Taku and Megan's Wedding in Haywards Heath, West Sussex

Our Real Wedding

We got married at Nymans on 14/08/24. I grew up going to National Trust places as a child, and when we saw the venue, we knew immediately it was the one. My husband is Japanese, and a lot of our guests would be travelling to the U.K. for the big day, so we wanted to show off the beauty of the English countryside, and Nymans is so stunning that it was absolutely perfect.

We wanted to bring this 'Britishness' into the menu as well, and we worked with Fresh Catering, who created a stunning menu. For our reception, we served Pimm's and English sparkling wine and introduced everyone to the joy of a Sunday roast! Fresh's emphasis on using quality, local ingredients was one reason we decided to go with them, and they did not disappoint.

Our ceremony was also bilingual, with a friend of ours working with our celebrant, Ali, to create a really personal and beautiful ceremony that everyone could enjoy!

It was really important to share some aspects of Japanese culture with our guests as well, so instead of having a cake cut, we decided to go with a sake barrel ceremony. The couple breaks the top of a sake barrel with a big mallet to symbolise a new beginning. It was a close call as our barrel almost didn't arrive in time, but we're so glad it did! We then served all of our guests sake from Japan one by one to thank them for being a part of our special day. We also used some vintage kimono belts as table runners as another nod to Japan.