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You Are The Gin To My Tonic.

January 30th, 2012

Welcome to the bright and beautiful big day of Claire and Jonathan, our first little piece of W-day retro pretty. Claire chose a 50′s-esque gown from Fur Coat No Knickers which she had “pimped” (her words!) to perfection and Jonathan went for a suit in the style of Sean Connery’s James Bond in the famous 1960′s film Goldfinger.

And if the fabulous fashion wasn’t enough Claire and Jonathan mixed old school cinema decor with contemporary colour pop blooms and a generous helping of personalisation. Love.

Oh and they chose what is possibly one of the cleverest (and funniest) ways of allocating people to their table that I have ever seen (have a peek at the end of the post if you want to join in…)

All of the quirk is courtesy of the Queen of Kitsch Julia Boggio.

Making A Style Statement

It really was the hair and make up that brought it all together. Jo Neilsen is a freelance make up artist who is an old friend and she was an absolute genius. We decided we needed a statement ‘do and it was actually Sadie who suggested the blonde hairpiece to make the side bun – I was a peroxide blonde for many, many years and it was a nod to that and it really worked. The amazing hair combined with the simple, yet immaculate make up really made the look work and I didn’t have to touch it up once.

I wore my Nanna’s pearl necklace and bracelet. The girls at FCNK sourced a fabulous diamante brooch to decorate the back of my sash and I had diamante pins in my hair to match.

Pimp My Gown

The girls at Fur Coat No Knickers created my dress. I knew I couldn’t carry off a traditional wedding dress and after a couple of disappointing visits to “proper “ wedding dress shops a friend recommended FCNK. As soon as we got in there I knew this was the place for me. I was worried that being on the larger side there wouldn’t be any vintage dresses to fit me but Laura and Emma were fabulous. We settled on what I lovingly called my “Corpse Bride” dress. It started life as a very long, high necked, long sleeved gown with gorgeous vintage lace and the girls “pimped” it to perfection. Although I love 50’s dresses I didn’t want to feel as if I was dressing up so we decided to go for the quirky graduation at the back which I loved. You can never really see what you look like in your dress until you see the photos and I absolutely loved it.

The Perfect Platform

My shoes were Jimmy Choos!! Gorgeous sparkling platform peeptoes. I am a nightmare when it comes to shoes as everything hurts! My bridesmaid Sadie almost killed me several times when we thought we had found “the ones” only for them to “pinch a bit here” or “rub a bit there”. The Choos were amazingly comfy, looked fab and didn’t make me tower over Jonathan. Perfect.

The Name’s Bond

We asked the ushers and best man to wear grey suits and white shirts. We picked the ties from Duchamp and they worked perfectly even though Jonathan wasn’t sure about wearing a pink, flowery tie to start off with!

Jonathan got his 3 piece suit made for him by October House and it fitted him perfectly. He chose the style of Sean Connery’s grey suit in Goldfinger – his favourite film.

A Cinema Ceremony

We couldn’t have confetti so I also made lots of ribbon wavers and signs saying “woo hoo”, “yay” and “Mr and Mrs Grant” for people to wave after the ceremony. I put everything in popcorn boxes and left them on the chairs in the ceremony room.

There was a display table with a brilliant sign I found on Etsy saying You Are The Gin To My Tonic, some vintage “C” and “J” playing card cards and also displaying our invitations which we got from Royal Steamline – we had different ones for the day and evening and the evening ones were perfect with a black and white chequerboard design to match the floor in the Temple.

Flowers And Fairy Lights

Athena at Rebel Rebel did my flowers and what a job she did! Andaz as a venue has a lot of features and each room is totally different so it didn’t need much decoration – just something to make it look a bit more weddingy! I had decided on pink, yellow and red as my colour scheme as I thought these colours would go with every room. The ceremony room is all pale blue and cream with a big bold print on the wall. When we went to see Rebel Rebel it was around valentine’s day and they had the big, red heart made from fairy lights in their window – I loved it and we agreed we could have this in the fireplace for the ceremony rather than plinths or flowers. The fairy light theme continued for dinner and we had gloriosa lilies suspended in water with little waterproof lights in them – it looked fabulous.

Jonathan had a single gloriosa lily as his button hole and the wedding party had a mix of red, pink and yellow roses. My usherettes had beautiful wrist corsages in contrasting colours and Sadie had an amazing bouquet of spiky dahlias that matched her dress perfectly. My bouquet was full of pink, yellow and red spiky dahlias and it was exactly what I had imagined.

Bold Brights

My girls followed the colour scheme brilliantly and were quite happy that I had decided against the traditional bridesmaid dresses. As there were three, we had a pink, a yellow and a red. Sadie bagsied the red being chief BM and we found the perfect thing in Karen Millen and even got the matching red and pink shoes. My usherettes Heather and Abby got their dresses from ASOS and we decided on gold shoes to match mine. As thank you gifts I got the girls vintage pearls to wear that also matched me.

The Right Decision

After listening to (and seeing) so many horror stories about poor photography at weddings, I knew that having a great photographer was an absolute must. After deciding and booking Andaz as our venue I knew I wanted Julia Boggio to take our photos as she had shot the Andaz brochure which was stunning. Jonathan and I went to visit Julia and her husband James at their studio in Wimbledon and we knew immediately we had made the right choice. We had a lot in common with regards to loving films and everything vintage and we booked immediately. It was absolutely the right decision and the photos really speak for themselves.

I had also seen Julia’s wonderful Vintage Boudoir package and I knew this would make the perfect gift for Jonathan. About 3 months before the wedding I snuck off to Wimbledon for a fabulous day of being transformed in to a 50’s supermodel and we had so much fun at the shoot. After the shoot I went back for a viewing session with James and we decided on a beautiful brochure featuring 10 prints for me to present Jonathan with on the morning of the wedding. Choosing the final shots to be put in the book was really hard so I had another image enlarged and framed. I asked Sadie to hang this in our bedroom whilst we were on honeymoon so when we got home it was another surprise for Jonathan. He was blown away!

A Plan Of Pornstars

I really wanted there to be a DIY element to the day so I decided to make my own orders of service, place cards and table plan. Jonathan and I thought it would be funny to put everyone’s names down using their porn names (first pet and Mother’s maiden names) – there were some crackers.

I also made two very big boards full of photos of everyone who was at the wedding surrounded by red, yellow and pink hearts. This was really to give people something to look at and feel part of the day during the reception – it was a great conversation starter!

Magical Music

Our first dance was “To The End” by Blur. On holiday last year we were talking about the key pieces of music we needed to have for the wedding – going down the aisle, coming back up the aisle and of course, first dance. We decided to let the iPod decide and hit shuffle and decided that the next three songs would be the ones we would use. What a lovely story that would have been but the first song was Gold Digger by Kanye West and I think another was a song from Les Mis so it didn’t really work. However after a few attempts “To The End” came on and we knew we had to have it especially as we were going to be in the Temple and it had that wonderful ethereal sound that made it very magical indeed.

