Baby it’s Cold Outside

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A Hint Of Winter Bling.

January 24th, 2012

The coldest and most crisp winter wedding can still strike up a tremendous warmth in your belly. The images from Chris and Joanne’s big day are the visual equivalent of sinking a good slug of Whisky and then stepping out amongst a bitter January frost.

We are embracing winter today at Rock My Wedding, but these gorgeous photographs from Big Bouquet are going to keep you cosy, wrapped up and warm.

Bibury Court Hotel provides the perfect seasonal backdrop for a day full to the brim of winter, a day full of warmth and of love, laughter and the odd surprise.

Home Or Away?

Our wedding was held on 10th of December 2011 at Bibury Court Hotel in The Cotswolds. We currently live in Bournemouth but my parents are from Cheltenham and I’ve always loved the Cotswolds so we decided to get married there. Originally we were going to go abroad because we were very keen to do something different, but we then decided that actually having a wedding in the UK could offer us this, with the benefit of the people we love being around us to help us celebrate.

Bibury court was the most beautiful venue, which we had exclusively. This gave our winter wedding a lovely cosy feel. Our wedding co-ordinator Catherine was exceptional throughout the whole process, as was the lovely assistant manager Sarah. The food by Nigel Goodwin, a new chef at the venue, was also delicious.

I had To Have It.

The dress was Eden by Jenny Packham. I tried on about 20 dresses before I saw this one and they all looked OK but when I saw this in Brides Magazine, I knew I had to have it! I bought it from Wedding days of Cheltenham who have a large range of Jenny Packham dresses and other designer gowns and were so fab throughout the whole process.

Jenny Knows Her Stuff!

I had a headband and earrings both by Jenny Packham that were designed to go with the dress. I wasn’t going to argue with Jenny on this one! I also wore a gold Italian good luck necklace (my something borrowed from my beautiful bridesmaid Becca).

Sky Scrapers.

I dragged my Mum and Dad around London for a whole day trying to find the perfect shoes. Originally I thought plain Louboutins, but none of them felt quite right. Just as we gave up looking we passed the Jimmy Choo Knightsbridge store and I saw my blingtastic dream shoes. They were pretty sky scraper to be honest, so I kicked them off when I rocked out to the band in the evening.

Relaxed And Simple.

My hair and make-up was done by the Cirencester Blushes team with Kate on make-up and Gary on hair. I wanted something really relaxed and simple so that the dress was the focus which I think they achieved.

Cream With Pearl And Diamante.

My Florist was the amazing Soraya at Ultraviolet Flowers in Southsea Portsmouth. I know it’s a long way to deliver flowers but she really is the best so it had to be her! The bouquets were all cream roses with pearl and diamante touches and my bouquet was held together with lace and a vintage brooch which Soraya had sourced. The bridesmaids were tied together with black silk which was a lovely contrast. The buttonholes were also cream roses.

The centrepieces were candelabras as we knew it would be dark during the breakfast and we wanted that cosy winter feel. They were also dressed with cream roses and were supplied by a local(ish) couple who run an amazing little candelabra hire company.

White And Cream.

For the maids and groomsmen we decided on a classy sophisticated white and cream jazzed up with a sprinkle of winter blingyness. We hired the groomsmens suits from Austin Reed and bought the bridemaids dresses from Wedding days of Cheltenham. The dress was really flattering on everyone (even my two heavily pregnant bridesmaids) and are avialble in a whole range of colours. The flower girls dresses are from Monsoon.

Design Your Own Suit.

Chris designed and wore a suit from aSuitThatFits.com. It was great fun designing his own suit and having it tailored, and the finished product was stunning, but we did have to make countless trips to and from London and Southampton because the tailoring wasn’t quite right. Also they were going to make the same suit for my dad but ran out of material which was a bit of pain. So he got his from Austin Reed which was lovely. If you are going to choose this option I would recommend that you leave plenty of time.

What A Bride Wants.

Originally we thought the best option was to get a photographer local to the venue in case it snowed. However we used a Bournemouth based company for our photo save the date cards called Big Bouquet who were so unbelievably good we thought we would risk the weather and choose them.

We loved Emma and Ian so much because they made us feel incredibly relaxed, and therefore the photos don’t look staged or forced. I am so happy with the finished product, I really feel that they captured the mood and feel of the occasion. They were also lovely, and very fun to have around on the day. The best bit about their work is the attention to detail. Emma constantly goes above and beyond to make sure that every part of the process is special for the bride and groom, from beautifully wrapping the save the dates, to updates on progress etc. You get the impression that having been a bride she really understands what a bride would ideally want and constantly provides that.

Fromage Heaven.

We don’t have much of a sweet tooth, however we both have a deep love for cheese so we were very keen on a cheesecake. We got this from The Cheese Works who delivered to the venue which was fab (no cheesy car smell). The groom’s friends are still talking about it now, they were all in fromage heaven.

Cake Tower.

We were worried that those who like a bit of ‘proper’ cake would be disappointed so we also went with a scrumptious cupcake tower from Angel Bakery. Catherine was a joy to deal with and combined small cupcakes, regular cupcakes, and one giant top cake. There was something for tiny and huge appetites.

Guilty Pleasures.

Chris was in charge on entertainment, and I have to admit that it was the highlight. During the drinks reception we had a blues duo called Freewheelin’ who we saw play in a pub Gretton and fell in love with. Also as a surprise Chris arranged for my very talented cousin Scott Cameron to play a surprise acoustic solo set which was very emotional. In the evening we had undeniably the greatest wedding band of all time The Reacharounds who specialise in mash-ups of guilty pleasures. They were unbelievably good and made sure that the party was rocking all night long. In between their sets we had a DJ Chris Shaw keeping the party going who was also fantastic.

Beautiful Words And Happy Memories.

We chose Islands by The XX for our first dance. No one had really head of it and it was tricky to dance to, but it didn’t matter because the words are beautiful and it reminded us of an amazing holiday driving through France.

Booze Based.

We both love Whisky so we named each table after one of our favourites, and then for the men we gave the miniature corresponding to the table name. This really helped to fuel the party atmosphere. The girls had handmade whisky truffles made by Pauline (the groom’s mother) which were very yummy and looked adorable.

Simple And Laid Back.

We kept the decor simple with lots of candles and cream rose petals and jazzed it up with some festive mistletoe and a beautiful tree table plan. The best thing about our wedding was that it all felt very laid back and allowed people to really relax and enjoy themselves. We had funny poems during the ceremony that reflected our personalities and relationship, the registrar accidentally said the best man’s name instead of the groom’s, we all drank lots of beautiful cocktails, and we kicked off our shoes and rocked out to the band.

A Special Day.

The key thing for the both of us was to make choices based on what we liked and reflected our personalities and likes as opposed to opting for the traditional, or what we thought would look good. It made for a very real, emotional and special day.

Venue Bibury Court Hotel

Dress Jenny Packham

Boutique Wedding days of Cheltenham

Shoes Jimmy Choo

Hair And Make-up Blushes

Blooms Ultraviolet Flowers

Tailor aSuitThatFits.com

Photography Big Bouquet

Band The Reacharounds

Cheese The Cheese Works

Cake Angel Bakery

When I spoke to Emma and Ian at Big Bouquet they said the surprise performance by guitar totting youngster Scott Cameron (a cousin of Joanne’s) really did bring the house down, one of those moments you’ll never forget. Also, apparently The Reacharounds can hold a pretty funky tune too!

