Welcome back for Part 2 of this gorgeous London wedding where we get to really share the ice cream dream of a reception complete with paper poms, donuts for a cake and, um, is that a Kylie and Jason Duet?!
Yes folks, it is. Guilty Pleasures coming right up. 
Family Flowers
My mother in law dealt with the flowers and did a brilliant job. She put bay trees wrapped with ribbon on the church steps and made beautiful arrangements for the reception venue.
We also collected vintage tin tea caddies and filled them with flowers for the centerpieces on the tables. The buttonholes were a combination of roses and thistles, because Sam is English and I am Scottish.
We also had a little flower wand for our flowergirl, which she loved!
Mirrorbox Moments
We found out about Mirrorbox Photography because they were recommended to us by my sister. Once we saw their style of photography in their portfolio we knew they were the right choice for us.
We liked the mixture of photojournalism with quirky posed shots and also that they kept posed group shots to a minimum. We also loved the albums they create as part of their package.
Donut Designs
Cake was one of the things I couldn’t care less about, so did nothing about choosing one! Neither of us really like traditional wedding cake.
Sam had the bright idea of doughnuts instead, so the day before the wedding, he and the best man went to a wholesale bakery and collected 120 fresh doughnuts of all flavours. They looked and tasted gorgeous and cost almost nothing.
Also, one of my favourite things was our ice-cream machine! Instead of a dessert, we had a Mister Whippy machine, complete with sprinkles, flakes and three different kinds of sauce.
Everyone could go and help themselves as many times as they liked. I made labels for the different toppings, downloaded from Eat Drink Chic, which is great!
Favour Fantastic
We decided to make donations to two charities, and gave guests pin badges attached to their place cards with an explanation of why we had chosen them. We donated to Macmillan Cancer Support in honour of my mum Dianne who died of kidney cancer two years ago. We found the support of the Macmillan nurses invaluable when she was very ill, and think they provide a wonderful service. We also wanted to remember my mum in as many ways as possible throughout the wedding.
We also donated to Yorkhill Children’s Foundation. Josh, the son of close friends of ours, became very ill when he was only a week old, with blood clots in his kidneys, brain and stomach. He was rushed to Glasgow Yorkhill hospital where they gave him incredible, expert care, and saved his life. Josh is now a cheeky 10 month old who has just had his eight operation, but is still smiling.
Paper and Cotton
We were able to decorate the venue and the marquee ourselves the day before the wedding. We hung bunting (from ebay) and homemade tissue paper pom poms all round the marquee.
The venue provided little tea lights for all the tables, and as already mentioned, we made our own place cards, and used vintage tea tins for the table arrangements.
Piper, Ceilidh and Kylie
We had a piper called Willie to pipe outside the church and at the reception before the meal. He also piped us in to dinner and had a traditional dram of whisky. In the evening we had a mixture of disco and Scottish ceilidh dancing. A friend of mine, Alison taught everyone the dances, and the English people didn’t manage too badly!
Um, well…we don’t have a song. We racked our brains for something romantic, but just couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t wrist-slittingly melancholy or just too cheesy.
So we decided to recreate Kylie and Jason’s ‘Especially for You’ routine from Christmas 1989 Top of the Pops. Yep. We even did the lift…
Advice from a Bride
What made our wedding special was the fact we were joining two families together from two very different parts of the UK and we managed to include traditions from both England and Scotland in the day. What also made it special was actually spending time together. I know that sounds strange but a lot of couples are so busy they barely see each other after the ceremony! We had a half hour drive from the church to the reception – just the two of us in a white London taxi with a bottle of champagne Sam had arranged. Perfect. We also didn’t have a top table, but instead had a table for two, so that we spent the meal talking to each other and letting it sink in that we were hitched at last.
My advice is – don’t put loads of pressure on yourself. All those little details you’re sweating over? Pretty much only you will notice them! Everyone thinks ‘this has to be the best day of my LIFE’ – that’s just too much stress. It’ll be a lovely, fun day, you’ll be married at the end of it, and that’s really all that matters. Also, don’t make your own bunting, you’ll go demented.
Photography – Mirrorbox
Ice Cream Printables – Eat Drink Chic
Favours – be.macillan
Bunting – Funkylicious Parties on Ebay
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m seriously hoping that the Sweetie Bar trend is replaced by an Ice Cream bar trend in 2011! I just love ice Cream. (In fact Charlotte and I were stuffing our faces with it the night before NYE!)
Are you doing something individual on the food front like this or the Donut cake idea? We’d love to hear about it!
Yours Truly,
Rebecca
xoxo
Mirrorbox Photography are Rock My Wedding Sponsors, however all real weddings are selected on individual merit and no part of this feature is sponsored.
Seriously that doughnut cake looks totally delicious and i’m also loving the ice cream bar too!
Kylie and Jason = Great wedding!!
Rachie xo
“Don’t make your own bunting, you’ll go demented”
Wise words, lady – that made me laugh so much!
