…Of the world. That’s where Andy and Helen organised their wedding from – Sydney Australia. Having lived there for two years and only moving back to Wimbledon six months prior to W-day, it was a case of all hands on deck with lots of help from family and friends.
Helen organises the BAFTA awards ceremonies (I know, how fancy is that?!) and she herself said that as a result, guests would be expecting BIG THINGS…and I’ve got to hand it to them, they nailed it.
Think the ultimate in elegant sophistication combined with a generous dose of quirk. Helen’s dress was a dream in princess-esque pretty, the blooms classic and timeless, the venue glamorous and decadent….
And then they had the order of service available in the basket of a bicycle. And some kind of awesome pink paper pom pom flower in every place setting.
Oh and of course Steve Gerrard did his thing where he somehow gives everything that certain air of 100% rock n roll…….immense.
Big Things
Andy and I got married on the 24th September 2011. Andy is an accountant so he looks after the numbers and I organise the BAFTA award ceremonies so our guests were expecting big things!
We live in Wimbledon but had spent the last two years in Sydney and moved back about 6 months before the wedding. This meant all the big things had to be booked from the otherwise of the world – easier said than done! My parents helped out enormously by inspecting venues and after a bit of looking around we chose Hassop Hall near Bakewell. As my family had celebrated my grandparent’s 40th, 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries there it seemed a good fit!
Jazzy Rector
Finding a church was a bit trickier as we aren’t from the area. The first church we liked didn’t do emails, and when we finally made contact they said they would pencil us in but if a local couple wanted the date they would get preference. I didn’t really fancy getting thrown out my church a few weeks before our wedding so I found a second church in a village really close to the venue with a vicar who not only did email but whose email address was jazzyrector!
I loved him before I even met him and luckily he was a cool as he sounded!
Second Time Lucky
I started looking for a dress in Australia but knew I could never buy something my mum hadn’t seen, so on a trip back to the UK took my mum and my bridesmaids dress shopping. It became clear pretty quick that I was going to have trouble deciding, they were all so lovely and different, I just couldn’t work out what kind of bride I wanted to be.
I knew when we got back to London I wasn’t going to have long to choose. My favourite dresses so far had been from Priscilla of Boston and Amsale, both American lines with limited outlets in the UK. At about the same time my Auntie moved to New York, so I figured I would go to visit her, give myself three days and find a dress. With less than 6 months before the wedding I would have to decide and there would be no other distractions!
New York was amazing; the choice of wedding dresses was like nothing else! The first shop we went to was Priscilla of Boston, I tried on a few dresses but nothing was perfect, then the sales assistant let me look at some dresses that weren’t going to be released until the following week and had come straight from the catwalk show. That’s when I found my dress – it was everything I had imagined but felt light and easy to wear, I was running around the shop in it! The sales assistant went away to find out the price and when she came back it was way over budget.
We left the store bitterly disappointed but as we were walking to next appointment they rang back to say they had quoted the wrong price and it was actually well within budget! A quick glass of champagne later we carried on looking, and narrowed it down to a final three but it was the Priscilla dress that stood out.
In the end the dress never got released, they decided not to run it in the collection and mine was the only one ever made. At first I was a bit nervous as I had paid all this money for a dress that didn’t exist on their website or in magazines, what if they sent me the wrong one. Priscilla of Boston arrange for me to have a copy of the designer’s sketch of the dress and a sample of the fabric so I had something to reference, but it was a nervous day when it eventually arrived!
My bridesmaids also had dresses from America, they were from Amsale and we took their measurements then ordered over the phone. The worked out cheaper than a lot of UK dresses and the Amsale designs were very elegant and made from really lovely fabric.
When I got my dress back to London I took it to Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon to pick my accessories. The staff there were lovely and despite the fact I went in thinking I wanted a fingertip length ribbon edge veil I left with a full length lace one! It was the perfect traditional English touch to my simple American dress and I loved it so much I didn’t want to take it off all day, though Andy did manage to stand on it almost as soon as I got to the front of the church!
Beautiful Beads
When we were in New York I thought it would be the perfect chance to pick up a pair of Laboutin’s or Manohlo’s but none of them really worked, they just made my feet feel quite fat and clumpy. When I was in Dune back in London I saw a pair of beaded heels that were weddingy enough for the day but useful for more than just a white dress. Later on the in evening I had a little pair of white pump that I decorated with ribbon and added ‘Mrs K’ to the back of my dancing shoes!
Half Up Half Down
Not getting married where I lived meant finding hair and makeup people without any recommendations. My mum’s hair dresser has been cutting her hair for 25 years so when Mum suggested she did the wedding it seemed the perfect solution. She was great fun to have around and managed to make me look like Kate Middleton which was what I wanted!
I’ve had my make up done professionally at work a few times, and never really enjoyed it so wanted to do my own. I’d got quite a bit of Bobbi Brown make up and really liked it, so made an appointment for a bridal sessions. I did try out some other brands as well but the Bobbi Brown make up artists were so helpful and really listened to what I wanted. They helped my mum out too, and now we are both converts! On the day it was really relaxing to do my makeup and great getting ready in my own time.
Luxe For Less
Our florist was Sophie from Beau Blossom. She has to be most patient florist ever as I was a very demanding client! Being surrounded by big budget flowers at work I had quite grand ideas, and she helped bring them to life on my rather less grand budget! The archway over the entrance to the church was so beautiful the ladies at the church wouldn’t let her take it down and it stayed up for a week after the wedding.