I can’t leave you today without mentioning that dress – I LOVE it, and the first full width black & white portrait shot of Joanne with the fur could be a still from a movie. A classic movie.

Breathtaking stuff.

Adam.

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A Vintage Winters Tale.

December 23rd, 2011

When I opened a few sneaky preview pics from the Grace & Gable winter inspiration shoot and started talking Charlotte through the images, it quickly became apparent that she wasn’t listening to a word I was saying…

Me: Ok… what is it?

Charlotte: Is that Bridesmaid wearing a woolly knit?… I die.

I’m fairly confident that this meant she liked the shoot. And this was before I’d revealed the trees, the tables, the taxidermy… in fact all the little details that makes for a truly inspirational piece.

It would be fair to say that not much work got done that morning at RMW HQ as we poured over the winter pretty before us.

Now it is the turn of you lucky, lucky people. Grab a mug of mulled wine and a hot mince pie in preparation for a tour of the forest.

Lauren from Grace & Gable will be your guide.

It Started With The Forest…..

The decision to direct the shoot came about whilst walking on a friend’s private land in the Wyre Forest. I’d always wanted to organise and style a bridal photo shoot but I hadn’t quite found the right venue or location to fit the bill. Five minutes of walking within the forest however and idea after idea came unbidden to me – visions of a bride and groom trailing through the shoulder-high ferns looking wistfully at one another, bridesmaids in woolly Christmas jumpers drinking festive cocktails and garlands of fairylights festooning the trees. From then on I was hooked and it was just a question of not if but when this shoot was going to happen.

The Photographer

Once the forest location had been confirmed then the choice of photographer was a no-brainer. I’d come across the work of Ann-Kathrin Koch at a recent bridal fair – The Designer Vintage Wedding Fair – and was blown away by both the quality and the creativity of her work. Her portraits are a particular favourite of mine as she is able to convey such a delicate handling of detail whilst still pulling an extremely evocative punch. One of her photo series includes several images of forests and trees and I loved the solitariness that these photos conveyed so I was desperate for her to photograph the shoot. When she responded that she’d love to get involved I will admit that I high fived the air and did a little jig. Ann and her partner Marco were amazing on the shoot, producing some fantastic images in some challenging conditions all whilst continuing to engage with all of the other suppliers and keeping everyone’s spirits high.

The Design.

I believe strongly in working in harmony with a venue or a location to bring out its best attributes and make it work to your advantage. You could say that the forest determined the theme of the shoot to some extent being mostly fir. With this in mind and given that it was getting very close to Christmas I was keen to create a Christmas themed shoot that could offer inspiration to brides having a winter wedding.

It was very important to me that each of the suppliers had the freedom to create their own ideas for the shoot. From experience, people work best when they are not constrained by too many guidelines and conditions. Instead, the indispensable Pinterest was used to create a mood board that was then sent to each of the suppliers to give them some inspiration with buzz words of ethereal, glamour, glitz, vintage and Christmas.

I also approached the girls – Nina and Sonia – at Invitation Only to ask them if they would be interested in collaborating with me on the shoot. These girls are fantastic stylists with a copious amount of experience under their belts and I knew that their help would be invaluable on the shoot.

Having relayed all my ideas to the Invitation Only girls it was clear that when we started getting into the details a single table set-up and a static scene wouldn’t be enough. Instead the shoot would follow a series of scenes that created a story for the entire shoot, including an aisle set-up, a cake table, a fireplace scene and a fun panorama that included a huge wreath and a ladder! We also created two table set-ups – the first being a more luxurious table with a blush pink colour theme complete with bambi, beautiful linen and copious amounts of floral centerpieces accessorized with pearls. The second table was more understated and kept to a white theme with hints of green and silver above which hung an amazing chandelier of mistletoe. Lastly, I found a beautiful door frame which I was keen to use in the shoot because of the symbolism associated with carrying a new bride over the threshold. Cliché!

The Bride And Bridesmaids.

Deciding to use Debbie’s DC Bouquets hairpieces in the shoot was an easy decision for me having sought the opportunity to work with her since she designed a piece for one of my own brides this summer. If you haven’t seen Debbie’s beautiful creations then I suggest that you hot-foot it over to her site – once you’re done reading here of course. Debbie has recently launched a new range of headpieces which I really wanted to use as part of the shoot. Luckily for me and much to my delight she graciously agreed!

Cherished Vintage also kindly provided a glitzy headpiece too for the shoot which worked a treat with the pink bridal gown. Go see for yourselves….

Clare from The Wedding Club provided two beautiful vintage dresses for the shoot which completely contrasted one another. A beautiful pink gauzy one-shouldered number was just what we were after for the playful elements of the shoot whilst the sleek 1930s silk number was set off perfectly against the backdrop of the bronzed ferns. Clare has a fantastic range of vintage dresses at her boutique which made it really quite difficult to choose which dresses would be used in the shoot.

The Dynamic Duo.

Special mentions must go out to Jade and Georgia, who were our wonderful make-up and hair stylists. Given that they had never met before, they worked with ease around each other to create looks that complimented the individual efforts of the other. Of particular importance to me was that each of the models had a distinctive look as I wanted to provide as much inspiration as possible for brides reading this post.

What I really loved was how Georgia was able to interpret Debbie’s beautiful headpieces in completely unique ways for each of the models. Thomasin’s backcombed style really brought the ‘Daisy’ headpiece alive in an edgy way whilst Imogen’s plaits added a softness to the ‘Clara’ headpiece. Lastly Emma’s side bun and ‘Bijoux’ headband really honoured the more traditional elements of the silk gown she wore.

Behind The Scenes.

I was really keen to have someone film ‘behind the scenes’ given the nature of the shoot and the huge number of suppliers involved. I’ve always found watching how a shoot/wedding comes together immensely satisfying and I also love the fact that this gives the viewer the chance to see the faces of those involved other than the models. The frankly brilliant Simon Clarke filmed and produced the video that you’ll find at the end of this post and worked side by side with Ann for the whole day to capture the magic. Simon was a treasure to have on the day and balanced the slightly female heavy group which I think Dave our groom was more than pleased about. Please take the chance to watch the gorgeous video – it’s fun, festive and makes you feel all gooey inside.

Seven Swans A-Swimming (well nearly…)

If you’re ever looking for Florists that don’t necessarily do things the conventional way then you need to see the work of the girls Ellie and Anna at The Flower Appreciation Society. Their website is a breath of fresh air and they are as gorgeous as the flowers they produce. They suggested that rather than using more predictable containers, that it would be fun to use a collection of swan vases filled to the brim of the most amazing white blooms with hints of green and pink tones.

The girls also pulled together a hand tied bouquet and a selection of beautiful buttonholes that smelt heavenly and included lilac, hyacinths, hydrangea, tulips, ranunculus, anemones, roses and gladioli.

Mae Mae Paperie.

The stationery was produced by an amazing American designer called Megan at Mae Mae Paperie. She did the most amazing job of producing stationery items including placecards, a menu and an invitation suite that complimented the table set-ups all the way from across the pond. Thomasin Gautier-Ollerenshaw created the intricate and beautiful Christmas tree card sculptures that were used as favours.

Winter Icing.

