As you can imagine we receive a whole heap of submissions to RMW HQ and we absolutely love looking at every single one, especially when the accompanying text is particularly witty and heartfelt.

Upon receiving Rock My Wedding reader Linzi’s submission a wee while back I was impressed not only by her unique and definitive style ( this girl has the whole cool/pretty/quirky thing going on in spades lovelies…) but also by her honest and frank account of how the Big Day isn’t without trial and tribulation.

To Charlotte,

Linzi xxx

Did I like it?! I ruddy L.O.V.E.D it. And I’m pretty darn sure you gorgeous lot will too.

This is a lengthy, detailed and completely delicious report, I suggest you go make yourself a nice cup of tea ( or glass of wine, is it too early for wine?) and enjoy the story. ’tis well worth the effort folks.

Jessica Rabbit Curves

David and I married in Inchcolm Abbey on Inchcolm island, which is in the firth of the Forth, to get there we chartered a boat for us and our 60 guests, which was organised by the very friendly Tracy at Maid of the Forth. We then held the reception at Kirknewton House Stables, just outside of Edinburgh.

My wedding dress was “Havana” by Charlotte Balbier. To be completely truthful, my dress choice wasn’t dictated by any venues, themes or colours, but by the size of my chest (which is a bit on the big side) and my hips (which are a lot on the big side) which made dress shopping a nightmare for me. As we were aiming for a relaxed day with little formality I had envisioned walking down the aisle in a flowing empire line gown with no embellishment,just lace or chiffon, with fresh flowers in my hair. That was until I tried them on, my waist was hidden under swathes of floaty fabric and I looked, at best like I was in a nightdress, and at worst…pregnant. When I showed David the bridal magazines he would also brand these dresses “maternity dresses” not a good start.

After trying on a LOT of dresses (and putting the deposit down on one that I later changed my mind about) I pushed to the back of my head what kind of dress fitted with the day and found one that fitted with my figure , the “Jessica rabbit of wedding dresses” as the ladies at Kudos Bridal had dubbed it, a fitted, corseted, fishtail beauty, that still had the lace I was wanting and that wasn’t strapless. I liked that it had an exaggerated shoulder details and beading on the bodice without being a huge gown. I didn’t come close to tears when looking for a dress, or have any overwhelming feeling that I had found “the one”and found it scary when assistants in dress shops gushed at me(who gets that excited over taffeta?!), but every time I went to try the dress on I just wanted to stroke it, so that’s how Havana won over its (very few) competitors, strokability factor.

Big Sweets And Floral Fancy

I don’t really wear much Jewellery, it looks weird on me, like I’m trying to look grown up which I’m still in denial of being. I do like a big knuckle duster of a ring though, my mam bought me a Lola Rose pale pink ring which looked like a big sweet, any jewellery that resembles a jelly tot is a winner in my book.

A few days before the wedding it was becoming hopeful that it’d be a really sunny day and to avoid squinting all day I went down to Urban Outfitters and bought myself some half price nude coloured sunglasses, I really wasn’t trying to look cool, I just have stupidly sensitive eyes.

Spearmint Sandals

I didn’t ever consider wearing “bridal” shoes because they all looked too grown up for me, I wanted to wear my glittery silver converse for a long time, I like wearing flats but then I thought I’d better do heels to raise my dress up a bit because I didn’t want to look like I was drowning in it (I’m pretty short.) I chose mid-height heels for practical reasons (boat to get on etc) I hate the words “practical” and “shoes” together but there you have it. So, my heels were patent leather spearmint green sandals from Office (actually not so sensible sounding..). They were really comfy ’til I did my father/daughter dance and got the worst foot cramp, it hurt, a LOT…… I should have worn converse. I suppose if that’s my one regret from the day I’m not doing so bad!

A China Doll

I did my own make up and decided on a look of “china doll” I didn’t want my wedding day make up to be anything like what I wear day to day, I wanted to look completely different, I decided on the doll look because it worked with the fact that I am super pale, the kind of pale where people are constantly asking if I am anaemic. I’d have never have considered a spray tan for my wedding day, the paper pants are enough to put me right off.

I left my hair in the hands of my lovely hairdresser Tia who works at the Red Salon in leith, Edinburgh. I’d totally recommend her for wedding hair, she’s friendly, listens to what you want and is really good at what she does. She’s been doing my hair for the last 2 years and we’ve tried all kinds of colours and cuts in that time. My brief for the hair was super bright coppery red, big, big huge beehive, cross between the colour of Judy Garland’s Dorothy in wizard of oz with the height of Bridget Bardot’s do and a bit more messiness added in. Tia used lots of hair extensions, she dyed some brighter than my hair colour because she knows how much I love bright red hair. She curled, pinned and back-combed and set it with (I think) an entire can of spray and it withstood the Edinburgh wind and stayed til the last dance. My mam had a french roll done by tia too, she looked gorgeous and classy, like Audrey Hepburn. Laura’s was blow dried and a topshop fabric flower pinned in, she looked cute as a button.

