I particularly love the wish tree, not only because it serves as both a way to engage guests and create keepsakes but because it is a relatively easy and cost effective option that also lends itself as a piece of bespoke decor. And I know birdcages are not “new” in terms of tablecentre arrangements but I do think Amy’s choice of distressed versions filled with trailing ivy and stocks look just like something out of a happy-ever-after fairytale – in a really good way.

Amy and Matt were married at St Andrews Church in Kegworth, followed by a marquee reception in the beautiful Whatton House Gardens in Loughborough. All of the fun, laughter and celebration was captured by Rachael Connerton.

Beauty Blogger

I write a beauty blog www.amyantoinette.com so I experiment with different products and looks on a daily basis so I knew I’d be more comfortable doing my own makeup and being in control of how I looked. My half up hair do was done by Jane from Jarah Hair & Day Spa who achieved the loose curls and romantic look I desired.

Romantic Ruffles

I found my beautiful Caldera dress by Blue by Enzoani in the aptly named Dream Wedding Dress in Nottingham. I first spotted it whilst browsing on the internet and managed to locate the dress in a local shop. I wanted something very feminine and romantic so I fell in love with the soft, floaty ruffles, the long sweeping, elegant train and the touch of sparkle on the bodice. As soon as I tried it on I knew it was the one, despite the sample dress being four sizes too big for me!

Gliding down the aisle in this magnificent dress was everything I imagined it to be. I wish I could wear it again!

Focussing On Fashion

I didn’t want to go overboard with accessories as I wanted to keep the focus on the dress so the only jewellery I wore was the Swarovski bracelet which Matt had given me for my 21st birthday and diamante earrings from Glitzy Secrets. It was the perfect hint of sparkle without being too overpowering. I adored my veil which had a few flowers embroidered on it which tied in perfectly with the dress.

As I’m already 5’9 and I wanted to be comfortable with all the dancing I knew was to take place, I opted for ivory kitten heels with a satin bow on the toe.

Softly Softly

I absolutely adore pale pink fluffy peonies but sadly these were no longer flowering in August so my bouquet featured soft pink and ivory roses instead with bouvardia. The enamel jugs and birdcages which featured as the table centrepieces included flowers which perfectly suited the English Country Garden theme – roses, stocks, gypsophila and ivy. Our florist Floraldeco was fabulous and perfectly captured the look we were going for.

Grey And Blush

Our Dads and the best man were dressed with hired three piece grey suits from Slaters, whilst the Ushers wore their own grey suits, all adorned with a pale pink rose and a sprig of baby’s breath. The beautiful blush pink bridesmaids dresses were bought from Fever. Soft and feminine with a gathered sweetheart bust and one shoulder of ruffled flowers, the dresses were whimsical and fitted perfectly with the theme of the day.

Matt searched high and low for a very pale grey three piece suit to no avail, so he eventually settled on a regular grey suit from Next. He looked dashingly handsome and my face broke into a huge smile when the Church doors opened and I saw the man of my dreams waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

Finally Finding The One

Having an amazing photographer was such an important part of the day for us. With all the money being spent on the big day it made sense to invest in having the moments captured beautifully so we’d have something to treasure for years to come. It took a lot of time and effort searching through hundreds of photographers but eventually we met Rachael Connerton and her husband Ian and we knew we’d found the perfect photographers.

Not only were their photo’s beautiful, they’re such a lovely couple and made us feel so incredibly comfortable. They took time to get to know us as a couple and they were so genuinely excited about our wedding which we hadn’t experienced with the other photographers we’d met with. It was an absolute delight to have them with us on our special day and the beautiful photo’s from the day presented in a gorgeous Queensberry photo album meant it was worth every penny!

Shabby Chic

We wanted a shabby chic feel to the decor so holding the reception in a marquee was ideal for providing us with a blank canvas to work with. We were able to pick everything from the design to the carpet colour so it was completely individual to us. We wanted something very light and airy so chose a pale cream carpet which was ideal for offsetting the reams of pastel bunting which my mum had lovingly made to decorate the tops of the marquee. The white walls of the marquee created a tranquil feel and really made the touches of colour from the centrepieces and the lilac glass water bottles stand out. 

We Want Pink Please

To fit with the relaxed feel of the day we decided on a cupcake tower. We had a bad experience with a cake maker who insisted it wasn’t possible to make pale pink buttercream icing! I eventually took my search elsewhere although it meant losing our deposit and I found the fantastic Yummy Little Cupcakes. Natalie did an incredible job of creating what we had envisioned with vanilla sponge cupcakes and ivory and pale pink buttercream adorned with iced flowers. I decorated the cake stand with beaded trim and had some of the cupcakes encased in laser cut holders and lace. We still wanted to have a cake to cut so we opted for a tiny jam sponge top tier from Marks and Spencers. 

Feels Like Home

We wanted to make the most of the beautiful grounds and gardens of Whatton House so our guests were entertained during the day with giant Jenga and croquet on the lawn, both of which were a big hit! We hired a DJ who played some mellow music throughout the day and then filled the night with our favourite Motown and Rock n’ Roll classics which ensured the dance floor remained packed! Everyone had a fantastic time dancing the night away and it gave us some of our best memories of the day.

For the first dance we chose Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk. Matt and I knew within the first few months of being together that we had found ‘the one’ so when I heard the song for the first time the words perfectly epitomised how I felt about him. I played it to him and it became ‘our song’ after that!

Homemade And Customised

I wanted to feature lots of homemade touches in our wedding to make the day extra special and personal to us. I hand made each guest’s name tag using luggage tags I’d punched with a heart shape and stamping them using a kit from Cox & Cox. I tied each tag to a napkin using lace and added a sprig of lavender which was the perfect finishing touch! It was lovely to see the guests had taken their tags home with them as a keepsake.

It’s true what they say, the day will pass you by so quickly so take a moment out with your husband and savour the magic. Matt and I snuck off to sit by the pond as the sun was setting just before our first dance and it was lovely to reflect on the day and enjoy each other’s company.

Brides Gown – Caldera by Enzoani at Dream Wedding Dress

Brides Earrings – Glitzy Secrets

Grooms Suit – Next

Reception Venue -Whatton House Gardens

Blooms – Floraldeco

Cakes – Yummy Little Cupcakes

Photography – Rachael Connerton

Is your main W-day look pretty pretty pretty?

You can see more of Amy and Matt’s W-day on Amy’s lovely beauty blog (and don’t blame me if you spend a long time on there looking at lipsticks..)

Big Whimsical Love

Charlotte xxx

But most of all I love the laughter, from when they woke up to the point at which they all said goodnight, the bride, the groom and all of the guests had an absolute ruddy riot. One of the groomsmen even ripped his trousers right up to the erm… crotch so enthusiastic was he to get the highest “jump” in for his photo opportunity (and yes I have included some of that action and I promise it’s not too rude….)

All of the pretty (and naughty) was captured by Christine and Xander at Navyblur.

A Sophisticated Up-Do

My hair was done by a family friend who lived locally. When I tried on the dress having my hair up showed the back of the dress off at its best. I found some inspiring pictures of updos on some wedding websites/blogs and the hairdresser was brilliant at creating what I had asked – it was so much better than the pictures I had given her and stayed in place all day.

For make up I wanted to be able to do my own on the day and so went to Clinique at Harvey Nichols where they showed me how to do ‘wedding make up’ and then I bought their products. My bridesmaids were so brilliant at helping me on the day, they carried my make-up around and reminded me just before the photos to touch up!

Darling Dresses

The bridesmaids dresses I fell in love with as soon as I saw and wanted one myself! They were called ‘Darling’ and were from very.co.uk. I loved the country girly feel they had. They looked exactly how I wanted the wedding to look! Their shoes were plain blue mock suede from asos. The girls also had powder blue pashminas incase it got cold. Their hair pieces were the same as mine – hairbands from Monsoon cut off and put onto hair clips!

My sister was pregnant on the wedding day and 10 days overdue so prior to the wedding we didn’t even think she would be coming at all! So for obvious reasons she did not wear the same dress or shoes as the other bridesmaids – it was all very last minute and had to be comfy! She had the same hair pieces and pashmina as the others. (She went into labour when she got home form the wedding and had a gorgeous girl on the Monday morning called Beatrice Emma!)

DIY Accessories

I chose a long floor length veil from Wedding Belles. I love the vintage lace veils but felt it was too fussy for the dress. The plain veil didn’t take away from the details of the dress and you could see the open back of the dress through the veil.

I wanted flowers as opposed to a tiara as I wanted a country vintage look. I found these flowers on a hairband from Monsoon and did a little DIY – cutting them off the hairband and gluing on some little clips so that they could be clipped into my hair. For shoes I went for cream suede heels with round toe and gold straps, they were from Monsoon (in the sale!!).

Bride Knows Best

My dress was from ‘Tlysau’r Briodas’ (Wedding Belles) in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (!!)… LlanfairPG for short! Maggie Sottero was the designer and the dress was called ‘Bernadette’.

I tried on so many dresses that were lovely but nothing was what I was looking for. Then I found my dress and knew as soon as I saw it – it was exactly what I had wanted and then when I tried it on it looked even better than I imagined and felt very ‘me’. The cutaway detail back of the dress made it extra special.

Side Splitting

Nick and his ushers and best men wore morning suits hired from Moss Bros. We were a little worried about hiring incase anything happened to them and one of our ushers even managed to split his trousers when jumping for a photo! One of my amazing bridesmaids stitched it up after the wedding and it wasn’t even noticed!

Seasonal Blooms

Nick’s friend from school and University, Robyn Trainer had just set up her own business for photography, illustrating and floristry called Floral Footsteps when we had got engaged so we asked if she could do our wedding flowers.

She was brilliant. I talked her through my ideas for the day-colours/themes etc and she totally ‘got’ it. She used Amnesia Roses, Avalanche Roses, Delphiniums, Pale Green Eustoma, English Dahlias, Spray Roses of various shades of Pink-Red and seasonal garden cut flowers.

Creative Energy

Our photographers were a couple who work in Ireland called Navyblur (Xander and Christine). A couple had recently got married and Navyblur were their photographers and we really loved their wedding photos – they were so fun and different. When we met them they were exactly who we wanted to capture our day for us. They are both so creative and energetic, we had so much fun with them shooting engagement photos in central London! They were so sweet and really calming on the day too, Xander helped the grooms party tie their cravats and calmed Nick at the alter when I was 30 minutes late to the church!