Caroline – like many of the people on this shoot is one of those people who you want to hug when you first meet them. Her creativity knows no bounds and she is able to work miracles with anything of the cake variety. Caroline’s Cake Company generously provided three beautiful cakes for the shoot which were all completely different but which actually worked very well together. The smallest cake – a two tiered profusion of gold glitter with a delicate white flower offered a delicious contrast to the largest cake which was a more subdued affair but still elegant nonetheless. The third cake provided a huge dollop of fun with its bright colours and gorgeous glitter baubles on top, which offered a twist on a more traditional cake topper.

In The Bleak Midwinter.

I can’t finish this post without mentioning the amazing team of suppliers who worked with us to bring the shoot to fruition. They braved freezing temperatures and a couple of torrential downpours in the great outdoors with unfailingly large smiles on their faces. They also worked tirelessly to help me produce the exact scenes and shots that I wanted to very high standards, all whilst having a blast at the same time. I’m not ashamed to admit that I felt somewhat bereft after they all went home having spent so much time in their wonderful company; any bride who chooses one of the suppliers involved in the shoot is a very lucky girl indeed and I hope that you all find some inspiration here for your own wedding day.

Feeiling Christmassy now?

I was stunned at how smoothly and seemlessly this ambitious photoshoot flowed together on the day. Especially for a team who largely had not worked together before, it was a marvel to see everyone muck in, get along and produce the fantastic results that we are sharing with you today.

I popped along to the Wyre Forest to meet the team during filming, under the premise of “helping out” but in fact all I did was stand around nattering, stole hot coffee from people who deserved it far more than me, and then on top of that I also managed to crash the video (result!)

Speaking of which – here it is, courtesy of Simon Clarke.

Styling and design Grace & Gable and Invitation Only

Photography Ann-Kathrin Koch

Videography Simon Clarke

Blooms The Flower Appreciation Society

Cakes Caroline’s Cake Company

Stationery Mae Mae Paperie

Christmas Tree Favours Thomasin Gautier-Ollerenshaw

Bridal Dresses The Wedding Club

Glitzy Headpiece Cherished Vintage

All other Headpieces and jewellery DC Bouquets

Make-up Jade Crean

Hair Georgia Morris

Crockery and Cutlery Wedgwood & Arthur Price

Candelabra Candelabra for hire

Lanterns Lombok

Mistletoe and Tree Bill White’s Nurseries

Accessories And so to Bed | House of Fraser | Westley Richards

Models Emma (Bride) | Dave (Groom) | Thomasin and Imogen (Maids)

Location Wyre Forest

I think that just leaves me to say – have a great Christmas everyone!

Adam.

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A Winters Dove Tale.

August 18th, 2011

RMW reader Holly and Johnny Dove (I know – what brilliant names, they should be movie stars) got married in Greenwich in December Last year.

This makes me actually look forward to Christmas. And just so you don’t miss it, there is a special note from Holly at the end of this piece.

Claire Pepper was the lady behind the lens…

Winter Wedding.

Our wedding was on 11th December 2010. I’d always wanted a winter wedding. It’s my favourite season and it never even crossed my mind to get married at any other time of the year! Poor Johnny didn’t really have a say in the matter! I’m a London girl and was quite determined that we get married in London. Greenwich is my favourite place in London and Our Lady Star of the Sea is just gorgeous.

We had the reception at the Bermondsey Square Hotel, I grew up literally just down the road from the Hotel. Our caters Purple Grape were, in short, amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. They offered much more than just catering advice, they helped on all aspects of logistics at the venue. They decorated the Breakfast Table for us (exactly how I wanted it), set up the bar area, the sweetie table etc. Emily was brilliant – and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again and to recommend them.

A Bold Budget.

From the get go, Johnny and I decided that we wanted a small, intimate wedding. The ceremony and wedding breakfast were for the people that we really loved and that we wanted to share our day with. We set our budget at £10,000 and we were determined to stick to it. Quite naively I thought it would be easy to do, ha! What a fool I was! I now understand how people spend £30k plus. The little touches here and there soon add up but I’m very proud to say that with a lot of research, loads of forward planning and a whole heap of DIY, we came in at £11k!

In total, we had 33 people to the wedding breakfast. An absolute deal breaker for me was that we all sat around one table. I wanted everyone to see everyone else and for it to feel like it did at home at Christmas! I’m from a huge family and there were never less than 8 people around our dinner table – that was the vibe I wanted for our wedding. And, I’m happy to say, we nailed it. We didn’t want people to hang about watching us have photo upon photo taken, we spent about 20 minutes doing the group photos and then kicked everyone out in to waiting Addison Lee cars (saved half of what a coach would have cost) while we had the coupley pics done. The thought was that as these were being done, everyone would be enjoying mini pizzas, little burgers and roast beef and Yorkshire Puddings canapés with Kir Royales. However, the traffic in Greenwich was a nightmare and because I knew a short cut, we arrived before loads of our guests!!

Making it Mine.

My dress was from the Victoria Jane line at Ronald Joyce. I tried on 30 dresses in all shapes and from all kinds of designers… This was the part of the planning that I felt most disconnected from. I LOVE clothes and shopping but I just wasn’t that excited about dress shopping. I have a really strong sense of what I like to look like and what I like my silhouette to be, and a long white dress (or any dress for that matter) doesn’t really ever fit in to that aesthetic… However, once I tried Nirvana on, I felt completely comfortable and loved the simplicity of it. True to form however, I changed the top of the dress quite dramatically. It had a sweetheart neckline and one random strap that went over my right shoulder… I chopped this strap off and had the lady that did the alterations attach a piece of fabric (taken from the dress) to the middle of the neckline and cross my left collar bone and attach to the middle of the dress at the back. It gave it a modern edge, made it mine, and covered a scar from when I broke my collar bone falling off of a horse all in one go!

An Easter Egg At Christmas Time.

My engagement ring was the starting point of all of the other accessories. It’s not your average engagement ring! We found it in a little shop in a Roman town in Majorca while we were on holiday… It’s yellow gold with a rotating dice instead of a stone. Each side of the dice has four stones in, with every side being a different colour. I have purple and lilac amethysts and gold and blue topaz. I LOVE it. So, my earrings had to match and I found a lovely pair from Etsy. Yellow gold hoops with purple stones hanging in the middle.

I knew absolutely that I didn’t want a traditional veil. I look like a small child playing dress up when I put one on. I wanted a bird cage veil, they’re old school chic and when I tried one on at a wedding fair, it suited me perfectly. I scoured the internet and found a lovely lady selling exactly what I wanted for the princely sum of £33!

Next I had to find something to set the veil off. I looked for months and months for something to adorn my hair. In the end, I bit the bullet and had a head piece commissioned. Beth Morgan was another great find. We emailed back and forth, and job done – 4 weeks later I had a completely original and designed-by-me-head piece. I LOVE it. My Maid Of Honour and Brother christened it the Easter Egg! I’ll let you decide for yourselves on that one!

Give Me an L…

Ahhhhhhhhh, my shoes. My lovely Husband treated me to my shoes! I teased that as he’d had such a deal with my engagement ring, that he could buy my shoes to make up for it, and bless him, he did! We went to the A.Mazing Christian Louboutin boutique on Mount St in London and while I swooned and drooled, Johnny sat in a chair and switched off. I’d set my heart on purple shoes. Not traditional, but neither am I! I tried on a pair of lovely 5in purple suede platformed peep toe beauties and fell in love. Twenty minutes later, we were sat in Pizza Hut! Me dying to get the shoes on and Johnny not quite sure how he’d just spent so much money in such a short space of time!

