16 and he was 17. I loved him from the first day I met him and I’m so happy he made a move! As I see it now, 8 years in, it was meant to be.

How did he propose? (Or how did you propose!)

Steve has really bad anxiety, so he didn’t do the normal ‘down on one knee proposal’. We were on a short holiday in Bath and I knew what he was planning. I could see the nerves in his eyes.

We were sitting in the park in Bath, I was taking a selfie as you do, and he said “you may look better in that photo wearing this” and literally shoved the ring in my face. I literally had to ask him to clarify if there was a purpose for the ring. I can’t imagine it being any different and I’d never want him to feel anxious like that again.

What was your favorite part of the wedding?

4 things.

Seeing Steve. We never spend long periods apart and we had spent the night before the wedding a couple miles apart. Neither of us slept well.
The handmade Harry Potter theme meant so much to us, and all our guests picked up on all the little touches we made.
Having my little 4-year-old sister as my flower girl. I love her terribly and she was so much fun.
My (step-) Dad walking me down the aisle.

What went wrong with your wedding?

I had the poops getting ready! I have a nervous bowel so every time I tried to have my make-up/hair done, I needed the toilet. Also, Steve had to set up the quidditch pitch the morning of, just as I was walking in to the venue to get ready, so all of the staff and family were running us round in different directions so we wouldn’t see each other — it was like being part of a comedy sitcom.

Did you find any tricks to save you money?

We made all of our decorations, start to finish. We are vegan so the environment is very important to us. Our table decorations were made partly from old tin cans and we had little messages in bottles that were spice containers.

If you could go back and redo it, would you change anything and what?

Not really. I perhaps would have brought our Godric Gryffindor sword to cut the cake but we were fine without.

I wish the day went slower so I could have taken it all in.

Do you have any advice for new brides?

Don’t get swept up in a wedding. It’s about the marriage and your lifetime with your partner. We are asked all the time “how’s married life?” and the answer has always been “the same as before.” If we wanted things to change, we wouldn’t have been married. We married because we love each other and are happy with things just the way they are.

Did you over-plan or under-plan or was it just right?

We managed to go under budget by making everything, which was fantastic. We do have a lot of leftover decorations, but I’m planning on recycling them all to make home furnishings, like storage areas.

Did any of your vendors knock your socks off?

White Stag Photography was amazing. They were like having family with us. They couldn’t do enough and were absolutely beautiful people. We couldn’t recommend them enough.

Iain Baker was wonderful too, personalizing our day and music choices around the Harry Potter theme and our shared love of pop folk. Our guests loved him and his style of entertainment.

Pomegranate Catering also went above and beyond to provide yummy vegan food.

Did any of your vendors disappoint?

None, we were very, very lucky.

What was one (or more!) special element in your wedding that isn’t in most?

Veganism. Everything was vegan and we were really able to show all our guests being vegan isn’t hard.

Of course, the Harry Potter theme was extra magic.

I must give a shout-out to my husband, Steve, for creating the metal quidditch pitch from scratch during his lunch breaks. It went down a treat with all our guests. Iain Baker actually bought the quidditch posts from us for future weddings.

What do you wish you’d spent more on (whether you were able to or not)?

A two-week honeymoon in the woods! We went back to the roots of the world, honeymooning in the middle of Sherwood Forest. If we had the funds, we would have gone for a two-week honeymoon instead of one week. We both miss sitting in the hot tub and staring out at the endless forest.

Where do you feel like you could have saved money or overspent?

I say we did pretty well. We were very savvy so we were great and under budget.

How many guests did you invite vs how many RSVPed vs how many actually came?

We invited around 80 but only 50 RSVPed. We were a little upset but to be honest, we were whirled around the whole day and never had time for a proper chat with anyone. It would have been overwhelming with more guests.