We loved how fun their photos looked and how innovative they were. We knew we wanted photos that were different and we would love to look at for the rest of our lives instead of your traditional set of photos!

The poses and things they got us to do added even more fun to the day, especially when one of the ushers ripped his trousers from energetically jumping whilst having the ‘formal’ photos!

Tea-Bag Treats

We got our cake from M&S! We ordered it online and picked it up 2 days prior to the day! It was a white chocolate ribbons cake.

Nick’s Dad and his wife sorted out our favours for us from Canada (where they live). We had personalised tea bags with the date of the wedding on.

An Acoustic Accompaniment

For entertainment we had an ‘acoustic duo with a bit of Umph!’ as described by the guitarist Tom Copson! They were brilliant and got everyone up dancing. We then had my brother DJ’ing in between sets using his iPad and DJ App!!

Sideways

For our first dance we had Citizen Cope ‘Sideways’. After a year of going out Nick made me listen to this song as some of the lyrics are ‘these feelings don’t go away, they’ve been knocking me sideways’, and so had always been a rather special song for us both.

Make, Do and Do Some More

My bridesmaids and I had a bunting making day where we started making bunting and then my amazing mum finished it all for us. We put it up outside the marquee. My mum also made tablecloths for the reception venue out of some material sourced from Shepherds Bush. I bought an assortment of Cath Kidston paper napkins for the tables to add colour to the tables that did not have a table cloth on. We also bought some old frames from a charity shop and printed out the letters N&L and put them above the top table.

For the table centre pieces our florist made us some amazing flower arrangements using old containers I had bought and collected including bird cages, old vintage tea pots and jugs. We also sourced vintage tea cups and saucers from charity shops and had small flower arrangements also on the table.

A Very Special Service

Our wedding day was special to us because we had everyone we loved involved. Nick’s Grandad married us, my friend danced for us during the signing of the register and another friend gave the address at the service.

The service was the most important part of our day, to get married before God and in front of everyone we love was the most special part.

Advice From Both The Bride AND Groom

Lizzie- Friends and family love being a part of your day and so involve them and their talents as much as possible. It takes the strain off organising if you can hand certain tasks over to people, and they so enjoy being able to do it for you.

Nick – Make the wedding service the most important part of your day because the wedding day is all celebration of the actual marriage.

Nick and Lizzie - The wedding day is so special, but marriage is so much better!

Photography – Navyblur

Venue – Nurstead Court

Brides Gown – Maggie Sotterro at Wedding Belles

Brides Shoes – Monsoon

Brides Hair Flowers – Monsoon

Maids Dresses – Very

Grooms Suit – Moss Bros

Cake – M&S

Blooms – Floral Footsteps

I forgot to mention the gorgeous side plait up-do Lizzie had going on – LOVE that look, especially when you really need to show off any detail at the back of your bridal gown.

Oh and if you are in bit of a last minute cake pickle then you can’t beat a plain M&S design (at least you know it will taste great) decorated with fresh fruits or florals in keeping with your colour scheme or theme.

Just wait until you see what we have coming up later – when the images fell into my inbox I actually applauded.

Big Sideways Love

Charlotte xxx

Everything about the brides look is perfection, the gown, the hair, the earrings …. I put in an extra large image just so you gorgeous lot could see them in all of their delicate glory.

And as for the photography well….I don’t know how on earth Emily and Nick ever chose what to put in their album, I was in raptures over the shots of the ruddy velcro rollers and the bus driver before I even got to the delicious details and all important portraits.

There is blue hydrangea. There is a table plan idea that is immense. There is laughter and sunshine and guests having the time of their lives. There is a whole LOT of pretty people, all courtesy of Lee Robbins.

Elegant Beauty

After a bit of googling I found a very talented hair and make-up artist called Vikki Lawson. I quite wanted to have some simple white flowers in my hair and also wanted to show off the lace detail of the dress so knew that it would have to be up. During the trial we played around with a few styles and agreed on a simple chignon that was decorated with flowers down one side. I liked the relative simplicity of my hair and felt it complimented rather than detracted from the detail of the dress. I felt it looked relaxed as it wasn’t too fussy and was a classic style too which I was really pleased with.

Make-up wise my main request was for slightly smokey eyes which I really like – Vikki worked out the rest and it worked. I felt the make-up just really brought out my features rather than significantly altered my appearance which was ideal.

Era Accessories

I’m terrible at walking in very high heels and comfort was paramount. The length and style of my dress also meant that the shoes weren’t on show so I didn’t really splash out on shoes. I found a very sweet pair of gold sandals from Monsoon with a small wedge heel. They had a slight 1920s feel to them which I liked as my engagement ring is from that era. They were ever so easy to walk in which was key.

Amazing Grace

My dress was called Grace Kelly by David Fielden (from the flagship store in South Kensington). I didn’t have a particular dress in mind when I started searching but as the hunt developed I realised I was attracted to lace and v-necks rather than strapless dresses. Finding a dress with both elements proved to be quite difficult and Grace Kelly was the first and only one I found that fit the bill. I absolutely loved the top half the dress – I felt so elegant in it and also more comfortable than in strapless dresses.

I felt slightly daunted by the size of the tulle skirt which was bigger than others I’d tried on but the lace top won me over and I decided to go with it. By the time of the final fitting I was still a little unsure about the skirt but on the day it just worked and was so much fun to run around the garden in! I was very lightweight and felt like I was floating in it.

Sticking With What You Know

I have lots of jewellry, particularly necklaces, which feature bluebirds and swallows so it seemed only fitting to incorporate birds into my wedding outfit. I didn’t want to detract from the beautiful lace neck-line of the dress so I opted for earrings. I eventually found a perfect pair on Etsy that had been handmade by a lady called Karen from America. They were freshwater coin drop pearls with brass bird charms – very pretty and delicate. I really loved them and was pleased to have stuck with my favourite bird motif.

The Perfect Couple

I had one bridesmaid (Laura) and Nick just had a best man (Hanno) – they are our best friends and a wonderful couple. We wanted them both to be very comfortable with what they were wearing and were not set on everyone matching perfectly. As the wedding was relatively small and very low-key there was no question of hiring tails etc. The best man had free reign to wear whatever he wanted and he opted to wear a really nice navy suit he already owned with a maroon tie. I only requested that Laura’s dress was blue (which was emerging as the main colour of the wedding) and she wanted to be able to twirl in it! We went shopping together and found a lovely dress from Coast that fit the bill and was so flattering – we then ordered a white sash to top it off – she looked lovely. They made a very handsome couple!

Small But Perfectly Formed

Nick and I got married at Southwark Register Office in September 2011 (with 50 guests). The reception took place in a marquee in Nick’s mum’s beautiful garden in Purley, Surrey (a further 15 guests arrived for the evening).

A Clear Vision Of Blue

I had quite a clear vision for the flowers early on – I wanted them to look liked they’d just been picked from a meadow or garden, and arranged with that ‘thrown together’ together look. We had them in lots of jam-jars on the tables for the centre-pieces and not overly constructed bouquets for me and my bridesmaid. After getting a really wide range of quotes – most of which were completely out of our price range – I finally found a lovely guy called Tim who owned a florist shop in Clapham (called Birksen). He immediately understood what I was after and we discussed lots of different flowers that would work.

I was particularly keen for blue hydrangeas to be incorporated as they’re a favourite of mine – on the day when I saw them on the tables for the first time I was absolutely blown away by the rich colour and size of them – I’d never seen any like that before! Mine and my bridesmaid’s bouquets were just beautiful and the buttonholes were simple white roses with a extra dash of colour on Nick’s. The flowers in the marquee looked wonderful and were so much better than we’d ever imagined – they worked so well with all the jars and other bits and bobs we’d collected – we were just so pleased with them.

Found Via RMW

Our photographer was Lee Robbins who we found on Rock My Wedding actually – we both liked the style of his photos and so we got in touch. We met up in Brighton and hit it off immediately. He put us both at ease and felt he completely understood what we were after – we were confident that it was going to work well and that we’d get some great photos. But on the day we were both absolutely blown away. Lee is not just an amazing photographer – but a wonderful person to have around you on the day. So calm and good humoured – he put everyone around him at ease.

So many guests commented on how great he was but equally how they didn’t really notice he was there! He effortlessly disappeared into a crowd to capture super photos of unsuspecting guests but then instantly appeared whenever needed. We originally decided against getting a photo album made as a money saving measure but I’m so glad we changed our minds! The album is just amazing – it really captures the feel of the day and strikes the perfect balance between quite arty and very relaxed shots. There are so many highlights – choosing Lee to be our photographer was the best decision we made during the whole planning process I think!

Sharp, Crisp and VERY Handsome

Nick brought a very smart and well cut Richard James suit – it was a lovely shade of bluewhich looked very fresh and summery. It fit ever so well and was topped off by a crisp white shirt and flowery blue tie from Autograph. His outfit was not fussy by any means – he looked sharp and very handsome. Seeing him when I first entered the Register Office was a very intense moment. He looked so serious and it was clear that he was just so aware of the magnitude of what we were about to do. We held hands immediately and for the duration of the ceremony as we were both so nervous – but in a good way!

Cake Keeps You Calm

We decided to go for a cupcake tower and a friend recommended a lovely company called Crumbs and Doilies. They were ever so patient, accommodating and very talented. We ordered some mini cupcakes for the journey on the old Routemaster bus (from the ceremony to reception) which were sweetly decorated in gold. And for the reception cupcake tower I just explained the feel we were going for and left the designing to them – they got it spot on with a mixture of cupcakes in white, pinks and different shades of blue -decorated with sprinkles and flowers etc. The tower looked really impressive and the cakes were a real hit with the guests.

Honey Love

Nick and I had long been aware of the dramatic decline of the honeybee and had donated to the Co-Op’s campaign to help save the bees. Our friends had rightly found this interest a little odd and amusing so we decided to feature it in the wedding somehow. Our favours were small brown envelopes full of seeds for flowers that attract bees – I used a rubber stamp with a bee design to decorate the envelopes and they looked quite sweet. They went down very well!