A Little Help From My Friends.

I am extremely lucky that my best friend is my hair dresser. My hair has been every shade of every colour, it’s been long and short and everything in between! I LOVE my short hair but wanted something that wasn’t going to look dated in 5 years. So I grew the undercut out a little and had it a very dark Audrey Hepburn brown.

Make up wise, I didn’t want anything “bridal” I wanted old school glamour. My make up was done by another amazing friend! I wear a lot of make up and enjoy the whole process of choosing what colour I’m going to wear every morning. I am very lucky to work at Rimmel’s Head Office and have a whole cupboard of pretty to choose from. It’s rare that I wear the same make up two days in a row so my wedding day make up was a big deal to me. Nicola listened to exactly what I wanted and did me proud. I had silver and greys on my eyes and a lovely vintage rose pink on my lips. She did such a good job. I couldn’t have been happier.

Fussy About Florals.

Again, I have a really good friend who is an amazing florist. I was really specific in how I wanted the flowers to look at the reception. As we were all on one big table, I didn’t need big centre pieces; instead I wanted lots of cubed glass vases breaking the white table cloth up. And they had to be low so that they didn’t obscure any views. Oh, and every vase was to only have one type of flower in. I didn’t really think about the colour scheme for the wedding – but I guess it was purple and gold broken up with pale vintage pink and white.

I’m a fussy mare and was really particular on the flowers that I wanted – nothing frilly or summer meadowy – it’s just not me. Tulips, neat and tidy roses and hydrangeas were the order of the day and they blew me away. It was like she saw the image in my mind. I think that the pictures, and emails and Gayle knowing me so well also helped. Again, I was adamant about my bouquet. I wanted the darkest purple calla lilies and nothing else. However, that all changed when I went to see Gayle and fell in love with giant oversize pearls! They really popped against the purple lilies and I was so pleased! Johnny and his best man had a purple calla for their button hole.

The Usual Suspects.

As we were such a small wedding party, we had just my best friend as Maid Of Honour and my 10 year old Niece as Flower Girl. Getting Tink’s (real name Daisy but I call her Tinkerbell!) dress was really quite difficult. We went in 5 shops before we found anything she remotely liked. She’s not your average 10 year old – she’s a little Mini Me! We found the perfect one in Monsoon, 7 dresses in!

My Maid Of Honour was also a bit tricky I really didn’t mind what kind of dress she wore, but I did want it to be purple. Sandra is 5’9, blonde with green eyes – the absolute complete opposite to me. We tried on some long dresses from the usual suspects but something didn’t quite work. Then, when she was at a wedding she saw a guest in a beautiful purple Karen Millen dress, but it was out of season… I went on to eBay and found someone selling a brand new dress in the right size at half the price!

The Silver Fox.

Now, my Boy is so laid back he’s practically horizontal! I knew that I wanted him in a light grey 3 piece, he wasn’t convinced! I kept quiet and so we went shopping… He tried on 3 suits in M&S, I cried at one and we bought it! Johnny is 6’3 and carries a suit off so perfectly. We went for a light grey (almost silvery) 3 piece and he looked as amazing as I knew he would (I did a little victory jig in my head) It didn’t need tailoring or adjusting an inch.

Johnny decided to buy a new waistcoat while he was shopping with his Best Man, FOUR days before the wedding! He felt a little too “officey” in the grey 3 piece! He wore a dark purple tie and white shirt. I have to say that walking down the aisle and seeing Johnny in his suit will be one of the memories that I’ll never forget.

A Sprinkling of Pepper.

While I love a photo, he’ll quite happily take 100 photos of the same thing from 100 different angles! We looked and we looked and we looked. We left it for a while as it was really quite stressful and came back to it with fresh eyes. Best thing we ever did. We found Claire Pepper straight away. We looked at her portfolio holding our breath, there was not a single photo that we didn’t love. The photos are exactly what we wanted.

Yummy Cake.

Now the cake wasn’t really that much of a big deal for us. We were just going to get a Waitrose/M&S jobby. Then I was flicking through a wedding mag and saw a cake that I loved! I got a voucher from my dress boutique for a local lady Joanna at The Yummy Cake Company. The cupcakes were to die for so we went along to have a chat. We wanted the cake to be served as dessert so we only needed 35 slices. We chose fruit (for the parents!) rich chocolate and lemon (my favourite!). I bought the 2 little Doves for cake toppers (a homage to my new surname) at a little shop in Bluewater for the grand sum of £10!

For our entertainment I really wanted a live swing band. I don’t think you can beat live music for getting everyone up on the dance floor, and I was right – it was packed all night and so many people said how much they loved them! We had an extra 75 people to the evening reception so I needed something that was going to get everyone moving! I found Clint’s Jazz Band on the web. I had a listen to their play list online (swing, Motown and a little of everything in between!) and squeezed them to fit our budget. They played a complete mix of music (including the Bear Necessities!) and didn’t let the momentum slip for a minute.

Months In The Making.

I spent months and months planning the decor. We wanted the over all feel to be intimate, candle lit and glamorous. We didn’t do anything in the Church except put 8 hurricane vases with huge church candles in down the aisle – they looked really pretty and as it got darker, made it really romantic.

I kept my eyes open for little bits and pieces everywhere I went, looking at everything with my “wedding glasses” on! I bought gorgeous dark purple petals, tiny gold cages, small gold and purple tealight holders from Confetti. I bought gold dishes for the masses of huge thick church candles to sit on from Morrisons. I had candle upon candle, all in different heights and in cream and purple – they looked and smelt amazing! Now when I burn them at home (because I have about 50 left over!) it makes me think of the wedding! I hired gold charger plates, and placed white linen napkins on top.

I have to admit to some idea stealing here – The lovely SnowQueen (Pippa Jackson) from the YAYW forum had small pine cones as her name place holders – I completely stole the idea and they looked fabulous! I also bought some cute little purple and lilac paper doves from Etsy and I couldn’t resist over sized crystals from good old M&S! They looked so pretty on the tables reflecting the candle light. All in all, the Breakfast table looked a treat and received lots of “oohs and ahhhs!”

I didn’t want a guest book so I made a guest tree! I bought some lovely gold twigs from Matalan and put them in to a hurricane vase with purple baubles. I left gold pens and old fashioned luggage tags in a basket next to the tree for people to hang their messages off. Reading them the next day over a cup of tea with a hangover was something I’ll not regret.

Ignore Raised Eyebrows.

Do what you want, not what the magazines and tradition tell you to. I had so many ideas that made people raise their eyebrows that I basically stopped telling people what we were going to do. As long as Johnny was ok with it, I did it! Make your wedding the day that you both want it to be. We had an absolute ball at ours and, if I do say so myself, so did everyone else!

Photographer – Claire Pepper

Reception – Bermondsey Square Hotel

Food – Purple Grape

Gown – Victoria Jane

Headpiece – Beth Morgan

Shoes – Christian Louboutin

Cake – The Yummy Cake Company

Entertainment – Clint’s Jazz Band

By planning every aspect of their wedding meticulously, by shopping around and by getting down to a bit of D.I.Y Holly and Johnny Dove had the wedding that they wanted, and they also came in on budget. Well, almost!