The Right Fit
Andy doesn’t look great in hired suits so we decided the boys would wear their own. I liked this idea as I hate it when you see guys at a wedding in a suit that doesn’t fit well and luckily for us they all had similar grey suits! We bought them matching ties and personalized cufflinks with miniature maps on of a place significant to them and Andy.
Andy wore a suit he had made with a waistcoat – I love a guy in a waistcoat! We had spent lots of time choosing the fabric and the cut, and getting all his accessories. He looked very handsome and I love that he can wear his outfit again, it’s much better value for money than a wedding dress!
Stevie G
Finding a photographer seemed an impossible task at first, there are so many great people out there with different styles, and just when I thought I had found the right one someone else great would come along. Or they would have one wedding that I loved, but when I looked closer at their portfolio other weddings would not be my style. When I discovered Steve Gerrard (or Stevie G as he is known in our house!) I thought he had just the right balance between unposed, natural shots and some really clever and interesting portraits. He suggested we called him on Skype and he was friendly, funny and understanding of these two crazy people calling him from Australia!
On the day he was brilliant, I never felt like I was missing out on the party to have my photo taken, yet he has a great range of images and captured everything we asked for, he was like an extra guest.
He also worked really well with Jeff Wood who captured out wedding video. I wasn’t going to have a video until I saw a trailer Jeff had made on Rock My Wedding. I don’t cry at weddings very often but his videos had me in tears and after that there was nothing else but to book him. It is the best money we spent all day and I would recommend him without a second thought.
The Sound Of Music
We had a live jazz band for the drinks reception, followed by a pianist during dinner and then a swing band for the first bit of the party. After that the DJ played until the end of the night and seemed to keep the dance floor full. In the bar we placed some board games for the guests who were tired of dancing, and we set up a backdrop and some props for a photo booth with some pretty interesting results!
The Kings
We started our first dance to ‘Someone Like You’ by Kings of Leon. This is one of Andy’s favourite songs, which I allowed him to have in return for him coming to dance lessons. Sadly we weren’t quite the Strictly Come Dancing couple I was hoping for and with the exception of the lift we were pretty rubbish.
While on my hen party the bridemsaids and I put together a dance routine which we filmed on my phone before sending it to the wedding party, our families and even our friends in Australia to learn. When the first dance ended, Black Eyed Peas came on and Andy and I started the flashmob, soon to be joined by the bridesmaids, the ushers, the mums and some of our friends before breaking out into a huge dance party complete with Andy’s special handstand party trick. It certainly got the party started and went pretty well seeing as we had never practiced all together – the evidence is on youtube somewhere!
Baking And Making
My mum had made a wedding cake for my uncle and Andy’s mum likes baking so we asked them to make the cake together. Andy’s mum made the fruit cakes, the bottom one was so big she had to mix the ingredients in a crate! My mum religiously copied a design I had seen in Martha Stewart Wedding and painstakingly made the lace pattern for each layer, ordering all kinds of cutters and special pieces of equipment and going on several cake decorating courses!
My lovely bridesmaid Heather made the cake topper matching the details right down to the colour of Andy’s tie, she also made the orders of service through her stationery company Satsuma Stationery.
An Adventure
For favours we had biscuits for the boys and hand creams for the girls from Crabtree and Evelyn. The place names were tea bags as Andy loves tea and every place setting was decorated with a tissue paper flower. We also made “Little Books of Adventure’ for each table, where guests could recommend places for us to visit, restaurants to go to, books to read etc. in our first year of married life. Instead of a table plan we had escort cards and each guest had to find their envelope then inside was the menu and a timetable for the day. We made a treasure hunt for the children and gave them mini video cameras to interview the guests which made fun viewing afterwards!
Lovely Light
The room at Hassop was quite grand and we wanted to make it feel warmer, so I hired in coloured table cloths and different chairs which made a real difference. I didn’t want candelabra but instead used lots of pillar candles, hung little tea lights from branches and decorated the fireplaces with gypsophila and fairy lights. We hired some simple uplighters to place around the room, which really helped the atmosphere once it got dark, and the venue had some lovely chandeliers which mirrored the taller table centres.
Sound Advice
For me the hardest thing was deciding what ideas to use and which ones to let go. We were engaged for almost two years and in that time I managed to collate thousands of magazine cuttings and wedding blog photos, my wedding folder was bursting at the seems. When it came to choosing which ones to use I found it really hard, and once I chose I was really sad I wasn’t going to use the idea I had rejected!
But once I got started it became much easier, some ideas fitted and others didn’t. Some were achievable and others weren’t. I tried to think about every element and do something to make it personal to us and I think that came across to the guests. Don’t be afraid to ask to change things if the venue’s standard way of doing things isn’t what you want, and just because you are having one type of wedding, doesn’t mean ideas from other styles can’t be adapted.
I definitely had a bit of post wedding blues once it was over, mainly because I felt sad that we weren’t going to ever get to do it again, nor was anyone ever going to give me that bigger budget to spend on my own party! My only regret is that I didn’t check what speed the vintage car would travel at; there is nothing worse than being slightly late for church in a car doing 25 on a 40 miles per hour road!
Venue: Hassop Hall
Brides Dress: Priscilla of Boston
Videography: Jeff Wood
Photography: Steve Gerrard
Blooms: Beau Blossom
Paper: Satsuma Stationery
Car: Poplar
Brides Accessories: Luellas boudoir
Brides Shoes: Dune
Grooms Suit: Cad And The Dandy
How cool were those favours? I want one – a really lovely and personal idea.
And I know I mentioned it earlier but the dress……I definitely want me one of those.
Big Elegance + A Touch Of Rock N Roll = Perfection Love
Charlotte xxx