The other two songs we had were for walking down the aisle – You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinattra (my Mum heard it on the radio and knew it would be perfect – she was right) and One Day Like This by Elbow for when we walked down the aisle together married after having seen their epic set at Glastonbury this year.

Having Your Favourites

I decided to make the cake myself – firstly as part of budgeting and secondly because I love baking and cooking and thought it was worth giving it a go. The girls came round the day before and we all made it together – it was lots of fun and we were very impressed with how it looked. It didn’t form part of the meal so was really just a gesture to cut. It was chocolate with rich chocolate buttercream and fresh raspberries and we had it with the evening buffet.

We also had a pork pie cake. I am a major pork pie fan so to have this was really my dream (yes really). Jonathan’s parents sourced the three tiers locally and each were different – pork and apple, pork and pickle and plain pork. Sadie got the little piggies and made their wedding attire and the picnic blanket and it really was the star of the show.

Important Advice

It’s your day – do what you want. Remember you will only get to do it once and you don’t want to think back and say I really wish we had done that now.. better to regret something you did do rather than you didn’t do.

Pick your battles – there will be some. Whether its with parents, suppliers or between the two of you – think about how much you really, really want it. If your gorgeous groom really doesn’t want to wear pink socks that’s probably OK, but if you are adamant he must, must wear a grey and not a blue suit that is probably the one to go for.

Going DIY is brilliant and is a great budget trimmer – if you enjoy making and doing then do it, but don’t get stressed about it and don’t let it take over your life. Of course you want the day to be perfect but will people really notice if you hand sew every single one of the invitations in thread that is exactly the same colour as your lipstick? Will people really be upset if their order of service is a fraction of a millimetre smaller on one side than the person next to them? Probably not. Attention to detail is great, but enjoying the planning and fun leading up to your wedding is better!

Get a good team around you. I honestly couldn’t have done the wedding without my bridesmaid Sadie, my usherettes and my Mum. They weren’t all involved all the time but they each had a big part to play in their own certain way. And of course, involve your groom. Jonathan wasn’t a particularly hands on groom and even if yours isn’t tell him what you are planning and what you are worried about. Jonathan brought me back down to earth so many times and made me remember we were getting married and not putting on a big production – he kept me grounded.

Brides Gown – Fur Coat No Knickers

Brides Shoes – Jimmy Choo

Grooms Suit – October House

Photography – Julia Boggio

Maids Dresses – ASOS

Venue – Andaz

Stationery – Royal Steamline

Blooms – Rebel Rebel

So what is your “Porn star” name (first pet + mothers maiden name)? mine is Poppy Meredith, Vix’s is Sophie Llewellyn and Adam’s is… Flopsy Wedgebrow.

No – I’m not even kidding.

Don’t forget you can win a sexy camera or London notebook for leaving some love on this post folks!

Big I’ll Have Mine With Ice And Lemon Love

Charlotte xxx

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Under My Umbrella.

January 19th, 2012

If you are a super talented W-day photographer then who do you choose to take your W-day pics? Tough one eh?… But of course the answer is – you find yourself another super talented W-day photographer…

And so that is how it came to be that Debs Ivelja shot the Wedding of Caro Hutchings. Or, as I should really say, the wedding of Caro and Simon.

We have a lot of love for Caro at RMW and I must admit, there are some newly emerging emotions flying around for Debs too after looking though this trove of beauty. Seriously folks you are in for a treat today.

Charlotte was in raptures over the bouquet (a little bit roadside chic actually!) and the dress and the cake and the veil.

Wait I’m not done… And the menu’s, the lampshades, the upside down hanging umbrellas. The streamers, the portraits…

Let me put it another way. She LOVES this wedding. So do I. So, get ready to fall in love as well.

Our Wedding was at St Peters Church. We then got a boat from Marlow to the reception venue, Monks Barn in Hurley.

Simple Lace.

My dress was from Phase Eight. I always knew I didn’t want a big extravagant dress so started going down the bespoke route but soon realised how much it was going to cost. I was talking to a friend describing my perfect dress and within in a week she had called me and told me she was sure she had just seen ‘my dress’ in the John Lewis window. I investigated and soon found out it was by Phase Eight. One of my bridesmaids and I went up the following Sunday and I bought it 18 months before the wedding. For me it was the perfect, simple, lace dress I had always wanted and completely affordable at £350.

The Veil Of My Dreams.

My earrings were a gift from my mum, I wore my mums sapphire ring (borrowed and blue) my hair piece was from etsy and my veil was purchased during a holiday to Spain with my girlfriends… I saw it in the window of a tiny little random shoe shop which had two wedding dresses and two veils. it was so beautifully made and I knew it was the veil I had always dreamed about. My granddad had told me during my first communion to ‘wear my veil’ as he was too ill to make it to that. He died not long after, so I had always known I had to have a proper ‘catholic’ veil in his memory and finding it with my girlfriends was a really special moment.

Three Pairs Of Shoes.

Shoes were the biggest problem!!! I didn’t want bridal shoes as I wanted to wear them again.. I knew I wanted something a bit different but just couldn’t find anything that wasn’t peep toe (I HATE my toes!!) or with a huge platform. I love the shoes in Irregular Choice but the pair that I loved were ridiculously high. So after many many searches I opted for the ridiculously high ones (4.5 inches). I loved them and thought I would see how it went. I bought a back up pair also from irregular choice for when the pain was too much. I also ended up wearing a pair of sandals for the evening when my feet just couldn’t cope anymore. I did end up wearing 3 pairs throughout the day.

Keep It Simple.

I knew I wanted my hair and makeup to be really simple with the veil and maybe have an up do for the evening. I am really lucky that my cousin is a professional hair and make up artist so she did a fantastic job of making me look good and the best bit of all was she was there all day for touch ups and in the evening a total hair transformation.

Pick Your Own Blooms.

The flowers I found one of the most difficult aspects. Given the option I would have been in Covent Garden market the morning of the wedding buying my flowers to make my own bouquets etc. But I knew this was not very viable. After speaking to many florists who either were way out my budget or were over complicating what I wanted I had lost hope until weeks before the wedding I found Rachel at Green and Gorgeous in Oxfordshire. Green and Gorgeous own a picking field on a farm. Rachel was able to make the bouquets and buttonholes for me and also pick all the other flowers I wanted from her field and deliver them 2 days before the weddings for us to arrange into vases. I walked with her around her field pointing at the flowers I liked and disliked (no roses allowed) and she got them altogether for delivery. It really is the best concept for someone who doesn’t want the fancy displays and it keeps the costs down massively.

