Laura Kyle – Mother of the Bride
Laura lives in Somerset with Ian, and they love having everyone to stay – their house is the centre of most family celebrations! She has been a fantastic source of help and support in the wedding planning; coming to wedding fairs, helping to choose all sorts of details from Nix’s dress, to the venue, to the invitations, and then also helping with the practical bits like drying flower petals for confetti and sticking hundreds of diamantés onto invitations – and always being on the end of the phone to listen to hours of wedding-related chat from Nix! Planning the wedding has been a real family effort, and she has really helped to make it such fun.
Ian Kyle – Father of the Bride
Ian has recently returned with Laura to the UK from Fiji, where he has been working for Cable & Wireless – his job was responsible for Nix’s exotic upbringing! It’s been such a treat having them both back in the same country as us. He has been wonderfully supportive with all the wedding plans, from helping us draw up a wedding planning ‘mind map’ on our first night back from New York after the proposal, to helping choose cars, coming to wedding fairs and even to Nix’s dress fitting – he and Laura have made the whole wedding planning process an absolute pleasure for both of us!
Anne Medway – Mother of the Groom
Anne lives in West Bromwich, and spends a lot of time with her six grandsons and even visiting her granddaughter Summer in Holland! She has had a firm place in Nix’s heart ever since she said over lunch one day early in our relationship, ‘I think you and Chris are really going to work out – I’ve never seen him so happy.’ She has been a great help with the wedding, coming to visit the venue, helping us choose our wedding rings and giving her stamp of approval to Nix’s dress!
Steve Melia – Father of the Groom
Steve lives in Wednesbury with his partner Helena. He is a local councillor and is very involved with lots of musical groups, including the choir he sings with. He also plays Santa on a children’s ward in the local hospital every Christmas! He and Helen have been very supportive of Nix and Chris’s plans, and have been a big help in collecting Melia family addresses for us (and it’s a big family – Steve is one of fifteen siblings!)
Andy Melia – Best Man
Andy is Chris’s brother. He and Chris were living together when Nix moved in, so the three of them lived together for a few months and Andy made Nix feel very welcome. Andy has two lovely sons, David and Frazer, and lives in Derby. He’s very friendly with all the Kyles (Laura once said to Nix, ‘If you ever break up with Chris, we’re keeping Andy!’) and is a frequent visitor to their house in Somerset. He’s also recently been helping Holly out with her house renovation project. Andy was the first person Chris called when we got engaged, and he’s been a huge help with wedding planning – he’s just wonderfully sensible and reliable, and every time a supplier has asked us what they should do if something doesn’t go to plan on the day, we’ve said ‘Ask Andy, he’ll sort it out!’
Holly Kyle – Chief Bridesmaid
Holly is Nix’s sister. She lives in Somerset but is currently renovating a house in Derby, which has been lovely for Nix and Chris as they get to see her more often than usual! She was the only person who was in on Chris’s plan to propose to Nix in New York, and she gave Nix and Chris their first engagement card, two minutes after he proposed! She’s been a huge help with wedding planning, coming to wedding fairs, venue visits and dress fittings, helping to design invitations, choose menus and generally consult on all the details! Her list of duties just seems to keep increasing (organising the hen do, doing up Nix’s dress, looking after the flower girls…) and she has handled the role and all the responsibilities with immense grace and good humour!
Caroline White – Bridesmaid
Caroline is Chris’s sister. She lives in West Bromwich with her husband Phil and their four lovely boys, Jamie, Tony, Danny and Bobby. Caroline was very excited to hear Nix and Chris were getting married and has been very supportive throughout the wedding planning. One evening she even got her own wedding dress, veil and tiara out of storage and put them all on for Nix to get some inspiration!
Jess and Nix have been friends since they were at school together; they went backpacking together on their gap year, and then both went to the University of Warwick. Nix and Chris’s first holiday together was to visit Jess and her boyfriend PK in Thailand, where they were working as teachers. Jess and PK now live in Sheffield, and Nix has been very glad to have her back in the country in time to be involved in the wedding – it wouldn’t have been the same without her! (P.S. – It will be PK’s birthday two days before the wedding, so be sure to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to him!)
