Such a perfect day: Olivia and Peter

For Olivia and Peter there was one magical shot captured for their wedding album that has very special meaning

Photography: Louise Adby

When Olivia celebrated her wedding to Peter at St Mary’s of, Easebourne in West Sussex last September there was a magical reminder of her late Mother in the white feathers thrown along with the confetti by her aunts. Olivia takes up the story.

Olivia: It was a very relaxed, home-grown wedding and despite not having my darling Mother to help with the planning (which she would have loved!) it felt like a real team effort. Peter is very creative and was a hands-on groom throughout. Collecting jars, drying petals – you name it, we did it! His Mother Vanessa painted the lovely table plans and his sister Fiona, a talented florist, created the beautiful arrangements for church and marquee, including South Africa’s national flower, the Protea, which you can see in my bouquet.

“Planning felt like a real team effort. Collecting jars, drying petals – you name it we did it!”

We had family and friends fly in from all over to be with us – from South Africa (where Peter is originally from) and the US to Europe and Australia – so it was a truly international day in the British countryside. This was the same church where we’d said goodbye to my Mother two-and-a-half years before and with the same vicar who had given the service then. He was incredible.

After my Mother passed away, I kept seeing white feathers in the most unlikely places and I took great comfort from them as a symbol of her and as a sign she was still close by, something family and close friends knew. Even when Peter and I first viewed what became our home there were feathers – we found one right on the front doorstep and we just knew. Both my aunts live in the States and I hadn’t seen them since my Mother was alive, so it was very touching that they could make the journey to be with us. It was even more moving that they thought to throw feathers right at this moment as a nod to my beautiful Mother. It was a total surprise – you can see it in our faces – and we are so lucky our amazing photographer captured such a special memory for us to treasure always.