Colour Is The Key.

Having 6 bridesmaids means that the outfits could have easily spiralled out of control. Something I suggest you think about if you are contemplating a lot of maids!! We ended up organising a shopping trip to London but I wasn’t overly hopeful we would find anything. We were all amazed at the options on the high street… We settled for a dress from Matthew Williamson at Debenhams and my mother in law made sashes that matched the colour of each maids shoes. The groom and best man got there suits from Ben Sherman and the ushers all had suits from Marks & Spencer. The ties and all the accessories were left to the groom to sort out with a few colour guides but obviously nothing that he stuck to but it all looked great with the bridesmaids. From the outset we knew we didn’t want a colour scheme and tried to tie it all together with the yellow, purple and blue variations but colour was the main theme of the day.

The Right Man.

Simon looked amazing and although I really didn’t have any say in his outfit I honestly couldn’t have pictured it any more perfect. He showed me what he was wearing a week before the wedding and when he tried it all on for me I got such a feeling of calm and I just knew he was the right man for me. I bought him some customised cufflinks to open in the morning. They were handmade with a map in them of where he proposed to me in Moss Landing, America.

Relaxed And Laid Back.

As a wedding photographer myself this was the hardest decision. Not because I couldn’t find anyone that lived up to my expectations but simply because I love so many other photographers that I wanted them all!!!! I knew Debs previously and after a few emails and a coffee I knew she would be amazing and fit in with the relaxed and laid back nature of the day. She was so incredible throughout the day and captured the memories that we really will treasure for the rest of our lives . Some of my favourite shots that she captured were of my dad and I in the morning as this was all a bit of a blur but looking back at these pictures always makes me smile.

Three Flavours.

My cake was an absolute triumph!!! A really dear friend of the family Pat Bridges has always made cakes for friends and family and when asked she was more than happy to help. I gave her no real direction except I wanted three different flavour sponges and something really simple. It really was the most beautiful work of art and I spent ages just looking and admiring it. It also tasted absolutely amazing.

Ready To Rock.

Simon always wanted a live band for the evening and after much deliberation we chose After Dark. My brother is a guitarist and a few days before the wedding he approached them to see if he could play with them. This was one of the bests bits from the evening and everyone was dancing and rocking out.. even my 90 year old nana.

The Sweetest Feeling.

We choose ‘I get the sweetest feeling’ by Jackie Wilson. Simon is rubbish at leaning song lyrics and during a car journey to the Alps I taught him every line to this song until he learnt them. So for us it was a great choice that held happy memories and wasn’t too slow and gushy.

Umbrella Theme.

After so much deliberation we opted not to really have favours but something that could double up as the place name and a sort of favour. To keep with the umbrella theme we bought lot’s of cocktail umbrellas and wrapped a piece of paper around the stick so they could double up as place names. What was really fun was that everyone ended up wearing them in their hair.

The Best Find Ever.

We had always wanted a blank canvas venue that we could dress our own way. This was one of the most important sides of it for me – Simon’s being a free bar. We came up with a very loose theme of umbrellas while we were travelling. We were in a restaurant in Vietnam and they had hung umbrellas from string to create a ceiling… We thought is was so cool and wanted to replicate it at the barn. I have a really good friend Barty who really did ‘get’ my ideas… With Simon helping they hung about 30 umbrellas that I had collected from the ceiling, suspended over the dance floor. It looked amazing!

One of my bridesmaids, Sophie, then found the beautiful umbrella centrepieces in a shop on Hayling Island. These literally were the best find ever and without them I really don’t think the umbrella thing would have made any sense.

Other key details were the drapes I made to cover the black doors that acted as a lovely backdrop for the speeches. The suitcases I found in my nanas loft that we used to house pot plants from the mums’ gardens. A really special suitcase that belonged to my Bampa which had his initials on… This housed all the presents and cards. We put a marquee up in case it rained and this acted as the coffee, cake and sweet tent. I love old lampshades and hung them above the sweet table with coloured pom poms to dress the marquee up a bit. Photos were also hung around the marquee of family and friends.

As it was a dry hire venue we built our own bar and bought copious amounts of alcohol including ‘Fort Simon’ and ‘Chateau Caroline’ wine. I then customised it as a ‘Pompey’ bar, which is the football team Simon supports, we also met in Portsmouth so it is a special place to both of us. I found loads of Pompey memorabilia on ebay and decorated it for him as a surprise.

Completely Us.

It is so hard to put into words how special our day was to us and I think the fundamental thing everyone kept saying was that it was completely ‘us’. So many special moments from my dad driving me down to the church in his beloved Porsche to walking down the tiny isle in the same church as my confirmation and seeing Simon’s face at the end of it. Having a boat party to the venue and seeing everyone’s reactions as they walked in to the barn.

What also stands out is the week before the day, which we spent in the barn, setting up with all our friends and family rallying to help. The experience as a whole made me realise how lucky we are to have such amazing friends, family and best of all each other – and that’s what a wedding should be completely about in my opinion.

Venue Monks Barn

Dress Phase Eight

Hair piece etsy

Shoes Irregular Choice

Blooms Green and Gorgeous

Photography Debs Ivelja

If you are thinking about having a wedding in the UK then ‘Umbrella’s’ is a pretty safe theme to go with I reckon – So why has no-one done this before?

I don’t know what to say for fear of repeating Charlottes stream of consciousness from earlier.. I too seriously love all the stationery, I’m loving line drawings at the moment – and that umbrella ceiling? Words properly fail me.

Also – serious car envy over here – a camper van and a porsche for wedding vehicles? Very snazzy indeed! Mahoosive thanks to Caro and Simon for sharing this groundbreaking and seriously imaginative colour feast of a wedding.

Adam.

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The Angel Of Islington.

January 12th, 2012

London London London!

Morning peeps, guess where we are going for todays dose of W-day Pretty?

Lauren and Nick married in July 2011 at Frederick’s Bar & Restaurant on Camden Passage, Angel Islington in… London! (was that not clear?)

I love the contemporary colour pop setting for this city soiree, and make sure you have a look at the cake which the bride proudly made herself… the flowers on it are a masterpiece.

Photography today is by Ben Tomlin at Touch Photography. Lauren and Nick couldn’t have chosen a better person to capture those clean bold colours, the gorgeous subtle details and of course, the candid reaction of friends and family.

Home Or Away?