The marquee itself was decorated entirely white (apart from the tables) – we decorated it with a small amount of plain white bunting and lots of white paper lanterns. The tables were covered with jam-jars filled with flowers (including the stunning hydrangeas) and tea-lights and small pretty vases and other items (a large amount of which were blue) that we’d been collecting all year. It looked so pretty and exactly as we’d envisaged – quite quirky with lots of attention to detail.

The table numbers for example, were luggage tags tied round the neck of large cobalt blue vases – these were decorated with the jam-jar rubber stamp I’d used to make our invitations and table plan. Designing and decorating the garden and marquee was one of my favourite parts of planning the wedding – we were so thrilled to see the finished article on the day – it just all came together.

The Perfect Playlist

We kept the entertainment very simple with a dancefloor in the marquee and an i-pod (and no DJ). We spent a long time devising a play list full of songs that we knew our friends and family would like. And Nick’s cousins very generously supplied the equipment, such as the speakers, as wedding gift from them. It was really good fun as the night progressed our guests high-jacked the i-pod and became the DJs.

We decided against a first dance because Nick isn’t a confident dancer and would have hated that sort of attention – so the dancing just started without a formal opening dance by us. However, very bizarrely and unexpectedly much later in the evening when ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ came on there was a spontaneous stampede towards the dance floor. Nearly all our guests were enthusiastically dancing and Nick and I were thrown together by the Best Man. We took centre stage with a very over the top dance full of swirls and power ballad moves. I had never really liked the song that much but for some reason it became our first dance – it was such a surreal moment and it is now very much ‘our song’.

Stick To Your Guns

The day itself went just as we’d planned so we were very lucky on that front. I don’t think we’d really anticipated the overwhelming sense of good will from all our guests – it was amazing to have everyone we cared about in one place and on top form.

We just made sure that we stuck to our guns and had the small and informal we both wanted. We invited only people we really wanted there and the main aim of the day was for all our guests to have fun and think we achieved that!

Ceremony Venue – Southwark Registry Office

Brides Dress – David Fielden “Grace Kelly”

Brides Earrings - K Garner Designs

Bridesmaid Dress – Coast

Grooms Suit – Richard James

Blooms – Birksen

Cake – Crumbs and Doilies

Photography – Lee Robbins Photographic

Did you get a bit teary after seeing the way Nick looked at Emily in that black and white portrait? I did.

And who is going straight over to Etsy to get some of those cute birdy earrings? (I have already been and there is plenty of gorgeous jewellery to pick from) I swear, this job causes me serious plastic damage.

Big Making Your January BLUE But Not Actually Blue Love

Charlotte xxx

They married in the summer and they chose Topher McGrillis to be their wedding photographer who they have known through film industry links for quite some time. Needless to say he did them proud.

And just to let you know, Kathryn is wearing one of Charlotte’s favourite dresses of 2011 (she also loves the short version….)

A Familiar Setting.

We got married on the 2nd of July 2011 at St. Thomas More’s RC Church. It was the same church I was baptized and confirmed in, and have also twice been bridesmaid. We held the reception at Crathorne Hall Hotel, Crathorne nr. Yarm.

Third Time Lucky.

I got my dress from the third shop I visited, Destiny in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. I had come straight from another shop where I had tried on several dresses and emerged with two possibles. In Destiny I picked a few dresses from the rail and appraising my choices the lovely assistant Frances suggested I try on the dress in the window. It was the Justin Alexander 8483. I loved the heavily detailed bodice which was very much what I was looking for so I decided to try it on first. When I came out of the changing room my mum lived up to the mother-of-the-bride cliché and burst into tears! I instantly felt really happy with the dress on, and it was the first one that I really felt I could imagine myself getting married in. I also loved the way the skirt moved, and how light it felt for a big dress. The dress, and particularly the flowers all over the bodice, became the inspiration for a lot of the details that followed.

Something Borrowed.

I secretly made my mind up when my sister got married three years ago that one day I would get married wearing her veil and tiara. Luckily for me she was happy to oblige and lend them to me, and both items worked perfectly with my dress. The tiara, from Elen Henderson, was covered in pearls and diamante which picked up the detail on the bodice. The veil was a cathedral length affair scattered with very subtle diamantes. Because my dress was strapless it also gave me a bit more coverage in church.

In my ears I wore a pair of diamond studs that Ed bought me for Christmas a few years ago, and teamed them with a diamond pendant which also served as my ‘something old’. My beloved granddad gave it to my Nana on their diamond wedding anniversary in 2004. (He presented it at their party with ‘You told me not to buy you any more jewellery so I have bought you a single carat instead!) After they both passed away my mum inherited it and I felt very lucky to have such a special piece of jewellery to wear on my big day which carried not only the memories of them both but was also a symbol of a very long and happy marriage. Finally I was woken up on the morning of the wedding by mum brandishing a cup of tea and a gift from Ed… A beautiful white gold and diamond set bracelet. I genuinely wasn’t expecting anything so it was a lovely surprise and complemented the jewellery I was already wearing perfectly. The boy has good taste!

Budget Friendly Footwear.

Early on in the wedding planning I set aside £400 for a pair of fantasy shoes… But as time wore on I decided I wasn’t actually too fussed and when I spotted a pair of ivory shoes in the Next Directory sale I decided to order them just to see. When they came I was really pleasantly surprised, not only were they super high meaning I would inch closer to my 6 foot 4 husband to be, but they came adorned with a very sparkly rhinestone bow which provided the requisite bling. The shoes were so high in fact that I didn’t need to have the dress taken up, which can only be a good thing in my book.

Dramatic Eye.

I wanted a very glamorous, made-up look for my face which I decided to balance with softer and more natural hair. I liked the idea of having my hair completely loose but this would have meant the veil and tiara had nothing to grip into. Over the course of a couple of trials I settled on my hair being set in Velcro rollers, a couple of sections from the crown being pulled back and back-combed to create a slight bouffant and a little bit pinned up to add a bit of style at the back. I have very thick hair so there was plenty to work with! It was left loose round the sides to frame my face. My hairdresser, Natalie at Deep, also used GHDs to add extra curly to random sections which helped prolong the life of the hairdo.

My make up was by Julie Pattinson, who is quite frankly a total genius! She was recommended by a friend who is a model (can’t thank her enough). Julie understood what I was after which was a sexy, dramatic eye, dewy skin and rose-pink lips. I wore my own lipstick which was Dune Rose by Estee Lauder. I wore false eyelashes which added a sexy flick to my eyes. Julie also did my mum’s and my sister’s make up, and they both looked stunning. The make up was still fully intact at midnight, which given how warm a day it was is pretty incredible.
6) Flowers – what blooms did you chose for your bouquets/button holes/table centres and who was the fabulous florist who brought your idea’s to life?

Simple Florals.

After looking again at Crathorne Hall I realised that the room was so grand I didn’t want a bright colour scheme to be fighting for attention with what was already there. We decided to keep things simple with ivory flowers focusing on roses and delphiniums.
My bouquet was inspired by a photo in Brides magazine of Kirsty Gallachers’ wedding bouquet. It was a hand tied bouquet of ivory roses surrounded by spiky foliage. I wanted to mirror the ‘spikes’ of embroidery on my dress. I didn’t like the idea of holding bare stems so my florist, Christine at Agness Marshall, tied ribbon around the stems. I also had pearl pins scattered randomly in the bouquet. My sister carried a slightly smaller version of the same bouquet. My two flowergirls are both three years old so I decided they would be best off with small baskets of flowers, light and easy for them to carry. The buttonholes were all ivory roses set on the same leaves I had in my bouquet. To distinguish the groom from the rest of the party I chose a double rose button hole with pearl pins to match my bouquet.

Our centrepieces were delphiniums, roses, daisies, carnations and lots of foliage inside tall glass vases purchased from Dunelm Mill. The florist put clear gel beads inside to balance the vases, and they stood on top of mirror plates from Hobbycraft. They looked great, I really wanted something tall to complement the high ceilings but that didn’t obstruct anyones view as they chatted over the wedding breakfast. We had the same flowers in a low arrangement on the top table, and behind us we had four ivy plants trailing across the fireplace. Overall it created a lovely fresh aesthetic and didn’t overpower the room.

Mid Grey And Silver.

The gents all wore suits hired from < href="http://www.slaters.co.uk/">Slater’s menswear. Ed really liked the Prince Edward style suits and the ¾ length jacket really suited his tall frame. We chose mid-grey suits and teamed them with silver waistcoats and ruches. Again keeping things simple we had all of the men in exactly the same outfit. Both our fathers wore the suits as well as our two best men, Mark and John, and my brother John who was an usher. Although emerald green was our theme colour I just wanted splashes of it rather than lots and lots of green so my chief bridesmaid and sister Helen was the only person wearing green.

I wanted ivory dresses for my flowergirls as similar to mine as possible! I searched high and low but nothing was ‘pouffy’ enough. Eventually I found perfect dresses by Sarah Louise in Fenwick which were being sold as christening dresses. I eventually tracked them down online in the right sizes but believe they are now discontinued (a shame because they are gorgeous!). The girls loved wearing them and twirling around in their big fluffy skirts. Their lace flower headbands were from Monsoon and their shoes were from John Lewis.

You Look Beautiful.

Ed wore the same suit as the rest of the bridal party with just a double buttonhole and his usual amount of composure to mark him out as the groom. Under his suit he was wearing a chain which was given to him by his Dad the night before. Ed’s mum bought the chain for his dad’s 40th birthday. She passed away when he was 10 so the chain was a special reminder of her for Ed. Ed also wore cufflinks from Goldsmiths which I bought him to match with those we had bought for the rest of the men in the wedding party. Special thanks has to go to the best man John for lending Ed his beard trimmer when Ed’s died! He had just the right amount of stubble thanks to John.

When I arrived at church the priest wasn’t quite ready so I had to wait in the porch for a couple of minutes, the anticipation would have killed me but Ed didn’t turn around. As I walked up the aisle I couldn’t meet anyone’s eye for fear of bursting into tears. When I finally saw Ed he simply said ‘You look beautiful’ and I knew everything would be fine. Once I was by his side I knew I would be able to say my vows without crying and I did. I was able to look into his eyes, say the words and really mean them and not be distracted by anything.

The Perfect Mix.

