I’m Candida Sampson and I’m going to be sharing my wedding planning diary with you over the next couple of months right up until I get married in November.
So, a little bit about me… I’m the MD of a fashion PR company called Eskimo and I’m marrying my fiancé Damien Hilton on 30 November 2008 at The Mayfair Hotel. We're inviting 220 guests to our traditional Greek wedding.
How did we met? Well, in mid-December 2006 I went to a friend’s Christmas party in Tunbridge Wells. Her husband came with his best friend (Damien) and everyone noticed him – mostly because he is 6’6” so he’s hard to miss!
Anyway, we chatted all night, got very drunk, and generally had a great time. I’d booked to go away to Cyprus to help a friend get over a break up over New Year and was leaving two days after Christmas so we agreed we would see each other when I got back from my holiday.
But two days later Damien rang and said he couldn’t wait until January and wanted to see me before I left, so we had dinner on Boxing Day. While I was in Cyprus he drove me nuts – calling and texting, and if I’m honest I thought he might be too intense, but I liked him nonetheless!
We started dating when I got back and for the next 12 months Damien made a three-hour round trip to see me almost every day from Tunbridge Wells to my home in Camden, north London. He would drive down after work at 6pm and leave at 6am the next morning to get back to work on time. He’s still doing that now – God love him!
For the first year we dated, every month on our anniversary he would do something like cook dinner, buy flowers, or take me to a show, and our one year anniversary he surprised me with a trip to Paris.
All my friends told me they thought he was going to propose but I was convinced he wasn’t. When we got to Paris the first thing Damien unpacked was his suit! A plumber by trade, trying to put him in anything other than jeans and a t-shirt is like pulling teeth – so when I saw the suit I became nervous and a little suspicious…
We were in Paris for two days and two nights and had the most amazing time. But after two beautiful dinners, and visits to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur there was no proposal.
Our last night we went to Buddha Bar for dinner. Damien’s not a huge sushi lover, but I am, and we were having a lovely evening. But half way through dinner he went grey and started to sweat and he excused himself, and went to the loo. I thought he might have had an instant reaction to the sushi but he came back ten minutes later looking much better so I didn’t think anything more of it.
We got back to the hotel later that evening and he said he wanted to take some photos of the lights on the Champs Elysee - Paris at Christmas is spectacular. So I went up to the room at the beautiful 5* boutique we were staying at and got ready for bed.
Let me clarify: I took all my make off and pulled my hair back because I was expecting to go to bed. But Damien walked in about 20 minutes later with a tray of champagne and strawberries.
He poured me a glass and sat on the bed and announced that he thought we should go to New York the following month. When I asked why he said: 'To buy a ring'.
And that was my proposal! It was clumsy and very matter of fact but that’s Damien! I burst into tears and we were up most of the night calling friends and family telling them our news.
We knew we wanted to get married this year and it would have to be a big traditional Greek affair, so once we’d decided on 30 November (the day before Damien’s birthday because he wanted to wake up married! ) I enlisted the help of my brilliant wedding planner Antonia Voss at Peppermint Diva Events to get things started.
Antonia and I share a beautician (who also happens to be my best friend and maid of honour) and I'd seen pictures of other weddings she’d organized and they always looked beautiful - and the brides all told me their days were flawless. Most importantly, I felt Antonia understood me and my character and would know instinctively the kind of wedding I wanted - and I'm very glad to have her!
Next week I’ll tell you all about how we found the venue and my dress.