Blue Brogues and High Street Chic

I only wanted one bridesmaid, my best friend, my Laura, no, we’re not sisters, we’re not at all related, and yes we do get asked this all the time, anyway, I asked her as soon as we got engaged, the invitation went a little something like “ will you please, please be my bridesmaid If you say yes I promise you don’t have to wear heels and I won’t put you in a floor length satin strapless number?” and she said yes, for the record, I think she would have worn the above if that had been my style.

We chose the accessories together, first came the lace shawl (Warehouse) then after looking at a lot of evening bags (all too small-where do you put all your stuff type dilemmas?) we came across an amazing straw and ribbon bag in topshop, I said she had to have it, we both laughed how non wedding it was and agreed it was perfect, like a little boater’s lunchbox. This led on to the shoes-we went to every shop looking for brogues and hardly found any despite us thinking they were still in fashion (were they/are they now? Who knows) anyway, the (much talked about on the day) shoes were found in Office, a lovely Victorian blue colour to give a pop of colour to the outfit. Laura then made her own belt from lace, elastic and buttons that tied it all together and looked lovely. We found some nude tights in Miss Selfridge and her mum bought some lace gloves in new look. I thought Laura looked amazing and I know she’ll wear those shoes again and again, infact, I’m a bit jealous…

Vintage Heritage

David inherited his grandad’s kilt outfit when he passed away a few years ago, his kilt is over 60 years old, so I guess we can say the groom wore vintage, the tartan is called “ancient Douglas” I love the colours of the kilt and it was important that he wore it on his wedding day. The traditional wedding kilt outfit would be completed with a white dress shirt, black bow tie, black lace up the legs brogues and a black short length jacket. Although very smart, I have to admit, I’ve never thought it suited David (is this horrible?!) I have always thought he looked uncomfortable in a bow tie, and the jacket seemed boxy, I knew there was something that would suit him perfectly, what I didn’t know was that he already owned it!

Being a total traditionalist in kilt outfits, he had failed to mention that he had also inherited a green suit style jacket, perfect, he suits green.. We then picked new accessories and some tan coloured brogues from SlanJ, Edinburgh. I hadn’t seen the whole outfit together until our wedding day, I thought he looked amazing and relaxed in his outfit which fit in perfectly with the overall feel of the day.

Pretty Paper

I decided to make all the stationery myself (and am now setting up a wedding stationary business with Laura!) the orders of ceremony had deers on the front and sketches inside and were all tied up with wool that had belonged to my nanna, that she had bought to make baby clothes for me and my brother. I made all the menus too, with the same drawings. Our name place settings were strips of brown paper wrapped around each napkin, with the guests name stamped on with alphabet stamps.

I also made buttonholes for all the guests, I liked it how in the 1970s just about every wedding guest wore a carnation with tin foil wrapped around the stem, but I wasn’t about to spend my wedding morning doing 60 of those! So I made paper buttonholes out of pages from an old book and buttons, I almost gave up making them (they took AGES!) but just about everyone wore one and lots of people said they loved them so that made up for the night sat infront of rubbish TV making them!

Last Minute Florals

Very early in our engagement we use to pass a big hydrangea bush quite regularly that was a mottled pinky blue colour, it was amazing, I couldn’t get over the colour of it, I really wanted to steal its flower heads (I resisted!) every time I walked past. So that is how I came to my flower choice, I thought it’d look pretty good against the big poof of material on the shoulder of my dress. we chose blue hydrangea for Laura once we had found her shoes , but I didn’t decide on lilac for me until very last minute, so last minute that we couldn’t really find the palest shade of lilac I wanted, so Katrina at Stems did half lilac roses and half hydrangea with a pale pink ribbon to soften it all up. I pinned a badge of our cat lucky to it, which I thought might make David laugh if he got nervous in the ceremony.

For the reception, I wanted to try my hand at floristry and decided to arrange the flowers myself in jam jars collected by our lovely friends who I think based every meal around a jar of dolmio before our big day. I wanted whites and greens to compliment the venue, with a splash of yellow and a bit of a scent, I chose gypsophelia, anthirhinum, craspidia (becausehey are like mmminiature pom poms) and eucalyptus, they smelt lovely and I think they looked pretty good.

Bridal Gown – Charlotte Balbier at Kudos Bridal

Jewellery - Lola Rose

Head Piece – Sarah Drew

Brides and Bridesmaids Shoes – Office

Hair – Tia at the Red Salon

Bridesmaids Dress – H & M

Florist – Katrina at Stems

Photography – Family Friend, Professional Photographer non Wedding.

That is some of the loveliest stationery I’ve seen and certainly one of the most individual brides to grace these pages.

Linzi – I salute you. And I’ve not even shared part 2 yet….

It’s coming lovelies, it’s coming!

Big Gonna Get Me A Pair of Blue Brogues Love

Charlotte xxx

• Previous Entry: Ugo Zaldi… for the Modern Bride.
• Next Entry: We Have Plenty Of Pretty To Give Away…..for like FREE!!!!