I have one final really important thing to add – when contacting us Holly wanted to explain one of the more “random” photo’s submitted – a close up of the dress showing a sewn in piece of blue crested material:

Holly Explains,

“My fabulous big brother died 6 years ago and was an avid West Ham fan (as am I) so I had a piece of his West Ham football shirt sewn in to my dress. It was my Old, Borrowed and Blue and was my way of making sure he was there. The photo with me holding my glass up at the table is me toasting my ever absent but amazing big brother.”

I think you’ll agree – a perfect Idea.

Adam.

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The Wedding that Almost Wasn’t…

May 16th, 2011

Ian and Kate got married last Winter in the face of so much adversity that I can’t believe they actually managed to pull it off. If you’re having one of those days where you start to think it’s just not worth it, or everything is getting on top of you, then this is well worth a read, just to remind you not only what is important, but what a real disaster is!

Aside from the fact that they actually pulled the day together despite the weather, I really love the pale greens, muted golds and cream colours in this, helped along massively by the just lovely photography by Debs Ivelja – our latest talented find :)

Ian and I (Kate) got married (just!….the weather nearly got in the way of that one!) on Saturday 18th December 2010, apparently the snowiest day down South for about 40 years…. The wedding ceremony was held at St. Nicholas’ Church, Hedsor, and the reception at Hedsor House.

Winter Sparkle

My dress (and fur jacket!) were from ‘Windsor and Eton Brides’ in Eton. The dress was a Veromia gown called ‘Grace’, and the fur jacket was made by Lynne, the very talented seamstress used by the shop.

I was about to leave the shop (having tried on a few and not been bowled over by any of them), when my sister pointed it out as it was brought down from the upstairs dressing room. I wasn’t struck by it at first, but that all changed when I put it on. I loved the rich colour that the layer of pale gold silk gave under the lace (I am very pale and pastey, so needed something that wouldn’t wash me out!) and the beautiful crystal and pearl detail that gave the dress, what I felt was, a real wintery sparkle.

I still went to a few more shops, but ended up comparing every dress I tried on with it and nothing even came close.

Their shop is absolutely beautiful, with a fantastic array of dresses, shoes and accessories. They were so helpful and patient with me (I went back to try it on 3 times in front of different audiences (mother, sisters, bridesmaids!) just to make sure!).

Million Design Accesories

I decided against a veil as I thought it would all look too busy with the amazing collar on my fur jacket. I did, however, wear what I thought at the time was a ridiculous amount of jewellery considering how detailed my dress was. However, I made an appointment with Gillian Million, and she pointed out that if you have a strapless dress and no necklace, you can look a bit bare in photos of just your head and shoulders. Plus, it’s good to have something on your writing wrist for pictures of signing the register etc.

So I ended up buying my beautiful headpiece and necklace (a one off vintage piece Gillian had adapted) from her, and made my own bracelets and earrings. I chose them because they were beautiful and elegant and I felt they went well with the ‘vintage’ type look of the dress (and vague, not deliberate to begin with!) theme of the wedding.

Treasure Trove

For my shoes, I wanted something relatively traditional and comfortable without being boring. I bought my shoes (called ‘Treasure Trove’ by Diane Hassall) from the Bridal Rogue Gallery in Chiltern Street. I had actually seen some other Diane Hassall shoes on the Rainbow Club website that I liked so actually went to the shop as they were named as a stockist. However, I tried mine on (the last pair they had in my size, and it was an end of the line range) and thought they went really well with the dress, with the buckle detail matching that of my dress brilliantly.

I went for kitten heels as I have crap feet (!) and am absolutely pathetic when it comes to high heels. I thought I would be kicking them off after about an hour, but they were brilliantly comfortable all day (when I got to wear them….!). My “other” pair of wedding shoes was, in fact, a pair of Hunter wellies! – which I bought in case it was a rainy day…..little did I know we would end up competing with half a foot of snow… Needless to say, the wellies actually ended up being one of the best wedding purchases I made!

Hands on Make-Up

My hair and make-up was done by the lovely Katrina Shortland of Katrina Bridal Beauty, who was a complete star from beginning to end. Her and her husband drove up from Bath at the crack of dawn on the morning of the wedding (where the bad weather was heading in from). Thank goodness they had a 4×4 so were able to contend with the snow. Katrina packed her husband off to Marlow while she got started on my two bridesmaids (my little sister and Ian’s sister).

Rather than being the pampering/champagne drinking few hours that most people experience on the morning of their wedding, my dad, bridesmaids and myself spent most of the morning on the phone discussing logistics and getting news of more people that couldn’t make it. Katrina was a hugely calming influence, and not only made myself and my bridesmaids look not half bad considering all the stress, drove our photographers to the venue after their car got stuck in the snow, and promptly came running in with her make-up case, convinced I would need a touch-up (and she could not have been more right….I had literally just had about my third tear fest of the day…!)

Antique Gold and Tartan

For the girls, we bought beautiful long “antique gold” dresses from Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon. They had ivory sashes and each wore a brooch which all tied in with my dress and the colour scheme brilliantly.

We had a mix of Scottish and English ushers, so the Scots all looked very dashing in their kilts, while the English ushers wore their own grey suits. We hired waistcoats from Moss Bros in Windsor (www.moss.co.uk) and bought gold ties to link into the colour scheme in Debenhams.

Ian was in his family (Sutherland) tartan kilt, and had a gorgeous matching tweed jacket and waistcoat for the occasion. His Crockett & Jones brogues had their first outing, and he wore the custom handmade silver kilt pin that I had given him the day before to open on the morning of the wedding.

I was so determined not to cry as I went up the aisle, and was successful until I set eyes on Ian…..cue the tears!! Not only did he look so fiercely handsome, I think we were both so relieved to finally see each other after everything we had independently been through that morning (needless to say he was in tears by the time I reached him as well….!)

The Right Photographer

Our photographer was the wonderful and extremely talented Debs Ivelja who drafted in Lisa Brown to assist her on the day. Debs had only done one wedding, I repeat, ONE WEDDING when we booked her, and seeing her photos from that were all that was needed to convince us that she was absolutely the right person to capture our day.

We had an engagement shoot in the summer to get to know each other a little better, which helped the very camera shy Ian and I to get a bit more comfortable being photographed. I honestly cannot recommend Debs highly enough. Not only does she make you feel totally relaxed because she is so very lovely, she was a complete star on the day and I genuinely think I wouldn’t have been as calm as I (apparently!) was without her.

She is a genius with a camera and with processing pictures, and we could not be happier with how she captured all of the wonderful moments we had.

Wintery Neutral

Our fabulous florist was Sue Barton, based in Marlow (01628 482 770). We opted for really neutral flowers – ivory roses for the bouquets with diamantes/pearls to match the wintery occasion, and candelabras with ivory roses and lots of festive greenery in the Church.

The boys button holes were predominantly thistles (as my husband is Scottish), with Ian and the best man having a thistle, white heather and a white rose.

I found inspiration for our table centres from a wedding featured on Rock My Wedding some time ago – vases filled with twisted willow and gold baubles (to match our colour scheme) and hanging tea lights, which we felt suited the time of year and venue perfectly.

Handmade Cupcakes

We left our cake in the trusty hands of Ruth, Ian’s sister, both in terms of content and design. Her only remit was cupcakes, and she made the most fantastic array including salted caramel, strawberry cheesecake and ginger.

At one point, the cupcakes were the only food that we had to feed our guests after we found out the caterers were definitely not going to make it!

