Olivia Heeney’s first impression of Barnaby Albert Soanes-Cundle, her new colleague at a Ted Baker clothing store near Liverpool, England, was less than glowing after meeting him in November 2012.
“I got home and I said, ‘Mum, this guy’s just started working there and he only got the job because his best friend is the store manager,’” said Heeney, now 31. “I was really cross about it.”
Both Heeney, who goes by Liv, and Soanes-Cundle, known as Barney, were working in sales in a discount designer outlet mall in Cheshire, a county in the north of England, not far from where both were living with their parents. She was 17; he was 23. Eventually, they bonded while folding shirts, discovering a shared appreciation of travel, ’60s music and vintage fashion. Plus, they simply enjoyed each other’s company.
“If it was me and Liv in the same part of the shop, we’d always have good fun, but we’d always have good intellectual conversation as well,” said Soanes-Cundle, now 37.
During Easter weekend 2013, Soanes-Cundle invited his work colleagues out to see the recently opened film “Oblivion.” Heeney was the only one to show up.
Over the next few weeks, the two went to see more films together, and the outings gradually became real dates. Their first kiss was after a showing of “The Great Gatsby.”
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In late summer 2014, the couple was at a crossroads. Heeney, by then 19, was planning to move to London to begin studying at the London College of Fashion, where she eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion management. Soanes-Cundle holds a bachelor’s degree in Irish Studies and English language and literature from the University of Liverpool.
“I told him, ‘I’m moving to London in September,’” she said. “That’s what’s happening — you can join me or not.”
He joined her. They were on a steady path toward marriage, but practicalities like buying a home and building their careers took priority.
By 2022, they had purchased a two-bedroom apartment in the Chiswick neighborhood of London and were thriving professionally. Soanes-Cundle is now a director at GIA Surveyors, a technology-focused property company. Heeney is the public relations and partnerships manager at Smythson, a leather goods and stationery company. They started to think about marriage.
“We both knew it was going to happen at some point,” she said. “I just don’t think we were in a mega rush to do it. We wanted to have a wedding that we’re proud of and do it in the way that we wanted to and not get into debt over hosting our wedding.”
Soanes-Cundle proposed on April 8, 2023, over an Easter weekend trip to Ghent, Belgium, that was essentially the 10th anniversary of the couple’s first de facto date.
“I just thought, ‘Let’s do it while we’re away because it will capture the memory better than if we do it randomly somewhere in London,’” he said.
The couple decided to marry in New Orleans, inspired in part by a trip they had taken last year to see Heeney’s godmother, Karen Burns, who lives in the River Ridge suburb.
“We have the connection to New Orleans,” said Heeney, who is keeping her maiden name professionally but taking Soanes-Cundle as her legal name. “We thought it’s such a bucket list destination for so many people that it would be a perfect place to do the wedding.”
On Oct. 21, the couple was married at Race + Religious, an event space in New Orleans’s Lower Garden District. The wedding was officiated by Sandy Arce Fernandez, who was ordained by the Universal Life Church. The ceremony included distinctively local elements, like a “second line” festive parade that includes a brass band. The evening’s menu featured locally caught fish with a crawfish sauce, crab beignets and a copious number of oysters, raw and broiled.
Forty-one guests came from Britain, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand and various U.S. states to attend. The best man was Adam Taylor, the manager who helped Soanes-Cundle get the job at the now-closed clothing store where the couple met.
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