Doughnut cake……nom, nom, nom
What a lovely, lovely couple. Gorgeous outside AND inside-the donations to the two charities and your reasons why made me go all goosebumpy-what a fantastic gesture.
And the dress! The donuts! The ice cream! Particularly LOVING the posed shots, which are something I’m not normally into.
Love, a lot.
X
Love the details of this wedding – the donut cake and the ice cream bar are both fantastic ideas. Yum!
I love love love the ice cream machine! Where did you get it? xx
Is it wrong that I want to jump into that bowl of sprinkles?!
A lovely, stylish and beautiful wedding.
xoxo
I do believe there was artfully ‘blurry’ shot of the bride with her hands in her pockets. Yippeeeeeeee!
I’d give my right arm for a Mr Whippy right now. With a chocolate flake. Raspberry sauce. And sprinkles. xoxo
My favourite image is the confetti, you can really see the genuine happiness on Suzanne’s face, a truly great moment captured.
Katie – it’s not at all wrong Pet. I want to jump in too
Charlotte xxx
I just cannot get over that Ice Cream bar.
I LOVE Ice Cream.
Also have to admit to watching/singing to and dancing to the Kylie video. Seriously folks you have to come back and watch the video later!
xoxo
doughnuts doughnuts doughnuts.. that looks amazing, I’d love to copy but I think it would break my grandma’s heart if we didn’t let her make the cake… maybe we could do a mini WI stand with all sorts of different cakey goodies… like a sweetie bar but for cake? hmmm… got me thinking now
gorgeous wedding, and in St Albans too 
xxx
Loving it all. Particularly the ice cream. I broke my new years resolution and had ice cream for breakfast. After the artic weather conditions not waking up and seeing my breath made me feel all summery and in need of cookie dough.
Love the donuts, love the dress, love a little bit of flake. love the whole SCHEBANG.
Also, as an aside. I keep seeing “new Cosmo Bride” out on blogs and “we’re featured in Cosmo Bride” mentions but there is not a single flaming Cosmo Bride in the whole of Newcastle (not even in FENWICKS). Can anyone advise the reasoning behind this?
P.S. I am also loving the bay trees.
AND where is Fliss now Clare? I feel the need for a whoop whoop and its not the same without Fliss now Clare.
Fab advice & gorgeous pics x
Fliss now Clare is on holiday…but pretty sure she’ll be whoop whooping right with you over this one!
Still loving this wedding. The bride and groom just look like So Much Fun
Love the ice cream bar, it’s been done so well. The OCD in me wonders if it was kept neat all night or did it get messy? Maybe people started eating the ice cream straight out of the machine – I would bet money some of my guests would do that…
Also the doghnut cake looks fantastic – something similar was on Don’t Tell the Bride – the one where it was on a battle ship.
Loving the dress, the ice cream parlour and the photography! I really wanted to book Mirrorbox for our wedding but they are so far away from us. Love their style of photos!
Glad to have some real weddings to pour over daily again, I’ve missed you RMW!
xXx
Loves the vintage type photos
This wedding is so beautiful! From the decor to the wedding stationery and OMG the donuts! I want I want I want!
This wedding is stunning! I too am hoping the Ice Cream Bar becomes a trend in 2011. Gorgeous, gorgeous couple! Congratulations to you both x
Wauuw. I love the colors, they are just like a beautiful dream…
Pleeeeeeeeeeeease can someone say where the ice cream machine was from?
Hi, I’m the bride! *waves* Thanks for all the kind comments!
There were some photos of me with my hands in my pockets but I think they were taken by friends. The pockets had lipstick and hankies in them, so very useful.
To Amy F and Francesca, we hired the icecream machine from Sterling Leisure Hire: http://www.sterlingleisure.co.uk/funfoods.htm – bit of a basic website, but they were really helpful.
Also, the labels for the sprinkles etc were from here: http://www.eatdrinkchic.com/post.cfm/diy-ice-cream-parlour-make-your-own-sundaes-buffet-concept-for-wedding-or-party
I want a doughnut now…
Lucy, we had a cake table at our wedding. It was BRILLIANT! My parents couldn’t see the logic and said that no one would eat the cake as they would be too full after all the different courses (we had a full-on 10 course Chinese banquet) but as soon as it was announced that the cake table was ‘open’, there was a stampede to the cakes and it was all gone… I caught my dad walking back with at least three different slices on his plate
Wish we had thought of a donut cake though…mmm
Thanks Suzanne! I’ve also got doughhnut cravings. x
Gorgeous, gorgeous wedding!
Mirrorbox are on my short-list of photographers and we’re meeting them soon.
Completely torn between three very different photographers at the moment.
I think the ice cream parlour is a fantastic idea! Very original!
Amazing details. I especially looove the donut cake and ice cream bar.
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Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. And the doughnut cake is nothing I’ve ever seen before!
Great cake! x
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