We got engaged at the end of November 2010. No sooner had we finished celebrating than it was Christmas. And in a flash we found ourselves in January facing the reality that if we wanted to get married in the summer we’d only have six month to organise it. We both liked the idea of getting married abroad in Greece or Italy, so initially we set about looking for large private villas that we could hire for the wedding. But we thought we should look into some local venues as a back up plan and on Islington’s registry office website saw Frederick’s listed as a licensed venue. Nick knew the local favourite well and we went to have a look – it was only at the end of the road after all! We both loved it and could see ourselves getting married there. The restaurant is closed to the public on Sundays, but available for exclusive hire for weddings and parties. When we found out that the only available summer Sunday left in their diary was one that we’d potentially earmarked as working for everyone we decided it was fate, and booked.

An Oscar Winning Dress.

I wanted to find a dress that would look right in such a modern and understated venue – something a bit different from the full-skirted, sweetheart-necklined bridal gowns that are everywhere. But alternatives were proving very difficult to find! So initially I thought I’d get one of these dresses shortened into a 1950s style tea-lenth dress, but something was holding me back. I visited Morgan Davies in Islington and explained my situation to Annalise. I let her pick out several dresses for me to try on, including one from my favourite designer Jesus Piero. When I put on ‘the’ dress, I instantly loved it. The halter neckline was different, the high waist band elongated my body and the whole effect was very flattering. But my parents, who were with me at the time, weren’t sure about the dress. My mum said, “It looks like something you’d wear to accept an Oscar in.” While I was secretly thinking how much I’d love to look like a movie star on my wedding day, it also meant a lot to me that my parents like the dress. So I left it. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and ended up going back to try it on again twice more with my friend and bridesmaids before deciding to go for it! I’m glad I did – as one guest put it in a thank-you letter, “the dress was beautiful – glamourous, sexy and elegant.”

Bespoke Headpiece.

The dress was very plain, with simple lines. I knew that I wanted to add some of my personality to the dress by adding a fascinator with a retro, short, net veil. My sister and her boyfriend are friends with a newly qualified milliner, and they very generously offered to put me in touch with her and pay for the fascinator as a wedding gift. I worked closely with Mary of Mary Franck Millinery to create a bespoke freshwater pearl and crystal headpiece, with a detachable net veil. It really made the outfit.

I also borrowed a vintage crystal bracelet from my mother to add an extra bit of sparkle.

Pale Pink And Pearl.

I am quite short, so I wanted to wear heels for height but I also wanted to be able to dance all night! Nick actually chose my shoes! – Rachel Simpson Venetia shoes with a 8.5cm heel and concealed cushioned platform. They are extremely comfortable and the pink suede detail tied in with our pale pink and pearl theme.

Lash Extensions.

My long-time home hair colourist (and now friend) Zoe does hair for weddings so I booked her to do mine! I had my hair curled and then put up off-centre to accommodate the head piece.

I went to several trial make-up sessions at make-up counters in Selfridges. In the end I decided I would prefer to do my own make-up. I invested in some new make-up and professional brushes from Bobbi Brown to ensure I got a great finish, and I’m still using it all today! I also had eyelash extensions put in to accentuate my eyes – much more comfortable than fake eyelash strips and eliminates the need for mascara.

Peonie Replacements.

I love peonies and they had already inspired the design of our invitations and our wedding cake. When it came to ordering the flowers for the wedding we discovered that the peony season had come early this year and the florists could not guarantee that they would still be available by 10 July! We then shopped around for similar-looking alternatives. One of the florists had recommended looking at The Real Flower Company. They have a concession in Selfridges in London so we went to have a look at their range of beautiful, unique, highly scented roses. We chose a mixture of the ‘Peony Pink’ variety, which as the name suggests look very like a pale pink peony, and ‘Groupie’, a white peony-like rose. These exclusive roses were going to be very expensive to order via the florist, so I rang The Real Flower Company direct. I ordered the bridal and bridesmaids bouquets, button holes and corsages to be delivered to Selfridges the day before the wedding. I also ordered 75 single stemmed roses and fragrant herbs, which were delivered to my parents house and kept cool in the basement. We made up the table arrangements ourselves on the morning of the wedding, using vases from Ikea and white pebbles from a garden centre!

Pink And Grey.

Wanting to keep things relatively informal, we asked our Fathers and Nick’s brother, the best-man, to wear light grey suits and we bought pale pink matching ties for each of them. My two bridesmaids chose their own pale grey dresses from Reiss. I bought matching grey freshwater pearl bracelets from Tiger Lily Trading as gifts for the bridesmaids, which I gave them on the morning of the wedding.

Hand Made Extravagance.

Nick wore a bespoke, hand-made, 3-piece suit by Charlie Allen in Islington. It was an extravagance, but he could not think of a better occasion to treat himself! He chose a natural linen fabric and tan leather Grenson shoes, which he bought at Nigel Hall on Upper Street.

Journalistic, Not Staged.

The photographer was the first thing we booked after the venue. We found Ben Tomlin at Touch Photography after looking at lots of portfolios online. We were very impressed with Ben’s journalistic, rather than staged, photographic style and knew we wanted something similar for our big day. When we met Ben he was such a nice guy, and exactly the type of person you wouldn’t mind poking a camera in your face, even when you’re at your most stressed. Ben put in a mammoth effort on the day – even racing me in my black taxi across London from my parent’s house to the venue – and I think he was one of the last to leave! We’ve had so many comments from our friends on how our wedding photos are some of the best they’ve ever seen.

A Bit Of Bad Luck?

I decided that I wanted to make something for the wedding and the cake seemed an obvious choice, despite caution from my Czech friend Lenka that it’s bad luck for the bride to bake the cake herself! We both love fruit cake and it can be made well in advance – in fact its better if it is. I followed Delia Smith’s rich fruit cake recipe and made three tiers, covered with white marzipan and ivory fondant icing. I made sugar paste peonies to decorate the cake and learnt by following an online tutorial. I also painted the piping around the edge of each tier with an edible pearlised lustre to make it look like pearls. The sugar paste flowers were so good that some people thought they were real flowers!

The Suburbians.

We both wanted a live band. We found an amazing band called The Suburbians. We were really lucky to have them play as they have subsequently gone on tour in Canada and launched their debut album – I think we were their last ever wedding! I made sure everyone joined me on the dance floor and the band repaid me by allowing me to join them in singing ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. At the end of the night, when everyone wanted an encore, they sang one of their own songs ‘Red Dress’, but changed the lyrics to ‘White Dress’ – loved it!

Crazy Love.

Our first dance was to ‘Crazy Love’ by Van Morrison. Nick chose it, he says the lyrics encapsulate how he feels about me.

Having the ceremony and reception in one venue we’d also had to select our own music for the service. I love film soundtracks, so we made it a bit of a theme. I came down the aisle to ‘Glasgow Theme’ from Love Actually; during the signing of the register we played ‘Maestro’ from The Holiday and ‘Love Theme’ from Romeo and Juliet; and after the service as we exited to the garden, we played ‘Business’ and ‘Ball’ from Plunkett and Macleane.

