What happens when a bartending Swiftie marries an electrician? Sparks fly…literally. After nine years together, Tayla and Joe tied the knot at Cooling Castle Barn in Kent. Sharing the same birthday inspired their celestial theme, and in front of a moon arch with a string quartet playing, they promised to love each other forever.

“We met in the pub”, Tayla told us. “We got chatting and quickly discovered that we shared the same birthday, along with surprisingly a lot in common. As the night went on, the conversation flowed so naturally that neither of us wanted it to end. At the end of the evening, I cheekily walked away with his sunglasses and told him he’d have to see me again if he wanted them back. Thankfully, he took the hint!”

Their celebration revolved around a celestial theme inspired by the sun, moon and stars. It was a natural fit, Joe even calls Tayla his “Moon”. The symbolism stretched across the entire day. Their sweetheart table was named The Moon, while guests gathered at two long banqueting tables called The Sun and The Stars. A giant moon installation framed the ceremony space, surrounded by flowers.

Tayla’s grandfather walked her down the aisle to a Taylor Swift song and thee couple exchanged vows they had written themselves. “One part of wedding planning that no one warned us would be so challenging was writing our vows”, Tayla continued. “We’d been together for so long and shared so many memories, milestones and experiences that it felt almost impossible to condense everything we wanted to say into just a few paragraphs. Trying to capture years of love, laughter and growth while keeping it meaningful and concise was much harder than we expected but it also ended up being one of the most rewarding parts of the whole process.”

They wanted a wedding that reflected their personalities rather than a checklist of traditions. They included a temporary tattoo station and an audio guest book using a vintage-style telephone. These interactive details gave people ways to participate in the day while also creating keepsakes. They also had a live illustrator who spent the evening drawing all of the guests.

One of the smartest decisions they made involved their two children. Rather than trying to juggle parenting and hosting at the same time, they hired wedding nannies to help throughout the day. “They were incredible from start to finish, keeping the children entertained all day and even managing to get our youngest to sleep, which meant we could fully relax and enjoy every moment without worrying.”

Not everything went perfectly. In the whirlwind of the day, neither of them properly ate the evening meal and they left their cake behind! “To this day, everyone tells us how incredible the food was, and we’re still disappointed that we missed out on it ourselves”, Tayla admitted. “We also accidentally left our wedding cake at the venue at the end of the night and never got it back. After spending so much time choosing it, we’re still a little sad that we never got to enjoy it after the wedding.”

Like many couples, Tayla and Joe discovered that planning a wedding often comes with an endless stream of opinions. In the end, they learned that the best thing to go was to trust their gut with all the decisions. “One of the best things we learned was to focus on what we wanted as a couple and not get too caught up in trying to please everyone else. The biggest surprise to us was how many opinions people have about your wedding. Everyone means well, but it can sometimes feel like there are a lot of expectations and advice coming from all directions. But if could give one piece of advice, it would be that everything always takes longer than you expect, start your DIY at least six months in advance!”