The London Wedding: David & Stella

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Stella & David

It’s little wonder that “hag dos” (parties for stags and hens) are on the rise – they are brilliant places to meet new partners.

Stella Michael and David Sargeant met at a friend’s party weekend in Blackpool, in June 2006.

“We stayed at the worst bed and breakfast,” says Stella, 32. “And had briefly met in the lobby while checking in. When we all went for a curry, we were sitting opposite each other and got chatting. We didn’t get together on the trip, but emailed, and after we saw each other at our friend’s ­wedding in Worcestershire, David asked me out.”

The Mottingham-based pair got ­engaged last year, ­after David, 32, secretly went to Stella’s parents’ house to ask for ­permission. He took her to Le ­Caprice in St James’s for their second anniversary, and after dinner suggested they go for a walk. Then he popped the question.

Civil servant Stella says: “As my family is Greek Orthodox, we knew we’d have a Greek wedding. It was relaxed and chaotic at the same time. In Greek ­weddings, no one worries about timing. So on the day, when David got to the church 15 minutes before the guests were due to arrive at 2pm, and found it locked, he was worried!”

As David banged on the door, the priest strolled up to the Greek Orthodox church of Sts Helen and Constantine in Crystal Palace, and began the ceremony 15 minutes later. The 200 guests then travelled to Epsom Downs racecourse for the reception, with the couple in a 1961 Rolls-Royce. Pimm’s and champagne followed, and a meal of smoked salmon, chicken wrapped in pancetta and forest fruit pavlova.

Greek music kicked off the festivities, and the traditional “money dance”, during which the guests pin money to the couple, was performed. “Two-hundred guests sounds like a lot but it isn’t for a Greek wedding,” says Stella. “It was quite intimate. I was glad we included the important traditional bits. Apart from a few people absent with swine flu, it was a ­wonderful day.”

Wedding Essentials

FIRST DATE: The Comedy Club in Embankment

GET THE LOOK: Stella wore a Jenny Packham dress; David wore suit from Debenhams

SWEET TREAT: Carrot and chocolate cake, fruit cake and raspberry sponge –from Jackie Brown

FIRST DANCE: Dance Me To the End of Love by Leonard Cohen

MUSIC: Live band – Nostalgia

PHOTOGRAPHY: studiov.co.uk

HONEYMOON: Barbados – fortnight

Shreena & Rishi

It takes a big day to prove what an unpredictable beast the English weather is – as Shreena Kotecha and Rishi Patel found out.

“We’d been told it would pour down,” says Shreena, 26, a marketing executive. “So we bought colourful umbrellas for the photos. But while we were outside, it was so sunny I couldn’t look at the camera properly. Then 15 minutes later, it poured down.”

The couple, who live in Winchmore Hill, Enfield, met at Loughborough University in 2002. They got together in their second year and moved to London in 2005. As Shreena is Kenyan, her parents first met Rishi, 26, a Unix manager, last November and he ­proposed on Valentine’s Day.

“We’d gone for a walk in Hyde Park, and I asked her to marry me in the rose garden,” says Rishi.

The couple had a civil ­ceremony with 70 guests in the morning at The Cavendish in Eastcote, and 300 guests attended the evening reception at Premier House Banqueting in Harrow.

Two days later, they held their religious ceremony for 500 at the Holiday Inn in Brentford Lock. Shreena says: “It went off without a hitch and our guests loved it.”

Wedding Essentials

FIRST DATE: Dinner at Chiquito

GET THE LOOK: She wore green halterneck dress from India; he wore a Tux N Tails morning suit

MUSIC: Dynamic Roadshow

PHOTOGRAPHY: ktbwedding photography.co.uk

HONEYMOON: St Lucia and Antigua