Quiz Cards, Canapés And Cocktails.

For Our favours we had Chinese fortune sticks and wedding quiz cards from Cox & Cox.

The beauty of holding your wedding at Frederick’s is that Renata and her team take care of as little or as much as you like – the restaurant’s flower displays were ordered to match our theme, she printed and displayed our table plan and table names, and printed the menus and name cards. There are two indoor trees – very Kate and Wills – and we asked for fairy lights to be put in them. The garden was a great space for champagne after the service and photos – it’s a central location but you can’t hear the business of Upper Street outside. The service staff were fantastic, as were the canapés and meal – the benefit of holding your wedding in a top restaurant!

The evening at Frederick’s wound up at 11pm. As it was a Sunday we thought that many of our friends would need to get home to bed. But for those who wanted to carry on chatting and celebrating, we booked an area at my favourite cocktail bar around the corner, 69 Colebrook Row. It was fun walking down the cobbled street in my wedding dress and one final night-cap in an intimate setting was a great way to end a fantastic day!

Venue Frederick’s Bar & Restaurant

Dress Jesus Piero

Accessories Mary Franck Millinery

Boutique Morgan Davies

Shoes Rachel Simpson Venetia

Blooms The Real Flower Company

Tailor Charlie Allen

Photography Touch Photography

Band The Suburbians

There is such a lovely vibe to this wedding… I had to resist simply filling every template with images of people just smiling and hugging! Looking back on it maybe I didn’t resist that much… but hey – we like to show the love on RMW…

Adam.

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A Marriage At River Cottage.

January 6th, 2012

Mike and Esmè Married at St Gregory’s Church in Seaton and had their reception at River Cottage.

That’s right folks – The River Cottage made famous by Hugh Fearnley “kill-a-rabbit-with-my-bear-hands-for-breakfast” Whittingstall!

Prepare yourselves for a visual feast as we head down to Dorset in the South West.

The magnificent Sam Gibson was on hand with a box of lenses to capture this rural delight in all its glory.

Wow Factor.

River Cottage Hq was the most amazing venue. The location, staff and food were relaxed and overall the place had an amazing wow factor.

Cat our wedding Co-ordinator was a super star, from the moment we walked down the wobbly hill to River Cottage we knew this was our place. Cat was always on the end of the phone or email when needed, but also was very relaxed about the day and helped us choose the food giving us ideas on how to use River Cottage for the day. We had the speeches outside in the garden with champagne and canapés, then the yurt for coffee after the meal.

The chef gave a toast to the guests explaining how the spit roast lamb was prepared and how he and the team had prepared the meal. They used veg from my father’s farm which was great to incorporate into our day. My dad doesn’t normally like courgettes but did on this day – the way the chef had cooked them, delicious!

The staff where so good on the day and so happy, the guests again commented on how good all the staff were. Simon the master of Ceremony for the day was brilliant. Helping us throughout the day and helping with guest requests. All in all River Cottage, Cat and the team were Wonderful.

The Dress Search.

After much looking around and having a very bad experience in many shops we finally found a wonderful shop called Days of Grace in Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Carole the owner was amazing and on my second visit to her we walked into the shop and there it was, hanging on the rail by the front door – ‘THE DRESS’ a Maggie Sottero. ‘The Tabrette Marie’ made with French taffeta and wonderful jewels around the waist band.

It wasn’t what I thought I would have chosen, as in my dreams from a child I thought I would have the big princess style dress but this one was so different and elegant. All the dresses in Days of Grace where sample dresses from a shop in Exeter called Pirouette which also made the price very good as well.

Straps And Jewels.

The shoes!!! What a nightmare – I suffer from MS and find it very difficult to walk in heels so trying to find shoes which were not only pretty, but ones I could walk in, was a challenge! If I had the time I would have designed some myself!! But Pirouette came to the rescue and found me a lovely pair of Rainbow wedding shoes which had a strap across the top of my foot and a jewelled buckle to the side. Quite high but I had my father to hold on to for the church walk and i changed my shoes once at River Cottage to a flat pair bought from Next. Ballerina shoes with lots on jewels on the front, it didn’t matter as no one could see my feet!

Tame Those Locks.

My make-up, the bridesmaids and mothers where done by Becky from Changing Faces. Again an amazing service from the first contact, to the day. Becky listened to us all, taking account of what we liked and didn’t like and Wow she did good, it stayed on all day.

Our hair was done by one of our great friends Claire who has only in the last year taken the plunge and opened her own hair salon called Salon 27 in Seaton, Devon.

I have very long hair and Claire tamed it beautifully, all to one side with lovely curls and the bridesmaids all had there’s to one side in a loose bun with flowers that matched the bouquets. She closed the shop for us so we could all be there and Becky could be there as well, keeping a running chain of people from 8am till 11am. We had nails, hair and make-up done (all together 7 of us – they were amazing).

A Mix Of Flowers And Herbs.

We wanted wild flowers as we had no real theme to our wedding apart from a loose relaxed and countryside feel.

Claire from Haughty Culture in Honiton was also brilliant. I didn’t have much idea what flowers where called but had a photo and an idea of what I wanted. Oh my god she did a fabulous job! The bouquets, button holes, hair flowers and confetti all looked stunning with Mint, Thyme and all types of flowers, too many to name, but best of all Claire found a hydrangea called Esme which was used in everyone’s flowers, even in the little hair pieces she made. Brilliant!

Hello Husband!

Mike had found a shop in Exeter called Dyfed Menswear – their suits were nice and also you could collect them a week before the wedding. This meant someone didn’t have to rush into town to collect on the Friday before and we knew we had time to change some sizes if needed. Mike chose the colour for the wedding party which was Teal. He chose morning suits in dark grey shimmer for all the men with Teal cravats and for himself a cream cravat.

Mike being a fire-fighter wore his dress uniform for the ceremony and changed into his suit for the wedding breakfast. He looked a dream come true and Fwaaar…

“Hello that’s going to be my Husband” Is what I thought as I walked down towards him.

Relaxed And Helpful.

From the moment we saw Sam Gibson’s website we knew he was the one. He was relaxed and very helpful (No hard sale – no you must do this and I won’t do that).

On the day Sam appeared smartly dressed, calm, cool and dived straight in taking photos of us girls getting glammed up at Salon 27. We didn’t really even know the photos were being taken. Boy I was a nervous wreck all morning. He then went to the boy’s residence and from there on to the church. No questions asked, he did his research; going down the day before to meet Cat our wedding co-ordinator at River Cottage, speaking to the vicar, driving round to each place he needed to be at on the day. He knew where each event was happening. He even had breakfast with my Dad in the morning as they stayed in the same hotel.