Licence to Ceilidh

As Ian is Scottish, there was never any debate that we would be having a ceilidh! We found a great band called ‘Licence to ceilidh’, who unfortunately, never made it to the venue due to the snow.

However, we are very lucky to have hugely talented family and friends, who managed to pipe some reels before launching into a disco DJ’d by a variety of people from Ian’s laptop through the speakers we had hired for the speeches.

We decided very early on that we a) didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously for our first dance and b) that we vaguely wanted to have an idea of how we would dance to it, so we chose ‘Crazy for you’ by Let Loose and headed to Karen Hardy’s Dance School for a lesson to brush up on our (totally non-existent) dance moves. We had great fun with it and just about managed to pull it off in front of a very forgiving audience!

Photobooth Favours

We decided that we wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary for our favours. So we made use of Debs’ fantastic photography skills and had a photobooth (complete with an array of props) set up in the venue, which guests could visit during the course of the evening. This doubled as both our favours (we sent out a digital version of the picture to everyone who visited the photobooth with our thank you cards as a memory of the day), and pictures for our guestbook, as instant prints were taken of guests as well to stick in the guestbook alongside their messages.

Words on Salvaging a Wedding from the Snow

Our wedding day was, as everyone tells you it will be, without a doubt the best day of our lives, even though at several points during the morning it looked like it might not go ahead at all…. Several inches of snow fell in the early hours of the morning and set to cause more disruption that we possibly could have imagined. The wedding car company called at 9am to say that the beautiful vintage car we had booked would not stand any chance on the roads. My Dad and bridesmaids spent the entire morning on the phone discussing logistics, not only of how we would get to the church, but of how we were going to transport everyone that was in nearby hotels to the venue. Throughout the morning, we learned of more and more people who weren’t going to be able to make it in the treacherous conditions, and received more bad news about caterers and ceilidh bands not being able to get through. Ian had a phone call from the vicar who couldn’t get out of her driveway, and the organist who didn’t think she could make it. Luckily we had a couple of ushers with 4x4s who went to pick them up.

Meanwhile, a coach that had been arranged to transport many of our guests from a hotel in Maidenhead got stuck about 5 miles from the venue so had to unload everyone into a pub. The boys arranged for family and friends with cars that could cope with the snow to make countless trips to ferry everyone from the pub where they had been left to the venue. We delayed the ceremony by an hour and a half to allow more time for people to get there (at 1pm when it was due to kick off, the church was empty).

Every single one of our guests who did get there had made heroic efforts to defy the extraordinary conditions. Friends hitchhiked from nearby towns, family drove down from Scotland overnight, and others walked miles across fields to get there, abandoning cars on roadsides when they could go no further. My sister and her family drove the wrong way down the hard shoulder of a dual carriageway, knowing that if they didn’t, they wouldn’t make it, and one of my Dad’s neighbours dropped everything to take me and my bridesmaids to the church in his weather-friendly car. One of our usher’s whose car got stuck on the roadside got his suit so wet and muddy trying to push his car out of the snow that a lady came out of her house to offer her assistance. After finding out that he was trying to get to a wedding, she not only offered to drive him there, but insisted on him having a shower and lent him a shirt and jacket! It is hard to find the words to paint the picture of the extraordinary camaraderie, determination and spirit that went into making the day what it was – a roaring success in the face of adversity.

The snow, despite the amount of chaos it caused, did make for the most incredibly romantic setting we could ever have hoped for. We served mulled wine and mince pies in the church after the ceremony (only fitting for a festive wedding!). When we realised that the caterers were not going to make it, we imagined that everyone would come back to Hedsor House for a glass of champagne and a cupcake before braving the roads once more to hotels/home. The beautiful food we had been planning to serve (including lamb legs from Ian’s parents’ farm in the Scottish Borders which we were serving for the main course, with a nominated carver on each table who we provided with a chef’s hat and apron) was stuck on the motorway with no hope of getting through. However, my brother had a bright idea to go to nearby supermarkets and buy some picnic food. So our wedding breakfast consisted of sausage rolls, crisps & dips, bread, ham and quiches, all carved beautifully by the boys in hats and aprons as they bought into the wonderful spirit of the day!

Even though the food hadn’t made it, thankfully we had deposited all of the alcohol at the venue the day before, which, along with the pipers playing reels and dance tunes blasted from the laptop in the absence of the band, miraculously kept the party going until nearly midnight. It was only because of everyone’s steely determination that the day was such a success, and we are forever indebted to our incredible family and friends for making it the day that it was.

Although I wasn’t a “bridezilla”-type, I have to confess that I can be a bit of a control freak and am someone that meticulously plans everything to the nth degree. And I can safely say that almost nothing on the day went according to how I had intended it. The best advice I can give to future brides is literally THE ONLY thing that matters is the wonderful family and friends that you have around you, and that is what makes your day so special. It’s not the hours you spend tying ribbon onto napkins (and I did, several!) or the days you spend narrowing down canapé choices. It’s that you come away as husband and wife and have the most wonderful celebration of that with everyone you care about (and also a great photographer to capture it all beautifully is essential!). Also, if you are planning a December wedding, make sure you invest in some wellies and have some 4x4s on standby!!

Photographer – Debs Ivelja

Venue – Hedsor House

Gown – Veromia from Windsor and Eton Brides

Accessories – Gillian Million

Shoes – Diane Hassall

Hair and Make-up – Katrina Bridal Beauty

Florist – Sue Barton, based in Marlow (01628 482 770)

Maids Dresses – Luella’s Boudoir

Dancing Lessons – Karen Hardy’s Dance School

I think that deserves a collective RMW Commmunity round of applause!

Beautiful, with love shining through – not only from Kate and Ian, but all the family and friends that helped them. What a day!

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo

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Christmas Come Early… Part 2

March 25th, 2011

A restaurant (or in this case Gastropub) wedding has a special place in my heart because thats what I did, but it’s also a genius idea when it comes to the budget… get the right kind of place and they often only charge for the food/drink consumer disposing of costly hire. And when they have as much character as this venue, you save on decor too!

Genius all round… lets get back to the snow filled Christmas cheer!

Budget Brilliance

Most couples worry about how much they spend on their wedding, but for us it had extra significance as Andy found out he was being made redundant not long after he proposed. We knew we still wanted to have a proper celebration for our wedding, but it certainly kept us focussed on the budget! We sat down and prioritised what we felt was really important and what came out on top was the feeling of having a great party for our family and friends – great food, a cracking DJ and a decent amount of booze to get everyone in the mood. Having people who played a key part in our lives was also important, so we kept the guest list to just 60 people and didn’t necessarily invite family if we didn’t actually have that much contact with them. We quickly ruled out traditional wedding venues and started looking at restaurants that would be able to offer a more informal atmosphere.

The Peasant gastropub in Clerkenwell really fitted the bill. Nick, the manager, is passionate about the amazing food served there and he totally got our ideas about a party rocking late into the night. With a minimal hire fee we were able to put our budget where it mattered – on the menu and behind the bar! The pub had a set menu agreed with us which people chose from on the night, and to save money we had a choice of desert or a cheeseboard rather than both. As we had a wedding cake later in the evening we felt everyone’s sweet tooth would be catered for.