Our photographer was Topher McGrillis. We have known Topher for about 6 years, ever since he worked with Ed on a Robson Green drama called Rocket Man. Since then Topher has gone on to become a professional photographer and we were both very impressed with his work which we have followed through Facebook and at exhibitions. As soon as we got engaged we knew he would be our photographer. He supplied the perfect mix of photographs that reflected the traditional elements of our day along with the more quirky side. Many of our guests have commented what a great guy he is and how they didn’t notice him snapping away, which was just what we wanted. We had a few formal photos taken but kept this to a minimum so that everyone could relax and enjoy the lovely surroundings.

Family Friend.

Our cake was inspired by my dress and brought to life by Jennifer Clubbs, a family friend who makes cakes as a hobby. I drew Jen a sketch of what I wanted, basically 3 round tiers with flowers cascading down into points. It looked better than I could have hoped for and lots of guests though Jen must have seen my dress to replicate it so well. The sugar flowers were all daisies created in several different sizes which must have taken Jen weeks to make. The three tiers were all fruitcake and tasted fantastic.

Let’s Dance.

We plumped for a DJ as we thought this would keep most of our guests happy and wouldn’t be too distracting for those who preferred to talk rather than dance! Crathorne Hall has a really good layout as the dining room leads straight into the evening reception room which had a dancefloor and in turn led to a private bar. As it was such a warm night we had the doors open to the grounds so it was a lovely relaxed evening. We also had a form of entertainment in our video guestbook. Our videographer Chris Austen set up camp outside the main room and our guests left us messages – I have been told they really enjoyed doing this and some went back several times. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

My Girl.

Our first dance was ‘My Girl’ by Otis Redding. I’ve always loved the song (since my days of having a crush on Macaulay Culkin) and it reminds me of dancing to it in one of our favourite Newcastle nightspots, Mr Lynch in Jesmond. Ed doesn’t often dance but he was quite happy to take me around the floor to Otis for two minutes. We segued straight into ‘Higher and Higher’ by Jackie Wilson which got the dancefloor full.
13) Favours – did you have any and what made you decide?

Faithful To tradition.

I never considered not having favours, as you may have guessed I was quite faithful to all the traditions at a wedding and for me favours was also just another excuse to provide something fun for our guests. We bought everyone scratchcards but I made my own holders for them. I used a guillotine to slice A5 folded cards in half and then stuck photo corners inside to hold the scratchcards in place. I then secured the holder with emerald ribbon tied in a bow. For the children who were obviously a bit young for scratchcards I made goodybags with their names on using Dylon 3D paint. My mum filled them up with lots of toys, stickers and colouring books which helped keep them entertained throughout the meal (although I did get shown an awful lot of lego models whilst tucking into my dessert!). They all loved the bags too and my nephew has told me he is putting all of his favourite things in there. We also had a pic’n’mix at the evening reception which went down really well with all of the guests and not just the 11 children we had attending.

Subtle Items.

The venue was so pretty and elegant on it’s own that it didn’t need much dressing, so I stuck to just a few subtle items on the tables. I scattered flat-backed pearls on the tables (after unthinkingly ordering normal pearls and then realising they would just roll off!) and had green tealights in glass holders from Ikea surrounding the centrepieces. The placecards were written out by a calligrapher and I glued green bows to each one (I had tied over 350 bows by the end of the wedding preparation!).

As Ed is a filmmaker and we both love movies we named our tables after our favourite movie families. Ed sourced images for each one and used the movie poster font to show the family’s name. On the reverse we had a quote from each movie – some poignant, some funny, but all related to love in some way. Ed worked really hard on making them look perfect and his efforts paid off because they were a great talking point. We also made the table plan together. We had everything printed professionally but spent a day putting it all together till it looked right. It went inside a large frame which we borrowed from Ed’s dad. I found it quite stressful to make as it was very last minute but it was worth it in the end…I think!

I like Driving In My Car…

I have to mention the car, as one of my favourite photographs is the one taken of us on our way to the reception. It’s a vintage Jaguar MK2 hired from TPJ Car Hire. I loved it as it’s so different from the usual cars you see at weddings but not out of place for a traditional day. Apparently it’s the same one that Inspector Morse drives although I can’t pretend that fact swayed my decision at all!

My ultimate piece of wedding advice is to ignore what everyone else tells you and follow your heart. People will tell you not to worry about the details and that no one will notice anyway but nearly every guest commented on the little things we had done so it is definitely worth it. Don’t feel guilty about spending money. You won’t regret it. Once you are satisfied with the overall style of the day it’s easy to just relax into it and enjoy the whole thing. When I woke up on the morning of the wedding I felt really good because I knew I had done everything possible to make the day how I wanted it to be, and all I had left to do was enjoy it! A wedding is just one day in hopefully a long and happy life together but it should be one day like no other..

Venue Crathorne Hall Hotel

Boutique Destiny

Make-up Julie Pattinson

Florist Agness Marshall

Photographer Topher McGrillis

Car hire TPJ Car Hire.

Can I just say that Topher McGrillis might be the best name I have ever heard.

Right, I’ve got that out of my system – Love the car, we don’t often “do” cars on RMW but this car is a beaut (Although I’d have it in Morse Maroon!). The venue is fantastic and the idea behind the seating plan and table names is GENIUS.

Oh, and an impromptu game of wedding cricket is always a welcome addition to any W-day. Getting married with green knees is so 2012…

Adam.

And although this glamorous affair took place in the height of summer, the bold jewel-tone blooms and elegant chandelier motif stationery wouldn’t look out of place for a celebration during the festive season.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know quite where to start when arranging the images, the Lawsons have done such a stellar job of capturing the story of the day (and I mean the WHOLE story) I really didn’t want to miss a single moment.

So I haven’t.

And therefore it’s quite long.

But you know what? who cares. It’s Friday and it’s nearly the holidays, you should be winding down and having yourself a wee break. And if your boss is peering over your shoulder in preparation for giving you a rolicking due to your apparent insubordination, tell them I said you could. There is simply so much pretty you just can’t afford to rush.

Oh and I’m not sure I have ever loved a preparation image as much as the one with Asha donning giant rollers and sipping a cup of tea…

Cinderella Goes Disco

The shoes… Oh my goodness I looked everywhere for the ideal pair. At 5 foot 2 inches I knew that skyscrapers were an essential but comfort was also paramount, I chose Jimmy Choo peep toe ‘Disco Slippers’ with a 5 inch heel. Glitter ball sparkle AND supportive platform = wedding shoe perfection.

If At First You Don’t Succeed

One of my first purchases was a Jenny Packham head piece called Acacia II. I had lusted over many of a RMW brides who had chosen this vintage beaded beauty. It was one of my first of many on line purchases and it was waiting for me on my return from working away. The ‘coronation’ took place at home in front of my little sister, and was met with much disappointment. It looked ridiculously ginormous on my pin head and ended up being flogged on ebay.

My ‘something blue’ was a sapphire and diamond pendant that was given as present from Michael when we got engaged in Sri Lanka. Simple diamond stud earrings complimented beautifully.

Not An Urban Myth

A self confessed perfectionist the search for ‘the one’ was relentless. Actually I gave up believing that ‘the one’ feeling was an urban myth. I tried on over 50 dresses from sleek sheaths to big meringues and everything in between.

After seriously nearly giving up any hope I stumbled across The White Closet in West Didsbury. On entering the boutique I was instantly calmed. The combination of twee gramophone music, champagne and scrummy cupcakes, I was transported into wedding dress shopping heaven. The lovely Eve immediately put me at ease as I selected an array of vintage inspired gowns. As I went into the changing area , ‘The One’ was staring at me. Just hanging there looking all fabulous was Grace Kelly Honey by Kula Tsurdiu. She was perfect. The material was to die for, so luxurious and the silk satin had an unusual goldey hue that complimented my somewhat sallow skin tone perfectly.

Natural Glamour

Due to my profession I have lived and breathed the Spa & Beauty Industry for the last 14 years. To entrust anyone else was always going to be a huge decision and I always imagined me doing my own makeup. On the run up to the big day my oldest friend Beth Harris got in touch to say she had set up her own business. Beth is one of the most talented artists and has bags of experience within the fashion industry. I was thrilled she had finally taken the plunge to extend to bridal makeup. The look was ‘natural glamour’.

Beth convinced me to have 2 hair styles. I have been growing my hair for forever so it seemed a shame to tie it all back. We decided on relaxed, loose, romantic curls for the day a glam Grace Kelly inspired ‘up do’ for the evening. This worked really well and I appreciated my hair off my shoulders during the evening dancing.

Heart-Melt Handsome

Michael teamed his morning suit with an ivory cravat, ivory waist coat and Paul Smith Shoes. As a wedding gift I presented Michael an engraved vintage pocket watch on the morning of the wedding. I was so nervous walking down the aisle and had tears rolling down my face. I couldn’t look to either side of the aisle and was so overwhelmed that the church was packed with all our most loved friends and family some that had travelled thousands of miles just to share our special day. My heart melted and nerves diminished when I saw my future Husband patiently waiting, looking so handsome.

Elegance In The Sales

Much to everyone’s surprise, Michael discovered the brides maids dresses. We were shopping in Monsoon in the January Sales when he came across the perfect ivory gowns with deep v neck and intricate beading. They were the bargain find of the wedding. Bridesmaid shoes were a soft gold metallic from Dune www.dune.co.uk . Their beaded hair bands were from River Island. The flower girls dress was from Monsoon.

The elegant bridal party colour scheme allowed us to make really bold colour choices with the flowers.

Summer Blooms

Our flowers were created by the lovely Jane Thompson of Flower Design. Jane is with out of doubt the most formidable ‘Flower Queen’ known to Bride (and Groom). ‘Trust me I am a Florist’ is her catch phrase. I trusted Jane implicitly and with her passion and expertise she helped us choose the most vibrant colour scheme of luscious summer garden blooms of, Peonies, Roses, Hydrangeas and delicate Sweet Peas. On the morning of the wedding Jane delivered our bouquets and even held a bouquet holding lesson, much to the amusement of the bridesmaids.

The Flower Design team co-ordinated the day beautifully and even transported the pew ends to the backs of the chairs of the top table after the church service.

All Around The World

Although Michael and I have been together 5 years, I had been managing Spa’s in Dubai and The Maldives since 2008. We finally got engaged in Sri Lanka last February. The wedding planning soon began. I was desperate to return back to the UK but still had six months of my contract to finish so a lot of the initial planning took place on line.