Sam was everywhere but not in your face, come to think of it I can’t remember seeing him much through the day at all. He even helped us set up a couple of things as we could not get something to work. Then at around 10pm he came to do a last shot of us and say goodbye, bless him he must have been so tired.

Three weeks after the wedding the email came to say we will get the photos the next day, Aaaahhhh I screamed to Mike. Oh my god, what we got was amazing! A slide show DVD and a second disc with the photos on. We watched the slide show, Mike cried and I screamed with joy as we got to see our wonderful day. I cannot put into words how wonderful Sam’s photos are and how amazing Sam is! Most people have watched the slide show and all want copies, they all said how great he was on the day. I see him as a friend now who made our day come to life for the rest of our lives.

A Dusting Of Sugar.

We had a 3 tier Victoria sponge cake made by one of Mike’s mothers friends and yum yum, it was delicious. No icing just dusted with icing sugar and strawberries, raspberries and pink roses. Very plain but very pretty, no fuss.

That’s Jazz.

We had a local jazz band called Arcadia from Axminster, Devon. Boy they were good, they started at 6pm and finished at 9pm and everyone loved them. Mike and one of his ushers even had a little dance together. A great band, very friendly and very professional.

More Than Words.

Our first dance was to Extreme ‘More Than Words’. This is a song that is close to us as we were together around 8 years ago then parted for 3 years before we realised we loved each other too much and had to be together for the rest of our lives. On the day we arranged to meet up again Mike played this song as we reminisced about old times and we knew this would be our first dance at our wedding!

Pump Up The Jam.

Our favours were small jams that we used as name places. Me and my mother spent two days making the name tags for each one, sewing, sticking and tying to each little pot. We also made small sewn hearts for each lady with a name tag sewn on the front of each saying ‘Mike & Esme’ and on the back was the date ‘6th August 2011′

candles And Wild Flowers.

At the church we had many plain church candles which we bought from Ikea and dotted around the church.

At River Cottage they had put lots of bunting around, jam jars of wild flowers, lots and lots of candles and also we arranged to have 4 fire posts from another local company to be put around the garden outside the yurt which gave light at night and a little bit of warmth. They were also used for cooking marshmallows on, which River Cottage had laid out for the guests.

The Best Bits.

We had many parts of the day which were so special to us – Mikes Crew from Seaton fire station doing a guard of honour for us as we left the church, a classic fire appliance to take Mike & I to River Cottage from the church, having great bridesmaids, best man and ushers helping us wonderfully throughout the day, the tractor ride down to River Cottage from the Top of the hill… the list is endless.

A Final Thought.

My advice would be to take it all in through the day as it goes so quick, do as much as you can to save cost and give it a personal touch. Most of all enjoy it!

Venue River Cottage

Dress Maggie Sottero

Shoes Rainbow Club

Make-up Changing Faces

Blooms Haughty Culture

Suit Hire Dyfed Menswear

Photography Sam Gibson

Entertainment Arcadia

River Cottage certainly does have the WOW factor… I had no idea it was a venue for hire (maybe I shouldn’t admit that?) and if you are a real “foodie” it must go straight to the top of your dream reception destinations.

Talking of food, I’ve got to mention that victoria sponge… it’s made me hungry just looking at it and the florals take it firmly into dream territory too. Also, can I have a great big ruddy fire engine at my wedding too please? Thanks, bye!

Adam.

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Let There Be Love.

January 5th, 2012

It is simply incredible to hear that the vast majority of the planning for Ben and Nienke’s wedding was achieved in two weeks flat.

Getting married on the other side of the world to where you live is always going to present the odd logistical issue (understatement) and you have to admire this couples determination and trust that everything would be alright on the night.

Photography today is by the incredibly talented Anna Clarke of Anna Clarke Photography fame. She was assisted by her husband Simon, they certainly are a photographic team to be reckoned with.

Home Is Where The Heart Is.

We got married on 25th June 2011 in Leek Wootton in Warwickshire. It’s the village where I grew up and where my parents still live. We were married in the lovely old village church and then everyone walked down the road to my parents house where we had our drinks reception. We were very lucky that our lovely neighbours who live opposite my parents allowed us to use their garden to put up a big marquee, and so we headed over there for the wedding breakfast, meaning no driving had to be done at all during the day! That being said, another of the wonderful village neighbours drove me and my father to church (a grand 200m or so journey), and afterwards whisked Ben and I away in his amazing vintage Rolls Royce – he even dressed up as a chauffeur and surprised us with a bottle of champagne at the church!

Down Under.

We have been living in New Zealand for the past two years and that was where Ben proposed, during a skiing trip in the beautiful Remarkables of the South Island. Of course I said yes, we got incredibly excited, then almost immediately decided that we couldn’t possibly get married over here. And so began the trans-world wedding planning! Fortunately we were actually due to head back to the UK a few weeks after our engagement, so we managed to get most things sorted out during a quick fortnight back home (also, my mother is an organisation demon!). For that reason, we didn’t really have the option of looking around lots of places and sourcing different suppliers, we just had to get on with it! So….

Chapel Length Veil.

My dress was from Quello, a lovely little bridal shop in Kenilworth ten minutes from my parents house, and was by the Spanish designer, Rosa Clara. I think it was the second dress I tried on, and if I’m honest, I wasn’t that excited by it at the time, probably because it was 8 sizes too big for me and looked ridiculous! However, my thoughts kept coming back to that dress, and with good reason. The lovely ladies at Quello ordered me a dress in the right size, and managed to do pretty much all the alterations in the five days before our wedding when we were next back in the UK. Terrifying! They were amazing though, and I couldn’t have been more delighted when I finally got into my dress on the day. I had a little matching off the shoulder lace jacket which I wore during the ceremony and drinks reception, and a chapel length veil (because if you don’t wear a veil at your wedding, when else could you possibly wear one?).

Killer Heels.

My jewellery was very simple, a pearl and diamond earring and necklace set given to me by my mother, which had been given to her by my Dad’s mother, and a pearl bracelet. My shoes were tall! Ben is a lot taller than me (most people are) so I tottered around on killer heels for most of the day. I got the perfect pair in light ivory on a whim from Mi Piaci in New Zealand a few months before the wedding. The men hired their suits from Parkes in Royal Leamington Spa, and they all looked fantastic. My bridesmaids wore charcoal and ivory dresses from Forever Yours and managed to get them from local bridal shops scattered around the UK.

The Beauty Box.

Hair and makeup was a bit of a case of “who’s free on the day and is nearby” – being so far away I didn’t really have the opportunity to try out lots of places. I had been recommended The Beauty Box in Hampton Magna by a neighbour, and when I met Jacquie there I knew she would be great. She came over to my parents house on the day and did the makeup for myself and my mother, leaving us with a swag bag of all her makeup to return the following week so we could do touchups through the day as we wanted. I zoomed off to Classics hairdressers in Kenilworth first thing in the morning for a bit of time on my own, and they put my hair up in a loose chignon. I knew I couldn’t wear my hair down as I’m a terrible fiddler and would have had it in knots before the ceremony!