Sam Iles – Bridesmaid
Nix worked with Sam in Bristol in her first job after university (can it really be seven years ago?) and they’ve been close friends ever since. Sam and her husband JP live in Bristol, and Sam works in HR/recruitment – conveniently, directly across the road from the wedding dress shop where Nix bought her dress! Nix was a bridesmaid and Chris was an usher when Sam and JP got married in 2009, and Sam has been an amazing source of advice (and wedding magazines, and ‘Something Borrowed’s!) while we’ve been planning the wedding.
Ed Kyle – Usher
Ed is Nix’s brother. He’s just graduated from the University of Hull with a degree in Marine Biology, and has moved back to Somerset. As the musician in the family, he’s been key in helping Nix and Chris choose the evening entertainment. He’s helped with a lot of tasks in the run up to the wedding, including helping to make all of the invitations, and has kindly agreed to do a reading during the ceremony for us. Chris will always remember Ed’s reaction when Nix called from New York to tell him about the proposal – ‘Tell Chris he’s a ninja!’
Darren Melia – Usher
Darren is Chris’s brother. He lives in Holland with his girlfriend Liesbeth, and has a lovely daughter, Summer. He’s a huge live music fan and comes back to the UK to come to Glastonbury with us every year. We’ve missed having Darren at the venue visits and suit fitting trips, as he’s the only member of the wedding party who lives outside the country – but we’re very glad he can be there on the day!
David Melia – Usher
David is Chris’s oldest nephew. When David was four, Chris taught him to say ‘That’s preposterous!’ and encouraged him to say it at every opportunity. David is now 15 and taller than Chris – now THAT’s preposterous! He has been very helpful in planning the wedding, and was instrumental in choosing the men’s suits (and very patient when we kept asking him to try different ones on!)
JP Iles – Usher
JP (often called Jip!) is Sam’s husband, and he and Chris have got on brilliantly ever since Nix and Sam introduced them to each other – Chris was an usher at Sam and JP’s wedding, and the four of them spend a lot of time together, drinking cocktails and camping in gale force winds! JP lives in Bristol with Sam, and has a very cool job as an R&D engineer for Dyson. He’s been an excellent source of calm advice and stag do tips! (P.S. – It will be JP’s birthday the day before the wedding, so be sure to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to him!)
Rob Mackley – Usher
Rob was the best man at JP and Sam’s wedding, and he and his lovely wife Rach have been best friends with Sam and JP for years. Sam and JP introduced them to Nix and Chris three years ago, and we’re very glad they did, as we’ve all become good friends since then and have shared lots of evenings together over one of Rob’s amazing home-cooked curries! He lives in Stafford with Rach and their three gorgeous children, Ellah, Ben and Ollie. Rob runs his own graphic design business and has been a great source of advice with our stationery and printing!
Rach Mackley – Reader
Rach lives in Stafford with her husband Rob and runs the admin side of their business as well as looking after their three lovely children – she’s an absolutely wonderful Mum! In her (very small) amount of spare time, Rach dances with a local belly-dancing group. Rob and Rach have become good friends of Nix and Chris’s over the last few years, especially since we all had such fun being involved in Sam and JP’s wedding!
Sarah Whitaker – Reader
Sarah (better known as Sassy) and Nix have been friends since before Nix met Chris, and she met her husband John, but the boys have got on well since they met, and Chris was even Best Man at their wedding. Sassy lives in Manchester with John and their three dogs, and she and John are Nix and Chris’s regular theatre buddies, and may also soon be our diving buddies as they have recently become qualified divers!
Summer Melia – Flower Girl
Summer is Chris’s niece (Darren’s daughter) and lives in Holland. She’s six years old and is very excited about coming to England to see all her family, and wearing a princess dress, especially since she watched the Royal Wedding on TV!
Ellah Mackley – Flower Girl
Ellah is Rob and Rach’s daughter. She’s five years old and very grown up now, but Chris and Nix have known her since she was tiny! Her little brothers Ben and Ollie will be very proud of how pretty she looks in her flower girl dress.