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The bride's dress was her 'something blue' 💙

Weddings have been back in full swing this summer and we couldn’t be more thrilled. 2022 has been the year of love, new beginnings and coming together, so what better time to tie the knot? To celebrate, we’ve launched our brand new editorial series, Real Brides, to look back at a handful of couples’ stories and unpack their big days in detail.

From elegant town hall ceremonies to boho-inspired barn shindigs, there’s no shortage of wedding goodness to inspire you, regardless of whether you’re married, engaged, dating, single, or if you just enjoy a sweet love story.

So, without further do – read on to hear Candy and Max’s journey (captured by photographer Kristian Leven), from their meet-cute all the way to the altar, and beyond.

We met at work. I had just finished my Master’s degree and so I took a part time job as Max’s office assistant. Because of his Cerebral Palsy, he needs someone to interact with the computer for him. We soon realised that we had chemistry and the rest is history!

We had just got back from a trek to Everest Base Camp, to raise money for RDA, a charity that provides equine therapy and horse riding to disabled children and adults. Max was the first person with Cerebral Palsy to complete the trek on horseback, and I went along for the ride (though I had to walk the whole way!).

After several days of recovering from the ordeal, we finally ventured out in London to go blossom hunting, and when we found the perfect tree, Max stopped underneath it and asked me to marry him!

Max proposed with a beautiful antique opal ring from Bentley & Skinner. The opal is surrounded by old candle-lit cut diamonds. It’s very fragile and precious, so on a day-to-day basis I wear a hexagonal sapphire ring from Grew & Co, an amazing jewellery designer in Australia, where a lot of my family lives.

Our main goal with the wedding was for it to be a great fun time for all of our friends. We wanted to make sure that the Jewish rituals were accessible and interesting to the non-Jewish wedding guests, and we wanted to incorporate elements from all the different cultures represented in our families.

Our photographer, Kristian, took us for a little 'just the two of us' photo shoot round the corner from our venue and it was really nice to calm our nerves a bit and get some time to breathe before everything got busy.

I had two dresses! For most of the day I was in a pale blue vintage tea dress from Blackout II in London, and then I did a secret costume change right before the chuppah ceremony into a sheer, beaded dress from BHLDN.

I loved both dresses, but the vintage one was definitely more “me”! Both dresses were very budget-friendly because I just couldn’t fathom spending a huge amount of money on something I’d only wear once.

The vintage dress was quite fragile and I did end up having to sew it up while I was wearing it, about fifteen minutes before leaving for the registry office in the morning, but it was definitely worth it because it was really unique and I had so many compliments about it.

We wanted to get married somewhere that didn’t require too much decoration in order to look festive and, of course, it had to be wheelchair accessible. Our venue, the Finsbury Old Town Hall ticked all those boxes and provided tonnes of space for all our guests to dance and mingle.

I chose to wear my glasses, which I know is not a common decision for myopic brides, but I just wanted to be comfortable and feel and look like myself for the day. I was tempted to go for contact lenses, but eventually opted to stick to my signature bespectacled look. It also meant I didn’t have to worry about my eyes getting dry by the end of the night.

We didn’t have a first dance, as we wanted the dancing to be for everyone. We also didn’t fancy the idea of dancing on our own with everyone watching us! But we walked up the aisle together to Erev Shel Shoshanim (Evening of the Roses), which is a beautiful Jewish folk love song.

My wedding dress was blue, and so were my shoes. Max’s Ozwald Boateng suit was a deep navy blue with a very striking secret aqua lining.

We wanted the music to be perfect, and we were so lucky to know Ivor from the Jewish band Shir. Music is very important to us, and we wanted everyone to feel comfortable getting up and dancing. They taught everyone some traditional Israeli group dances and even the least coordinated among our wedding guests had a go!

We knew that a lot of traditional wedding things weren’t accessible to us, so we decided to lean into the fact that our wedding was going to look different. We both sat down for the ceremony because we wanted to be at eye level with one another, and Max can’t stand up out of his wheelchair for longer than a few seconds.

Your comfort and needs are really important, regardless of whether or not you have a disability, so if something feels off to you, you don’t have to do it, even if it’s 'tradition'. If you don’t want a first dance, don’t have one. If tossing your beautiful bouquet feels like a silly tradition, don’t toss it. Traditions are there to serve you, and if they don’t serve you, don’t do them!

Pick two or three things that really matter to you about your wedding, and focus your attention on getting those right. Maybe it’s the food, or maybe it’s the photography, but have an honest discussion about where you want to direct your time, energy, and money. Try to chill out about the other things as much as possible. And if someone offers to help out with something, let them!

You don’t have to DIY everything, but pick one thing you’d like to do yourself, and have fun doing it! We made two enormous batches of gin ourselves at home, in plum and rhubarb flavours. We also bought huge amounts of Mexican chocolate and portioned that up into little packages for each of our guests, individually stamped with the name of the chocolate.

Suppliers Photographer: Kristian Leven (@kristianlevenphoto) Ceremony venue: Old Finsbury Town Hall Catering & cake: Jimmy Garcia Catering Dress: Blackout II (vintage dress) and BHLDN Rings: Laura Lee Suit: Ozwald Boateng