We had guests fly in from all over the world to share our special day and it was important for us for them to feel as relaxed as possible. Choosing a Hotel for the venue was certainly not our first choice however it worked beautifully allowing a whole weekend of celebrations with minimal upheaval.

Found On Rock My Wedding

Our brief for photography was non intrusive and natural. We fortunately chose the super cool husband and wife team Peter & Laura from ‘Lawsons Photography’ to capture our day after discovering their work on RMW. They were outstanding from start to finish. Laura joined my mum and I around 10 am and captured every moment of the morning preparations including the descent of the five bridesmaids that turned the calm relaxing morning into utter chaos to the Flower Design ‘bouquet holding lesson’….

Meanwhile Pete was chilling with Michael and co in camp Groom. Both Michael and I were intrigued when we received the official pictures as we could both see exactly the mood of our respectable parties on the wedding morning. Laura and Pete continued to capture every moment throughout the day until 10 pm in the evening. We have literally thousands of wonderful images to choose from and still indecisive on what pictures will make the cut for the official wedding album.

An Eclectic Mix

Both Michael and I love music. We actually met at a Happy Mondays Concert. Music was always going to play a huge part in our wedding. My Dad and brother are keen musicians and coming from a Christian family, worship music was essential to the service.

The dancing continued until the early hours with DJ Matt Worden playing old club classics and 80’s anthems.

Champagne And Space Cowboys

My favourite Charbonnel et Walker Champagne truffles were our choice of as favours for the top table. We also decided on a donation to Cancer Research UK for each guest. In the evening we had a retro sweetie bar including fruity cheeky lip glosses for the ladies from Anatomicals and giant lollypops for the children.

Our table names were after our favourite albums and were placed in vintage inspired photo frames from TX Maxx. The top table ‘Return of the Space Cowboy’ in homage to Michael’s parents love of line dancing!

Chandeliers And Four Tier Chocolate

Our cake had to be chocolate –I am self confessed chocoholic. The four tier circular tower was created by Cake Creations by Sarah and decorated with white chocolate and colourful fruits of the forest.

Our stationary was designed by Lyndsay Design in Manchester through a friends recommendation. Lindsay is extremely patient and painstaking worked to create a bespoke design to suit the day. Her meticulous attention to detail was gratefully appreciated and resulted in so many lovely compliment.

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

Picture This! Photo Booth was one of our main splurges. Michael was not keen at first but I persisted and finally he relented. He now confesses it was an excellent decision and I am taking all the credit! The photo booth was a hilarious and a fun addition to our evening celebrations. The pictures also created the most original guest book.

We chose to slip off after the Church ceremony to the sand dunes for some picture opportunities. This was one of our favourite moments of the day. It was such a glorious weather and we really took advantage of soaking up our first hour of being Mr and Mrs Pochin.

Advice From A RMW Bride

If you are a self confessed stress head (a la Asha) , surround yourself in people who are going to have a calming influence.

I also love my sisters dearly but I am glad they arrived with only an hour to go with their hair & makeup already perfected, ready to slip into their gowns. I can only imagine the pandemonium if we had spent the whole morning together! In contrast their late arrival was extremely entertaining with lots of banter, the perfect remedy for calming last minute nerves.

Brides Gown – Kula Tsurdiu at The White Closet

Brides Shoes – Jimmy Choo

Brides Headpiece -Flo & Percy.

Maids Dresses – Monsoon

Make-Up and Hair – Beth Harris

Stationery -Lyndsay Design

Blooms – Flower Design

Cake – Cake Creations

Drinks Reception Entertainment – Bridgewater String Quartet

Photography – The Lawsons

Those beach shots…..every single one is magical.

And I don’t know about you but I really quite fancy a piece of four tier chocolate cake right now…

Also just wanted to say HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Asha and Michael who have not only recently taken the plunge and moved all the way over to Australia but are also expecting their first baby, a perfect ending to a perfect wedding.

Big I’ve Got That Friday Feeling Love

Charlotte xxx

Basically everything then I guess.

The W-day of Pan and Leigh really signifies everything that I love and then some, a free-spirited festival that has dozens of inspirational ideas and is at the same time both beautifully executed and completely achievable, no matter what your budget might be.

Next time I am lucky enough to be invited to someones big day I would very much like a Love Potion cocktail served with a stripy straw, the opportunity to play wang the welly and a Barbie badge please….

All of the gorgeous images are courtesy of Polly Alexandre.

Easy Breezy

My dress was designed by Manuel Mota for Pronovias. I loved it because of the train, which draped elegantly from a bow at the back of my neck, and the embroidery detail. It was also incredibly light compared to some of the other dresses I tried on – all the better for manoeuvring around on the dance floor…

My husband is originally Sri Lankan, and, as tradition dictates, as a wedding present, his parents gave me a beautiful diamond necklace and earrings which were designed by his Dad and handmade in Sri Lanka. I wanted my hair to be simply decorated, so just used three white rose clips to be placed in the back.

In Loving Memory

In memory of my grandad, I used ‘lamb’s ear’ (a lovely velvety feeling foliage) as the basis of the corsages as he grew lots of it in his garden, and I used to love touching it when visiting him as a child. I wanted the flowers to be almost ‘wild’ looking, to tie with the countryside theme, as well as in season to keep costs relatively sensible. In terms of the church, I knew I wanted simple elegance and so stuck to white roses. The florist was a local business called Forall Seasons

Small Heels And Few Risks

My husband isn’t the tallest, so I opted for off white medium sized heels from Rainbow Club so as not to tower over him at the altar (hehe, he’ll kill me for writing that, bless him!)

I decided to do my own make-up, after having a make-up lesson here in London. I didn’t want to risk someone plying me with blue eyeshadow on my big day and making me look like someone I wasn’t! My hair was done locally at a salon.

The Prettiest Palette

Pan got to choose his and the groomsmen attire. He’s a traditional kinda chap and so opted for tails hired from Moss Bros -Very handsome! I was quite emotional on the morning of my wedding so was in tears by the time I had walked down the aisle and was standing next to Pan.

The wedding colour theme was pale pink, light grey and turquoise and so searched (and searched!) for bridesmaid dresses to match this, in fabrics that was similar to my own dress. In the end my two nieces, who were my flower girls, were dressed byMonsoon with simple ballet pumps from a local dance shop, and my two bridesmaids wore dresses off the high street.

Saving The Memories

Given that the photos provide most of the memories of the big day for years to come, it was important to me to find a photographer whose style I loved. I spent a lot of time looking and researching this aspect and came across Polly Alexandre who was recommended to me, and whose portfolio was stunning. She is incredibly talented and dedicated to her work, and she produced just the most stunning album for us, which one year on I still look through regularly.

Knowing that Polly would mainly focus on capturing us, I also hired a photo booth for our guests to use (with a range of fake mustaches to decorated themselves with!), with the resultant shots going into our guest book along with a comment by them. This seemed to go down incredibly well, especially after the guests had had a glass or two of wine…!

A Family Affair

I decided not to go for a traditional cake, instead asking my Aunty Gill (an incredible cook!) to make us a number of different cakes (carrot cake, key lime pie, chocolate torte) for people to help themselves to later on in the day if they got peckish. They were displayed on rustic cake stands made by lovely dad. I myself made the ‘love birds’ on our main cake.

This Years Love

My little brother, James, is a whizz at all things technological and used to DJ when he was a student, so it seemed natural to ask him to dust off his decks once again for us. In order to compile a list of tunes the guests would like, on the reply to our invite we asked everyone to name two songs guaranteed to get them boogying on the dance floor. The response was definitely ‘eclectic’ and worked well.

This Years Love by David Gray was our first dance song. It was a CD my Dad constantly played in his car when I was younger and so held memories for me, and (rather cheesily!) was danced to beautifully on Strictly Come Dancing. I had hoped we’d be able to wow people with the same standard of dance steps, but alas, we both have two left feet..!

D.I.Y Decor

Our reception venue was essentially a blank canvas consisting of a marquee in spacious countryside surroundings. The decor was pretty eclectic and decorated with fairy lights, paper pom poms (from Etsy), ribbons, vintage hat stands (Ebay) and vintage medicine bottles for vases, given that Pan and I are both doctors.

So as to keep the guests entertained while we went for our photos we held a mini fete in the grounds with wang a welly, coconut shy, bowls and splat the rat!

Made For Each Other

I made our favours using a badge machine I bought off Ebay! They also served as place names for the guests, made from images of famous cartoon couples who I thought were ‘made for each other’ (e.g. Lady and the Tramp, Barbie and Ken, Popeye and Olive Oyl…!!)

Identifying What Is Important

In my day to day work and life I don’t have a great deal of opportunities or time to be creative, and so planning this wedding proved to be a fantastic outlet for me! I spent a lot of time looking at how other people planned their days, probably taking most inspiration from American websites (as well as Rock My Wedding!), where weddings generally seem to have more personalised, creative and relaxed themes than over here in the UK, which appealed to me hugely.

Most of it is about using your imagination and coming up with good ideas – it doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Brides Gown – Manuel Mota

Grooms Suit -Moss Bros

Flower Girls – Monsoon

Blooms – Forall Seasons

Venue – Osmaston Park in Derbyshire

Photographer – Polly Alexandre

Pale pink, light grey and turquoise…? now that’s a colour scheme I want to see a whole lot more of in 2012.

I also think the ribbons on the chair backs are to die for. And the mini poms everywhere combined with fairy lights are just dreamy….

Happy Wednesday you gorgeous lot.

Big Another Favourite To Add To My 2011 List Love

Charlotte xxx

Anna and Anthony did just that meaning they stayed focussed on the W-day items they loved and didn’t lose any sleep over small details that in the grand scheme of things, would not have made a jot difference to the enjoyment of their big day.

And what a big day it was too. Simple, understated and very very cool. Think all-white colour scheme, floaty grecian gown, A.mazing shoes and some immense hat-wearing type action.

Love.

All of the gorgeous images are courtesy of Brett Symes.

A Natural Polish

We got married at Bristol Register Office and then had afternoon tea followed by drinks and dancing at Goldbrick House.

My hair and make-up were both done by Nigit at Serenity Beauty and Hair in Bristol. My day-to-day look is quite natural, which is how I wanted to look on my wedding day, so I asked Nigit to help me create a more polished version of the everyday me.

