‘It was nice to finally have the day!’: top riders tie the knot on fourth attempt
Showjumpers Emily Llewellyn and Max Routledge have got married – on their fourth attempt.
The Surrey-based couple celebrated their big day on 5 July in a church ceremony, followed by a marquee reception at home.
Emily is a former event rider who represented Great Britain consecutively at pony, junior and young rider level – and went on to complete Badminton five times before switching to showjumping full-time in 2019. Max, a producer of young horses, has competed to grand prix level and represented Great Britain on Nations Cup teams. The couple have been together 12 years and run Routledge Sport Horses in Guildford.
Emily and Max got engaged in 2019 and had originally been due to get married on 25 May last year but this was cancelled owing to Covid. The wedding was rescheduled for August 2020, and May 2021 but these dates were also cancelled because of the pandemic.
“This was our fourth date so it was nice to finally have the day! The cancellations were annoying because we’ve been together a long time and wanted to get on with it but it’s been the same for everybody,” Emily told H&H.
“My mum Cindy has been amazing, she was in charge of organising most of the wedding for me so she’s dealt with all of the changes and things like that.”
Event riders Gemma Tattersall and Laura Collett were bridesmaids alongside Sarah Hollett and Sophie Dove, while equestrian illustrator Emily Cole designed the couple’s wedding invitations.
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“We had a little cartoon of the two of us on our favourite horses; Max was on his first top horse Typhoon and I was on Sieco, my good horse at the moment,” said Emily.
“My bridesmaids were amazing, they’ve been really supportive the whole way through. We had the wedding on a Monday because weekends don’t work for most of our horsey friends. It was a really nice day and everyone had fun, it was nice to have a social thing since Covid.”
Although Emily made her way to compete at Bolesworth International Horse Show, the couple are now enjoying a couple of days on honeymoon in Cornwall.
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