True Love Tuesday......Jessica and Stephen Abraham - Getting Married in Northern Ireland Magazine

A Quacking Great Love

Health Care Assistant Jessica Teggart from Portadown met mechanic Stephen Abraham also from Portadown in college, standing in the dinner line Stephen kicked Jessica’s foot without realising which caught his attention and then Jessica definitely caught his attention. Sending a Facebook message to Jessica later on which Jessica didn’t reply to; Stephen never gave up. A year later on a night out Stephen managed to ask Jessica’s friend to put a good word in for him, however this message wasn’t passed on, Stephen still never lost hope and he sent another Facebook message which Jessica replied to, he told her all about the animals he has which of course Jessica had to see. Love grew from there, seeing each other every night since.

After being together for 7 years Jessica and Stephen wanted to go to America on holiday and when they saw a trip to Vegas they decided to book it and hire a car, a very cool 5.0 GT Mustang Convertible for their trip along Route 66, loving every moment of it, singing along with their Spotify playlist, laughing and chatting, it was like a storyline from a romantic movie. Stephen asked Jessica numerous times on the drive if she loved him, laughing and saying of course she did, nothing more was thought of it as they drove into Williams, Arizona the gateway to the Grand Canyon National Park and parked up for the night, the sky was dark and majestic with twinkling stars. Stephen told Jessica to close her eyes, feeling quite nervous Jessica didn’t know what to expect, when she opened her eyes Stephen was down on one knee and asked Jessica to marry him catching her by complete surprise she hugged him and of course said yes. Jessica said “I didn’t realise Stephen had been thinking of this the whole trip, he had played his cool, I had even carried my own engagement ring about in a bag and didn’t know”. The engagement ring is stunning with the most amazing sparkle, it is a Leo diamond from Ernest Jones in Belfast. Stephen had picked it himself but just knew that Jessica would love it. They set a wedding date for 2022 as they wanted to be on honeymoon when they celebrated their 10 year anniversary as a couple.

After following Elody Bridal on Instagram Jessica knew she wanted to look there for her dress so booking an appointment for exactly 13 months prior to the big day, Jessica attended with her Mum and Nan. Having saved a few photos on her phone of styles that she liked Jessica was able to show Elaine the type of dress she wanted and they then chose 7 dresses to try on. Putting on what Jessica thought was her ideal dress first she was disappointed to find that she didn’t like it, so when she tried on her 5^th dress her Nan stood up and said “Jessica that’s the one, you look like the perfect bride” to be sure Jessica tried on another dress that she really liked but didn’t get the same feeling in it, so the decision was made and Jessica said yes to the dress. It was a Justin Alexander gown with the most gorgeous attachable train by Enzoani. Jessica said “I felt amazing, I ordered the dress that day and still can’t believe I found my dress, 5 dresses in”.

Finding the experience amazing, loving the buzz of trying on dresses, the hardest part was keeping the dress a secret as she really wanted to show Stephen. The bridesmaid dress shopping was also stress free and enjoyable, finding the perfect dress in Reflections in Lisburn for cousin Rachel and younger sister Sarah-Louise, they both looked stunning on the day.

Suits for Stephen, Best Man and friend Matthew and Stephen’s brother David as groomsman along with page boys Jack (Jessica’s younger brother) and Elliott (Stephen’s nephew) came from Statement Menswear in Portadown.

“The best part of planning the wedding was making it a day to celebrate us, we did everything that made us happy and excited for the day, nothing else mattered, also seeing the to do list getting smaller and the date get closer” Jessica and Stephen also told us “The most stressful part was probably the week before the wedding, everything was done up to that point so it was just finalising everything and making sure everything falls into place”

The big day came on 23^rd June 2022 when Jessica and Stephen got married in St Marks Church in Portadown and held their reception in Manor House Country Hotel in Enniskillen with their 100 guests. Choosing to have lots of flowers as their theme Jessica and Stephen ensured they had a beautiful floral arch at the doors of the church, flowers along the pews, on every table including the top table at the reception, guests were invited to take some flowers home with them at the end of the night and Jessica also got to leave flowers on loved one’s graves to include them in their celebrations. Jessica was that excited to get to the church and see Stephen she was ready to go by 10:30, the wedding wasn’t due to start until 12:00, not feeling nervous at all Jessica smiled and laughed her way down the aisle to start her new life with her adoring husband. Although the couple pretty much stuck to their budget Jessica did manage to sneak in a few surprises including a fiddler called Adam, brought in to surprise the guests and Stephen, a singer was also brought in to entertain the guests. Realising they had worked hard and had planned a wonderful wedding both Jessica and Stephen were delighted when everything went smoothly and they were able to enjoy their day immensely. They did say a highlight of their day was “when our friend and Minister Rev William Orr surprised us with 3 ducks, now called Dickie, Sweet Pea and June to coincide with their wedding, dickie bows, sweetpea flowers and our wedding month. They’re currently living their best lives in our back garden with their 3 baby ducklings”

Looking back Jessica and Stephen both said “we wouldn’t do anything differently, we would just do it all over again”

Having booked Bali to enjoy a 3 week honeymoon they were gutted to find that 5 days before the wedding their flights had been cancelled so plans were changed and a trip to Miami and Mexico was booked, flying out 2 days after the wedding, Jessica and Stephen relived their engagement trip to the Grand Canyon only this time getting a photo of engagement and wedding rings to go along with their engagement photos to remember their amazing trips.

Finding married life brilliant Jessica said “life doesn’t get much better, doing life with my now husband, we love married life, we are complete” They did give this advice to newly engaged couples planning their own day “Enjoy the planning, enjoy the build up and splash out and have the extra things, you won’t regret it”