A Grecian Goddess

My dress was from Monsoon. I tried on six or seven dresses in different styles and I fell in love with two of them – this one and a beautiful embellished sixties-style shift dress. I loved the shorter dress (and still do now) but after much deliberation and trying on, I chose the longer Grecian-style dress as it felt more elegant and special.

Classic Cool

My bridesmaid was my sister whose dress was from Monsoon. I wanted her to have a dress that she loved and felt beautiful and happy in so asked her to choose what she wanted to wear. We went shopping together and both loved this dress. Anthony’s best man was his friend David who wore his own suit. He wore a navy blue tie to match Anthony’s.

Anthony bought a new suit for the wedding, he opted for a classic look, wearing a white shirt and navy blue tie. You can see in the photos how handsome he looked!

Fuss Free And Super High

A veil seemed too fussy for our relaxed wedding so I opted for a simple gold headband.

My dress was very long so I knew I needed some seriously high heels! I searched the shops for some coloured shoes (I initially wanted navy blue but couldn’t find any anywhere) but when I found these peep toe shoes in Next I knew they were perfect.

White On White

We wanted our day to be and feel relaxed and fuss-free so I opted for white flowers. Ruth at Scentiments Floral Design in Bristol created the most beautiful bouquets and button holes I could have hoped for. I remember exclaiming how beautiful they were to anyone in earshot when I first saw them.

Capturing The Imtimacy

Our photographer was Brett Symes. We didn’t want a traditional wedding or traditional wedding photography. We wanted our day to be relaxed, fuss-free, fun and intimate. When we explained this to Brett he understood what we were after straight away and had lots of ideas for how to make the photography interesting and different. We are so pleased that we chose Brett and absolutely love our photos, which capture the feel of our wedding day perfectly.

Raspberries And Cream

After a pre-work cake tasting session at Clifton Cakes (I didn’t realise there was a point at which it is too early to eat chocolate cake but I think 8.45am might be it..) we chose a two-tier cake covered in tiny duck egg blue and navy flowers. The bottom tier was chocolate cake with ganache and fresh raspberry cream and the top layer was lemon cake with fresh raspberry cream – it not only looked beautiful but tasted absolutely amazing.

Make You Feel My Love

We put together an ipod playlist of all of our favourite songs, which had our guests dancing til the end of the night. We had Bob Dylan’s “Make you feel my love” – Anthony is a huge fan of Dylan and we both love that song.

What’s Important

Goldbrick House is such a beautifully decorated place that we didn’t feel we could add to it or improve it in any way.

This helped to take all of the stress out of the planning as we didn’t get worried about the small things, we stayed focussed on what was important to us – making a lifelong commitment to each other and celebrating with our families and closest friends.

Anna’s Top Tips

1.Don’t listen when people say you have to plan everything two years in advance – we set our date in January and got married in May of the same year and didn’t feel panicked at any point whilst organising it.

4.Set aside a little bit of quiet time just for you and your husband on the day away from guests – I think the most time we spent together all day was when we were saying our vows!

Brides Gown – Monsoon

Maids Dress – Monsoon

Reception Venue – Goldbrick House

Cakes – Clifton Cakes

Photographer – Brett Symes

Florist – Scentiments Floral Design

There has been quite a bit of hoo-ha in blog land of late, numerous postings around the web on W-day blogs allegedly only featuring weddings with lots of details, couples feeling intimidated that their special day well….isn’t special enough.

We love details here at Rock My Wedding. We love personalisation and that little something quirky, we love the effort that goes into D.I.Y projects and a bride and groom that dare to be different. We love variety.

But you know what?

Most of all we love the love.

And a perfectly captured moment of the way a pair of newly weds look at each other right after saying “I do” is always going to mean more to us that an image of a table centre, no matter how beautifully styled that table centre may be.

And that folks is all I have to say on the matter.

Big Sometimes Simplicity Is All You Need Love

Charlotte xxx

Nicola’s up-do with chunky plait, her pretty lace bolero and her bright orange manicure. The bridesmaids chiffon gowns, so sophisticated, so stylish. The delicate blue china and the country garden blooms. The way Nicolas father looks at her, a couples embrace behind a window pane, the joy of catching the bouquet…

I like the fact they didn’t just have a sweet table but an entire tuck shop… with scales and all. The tongue-in-cheek table names (who wouldn’t want to be a “foam banana”?), the glamorous future Mother-in-Laws, a game of table football….

And my most favourite thing of all?

The reason I gave this post this particular title.

It’s Friday folks and what better way to spend it than with a W-day that is bursting at the seams with fun, laughter and love?

With huge thanks to Dasha at Exhibit Emotions for making a super gorgeous start to the weekend.

Soft And Romantic

I found Emma, my make-up artist, on a recommended list of suppliers for Suffolk, and went to her house for a trial with my Mum and Grandmother. I instantly warmed to Emma. She is such a friendly, fun and open person, and it was amazing to have her there on the day – she really put me at ease and I felt so calm getting ready! She is a fantastic make-up artist and made me look beautiful. She really listened to what I liked, as well as making her own recommendations, and I was really pleased with the colour palette we went for – greys for my eyes, peachy/pink on the lips and cheeks and a natural coverage for my foundation.

It was the same with Anne, my hairdresser. I had a trial with Anne at her salon in Long Melford and knew I would be in great hands; she was calm, professional and such a lovely person. I hadn’t actually had the whole style done until the morning, because the plait was on order! I wanted a look that was romantic and feminine to go with my dress, and with whispy pieces of hair around my face to add softness, and the end result was exactly what I’d pictured.

The Last One

My dress was called “Dayton”, from Enzoani’s Blue collection, and I found it in Bride All wedding boutique in Exning, Bury St Edmunds I’d tried on about 8 other dresses in the shop, admiring several but not quite able to tell which I preferred. I’d put all my clothes on, and was about to set off to find my Mum and Sister wandering on the ground floor, when the assistant mentioned there was one other dress I hadn’t tried and which had been in the corner. It sounds corny, but the instant she did it up I felt teary and happy and started clapping my hands like an over-excited seal pup! It was the perfect mix of romantic, feminine, waist-defining, and with the detailing I’d been looking for. I was so pleased she’d thought of it before I’d left the shop!

The detailing and material are beautiful – embroidered lace underneath with a soft layer of tulle over the top, the tulle sweeping across the front of the dress in a wide criss-cross fashion. The sweetheart neckline and modified mermaid shape were ultra flattering and complimented my curvy figure. My dress also had a beautiful Swarovski crystal and pearl halter-neck piece that trailed down the middle of my back and which I wore for the evening; a real statement piece! The colour of the dress really struck me too – it’s not the usual ivory that you see on most dresses, but more of a cream/peachy tone that was perfect against my pale, English Rose skin.

Lust At First Sight

My shoes were lust at first sight! And I like to think they were meant to be. I’d seen Freya Rose’s shoes in my bridal magazine, happened to have a look at her website at the very moment she had announced a sale, and when I looked at the location, her offices were based in Islington’s Business Centre only 5 minutes on the bus from my office. I booked myself a private appointment and tried on her gorgeous, classic, ivory satin Margret shoe with its round court shape, and knew they would be the perfect match for my romantic, vintage-inspired dress. The shoe clips that she creates are divine, and I found it so hard to choose that I ended up buying two pairs! I bought the Beatrice clips for the evening, matching the more “glamorous” look I was going for – they were made of inter-woven freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystal and matched in with the crystals and pearls in my hair, my bridal posy, and the halter-neck piece. The other clips for my daytime look were similar to the Blossom clips on her website, with a chiffon flower, pearl detailing in the centre, and feathers sweeping out to the side. Freya was so lovely, and is clearly extremely talented with an eye for beautiful materials and designs.

I felt very, very excited walking out of the Business Centre with my beautiful shoes and clips, all packaged in a pale nude-pink box with gold lettering and a pretty nude pink bag.

Demure And Dramatic

I knew that I wanted a more demure daytime look, and to save the halter-neck piece until the evening, so I opted for spaghetti straps for the daytime, with a short-sleeved lace and tulle bolero. I couldn’t find a bolero that I liked in the bridal shops I’d visited and managed to find a Polish company on the internet where I bought both my veil and bolero. It was a slight risk ordering online but they were perfect. My veil was elbow length and had tiny pearl detailing, which matched in with the pearls in my earrings and my Mum’s pearl necklace, and my bolero was so delicately embroidered, it set off the dress perfectly.

I absolutely loved my flower corsage – I’d spied it in a magazine and it’s a Charlotte Balbier piece. Her hair accessories are as beautiful as her dresses. I bought it from a great wedding accessories website.

Creating The Fairytale

Having decided that we wanted a civil ceremony instead of a church wedding, we began looking for a venue in a beautiful countryside setting, and with a licensed ceremony room that had character, history and atmosphere. My parents live in Suffolk and so I set about searching online for Suffolk venues, and stumbled across Butley Priory which was not at the time on the standard wedding venue websites. As soon as I saw the images of Butley I was instantly smitten, and even more so on seeing it – we only saw one other venue in our search as I already knew it was ‘the one’!

At the front of the Priory is the beautiful ivory Marquee and this is where we hosted our BBQ reception. We had a lot of fun with our families decorating it the day before the wedding with bunting, fancy dress boxes, candles, purple uplighting. We adorned the bar with Cath Kidston floral oilcloth, a neon sign and star-shaped fairylights. We lined the lawn outside the marquee with lots of hay bales for people to sit on whilst they munched on crepes and pizza.

Suiting One And All

I’m not fond of traditional bridesmaidy-colours of pinks, greens and blues! I’d decided on grey quite early on to go in with the flowers and my dress, but it was quite difficult finding grey bridesmaids dresses, and especially one that I could convince my sister to wear; she is not keen on chiffon or satin! I stumbled across some grey dresses at Phase Eight that looked suitable, and we had a mini fashion show at home with my husband and parents, to show them about 6 dresses I’d ordered from various shops online! They all went for the grey one, hurrah! It was perfect against my dress as it had the same soft look; layers of a soft chiffon/tulle material over an inner layer, and with pretty Grecian straps.

Once we’d decided on grey for the girls, it followed that we’d look for grey for the boys and luckily nearly all the groomsmen already owned grey suits. We were thinking of hiring Jon’s but in the end we tried a few on and found a really great Daniel Hetcher suit in mid-grey, and a fab grey and soft pink stripe tie from Thomas Nash which complimented the suit really well. Our Dads and best man, ushers and master of ceremonies all wore the same tie, and we hired soft grey waistcoats for Jon, our Dads and best man. They all looked very handsome indeed.

