Amrit and Ash celebrated their love with a travel-themed wedding at St Tewdrics House
Amrit and Ash met during their second year of university. “We were put into a group together in one of our seminars and slowly got to know each other,” says Amrit. “We eventually started dating the following summer. We have the same sense of humour and connected through music. We would often give each other recommendations, and when I had a radio show at university, Ash would send requests in. Once we graduated, we saved up and went travelling around the world for four months. We knew we wanted to be with each other forever, so we decided to move in together. Ash is from North Wales and I’m from the Midlands, so we agreed that wherever one of us got a job, we would move there. Ash got a job in Cardiff, and the rest is history.”
Ash proposed in 2019. “We had not long bought our own house, and everything felt settled,” shares the bride. “He took me back to our university, where there is a beautiful manor house in the grounds. We walked for about an hour in the freezing February wind. I love trees, and Ash kept stopping to admire them. I was on tenterhooks thinking, ‘is this it?’ but he didn’t ask! We walked back to the manor, and I was admiring the view of the fields when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there he was on one knee with the most beautiful ring! He quickly asked me to marry him, and I laughed and said ‘yes’. It wasn’t exactly a surprise as we’d been together for seven years and I was highly suspicious when we arrived for the walk, but it was wonderful. I couldn’t stop staring at the ring and didn’t stop smiling for weeks!”
The happy couple booked their wedding for July 2020. “Due to the pandemic, our big day was postponed, and we were in limbo,” explains Amrit. “The whole country went into another full lockdown in January 2021, and when wedding venues opened with a limited capacity, we both decided we’d had enough of waiting. We booked to get married at Castell Coch in April 2021 with just two of my bridesmaids as witnesses. We surprised everyone by telling them we had gotten married! It was a magical, romantic way to do it, but we were really excited to have a big party with our friends and family in the summer.”
New app launches to simplify one of marriage’s biggest admin headaches
Changing your name after marriage can mean updating details with countless organisations, from banks and subscriptions to official documents and employers. New app Name Change Navigator aims to make the process easier, guiding newlyweds through each step from one platform. Founded by Rebecca Dainton, Head of Product at Flutter UK & Ireland, the app was created to reduce the stress and mental load associated with name changes. It supports a range of naming journeys, including traditional surname changes, double-barrelling, blended surnames and other choices following marriage, civil partnership, divorce or personal identity changes. The launch comes as younger generations increasingly rethink traditional naming conventions, with technology offering a more streamlined approach to this often-overlooked part of newlywed life.
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Enjoy Oystermouth Castle Outdoor Theatre This August 25th - 27th
As the sun sets over Swansea Bay, the grounds of Oystermouth Castle will become one of the region's most atmospheric performance venues this month. Outdoor Theatre returns each summer with a programme of open-air productions staged against the backdrop of the 12th-century castle, where audiences can enjoy literary classics beneath the evening sky. This year, the line-up includes Shakespeare's As You Like It, Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance and family-favourite 'Pinocchio'. Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic, settle into the historic surroundings and enjoy a relaxed night of entertainment with panoramic views stretching across Swansea Bay and Mumbles. With every Outdoor Theatre ticket purchased, visitors can enjoy half price entry to Oystermouth Castle from 25th until the 27th August.
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From best mates to distant relatives: Brits reveal the wedding gift hierarchy
How much should you spend on a wedding gift? It seems the answer depends on just how well you know the happy couple. New research from One4all Gift Cards has revealed that almost half of Brits (49%) would spend less on a wedding gift if they were not particularly close to the couple. The relationship came out ahead of travel and accommodation costs (38%) and paying for a hen or stag do (28%) when it comes to factors influencing how much guests are prepared to spend. For those closest to them, Brits consider an average of £77 per person to be an acceptable wedding gift. The most popular amount was between £50 and £100, selected by 43% of respondents, while 36% believe spending up to £50 is perfectly acceptable. Just 5% would spend more than £200.
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Revealed: England and Wales’ most common wedding anniversary date as August accounts for nearly one in six
1 September is the most common wedding anniversary date, with an average of 1,557 marriages taking place on the date, new analysis has revealed. The research, from drinks and gifting retailer Bottled and Boxed, analysed 22 years of marriage registration data from the Office for National Statistics to identify the dates when couples across England and Wales are most likely to be celebrating their wedding anniversaries each year. Every date in the top 10 falls between late July and early September, showing how heavily the most common anniversaries are concentrated in late summer. August is the most common month for wedding anniversaries, accounting for 15.7% of all marriages analysed, with an average of 1,254 couples married per day.