Champagne Picnic.

Getting our flowers done was again a bit of a guessing game, as we weren’t able to meet any florists in person. My mother’s a whiz with flowers, and so we decided that we would do all the decorations for the church, house and marquee. We ordered a massive pile of flowers from our local wholesaler, and with the help of a near army of women from the village (who were all amazing), and my mother and sister-in-law, we transformed the church on the Wednesday before the wedding. It was a brilliant day, all helping out and with a little champagne picnic in the church gardens to break up the work, we were laughing the whole day long. The church looked fantastic, but with all the flowers for the house and marquee to be done the day before the wedding we worried if we’d bitten off more than we could chew. The garage was full to bursting with roses, alstromeria, freesia, stock, lisianthus, ferns and tens of buckets! On Friday afternoon my maid of honour, mother and I made all the table decorations whilst chatting away and sipping wine, and it really set the scene for a wonderful weekend. As we knew the wedding day itself would be busy, we handed over responsibility for the bouquets and button holes to Fiona of Inspired Elegance, who matched the flowers beautifully with those that we had already prepared.

Divide And Conquer.

Our photographer was the wonderful Anna of Anna Clarke Photography. We met her only 4 days before the wedding when we had our “engagement” shoot. She instantly put us at ease, and we knew that we’d have a great time with her on the day. She came with her lovely husband Simon who shoots with her, and the two of them divided and conquered to capture the day in beautiful relaxed photographs. As this was going to be the first time we’d seen many of our friends since moving to New Zealand we didn’t want to spend half the reception having photos taken, and Anna and Simon were great in understanding that. We decided to have a relaxed lunch with the entire bridal party together before the ceremony and Anna and Simon used that time to make sure we got all the slightly more formal photographs that we might want.

Attack Of The Munchies.

We decided against a traditional cake as neither of us are that fussed about them, and felt that they often don’t even get eaten at weddings. Instead, we opted for some tiered cheeses, which we served as an extra cheese course half way through dancing later in the evening. It went down incredibly well, was completely devoured, and certainly settled some late night munchies! It was all organised by our fabulous caterers, The Chopping Block, who provided absolutely fantastic food, drink and service throughout the entire weekend.

Let There Be Love.

We knew early on that we wanted a live band, and listening to The Fabulations on their online jukebox knew that they’d be perfect for us. They got everyone up and dancing, including my octagenarian grandparents, with a brilliant mix of motown, funk and soul. Our first dance song was chosen the day before our wedding! We’d actually chosen something different quite some time before, but the band contacted us nearer the time saying that they didn’t think they could do it justice and were wondering if there was something else that we’d like instead. We forgot to reply, and suddenly realised with 24 hours to go that we didn’t have a first dance song. We quickly chose Let There Be Love, not for any particular reason other than us both liking the song!

Miniature Favours.

For favours we wanted something that our guests could enjoy on the night. We ordered lots of miniature glass bottles and my father spent a day decanting port from our two university colleges into them. They went down a treat with the cheese later in the night.

No Theme As Such.

Our decorations were all pretty simple – white flowers, candles and a simple thistle and ribbon on the napkins. We didn’t really have a colour theme as such, but if I had to describe it, it was probably ivory, charcoal and sage. Four our table plan I collected photographs of our parents and all our grandparents and arranged them amongst the table plan on a large board as our guests entered the marquee. Our grandparents absolutely loved it and it was a nice reminder of those grandparents who couldn’t be with us on the day.

Party On.

To make the most of our time back in the UK we organised a more relaxed hog roast and bar the following day, again in the marquee. The sun shone on one of summer’s warmest days, and it was great to relax with all our guests and some extra friends recounting tales of our wedding day before we left for our honeymoon that evening.

Forget About The Hiccups.

We had the most amazing day and will always remember it as such. It doesn’t matter that the toilets broke, and that a stranger parked in the space we’d set aside for the wedding car! Don’t get too hung up on all the little details and stay calm if things don’t work out quite as you’d planned. In all probability no-one will even notice anyway, they’ll be too busy looking at the two of you. and having a brilliant time.

Boutique Quello

Dress Rosa Clara

Shoes Mi Piaci

Maids Forever Yours

Hair Inspired Elegance

Make-up The Beauty Box

Bouquets and button holes Inspired Elegance

Photography Anna Clarke Photography

Catering The Chopping Block

The Fabulations The Fabulations

I think Nienke showed tremendous vision (and nerves of steal) to go for a dress that she only tried on once and was 8 sizes to big. I think we can safely say that gamble paid off though.

I love the table plan, I love the car – it reminds me of Gumdrop – anyone remember Gumdrop? Just me then….

If they managed all this in two weeks, I imagine that Ben and Nienke could probably organise world peace in a little over 3 months… anyone got a contact number for NATO?

Adam.

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East Meets West.

December 5th, 2011

Chris Barber told me that this wedding was one of the most fun weddings he’s ever shot! The Barbers like a bit of insanity, so I guess if there was ever going to be a wedding where the boys had to complete a series of crazy challenges before the girls would let them into the house before the ceremony could take place, you’d fancy that The Barbers would be the photographers to choose.

These challenges, by the way, included having to eat what appears to be a mountain of rice out of a massive metal pan and having a nose hair removed in the most painful way imaginable…

We have already shared the immense engagement shoot that Ann and Phil had (check it out if you haven’t already), and so let’s hand back to them for the follow up.

We are Ann and Phil and we were married on 28th June 2011. Our outdoor wedding ceremony and evening party took place at Moxhull Hall Hotel and the reception was at China Court Restaurant, Birmingham.

Three Dresses.

I had three dresses throughout the day (It may seem a lot but that is the bare minimum for Chinese brides). I started off with the traditional red Chinese dress, known as a ‘qwa’. It’s a vintage piece as it was borrowed from my aunt who wore it over 30 years ago for her wedding. Others in the family, including my two sisters have worn it since so there’s a lot of history with it.

For my main wedding dress I had no real idea what I wanted but after only visiting a few bridal shops and finding nothing that I even wanted to try on. In the end I decided to get one custom made which was a saga in itself but worth it in the end and I couldn’t have done it with out my handy designer friends Sing Yee and Grace. It was a silk bandeau dress with French lace bodice.

For my evening gown I had been looking around and couldn’t find anything suitable within my non existent budget. I ended up having to make a last minute decision to have a custom made ivory coloured ‘qi pao’ which was literally done two weeks before the wedding by giving my measurements to my cousin in Hong Kong. It turned up on my doorstep in the suitcase of my Aunt the week before the wedding! Luckily I only had to have minor alterations done on it.