On the night the food was a-ma-zing, everyone loved it. The team at the Peasant really put everything into making sure our guests were enjoying themselves and so many of our guests have said they want to go back there for another meal. They also really cared we had the party we wanted – the snow had affected their deliveries and the wine we had chosen hadn’t arrived at the pub. They chose a more expensive wine which they gave us at the same price as the original so we didn’t have to stress when we arrived. Nick even stepped in when we realised we had forgotten the silk tie to bustle up my lace train – he dug out a piece of string and a penknife from the kitchen which did the job!

We were really lucky with our reception venue – the Peasant is such a funky pub it didn’t really need much dressing. The downstairs bar is filled with posters from classic bands like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, and the upstairs room has a fabulous circus theme. They already had amazing vases of flowers on the bar, and because it was Christmas there were a lot of fairly lights and candles. They recommended Violets and Velvet as they normally do their flowers and Sam really got the look we wanted.

Quirky Photography

Annamarie Stepney was a fantastic choice as a photographer. When we first started meeting photographers a couple of them brought their portfolios and they were all of stick thin brides in sun-drenched French chateaus, while we really wanted to know what they could do with a London registry office on a dark winters evening. Annamarie got this and had a portfolio with quirky city weddings, funky receptions and winter days (and nights). She does also do a skinny sunny wedding though, so if you are having a classic summer wedding in 2011 then do give her call!

On the day she was worth every penny. The snow had started to close off roads and train routes so the day before the wedding she actually stayed in a London hotel close to the venue to ensure she would make it. When we were ready to leave the hotel for the venue the hotel revealed that the elegant wedding cars we had booked weren’t going to make it, and they didn’t seem to have any constructive ideas about how I was actually going to make it to my wedding. Annamarie got stuck in and ran up and down the street trying to hail a cab. After some negotiation with a group of guys on their way to a fancy dress party we had a giant people carrier to ferry us all there. It might not have been what I had in mind when I envisaged arriving at my wedding, but we were on the move and that’s all that mattered.

Annamarie had to repeat her efforts after the ceremony – the red London Routemaster we had filled with champagne to take us to the reception was stuck in snow so all our guests were tramping around in the snow with Annamarie standing in the middle of the road flagging down taxis. There’s actually a really funny picture she captured of Andy pulling a face as another wedding party drove past in their red bus – obviously their company had better shovels!

Andy and I had already decided that we didn’t want to disappear for hours on our wedding day to have photographs taken; we wanted to crack on with the party. Poor Annamarie had about 20 minutes in the dark to capture her shots and I think they were just amazing. My whole family fell in love with her and she was great at just getting to know everyone so we didn’t have to worry about fetching people for photographs.

Annamarie also helped cheer us both up after the wedding. After seven hours at Gatwick the following day, our honeymoon was cancelled due to snow. We’d been looking forward to it for months so coming back to our flat afterwards felt like we’d landed back to reality with a giant bump. Annamarie found out and worked through the night to produce a mini selection of photos in a couple of days to remind us of how lovely the snow actually looked.

Plastic Fantastic

I hadn’t initially given our cake much thought, I knew that formal wedding cakes could be very expensive and neither of us liked a traditional fruit cake. Then someone told me that their wedding cake was from Konditor and Cook – a fantastic London bakery that I go to regularly. They were able to do a tiered version of their classic lemon cake, topped with a delicious butter cream icing.

We came up with the idea for the cake topper because Andy and I originally met in a canoe – we were both on holiday in Slovenia and a group of us went white-water rafting down the Soca River. I didn’t have a canoe so I hopped in with Andy and the rest is history……

The Dance of your Life

An old fashioned cheesy disco was always our favourite choice; we wanted everyone to be up and dancing all night. DJ Catfight was recommended by the Peasant and he was fantastic. He kept the energy going with some party tunes, weaving in some indie classics towards the end of the night. We gave him a list of the sort of music we liked with some no-nos: no songs with official dances and no Black Eyed Peas (sorry guys but I just HATE their music).

Music is really important to Andy and I, we go to gigs all the time and we wanted to be able to express this during the ceremony and reception. Choosing our favourites turned out to be quite a daunting process – we needed the sentiment and the tempo to fit the situation.

In the end I walked down the aisle to ‘Can’t help falling in love’ by Elvis, a classic song that we love and also the team theme song for Andy’s beloved Huddersfield Town football club. While we were signing the register we played ‘You are so beautiful’ by Joe Cocker and ‘Something changed’ by Pulp, two amazing songs and both favourites of ours. To walk down the aisle we truly embraced our inner geek and played the theme from Star Wars. It’s a cracking piece of music, we love the original films and our friends all laughed and cheered at our choice.

Our first dance was ‘Baby I love you’ by the Ramones. It’s a brilliant song, with just enough rock and roll to keep Andy and me happy, whilst still having a romantic sentiment. We didn’t practice in the build up, because the song is up-tempo we were able to swirl each other around the floor in a fairly competent manner. In all the photos we are either singing or laughing our heads off at this point, which I think is a good thing.

Favour Fail

Because we were getting married on a tight budget we decided that we wouldn’t have favours as it was something that our guests wouldn’t miss. My mother offered to buy them for us and she chose mini Christmas crackers with a personal message from the bride and groom. However, the heavy snow in the weeks before the wedding meant that delivery was delayed and so they didn’t reach us in time. The company who were supplying them were obviously really concerned and kept on sending more boxes. Rather hilariously they all arrived just after the wedding at Christmas so my mother now has 240 crackers in her garage that she’s not sure how to use!

Reminiscing over Decor

We didn’t need to do a lot to decorate our venue, but we still wanted to add some personal touches. We knew both sets of parents were initially disappointed we hadn’t gone for a more traditional wedding so we wanted to show family was important to us. We made our own invitations using old photos of our grandparents and parents on their wedding days, and we used these photos again in the table decorations. Our table plan was actually a memo board turned on its side with the plans and more photos clipped on.

Perfect Poem

At our ceremony my friend did a reading of ‘I do not love you’ by Pablo Neruda. Despite the slightly contentious title, it’s actually a poem about how love isn’t actually about an over-idealised romantic view of the world but about something real and straightforward between two people. I didn’t realise how significant it would actually be on the day, but as more and more elements fell victim to the snow and so many of our guests called and texted to say they couldn’t make it I realised that I just wanted to marry Andy and nothing else mattered.

The parts of the day that I remembered were all about people – I remember my mum and dad giggling away as we skidded about in our wellies, my sister and Nick trying to tie up my bustle with some string, Emma and I trying to work out how to use the loo with a 3 foot train, the wonderful speech from my dad that reduced me and my mother to tears, the friends and family that travelled for so long in horrendous conditions just to get there and everyone on the day gamely getting involved and being so happy to see us get married. Mostly I remember saying my vows to Andy, feeling so happy and meaning every single word.

Advice from a Bride

So, my advice to other brides is to not sweat it. If you’re getting swept up in all the planning and feeling the stress then remember that even if things go wrong on day it really doesn’t matter. If someone had told me before my wedding how many of my careful plans would fall by the wayside, I would have had a full on bridal melt-down. But on the day, with the people closest to you all just smiling and cheering, and the man you love beaming as you walk down the aisle towards him, then you do remember what your wedding is all about.

Photography – Annamarie Stepney

Reception – The Peasant

Bouquet – Violets and Velvet

Cake – Konditor and Cook

DJ – DJ Catfight

What a great read. I do love a straight talking, honest bride with loads of advice and pointers to share…

Congratulations guys and thank you to Annamarie Stepney for providing the fabulous images.

