After their engagement most couples spend considerable time planning the perfect wedding. Not so for Jill James and Ewart Needham of Southerndown. They gave themselves ten weeks! Vale Life spoke to the happy couple about the preparations for their big day and the event itself.

PERFECT DAY

Tell us about the proposal
Which one? Ewart first proposed in January 1989 and he has been asking yearly ever since! So when he asked on St. David's Day this year he nearly fell of the chair when I said yes. I just knew it was now or never, the time was right.

How long did you plan the wedding?
Ten weeks! I do love a challenge. I thought what better way to celebrate Ewarts 70th than by getting married, one big celebration all rolled into one. It was certainly a lesson on how to spend a fortune in a short space of time, but what fun!



The Venue
Well it always helps I suppose to have your own venue! I could not think of a better place to have a wedding than West Farm - the views and sunsets are stunning. I wanted to return to Wales and, as soon as I saw West Farm in 2003, I was hooked. I just had to buy it. It has taken me seven years to totally renovate the property, a much bigger project than I anticipated, but well worth it. We are inundated with requests for weddings and we now have a wedding licence, but I wanted us to be the first.



Why did you choose Clive Ranger?
I just loved their selection of rings. I told them what I was looking for and when I went in a tray arrived with exactly what I had requested, but also a brand new selection of Canadian Diamonds which blew me away. Not only did I have a wedding ring but chose an engagement ring at the same time.

The Dress
I had a vision of doing the style of Scarlet O'Hara from Gone With The Wind in a rich burgundy and that is what I set out to find. A lot of places thought I was mad. A dress in seven weeks? Never. You need six months!

However I went into High Society just to look although they had no burgundy. The first dress I tried on was what I bought, but in fact I actually had two pieces as I bought the lace coat as well. High Society could not have been more helpful. They rang Alan Hannah, the designer, to see if they could make the dress in such a short time, which they agreed to, and Arwen got their lady Rhiannon to sort out the beautiful lace coat. I felt like a million dollars on the day and I cannot recommend everyone at High Society enough.



The lead up to the day
We had over 200 guests on the day and as our function room wasn't completed at that point, Alpine Marquees supplied the wonderful marquee. Happy all was in place, I sent the men off to the hotel the night before to enjoy themselves and Ewart could celebrate his birthday.

The Reception
The meal was superb from Emma at EJ Catering. Charles Garland, Producer of Dad's Army, was hysterical, and actress Teresa Hennessy's rendition of the Lonely Goatherd had people crying with laughter.

GET THE LOOK Jill and Ewart's wedding suppliers ■ DRESS - High Society ■ MARQUEE - Alpine Marquees ■ CATERING - EJ Catering ■ PHOTOGRAPHY - Sian Hanlon ■ FLOWERS - Baytree ■ CARS - Prices cars ■ CHAIR COVERS - Sash Chair Cover Hire Jill would also like to thank LighterLife.