KFC caters wedding at luxury De Vere Latimer Estate, Chesham

KFC “fanatics” Jack and Sian Arrowsmith had the fast-food chain cater their wedding at the De Vere Latimer Estate on Friday, July 9.

The couple, who are from south-west London, said they “absolutely love” KFC and wanted to have something at their wedding that was “uniquely us”.

Mr Arrowsmith, 32, said: “When we were thinking about the evening food it was the only thing we wanted.”

Mrs Arrowsmith, 28, said the pair, who have dubbed themselves as "fanatics" have had KFC all over the world, including in Vietnam.

She said: “We just love it and we thought it would make it uniquely us. There was this whole wedding package that was very generic, as I’m sure most venues have, and we wanted to add something of us in it to make it less generic or the same as any other wedding.”

Mr Arrowsmith, a business owner, joked their 62 guests were “like wildebeests at the watering hole” when the food was delivered, with his wife adding: “There were only one or two people that knew, and a few people had guessed, but they all went mad for it.”

Mr Arrowsmith said: “We almost didn’t get any ourselves. I’ve never seen a reaction like that, but it was really good to see everybody loved. They’re still talking about it.”

KFC on the dance floor!

The couple also spoke about the stresses of planning a wedding during the pandemic, saying they got engaged in Paris a week before lockdown.

Mr Arrowsmith said: “It was literally week before, people were talking about this thing, Covid-19, and they closed a couple of museums in Paris – and I started panicking, thinking we might not be able to go and do this whole elaborate thing I had planned.

“Luckily we managed to make it there and then back – we got back on the Sunday and on Monday, the whole country went into lockdown.”

Mrs Arrowsmith, who is a nurse practitioner, added: “We were also really lucky in that we’d managed to book our date quite early, we booked it last April. We got the last available date for July this year.

“Everyone was reorganising their weddings. We did start quite a few things early, but it was the three months leading up to the wedding when all the restrictions were changing so we’d hear everything was going to open up on June 21 – but then that changed, and the goalposts kept moving.”

In fried chicken and in health?

The couple said DJs were not taking bookings in case things closed down again, with Mr Arrowsmith adding: “It was really up and down. But for us in the end it really all worked out, I know some other people weren’t as lucky.”

Mrs Arrowsmith said the pair had to make the difficult decision to cut down their guest numbers just two weeks before the wedding and had to tell some of their guests they were not able to have them there.

Mr Arrowsmith added: “Everyone was really good and sweet about it, and very understanding.

“It was especially hard for grandparents, Sian’s grandparents didn’t come in the end, mine came just to the church and left. It was really hard for people not to be there, especially people that are so close.”

Mrs Arrowsmith said her aunt contacted the couple the day before their big day to say she had to self-isolate, adding: “It was a stressful experience, but it all worked out. We made sure everyone did lateral flow tests beforehand to keep things as safe as possible.”

Speaking about how they managed to get KFC to cater their wedding, Mr Arrowsmith said he sent off an email “with a couple of chicken puns”, including a subject of “ring finger lickin’ good”, and got a reply back with “even more chicken puns”, saying the company would “love to help”.

Guests had a gala time with their KFC buckets. All images by Rolta Films

He said there was “a lot of back and forth” and a few “hoops to jump through” with the venue.

The couple thanked KFC, as well as their family and friends, and the wedding organiser at De Vere Latimer Estate, for helping to bring their special day together.

They said: “We couldn’t have done the whole wedding without our families and friends, we’re just really lucky, fortunate and grateful for everything and the way it all came together the way it did.

“Everyone really loved the KFC and it really added that cherry on top of an already very special day.”

A spokesman for KFC said: “Every wedding needs something borrowed, so as soon as Jack and Sian got in touch we knew we had to lend them our 11 Herbs and Spices for the big day.

“As the saying goes, for better, for worse, in fried chicken and in health, right?”