Traditional Bangles.

As part of customary Chinese tradition, we both received lots of gold jewellery such as ‘dragon and phoenix’ inscribed bangles, gold chain and pendants and rings from close family members. They were given to us on the day, during the tea ceremony and I wore it with my traditional red Chinese dress.

I had a red hair piece to go with the red Chinese dress and a gold hair piece with the evening gown. With the wedding dress, I wore a long veil which was borrowed from my sister and I only got the chance to try it on the night before the wedding! My pearl necklace was a surprise gift from my two darling younger cousins who knew it was the final touch that I had been looking for.

So High It Hurts.

I think I may have spent more time looking for my shoes than anything else. I drove everyone around me insane and gave a brief of what I wanted to bridesmaids and friends from America to Hong Kong looking for me. I knew I didn’t want anything white/ivory and wanted to add a bit of edge to my look.

My problem seemed to be that anything I did like was way too high for my comfort. In the end after 10 months of looking, I found a pair of black suede peep toes with a bow detail by Peter Kaiser a month before the wedding. I don’t know if I chose them because I was panicking but in the end I really liked the overall effect and the bonus is I’ve worn the shoes again.

A Family Affair.

My hair was done by my cousin Eva at Mak Hair. I had one trial and was keen on two different styles but actually only made my mind up on the morning! I guess I was relaxed about it because I knew both styles would have worked fine and Eva is a real pro.

My make-up was done by my sister and as she flew in from New York a couple of days before we didn’t get to trial it but I just wanted to keep it natural so completely trusted her to do her thing.

Yellow Theme.

Our flowers were by Andi and Wendy at Floral Decorations. I’m not much of a flower person so didn’t really have any specific ideas or requests so I just looked around on wedding blogs and found that Craspedias (Billy Buttons) really struck us, and fitted with our yellow theme too.

Other than that, we weren’t too particular so just showed Andi and Wendy some Craspedia based bouquets and buttonholes that we liked and let our florists decide. They produced a gorgeous mix of Peony, Craspedia, Eustoma, Viburnum and Eucalyptus which worked so well together.

Nothing Girly.

Our five bridesmaids’ dresses were from J.Crew Neither my bridesmaids nor I wanted anything that was really girly or ‘bridesmaidsey’ so we went for charcoal grey in silk chiffon which I find much cooler and less traditional than satin. The groomsmen were just asked to wear their own grey suits and their ties were from Tie Rack. Phil and the groomsmen’s ties were grey/silver to tie in the bridesmaids dresses. Our three nieces wore white pouf dresses with yellow sashes from J.Crew and our two little nephews wore waistcoats and a bowtie.

Three Changes.

Phil always said he didn’t want to wear anything traditional. He had three outfits for the day to complement my dress changes. He wore a black tux with a bow tie and a red checked shirt for a splash of colour to tie in with my traditional Chinese dress. For the ceremony he wore a fitted two buttoned grey suit and stood out a little from the groomsmen by adding a white waistcoat. He also refined his look with some classic gents accessories, a tie bar, tie-clip and cufflinks from Agnes B.

To complement my ‘qi pao’ he wore a classic tux and bow tie. Both the grey suit and the tux are bespoke as Phil has monkey arms and finds it difficult to get high street suits to fit well. I thought he looked very ‘dapper’ and on the day he still felt completely relaxed and comfortable and didn’t feel like he was in a ‘costume’.

Fetch Me A Barber.

The Barbers – Dani and Chris Barber were our photographers. They were exactly what we were looking for and our engagement shoot photos proved that we had made the right choice. We completely trusted them to do what they had to do to work down our endless list of traditional shots with family and relatives. The thing with Dani and Chris is that they’re great at communicating with you in the run up to the wedding and really take the time to get to know you and vice versa so you can just see their amazing work ethic and quite naturally they become friends you can trust.

Thankfully we still managed to spare a little bit of time for The Barbers to exert their creative flair with some fun bridesmaids and groomsmen shots. We still feel guilty for not affording more time to them though.

Sweet Treats Times Two.

We had two lots of cakes, a three tier Chinese fresh fruit cream cake at the reception and then the fun and tasty cupcakes by Dali and Maz from Kiss Me Cupcakes. We decorated the vanilla and mint choc cupcakes with different handmade DIY toppers which were designed by our good friend and bridesmaid Eve from Dunbyme, the creative genius and graphics whiz who also designed our invites and other stationary.

Dancing On A School Night.

We used Sonic Light and Sound a DJ recommended by the venue, having realised that a band was out of our budget and really not worth it as our wedding fell on a week night so we expected that many of guests wouldn’t stay on too late. We didn’t have a first dance but walking back up the aisle together, we used Amos Lee’s ‘Sweet Pea’ as it was playing in a shop we were in in New York, shortly after Phil proposed.

Silly Spaces and Sweet Shops.

The highlight was a ‘silly space’ booth that our Photographer’s set up. Our guests had a laugh taking photos using random props that were supplied. Nothing but silliness, just the way we like it. We didn’t have favours as such but we did have a yellow themed ‘Sweet Shop’ with plenty for guests to take away along with the cupcakes.

East Meets West.

We loved that our wedding entailed aspects of our Chinese culture with the Western touches and the whole day was just like a big family and friends get together.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help as involving loved ones is great for bonding and making everyone feel part of the day. It also helps with control freak brides, like me to be able to delegate everything to people who know what’s going on.

Set a realistic budget (with a contingency) and don’t deviate from it at every opportunity with the saying ‘you only do it once’. At the end of the day, it is being married that is most important; not the fifty details that people may not even appreciate. Remember, you two are the ones who have to live with the costs and although weddings as expensive, they are only as expensive as you allow them to be.

No Time For Myths.

I think it’s a myth when people tell you have to plan your wedding years in advance. I think it works two ways; the more time you have, the more you dwell on things.

Lastly just have a good time and try not to sweat the small stuff!

Venue Moxhull Hall Hotel

Reception China Court Restaurant

Shoes Peter Kaiser

Hair Mak Hair

Bridesmaids J.Crew

Grooms Accessories Agnes B

Photographers The Barbers

Cupcakes Kiss Me Cupcakes

Entertainment Sonic Light and Sound

My eyes are still watering, partly from laughing out loud at what looks to be a wedding with one soul purpose – to have fun fun fun… but mainly from that nose hair tweaser shot. OUCH!

I’m loving the yellow colour scheme, and the simple touches like the buttonholes and the chair bow really tie everything together in such a simple and effective way.

Right, I’m off to see if I can perfect the split-legged groom leap. All I need is a big box and a camera and a sunset. Oh, and the St. Johns ambulance team on standby.

Adam.

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