Peaches And Cream

I found Rachel via a Google search, I was actually meant to have another florist but they let me down with a double booking, and I’m so glad they did! Rachel was such a pleasure to have as our florist; creative, professional, talented, and we worked out the scheme together at her house, both chipping in ideas for flowers and colours. I knew that I wanted an ivory and peach colour scheme with hints of blue and purple. I’d seen ivory and peach together in my magazines and thought blues/purples would go really nicely too as 10-20% of the palette. I knew that I wanted agapanthus, freesias, gladioli, avalanche and garden roses, and hydranga. Rachel had pictures of some arrangements in teapots that used lisanthius, veronica and asters which looked stunning, so we added those into the mix too. My bouquet was a posy of freesias, roses, lisanthius, mint, veronica and scabious, with interwoven pearls, and my bridesmaids had smaller versions. My husband’s and groomsmens’ buttonholes were simple ivory roses with ivy, and we added white freesia to Jon’s as it is one of his favourite flowers.

I’d taken inspiration from magazines and decided to have cream jugs as the centre arrangements, loosely arranged, surrounded by china teacups filled with roses and little vintage bottles that I’d collected over the months from ebay purchases, which served as bud vases. I’d found some pretty pastel-coloured French labels on Amazon and stuck them all onto the bottles. I added some parlane votive holders in between the bottles to finish off the look. With mine and Mum’s strawberry jams which we’d covered in blue gingham, and the hand-made menus created from Paperchase’s cotton rag paper with cornflower-blue flowers, the tables looked so pretty and romantic.

A True Professional

I’d seen some of Dasha’s from Exhibit Emotions photos before I met her and loved how they captured the emotion between couples, and how natural and effortless they appeared. We were looking for a reportage-style photographer who wouldn’t be intrusive on the day, and who would have a great eye for natural, unposed, beautiful shots, and Dasha certainly does – she is very talented. We instantly got on well with Dasha, she is fun, easygoing and relaxed with a great sense of humour and is a true professional.

We loved our engagement photography shoot in Rye that came with our package (Dasha is very flexible and will go anywhere as long as you cover travel expenses); the images that came back were so fresh and beautiful. All of our wedding photos are amazing – we’re so happy that she captured all the emotions and details of the day in such a beautiful way.

Dapper in Ivory Accents

I’d never seen Jon looking so dapper – he is normally a jeans and trainers man and doesn’t need to wear formal-wear for his work, so it was amazing to see him looking so handsome and smart! He even wore an ivory satin handkerchief, which we’d searched high and low for, and it really finished off his suit along with his matching ivory buttonhole.

Lost In 80′s Music

We love a bit of 80’s action, and are avid fans of Heart FM and Absolute 80’s, and we thought it would be fun to ask everyone to bring an 80’s accessory for the dance floor, to get into the spirit. We searched for 80’s bands on the Internet and stumbled across Lost in Music (who also do other decades but had an impressive list of 80’s tunes

Eugene, the pianist during our ceremony and for our reception drinks, was so talented and played beautifully. We listened to a CD of his sample pieces before booking him, and he was noticeably more superior to others we had listened to. We were quite particular and specified most of the pieces, and he was extremely accommodating, offering to practice our request for Madness “It Must be Love”, and the Star Wars “Cantina Band” for our signing and exit music. He is a lounge/jazz player and was very happy to play all of our Scott Joplin, Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter requests, mixed in with some Elton John, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder tunes. He really was fantastic and made our ceremony and the day very special.

Glossy Inspiration

I looked at several pictures in my magazines and online on cake-makers’ websites, and came up with a mixture of various styles and communicated them to Kate. Kate’s cakes looked fantastic in the magazines and were reasonably priced (I found that some can be so ridiculously priced), and I knew she would do a fab job.

M.T.V

The first dance song was a difficult choice for us. Because I met Jon while we both worked at MTV, Jon was working for MTV Base, and so a lot of “our songs” were R&B/Hip Hop/Grime! Maybe not the best for a first dance, though we had a few on the decks afterwards! Jon also feels nervous about dancing whereas the dancefloor is my second home. So when we’d left it too late to practice Wham, “I’m You Man” after a few hilarious dancing/bickering sessions in the living room, we went back to basics and thought of songs we liked from films.

Jon suggested Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” from the Eponymous film, one of his favourites, and I’ve always loved that song too. So we made it “our song”. We managed to do a few shuffles and twirls at the right moments, and now it will always hold a special significance for us. We’ve been through some tough times together with Jon’s health, so the lyrics really stand true for us, and will do in the future going forwards. Marriage is very much about supporting each other and making each other stronger, and that message shines through in the song.

The Right Ingredients

I think the personal ingredients of our day were what made it special for us and I would recommend couples organising their wedding to take time to think about what reflects them individually, and as a couple, and to integrate those into the day. It sounds so simple, but it really made our day. For us this was several things:

We made the invitations, orders of marriage, menu cards and jams and it was really satisfying to have done those things ourselves. It also saved on cost too. We only had 4 months to organize our whole wedding, and I’m really proud of us for finding the time – the personal touch it added to our day was well worth the late nights.

As I’ve mentioned, we chose all the songs for our pianist, our band, and our D.J. had an impressive request list too. We also made our own playlists for the BBQ wedding breakfast and afternoon drinks on the lawn. It was great to be surrounded by songs we love throughout the day. Music is such a powerful, emotive thing, and as we hear those songs in the future we’ll be instantly taken back to our wedding day.

Jon twisted my arm to have a table football in the marquee as football is a huge part of his life, and the boys loved playing in the evening.

Food For Thought

I am a huge foodie and BBQ’s have played a big part in my childhood growing up. Jon has the biggest sweet tooth I know, even waking up in the night and sleepwalking to the kitchen on occasion to raid the cupboard. We wanted a relaxed, informal, fun feel, but for our guests to still feel looked after, so we had a BBQ for our wedding breakfast, with our guests being served at the table, and a huge sweet shop (“Jon’s Tuck Shop”) for later in the afternoon and evening. Our tables were named after Jon’s favourite retro sweets – The Flying Saucers, The Flumps and so on, and we had a jar of each on the tables.

Pizza is Jon’s ultimate favourite ever food. Sometime in his distant student past he has been known to eat one every day of the week, so we absolutely had to have a wood fired pizza oven. The pizzas were delicious and we had so many comments from guests, and the team at The Proper Pizza Company were so friendly. They also dressed the serving area really authentically with fresh basil plants which I thought was a lovely touch.

Love Conquers All

My grandfather sadly passed away a few years ago, and he was always asking in an increasingly impatient tone “when are you getting married Nicola?!” Partly because he was not entirely favourable of cohabiting outside marriage, partly because he loved a good party. My Nanny told me that they had had their rings engraved with “Love Conquers All”, and it really resonated with Jon and I. We’ve been through a lot together and come through the other side, and it was the perfect inscription for our rings which I know my grandfather would have loved. Our jeweler, Patrick Wyatt, with a workshop based in Hatton Garden, has been fantastic throughout, sharing in our excitement and helping to design my engagement ring, and finally to have our wedding bands hand engraved.

Another general tip is to think of your guests too. It’s a long day for them and so we wanted to make sure that we had enough seating, enough good food, enough fun and entertainment, and enough wine, beer and prosecco! I think it’s nice to pamper your guests, especially when they have travelled for your big day.

Bridesmaids Dresses – Phase Eight

Band – Lost in Music

Pianist -Eugene Portman

Blooms -English Rose

Photography -Exhibit Emotions

Brides Jewellery – Tigerlilly

Brides Shoes – Freya Rose

Venue – Butley Priory

Love really does conquer all.

And coming up later…..

A very very serious survey.

Ahem.

Kidding. Couldn’t think of anything more boring for a Friday afternoon. We hope to make you laugh with our slightly immature sense of humour instead.

Big I Want A Big Chunky Plait Please Love

Charlotte xxx

I literally couldn’t wait for the wedding, I just knew it would be equally as dreamy…. And I wasn’t wrong. From the preparation images to the ceremony to the couples portraits and everything in-between, Jon at S6 photography has managed to capture it all to perfection, even that sought after full length back-of-the-dress shot (and I’m going to warn you in advance – the frock is a killer)

Apparently the weather was some what changeable for Anna and Tony’s big day but you’d never know, to me it just seems like one constant sunny moment.

Casual Cool

I am most certainly not a tidy or should I say sophisticated person when it comes to hair styles. I look and feel better with a more relaxed style, so it was easy to decide what to go for on the day. I had a wonderful lady called Julia Jeckell from Chic Brides do my hair and make-up on the morning. I didn’t want anything fussy or over the top and she knew exactly what I wanted when I said “messy but nice”!

My hair accessories reflected this simple hairstyle and were from a great website called Glitzy secrets for those who like the look but not the price of vintage accessories. I finished my look by wearing my sister’s cathedral veil which she wore at her own wedding 2 years ago.

Jewellery wise I also kept it simple wearing only small diamond drop stud earrings and a pearl bracelet from one of my bridesmaids as my something borrowed.

The Perfect Fit

I loved the final bridesmaids outfit! As we all live all over the place it was really hard to go off and do a lot of dress hunting together. So when I got invited to Emily bridal wear for a special bridesmaid event we all went along to get some ideas. We then all stumbled across one dress we all loved it and that was that! I decided to buy the bridesmaids dresses purely so we could alter them to fit everyone perfectly.

Made For Me

My dress was from Emily Bridal Wear in Sheffield and was by Mikaella at Paloma Blanca. It was amazing! I had a clear idea of what I was looking for when I started out however struggled to find it. I had been to a lot of weddings over the past 2 years so wanted something that would stand out yet still be me! My dress was the last one I tried after what felt like hundreds and it was my Mum and Aunty who spotted it.

After an initial question mark on my part I tried it and loved it! Even though I really liked the dress there were a few bits missing that I really wanted, I was so pleased when Emily said we can do anything you like! I added the sheer straps which I absolutely loved, the brooch on the back of the dress and loosened the fishtail fit so it had a softer affect. I’m not overly picky when it comes to clothes but when I get something in my head I find it hard to let the idea go, so I was really pleased I was able to encompass all my ideas in one dress.

