- Richard and Catherine Harding
Heather Greenaway – DailyRecord
Letting the groom organise the entire wedding would be most brides’ worst nightmare, but it turned out to be a dream come true for Scot Catherine Tolland.
The 25-year-old handed over total control of her big day to disorganised fiance, Richard Harding, and he got everything spot on – right down to the wedding dress, piper … and limbo dancers.
The happy couple, who star in the new series of BBC Three’s Don’t Tell the Bride, said taking part in the show was both the scariest and most exciting decision they have ever made.
Catherine, of Kirkintilloch, Lanarkshire, admits giving her laid-back husband-to-be free rein left her panic stricken, especially as he had never been to a wedding before.
Learning mentor Catherine said: “Richard was given three weeks and £12,000 to organise the wedding of our dreams, so naturally I was beside myself for most of that time.
“I’m the one, who organises everything in our lives, down to telling him when he is meeting his friends and what we are having for tea.
“Handing over complete control was terrifying. I nearly caved in two or three times, especially when the wedding invitation arrived covered in purple polkadots and tied with a garish tartan ribbon, which I hated.
“But I needn’t have worried as Richard chose the most beautiful gown and arranged a Scottish Caribbean theme to celebrated both our cultures.
“It was perfect and I will never be able to thank him enough.”
Catherine, who met business manager Richard, 25, on their first day at Derby University, signed up to appear on the show after watching the last series.
She said: “Richard proposed to me three years ago and we had been dying to get married, but all our money was being ploughed in to the house.
“We were watching the last series of Don’t Tell the Bride. Richard boasted he could do better than the grooms on it, so I went on-line and filled in an application form.
“A few months later, I was moving in with a friend and leaving my gorgeous fiance to organise the most important day of our lives.”
For three weeks, the pair had no contact and the first hint Catherine got was when the invite dropped through the letterbox.
She said: “It was at that moment it suddenly became real and the panic set in.
“I had told the producers I hated purple, and the invites were covered in lilac spots. It did not bode well.”
Catherine, who first met Richard when she burned toast and set off the fire alarm in student halls, admits shaking on her way to the bridal shop on the day before the wedding.
She said: “I was so worried about the dress, my dad had given me a credit card in case he had picked me something horrific with lots of flounces.
“I was shocked when the lady produced my gown – but in a good way.
“It was simple, with lots of crystals, although a bit more blingy than I would have chosen. I loved it.
“He even picked out a tiara and a veil, which I felt sure he would forget. I was struggling to hold back the tears when I tried it on for the first time.”
On the big day, Catherine was delighted when her dad John, 52, arrived at her door in a tartan kilt, picked by Richard.
She said: “He had a purple tartan and a matching cravat and looked fab.”
But she was less keen on the bridesmaids’ outfits.
Catherine added: “I was just hoping my bridesmaids would not be in purple and, lo and behold, they were.
“They definitely were not dresses I would have picked but they grew on me as the day went on.”
Richard, whose dad is from Guyana, incorporated thistles into all the bouquets and even hired a piper.
Catherine, who lives with Richard in Solihull, near Birmingham, said: “He had chosen cream roses, my favourite calla lilies and thistles for my bouquet.
“When we got to Wroxhall Abbey, in Warwickshire, there was a piper playing. I couldn’t believe he had managed to get somewhere so beautiful on May bank holiday weekend.”
Catherine, who threw her arms round Richard when she got to the end of the aisle, added: “I was so pleased to see him, I gave him a massive hug. I was so happy I didn’t even think about the reception, which was also perfect.
“The tables had beautiful thistle centrepieces and the cake had little people on top that looked like us. I was in heaven. I realised I was panicking for nothing.”
But the best was yet to come. Richard had arranged a Caribbean-themed surprise for the evening.
Catherine said: “After the meal, we were all called to the terrace where there he was, in a Hawaiian shirt, playing with a steel band. He had been taking secret lessons.
“Next thing I knew, all the guests were limbo dancing and we were setting sky lanterns off into the night sky. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.”
Richard, who has become a hero to all his wife’s female friends, said: “I spent the whole three weeks getting up at 8am and going to bed at 3am. Thank goodness for the internet because I’d never been to a wedding and didn’t know what to do.
“Luckily everything kept falling into place.We got the venue due to a cancellation.
“In the bridal shop all the dresses looked the same to me, so my best man Phil went next door and grabbed a hairdresser to model a few.
“Catherine loved her dress and that made me so happy, even though I think she would have looked good in a paper bag.”
Catherine added: “It was extremely stressful letting the cameras into our lives at such an important time, but it was worth it. The memory will be with us forever.”
Don’t Tell The Bride is on BBC 3 at 8pm on September 1. Catherine’s and Richard’s wedding will feature on September 8.
