My husband Tristan and I have always been huge animal lovers and really wanted to make our wedding day our own – not the routine church affair with a big white dress.
We did lots of research into local venues and came across Rookery Meadow, about four miles from our home. It seemed perfect with lovely wild flower fields and all the other facilities in place for a wedding that would represent us – at the same time as keeping the older generation happy.
We got chatting with Gemma, the owner of the venue, and after we told her how much we loved animals, she suggested having “minidonks”.
We’d heard about them going to local care homes and coffee mornings at the village hall, but we had no idea they did weddings too.
We didn’t have any nieces or nephews the right age to be page boys and flower girls, so we thought, “Why not use donkeys?”
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We went to meet Sarah McPherson, who set up Miniature Donkeys For Wellbeing, and she talked us through the whole process, showing us lots of photos of the minidonks at care homes and schools, where they had this incredibly calming, healing effect.
Sarah dispelled any doubts we had – that the minidonks might be hard to shepherd around and they might just wander off – and we signed up.
All we had to do was make a £400 donation to Sarah’s charity and we could have two of these amazing little animals for our big day.
So, after getting married at St Peter’s Hall on 16 June 2022, two days later Tristan and I – along with our 60 or so guests – made our way to Rookery Meadow where the real stars of the show, Bo-Peep and Pixie, were in pride of place.
These two loveable, fun-sized Eeyores wore beautiful flower crowns and were our equine equivalent of flower girls. We’d kept it a surprise from almost everyone, wanting to cherish the moment we introduced them – and it didn’t disappoint.
The moment all the guests saw the minidonks as we walked towards them, we heard this big “Ooooh!” and instantly there was a smile on everyone’s faces.
Bo-Peep tried nibbling my bouquet, but it wasn’t anything a few bits of carrot couldn’t sort out. Bo-Peep and Pixie couldn’t have been better behaved, stopping to pose for photos then helping distribute bottles of wine and champagne at the reception with the specially made panniers strapped to their backs.
Sarah was in the background to make sure everything was OK, but she really had nothing to do, enjoying the day as much as we did. She took the donkeys home later that afternoon before the dancing started, but even when they’d gone they were still the talk of the day.
Even now my two nans, Pat and Queenie, who were astonished when they first saw them, can’t quite believe we really had minidonks helping to hand out drinks at our wedding.
For more information about Miniature Donkeys For Wellbeing, see minidonks.org.uk
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