Real Bermuda Wedding: Caroline & Darren

After a coincidental meeting at her company, Caroline Tee and Darren Bradley quickly realized their attraction to one another. Their relationship grew steadily until Darren proposed – not once, but three times. “He did it three times, not because I said no but because he was moved with love,” explains Caroline.

The first proposal was spontaneous and came at the end of a family dinner with the bride’s parents and sister. After the meal, Darren got down on one knee and said, “I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while and I’m just bursting with love right now, so would you like to be my wife? I don’t have a ring because I didn’t know I was going to do this tonight!”

For the second proposal, the groom planned a romantic getaway. While on a camping trip at the beach, Caroline and Darren enjoyed a dinner picnic, complete with sunset and moonrise, followed by a swim in the ocean. It was then that Darren got down on one knee and proposed, this time with a substitute ring. “He had been planning to propose in the ocean and didn’t want to lose the real ring,” Caroline explains. “It was so completely romantic!”

For the third and final proposal, Darren asked Caroline to marry him when the couple returned home from their camping trip. This time, he had the real ring in hand. “I’ve now given you three chances to say no and because you said yes all three times you are committed,” the groom noted.

With all three proposals accepted, the couple began to plan their wedding. Wanting to capture the spirit and fun of New Year’s Eve, they eventually decided on a date of December 31, 2018, with both the ceremony and reception to be held at Coral Beach Club.

In keeping with the festivity of the occasion, Caroline and Darren chose a New Year’s Eve theme for their day, and featured sparkles, hanging stars and confetti balloons as part of their décor. The sparkle was complemented by a simple, sophisticated colour scheme of red and gold. The look was completed by a floral style that focused simply on red roses.

When it came to her dress, Caroline had known the style she loved for many years and was prepared when it came time to plan her wedding. “One of my closest friends got married in Belgium when I was in my 20’s,” she explains. “While I was there for her ceremony, a Vera Wang wedding dress shop was having a massive sale, and I thought it would be really practical if I bought a dress, knowing one day I would need it. Little did I know it would not come out of the back of my closet for 20 years!”

The dress itself was a simple, yet sophisticated strapless style, which Caroline complemented with vintage jewellery and a small bouquet of red roses wrapped with a red satin ribbon. The groom chose a navy suit accented with a tie in the same shade of red as his bride’s flowers. Sneakers finished his look, creating a casual element to accommodate the beach setting of the event.

To celebrate their wedding, Caroline and Darren hosted their 30 guests for a sit down dinner on the beautiful lower terrace of Coral Beach Club. “As the sun went down the sky turned pink with orange streaks and the ocean was calm as the waves rolled in. It was blissful Bermuda beauty at its best,” says the bride. “At one point during the night we asked our guests to go down to the beach and light biodegradable Chinese lanterns and set them free into the horizon with wedding wishes for us.”

For the menu, the bride and groom chose one to match the festive, elegant style of their day. Included was a choice of seafood or sushi to start, a soup course, and finally a choice of beef tenderloin, rockfish or lamb for the entrée.

For the cake, the couple selected a Croquembouche, which is a traditional French wedding cake made of a choux pastry with creme patisserie on the inside and a sugar caramel wrapped around it on the outside. “My parents are Cordon Blue chefs, so as a little girl I learnt about these cakes and knew one day this would be my choice,” the bride adds.

When asked whether the day turned out as she expected, Caroline exclaims that “every moment was outstanding,” with the speeches being the moments that were particularly memorable. “They were perfect,” she concludes. “My Dad began with a sentimental timeline of memories and achievements, and the best man delivered a comical life history of my husband and himself as best friends. Then my husband told a hilarious fairytale-style story about how we met, and I finished it off with a story based on something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new!”

For future brides, Caroline recommends, “making your wedding day a reflection of who you are.” She also suggests, if possible, “paying for your wedding yourself, as this will make the process of making your own decisions easy.”