Sisters have a double wedding and get married side by side to save money

Sisters Ella and Charly have pretty similar tastes – so when they realised they wanted almost identical weddings, they decided to combine their big days to save money.

Ella married partner Chase and Charly married Marcin at a ceremony on last month in Stirling, Scotland.

Afterwards they cut the cake together, made a speech to each other and all four of them even shared the same first dance to Better Together, by Jack Johnston.

Ella Pretorius, 23, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘When I was feeling nervous, Charly was there by my side going through the exact same thing and we could really support each other and get excited together. ‘

Charly Jerwan, 27, adds: ‘I guess I got the best view of my sister’s wedding – standing right there beside her as I celebrated my own day too! Ella is more than my sister she is my best friend and we are so lucky to have shared such a special day.’

Ella met Chase, 28, while she was living and volunteering at a school for disabled children in South Africa.

A friend invited her to her housemate’s birthday – and that friend happened to be Chase.

Ella explains: ‘We bit things off and we have been doing long distance for over three years now while I came home to finish university.’

The pair got engaged on 6 January this year at his family’s beach house in the Eastern Cape in South Africa.

‘He took me to the top of a big sand dune after we had been geocaching on the beach for the day. He got down on one knee and after stumbling to find the right hand, asked me to marry him as we looked out over the ocean – he even planned for his good friend to be there to take pictures of it all for us.’

Ella’s sister Charly had already been engaged to her partner Marcin, 37, who she met when they worked in a restaurant together, for over four years.

So when Ella came home and she started to talk about her wedding, Charly realised that Ella’s dream wedding sounded a lot like hers.

Ella laughs: ‘It started out as a joke because Charly and Marcin (Marly as we call them – and everyone calls Chase and I, Chella) had been engaged for like five years already.

‘I was determined to have the wedding that year but as we all started to speak – especially Char and I – we realised we wanted very similar weddings and thought why waste money on the same wedding a year or so apart with mostly the same people when we could share our big day and make it epic?

‘Char and I have always been really close and want only the best for each other. There is never any jealousy so it just made sense after a while.

‘I am incredibly happy we went ahead with it because the day was perfect and gives us an extra reminder for anniversaries and even a couple to do joint trips with.’

Charly adds: ‘When Ella and Chase were talking seriously about getting married it became a bit of a joke that we had been engaged for so long and they were closer to planning a wedding than us.

‘Ella was the mastermind behind the idea and initially I think we all agreed but we were all a little unsure if it would happen.

‘As we were discussing ideas it was obvious we wanted an almost identical wedding and from there we just started throwing in ideas for the day and agreeing to go for it!’

With Chase still in South Africa, the couples planned the wedding over Skype, coming up with ideas together, and each person taking on jobs.

Charly says: ‘Whilst we all made decisions and agreed on the overall aspects of the day I think we all brought our own skill set.

‘I think we would all agree that without Ella we wouldn’t have had a wedding. Ella did lots of heavy lifting and she was key to holding us all accountable and delegating.

‘Marcin was in charge of finding us an incredible photographer and designing our wedding stationary.

‘Chase was responsible for some really cool industrial copper style decor on the day.

‘I just got a little carried away with loads of ideas and tried not to get distracted by shiny things.’

They got married at the local Gartmore Village Hall in Stirling at the end of June, in front of all their friends and families.

For bridesmaids, they had their two sisters Tasha and Kirsty and a close friend each – Emma and Jessica.

Ella says: ‘I’d say they all felt like all ours – not separate. Our husbands both had a best man each -Chase has his brother and Marcin had his best friend Emil.

‘We walked down the aisle separately (with our dad and step dad on each arm). I went first and then the dads went back and walked down with Charly.’

They signed the paperwork separately but the ceremony was carried out by family friend Liz, who was able to bring aspects of both couples together, though they all wrote separate vows to make it more personal.

Ella explains: ‘She was able to talk about both couples and merge a lot of the ceremony into one – Charly and I even did a little speech for each other during it and then both couples were pronounced and kissed at the same time at the end.

‘We both opted for a hand-tie ceremony to finish so the registrar performed this on each couple and then Charly and Marcin walked out first followed by Chase and myself.’

After the ceremony, they shared more aspects of the day, including the cake and the first dance.

Charly adds: ‘Both husbands did a speech at dinner and for the cake, we had a three tier in the middle with a single tier at each side for the couples to cut at the same time.’

The sisters think a double wedding was the perfect way to celebrate – but admit that planning it with so many extra voices made it slightly more stressful.

Ella says: ‘There were four people to please instead of two and when parents get involved too then theres a lot of different ideas and input.

Charly adds: ‘‘We are all very laid back and we wanted a day that was relaxed and chilled out just like us. We didn’t disagree on anything but it was still planning a wedding.

‘We had multiple opinions and multiple families and we also had a tight budget with constraints so it would be a lie to say it wasn’t stressful at times.’

But now, almost a month later, with Ella and Chase now in Cape Town, South Africa and Charly and Marcin in Winchburgh, Scotland, the couples are glad they have such happy memories of their wedding day.

‘Everything went smoothly and perfectly and I couldn’t ask for anything more! Best day of my life,’ Charly says.

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