Classic Stripes

The groomsmen outfits were my husband’s domain, he was very involved in what he and the groomsmen wore and had clear ideas on what he did and didn’t want. After a lot of searching we finally hired the suits from Moss Bros and had a family friend make all the cravats to Tonys specification, the final look was an old fashioned style grey tail coat, with matching trousers and waistcoat and a black and white ascot style cravat.

Tony wanted his suit to match the other groomsmen however he also wore an antique pearl and diamond tie pin and mother of pearl cuff links a gift from his mum and Dad on the day. Tony didn’t want a standard wedding suit with lots of colours and swirls and the final outfit was amazing, very classic and they all looked fantastic.

Fresh Florals

A family friend and neighbour organised and arranged all the stunning flowers and table centres. Joanne had helped my sister at her wedding and being my parents neighbour and friend was happy to help for our wedding as well which was a massive bonus. I am not green fingered by any stretch, however I love flowers so it was lovely to have someone who we could trust and help us make the right decisions. As we married in July we decided to go for quite fresh, country garden style flowers keeping things simple yet using different flowers and colours to create something beautiful and interesting to look at.

The Storyteller

We chose Jon at S6 Photography, having looked at Jons previous work we loved his style of photography and after chatting with him about how he works we knew this was definitely what we wanted. Even though we had to have some family shots we wanted to remember the day as it happened and Jon’s photos definitely tell that story.

An Enviable Take-Away

The room at the Maynard is quite neutral with wood panelled walls and wooden flooring. We covered the chairs in white to match the table linen and used a mixture of lavender pots, candelabras and vintage birdcages for the centre pieces. I had also found a few pictures/signs which we scattered around the room which we felt captured parts of us and the atmosphere we wanted. We decided to buy all the table centres, signs and decorations as I wanted our guests to feel free to take what they wanted or liked home to enjoy and remember the day.

Homemade Treats

Our cake was homemade and consisted of 3 layers one fruit for tradition, one sponge (My favourite) and the final layer banana (Tonys favourite) My aunties baked the fruit and sponge layer and my cousin Dennis created the final Banana layer.

My mum then iced the whole thing and used little iced flowers and a sprig of lavender for decoration. I didn’t want to go crazy with the cake as it was never a massive part for either of us, so having it homemade was perfect.

A Family Affair

The wedding itself was a real hands on family affair, we had so much help from everyone with the whole day, from our home made wedding cake crafted by my Mum, Aunties and Cousin to all our handmade save the dates, invites, place settings, guest favours, table plan, cravats and even homemade sloe gin. We really wanted our wedding to be relaxed, family orientated and most of all about us. We wanted to focus on having a good time and enjoying ourselves, letting the day flow naturally rather than being pushed and pulled in all directions.

I loved all the personal touches it made such a difference knowing friends and family had worked so hard to help us create our perfect day.

An Eclectic Mix

The evening reception was important to me as my family and I love to dance, as we have such eclectic music taste we struggled to find a band that offered all the music we liked, so we decided to have a DJ to keep the party going and incorporate all our favourite songs. They played a mix of your traditional disco floor fillers to traditional Irish music for Tonys Irish roots.

An Inside Seaside

As we live in Scarborough we wanted to bring a little bit of the seaside to the day. I found a seaside inspired fat lady cut out online and thought it would be nice to stand outside the ballroom so our guests could create pictures in-between courses.

We also hired a caricaturist to entertain our guests during our welcome drinks and canapés. It was something that we decided on last minute but our guests really enjoyed it and it was something they were able to take home at the end of the day. It also added a fun mood to the day and got everyone talking.

Thoughtful Keepsakes

For our female guest favours we made lavender hearts from floral print material as a keep sake and for the guys we made Wilson’s sloe gin one of my favourite little drinks brewed from home. Finally for the children we made gingerbread brides and grooms with matching veil and cravats. We wanted to make favours that people could use and or take home, which went down really well with everyone especially the gin!

An Important Moto

I think what made our wedding so special was that we made everything we possibly could ourselves we worked by the moto “handmade not readymade”. Making everything was a lot of fun and allowed us to get everything we wanted and in some places saved money. It made everything a little more personal and represented who we are and how we are as a family.

I would definitely recommend to other brides to utilise friends and family, if you know someone with good skills whether it be baking or flower arranging. It was so nice to thank everyone genuinely for their support and help and I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half as much without it. Most of all do what you both want to do and don’t stress.
We had an amazing day, it wasn’t over the top but wasn’t too plain and simple, the wine flowed, people laughed and a good time was definitely had by all!

We both wanted a summer wedding so chose July in the hopes we might get the classic summers day. It didn’t quite turn out the way we hoped, however it all turned fine for all the right times and we actually got some lovely sunny moments.

Venue – The Maynard

Bridal Gown – Mikaella at Emily’s Bridal

Photography – Jon at S6 Photography

Groomsmen - Moss Bros

Hair and Make-up – Julia at Chic Brides

Things I love about the W-day of Anna and Tony:

Stripy Cravats
The Gown (with bespoke added pretty)
Lavender Pot table centres (so chic yet so simple)
The portraits (wall-worthy)
The fact that the cake was made by not one, not two but three family members….

Need I go on?

Hope this has brightened up your Monday lovelies, and we have a little bit of a discussion planned for later – do come along and join us.

Big Constantly Sunny Love

Charlotte xxx

Yep. This lady has got style by the bucket load folks.

Danielle and Kevin were married at St Margaret’s church in Downham, Essex with a tea-party styled reception in the Danielle’s parent’s garden.

You gorgeous lot are going to just LOVE it.

All of the lovely images are by Love Lust List member Jon Mold.

Retro Beauty

My hair was done by my friend and regular hairdresser Jaid Cordery – I knew she had done a lot of wedding hair and I asked her if she would be up for helping me on the wedding day.

My Make up was done by Bernice Beaumont, I was worried about finding a make up artist as I’ve never really liked my make up when it had been done before, she was recommended to me and before the trial was even finished I knew she was perfect, I was so pleased with her and the end result. She did a fantastic job on the girls and my mum as well.

Lovely Surprises

I always knew I would have a veil and what that would be like long before I chose my dress. I described what I wanted to the lady in the bridal shop and she went and found one for me that was exactly the same as in my head. I wanted a classic retro looking veil, It was a medium length plain with a white silk trim.

As a little surprise for him I asked Jon Keith (Jon Keith Diamonds) who’d made our rings to engrave a little personal message to Kev in his and managed to keep it from him until the wedding morning when I wrote him a card and told him to look inside.

A Short Story

My dress designer was Paloma Blanca. The dress was one of things I was panicking about the most, I felt such worry that I would never find a dress to suit me as I’m so small. The Paloma Blanca dress was the only one I was interested in trying on really, before I’d even left the changing room my heart started beating really fast when I looked down at all the ruffles. Everyone burst out crying, and declaring this was the one.

I did have a wobbly few months whilst my dress was being made wondering if I’d made the right decision and can’t count the amount of times I stared at it on my computer screen but as soon as I went for my final fitting I knew I’d made the right decision… Plus I surprised EVERYONE including Kev with my choice. They all expected me to be wearing a short dress which is my usual style.

The Talk Of The Town

I still get SO excited about my shoes. This was the most enjoyable, exciting part for me. I took my nan shoe shopping with me as she is not only a brilliant shopping partner she loves a pair of shoes as well…When anyone asked about the wedding and my dress I would say ‘its all about the shoes’, I went on about those shoes so much, I think that’s another reason people thought I’d be wearing a short dress!

I went for skyscraper Louboutins. They are hand made in a slight off white lace, peep toe platforms with a little bow on the front and obviously the bright red sole.
They were blue inside which I loved as well. There are the only pair in the country in that colour and I had to go on a waiting list for them, there were about 4 people in front of me on the list and it’s a miracle I managed to get them. I was the happiest girl in the world when I bought them home and was so excited I showed Kev straight away, I didn’t know or care if that was bad luck.

Falling In Love With Fashion

We wanted to buy the groomsmens suits but in the end it was really hard to get the colour and material we wanted to go with Kev’s suit that was being made. We wanted a mod feel for all the men and found a brilliant little local suit company who had the most perfect Navy Suits in Tonic Mohair – which was exactly what we wanted so we hired those and bought their shirts from Savile Row – Kev was very particular about the collar they had!

I originally wanted the girls in all different colour/style dresses, but they ended up all falling in love with the same dress from Dessy, we got some big flowers on dressy online that we attached to their dresses. I found the most gorgeous shoes from Karen Millen and once again they all fell in love with the same shoes so they ended up all wearing the same. I was so jealous of their shoes even with my gorgeous Louboutins. They were a dusky/pale vintage pink.

Vintage Inspired Blooms

The flowers were by The Flower Mill – Karen had done one of my bridesmaids wedding flowers a month or so before ours. I was SO happy with the results and we got so many fantastic compliments on the flowers. Before I went to see Karen I must admit I wasn’t excited about the flowers, but after being with her for ten mins that had completely changed. I wanted a real vintage feel with the flowers and a complete mish mash to go with everything else in the tent – we didn’t have a colour scheme so it was anything goes.

The girls had a smaller version of my bouquet with mainly white Amnesia Roses and pink vintage roses, all the bouquets were all hand tied with lace.

Dressed To Kill

Kev’s suit and shirt was handmade by Dressed to Kill – he wanted a mod style suit and spent ages choosing the colour and fabric. He went for a Kid Mohair suit in Two tone blue. Kev chose all the details and had his initials sewn into the shirt cuffs and our names and date sewn in to the jacket. They got it wrong at first…it looked like he was marrying himself, which was a bit of a worry.

When I saw him standing at the alter I nearly burst out crying…I think I was just so relieved to see him and I’d really been trying to hold it together, I don’t know how I did. Thankfully we started with a hymn and he started giggling, what a pair, him giggling and me on the verge of full on sobs.

Photography – Jon Mold assisted by Kim Hawkins

Brides Gown – Paloma Blanca

Brides Shoes – Christian Laboutin

Grooms Suit -Dressed to Kill

Maids Dresses -Dessy

Florist – The Flower Mill

See? The greatest beehive In. The. World

And just wait until you see part 2…. so many detail ideas to steal!

Big Statement Peony Love

Charlotte xxx