Spiritual Wedding at the Hidden Hive in Derbyshire England
This wedding is also published by the award-winning wedding blog Easy Weddings, where it was voted wedding of the year—Kezia & Jordan were awarded a Maldives Honeymoon!
“Personally, the best day of my life wasn’t my wedding day, it was the day after. Where I woke up as a wife next to the love of my life, and asked God ‘Now what?’ All I heard was ‘Let’s begin.’
The wedding wasn’t my dream wedding, but the man I married is better than my very best dream.”
Brides (and couples, but it seems to hit brides the most) usually have an idea of what their dream wedding will look like, feel like, be like—but after it’s all said and done, it’s just one day. Its glamor, smoothness, weather, style, etc. doesn’t define you. People grow and change and tastes change and fads fade. What remains is you, your spouse, and your marriage. A wedding is a celebration of that and of you and your life together. Couples should never be pressured to impress or give a performance, but again and again, they are.
The wedding industry is inundated with blog after blog showcasing style, details, expensive favors, and elaborate celebrations. It’s easy to see how the pressure to have the “perfect” wedding hangs heavy on every couple. Even from personal experience—when we got married (Eastlyn & Joshua) we followed many trends and the suggestions being thrown at us from multiple directions. Now, we look back on our wedding, not necessarily with regret, as we’re so happy to be married, but with new insight—realizing that those “extra things” are not even memorable and really, in the end, not meaningful to our relationship.
I asked Kezia to share a bit about her and Jordan’s personal story and their wedding day at The Hidden Hive (in Derbyshire, England), and what she shared, we believe is powerful and beautiful and so freeing for engaged couples to know: “One thing that keeps coming back to us from the day is that it was authentic. Authentic to us as people, to God, and that the tangible love felt was not from performance or perfection but from authenticity of two messy people letting God make something beautiful from our lives.”
We knew that there was something special about Kezia and Jordan just from their first inquiry. Then, from all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, on a video call, we met their glowing faces and heard their story; but we also saw their hearts—overflowing with love, even for us, strangers they had just met, honoring us with sincerest kindness. Their faith stood high above their ideas for a “dream wedding”—trusting that they didn’t need to wait another year to plan something “perfect,” but that “the time is now” to start their journey together.
We got their first message in July, and in September we were in England, eager to meet them in real-time, to be present on their shining day, expectant for all the goodness it held.
And it was just that—a day glimmering with their God-given grace. Kezia shared with us: “Although we were burgled two weeks before the wedding, had family members not able to come, and battled from outfit disasters to illness…We came before the Lord with all that we had and gave him everything, to make what he wanted from it. We believed that guests at our wedding would see the real power, glory and love of God on display and that some would meet with him for the first time…God had asked us to be a display of his love and generosity so we knew that our day would be centered around people.”
They centered their day around what is most important to them—their faith and people—and people encircled Kezia and Jordan like an embrace.
We’ve never experienced a wedding quite like it—nonstop hugs and tears and stories of the impact this couple has already made on so many individually. We were approached by guest after guest that just wanted to share with us what Kezia and Jordan have etched on their hearts. The toast time was nearly two hours long—it seemed as though there were not enough words to describe this couple’s abundant love.
Even though things didn’t go as originally planned and the days leading to the wedding were full of mishap and disaster, we know that Kezia and Jordan’s lives, and this day joining their lives together, has and is still impacting hearts. They’ve surely impacted ours.
Credits: Brides Gown: WED2B / Brides Shoes: ASOS / Bridesmaid Shoes: ASOS, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing / Bridesmaids Dresses: ASOS / Cake: Zoe Flavin / Caterer: The Alpine Pizza Co, The Horse Box Diner, KK Catering, Tilly's Ice Cream Parlour, Jerk Kitchen / Celebrant: Ps Malcolm Baxter / Entertainment: Silent Noise / Flowergirl Dress: Monsoon / Flowers: Tina Maclean and Co. / Grooms Attire: Suitsupply / Groomsmen Attire: ASOS / Hair: Victoria Hutchinson, Sophie Burrows / Invitations: DIY, Mixbook / Make-up: Bethan Lloyd / Photobooth: Deuce Hire Event / Rings: Temprell / Venue: The Hidden Hive / Videographer: Parisian Polo Club / Wedding Planner: Samantha Gill