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo

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Christmas Come Early… Part 1

March 24th, 2011

Before this afternoons dose of Real Bride adventures we’re taking you all right back to all the love and fun of a festive affair, made all the more perfect by the London setting and some properly white Christmas snowfall.

Andy & Rachel were married on 18 December 2010 in The Purple Room at Old Marylebone Town Hall for the ceremony and then the Peasant for their reception.

Rachel’s story of the dress is not your average tale of tears… although, for all her woes I think you’ll agree she looked completely stunning in her Pronovias Gown, it’s worth a read for the advisory warning.

Cutting it Fine…

I always knew I wanted a vintage feel to my dress, but as a curvy size twelve I knew that actual vintage dresses wouldn’t come near to covering my hips as they come up so small. I had a vision of me wearing a slinky ivory 1930s evening gown but swiftly discovered that a cut on the bias was not flattering me in the slightest! I knew strapless was not for me, and I definitely didn’t want a pouffy number that would be at odds with our chilled out evening wedding.

I tried on a lot of dresses and with an eye on the budget I found a lovely Alfred Angelo off the shoulder number and a beautiful Ana Christache silk sample in the sale. Lovely as they were neither of them really hit the mark and make me think wow until, with four and a half months to go I tried on a stunning Pronovias lace dress in a bridal shop. It hit all the right notes, the lace gave it a soft vintage feel and the soft fishtail fitted my curves like a dream. The only snag – it was well over my budget and three times the cost of the Alfred Angelo. All reservations were swept aside however when I swooshed out the changing room and my mother and my aunt both spontaneously burst into tears – I was sold! The shop checked their schedule and assured me they could order it that day and I would still have six weeks to have my alterations done and I paid up, mentally resolving to definitely save money somewhere else in our budget….

However, fast forward to 4 weeks before the wedding and my dress still hadn’t arrived – I was a bag of nerves and began anxiously wondering if I needed to start making plans for an alternative. At three weeks and counting it finally arrived, and I began my rush programme of altering a dress meant for a 6 foot glamorzon into one that suited stumpy 5”2 little me. By the second fitting it became glaringly obvious that something had gone really wrong with the bodice on the dress and no matter what they did the seamstress couldn’t seem to fix it. They reassured me that it often didn’t look right until the final fitting and two days before the wedding they ordered another round of alterations. The day before the wedding I was pacing the floor frantic with nerves until they finally finished it at 6pm – no time for me to try it on, I just had to hope for the best.

On the day I struggled to hide my disappointment as I realised the bodice was still puckered and wrinkled on the front. Without any other options I had no choice but to wear a really expensive gown I wasn’t totally happy with, and I have to confess to a bit of a sniffle when I saw some of the photos and realised just how far from my original dream dress it was.

Budget Beautiful

With the budget blown on the dress I knew I had to reign in the spending elsewhere. I had set my heart on a Halo & Co side tiara I saw in the dress shop but resolved to find something more affordable. I found a stunning Ivory & Co in a sale online, but when I tried it on it hurt my head so badly I knew it wouldn’t last five minutes. Finally, the week before the wedding the shop I bought my dress in had a new delivery of accessories and I found a beautiful vintage style comb that fitted the bill and was well within budget. It looked super glamorous on the day and I have actually worn it twice since the wedding – it certainly glammed up my new year’s eve outfit and helped to justify it on a cost per wear basis!

Hair and make-up artists can be really expensive, and after a visit to the Bobbi Brown I vowed to do my own – how hard could it be? After a few practice sessions that didn’t quite conjure up the look I was going for I decided that actually I should leave it to the professionals, and began trying to find someone to do the job.

In the end it was a bit of a fluke, I attended a net-a-porter event and picked up a flyer for a new salon that had opened opposite the hotel I was booked into for the wedding night. Being based in a salon made the prices even more reasonable and the dream team of Mel (hair) and Lauren (make-up) worked their magic on the day. I think I drove Mel a bit bonkers in the build up as I kept on changing my mind on which style to go for, but on the day I was thrilled with the style and I loved the false eyelashes Lauren applied. I felt the look was still me, just a lovely version of me with immaculate skin and Bambi lashes.

Shoes fit for a Queen

I love my heels and always assumed I’d be a Jimmy Choo kind of girl on the day. However, some sage advice from a bride on the perils of managing high heels and a dress with a couple of feet of lace and net trailing behind you on the day convinced me otherwise.

The Queens & Bowl website had a sale on and I found a really cute pair of cream suede Rachel Simpson shoes that ticked the vintage box as well as being a more than manageable height. As it turned out the heel height nearly became a moot point, due to the snow I spent most of the day in my sister’s Ugg boots as I skidded around the icy streets of London.

Dressing for the Weather

We were having a really relaxed evening wedding so we planned to leave it to the guys to just wear what they wanted. However, upon realising that between them they didn’t have decent suit we offered to hire suits from Moss Bros. It saved my mum the hassle of dragging my dad around M&S and on the day they all looked lovely. We bought matching ties on a 3 for 2 offer from TM Lewin so another bit of money saved there!

I only had two bridesmaids, my best friend Emma and my pregnant sister Gemma. Finding a dress that worked on two totally different body types was a real challenge, and I wanted them to feel comfortable. We decided to choose black as a base colour and the two girls could wear anything in that colour. My sister found a lovely Coast shift dress that really flattered her bump, and I found a similar dress in LK Bennet for Emma. When I took it round to her flat it turned out she already owned it which was great – she wore a dress she loved and I only had to buy one bridesmaid dress. The shrugs were an absolute steal as my sister had a discount voucher for Coast. Originally they were just for the bridesmaids but when I saw them I had to have one for myself. The colour was a lovely vintage cream and on the day they did a pretty good job of keeping out the bitterly cold night air.

We always wanted to buy a suit for Andy. Often with weddings the bride gets all the fuss and as I was spending so much on a dress I didn’t want him to feel left out. We found a lovely grey three piece suit from Austin Reed, and it being just before Christmas there was a sale on which brought the price down a bit. The suit was so well cut and he looked really tall and handsome in it. To be honest though, walking up the aisle he could have been wearing pyjamas for all I noticed – I just remember seeing his huge smile and realising he was as misty eyed as I was. My parents found it hilarious that although I’d instructed my dad to walk me slowly up the aisle I actually galloped towards Andy. I was just so excited and overwhelmed, and frankly pleased we had got to the registry office on time I just wanted to be by his side.

Red Roses

I knew I wanted deep red grand prix roses for my bouquet and Sam suggested viburnum berries for contrast. The bridesmaids had matching posies and the men had stunning buttonholes. We’d asked Sam to help us stick to a budget so she got really creative for the table pieces and used slightly cheaper seasonal flowers and moss to get a fabulous effect for a fraction of the cost of our earlier quotes.

Photography – Annamarie Stepney

Ceremony Venue – The Purple Room at Old Marylebone Town Hall

Reception – The Peasant

Gown – Pronovias

Shoes – Rachel Simpson from Queens and Bowl

Maids – Coast and LK Bennett

Grooms Suit – Austin Reed

Bouquet – Violets and Velvet

Well, I never thought I’d be lusting after a red rose bouquet but I LOVE this one, with the blue berries interspersed. I’ve saved the depths-of-London eclectic pub chic for part 2… and it looks like a right lot of fun. See you tomorrow lovelies :)

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo

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