Today we have a simple and sweet wedding by Christian Ward Photography. Jane and Neil got married in Sheffield, chose a winter city hall wedding and a chic all white with purple accents colour palette.
Read on for some gorgeous eye candy of the very achievable variety! We love do-able inspiration!
A City at Christmas
Our wedding was on 12th December 2009. We wanted a pre-Christmas wedding as we both love that time of year, plus a family get together before Christmas was a lovely idea also. The ceremony took place at the Sheffield Town Hall Register Office and the reception was at the Sheffield Hilton. We chose Sheffield Town Hall register office because the building is very old and grand, it has some amazing photo opportunities. The Hilton was our favourite location that we visited when looking for a reception venue. The inner city quay side setting won it over for us. It is a real unusual setting for wedding photographs.
A Monsoon Wedding
My wedding dress was from Monsoon. I always knew I didn’t want a traditional style wedding dress. I wanted more of an evening dress style. Plus I didn’t want to spend a lot of money but wanted it to be special. Monsoon had lots of gorgeous dresses that fit my criteria and budget. I knew my dress was the one when I tried it on, it fit and hung beautifully. The beading detail really made it sparkle too.
I only wanted something simple for my hair so I chose a beautiful diamante comb from Accessorize.
I knew I wanted my shoes to be different and not traditional wedding shoes. I found them in Schuh, they are part of the Irregular Choice range, and they had a 10cm heel which was the perfect height for the length of my dress. They were cream in colour with a gorgeous corsage on the toe of each shoe, which made them really unusual. It was a bonus that they were really comfortable on the day!
I did my makeup myself and my hair was done by Clare, the owner of Halo Hair, Dronfield Derbyshire. I had a practice session with Clare and my criterion was that I wanted all my hair up so I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about it during our wedding day. She came up with the style to suit my hair and I loved it.
Winter whites…
We chose white roses for our wedding flowers which featured as the button holes and mine and my daughter/bridesmaid Ellie’s bouquets. I wanted the bouquets hand tied and mine was slightly larger than Ellie’s. All the flowers were done by a friend of my Mum’s.
Ellie’s dark purple bridesmaid dress was from Next and looked gorgeous on her, the dark purple was then added to the suits that Neil and his best men wore. The suits were all hired from Burtons.
Neil’s suit was a grey lounge suit, he added a dark purple tie and handkerchief to match Ellie’s dress and his best men. Neil looked really handsome in his suit!
Unique Photography
We were introduced to Christian Ward Photography, run by Christian and his wife Erica, by Neil’s Mum as she knows them and even attended their wedding! We looked at their website and thought their photos were amazing. We then set up a meeting with Chris and Erica. The albums they showed us were very professional and we had never seen anything like it! We instantly knew they were the couple to capture our special day, we knew we could totally trust them with our wedding photography. Now seeing our photos that they have taken of our day it’s obvious we made the right decision.
Cupcake Cool
Our wedding cake was by Audrey Likes To Bake Things and she made us 100 miniature cup cakes. We had half chocolate and half vanilla. Each one was decorated with vanilla/purple icing and little flowers. They were displayed on a lovely four tier stand. We don’t like fruit cake so we wanted sponge and thought miniature cup cakes were a little unusual.
Keeping it in the Family…
Our table decorations were very special, designed and made by Neil’s Mum Jan. Jan is very creative and we pretty much left her to design them herself and we were really pleased with what she came up with. We had silver plates with purple glass nougats to match our colour scheme and a pillar candle in the centre. The tables looked really stunning when all the candles were lit at the meal.
Photography Advice
Our wedding was special to us because it was everything we wanted and more.
My advice for future brides would be to really research your photographer because when your special day is over it really is important to look back at photos that captured the mood and emotion of the day. We are really lucky because ours do that perfectly.
I love that this weddings has loads of pretty details and budget friendly ideas – especially those centre pieces – getting the family involved it always a great money saver and a really special way to make everyone feel included. Candlelight is always perfect for a winter wedding. Plus the stylish photography gives a really vintage feel to proceedings despite the modern touches… we heart Christian Ward Photography.
Thanks to Jane and Neil for allowing us to share your special day, Congratulations from all of us at RMW!
Yours Truly,
Rebecca
xoxo
Awwww good choice of dress! I saw a girl try this one on in monsoon and I had to look the other way- she looked so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye and I didn’t want her to think I was odd!
Your cakes are lovely!! Yum, delicious! x
What lovely photo’s, I adore those shoes!
Someone has to say how gorgeous Ellie is!
She looks really happy and very sweet. Ahh.
Such a gorgeous bride and I really love the city shots especially the ones covered in confetti!
I really like this – looks like a really personal and intimate day. Second on the bride and Ellie – both very sweet!
I loved looking at these pics for two reasons -firstly, I have that exact Monsoon dress for my wedding in June (and I feel exactly the same as Jane, it’s sparkly and special but not budget-busting) and secondly, I live in Sheffield and pass the Town Hall almost daily. I’m not getting married in Sheffield (we’re off to Italy) but it was lovely to look at the photos of a place I see daily and be reminded how gorgeous it really is. Congrats to the happy couple and for sharing their lovely wedding!
Oh my gosh, this is lovely! I work in Sheffield and walk past the town hall every day, lovely building! We also married on the 12th December but did it in London Town. Congrats xxx
lovely dress! Is it from the current collection and if so what’s it’s name?
Thanks
Kate, I’ve only just seen your comment and it may be too late for you now, but the dress is called Mathilde but it’s not from the current collection sadly. I’m married now and considering selling mine, so if a size 12 is any good to you let me know!