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Who Knows How Long I’ve Loved You.

January 26th, 2012

When I read that Adam (Adam is the name of today’s groom as well as today’s writer – hope that doesn’t get too confusing) was a massive Beatles fan I would have put money on “Something” from Abbey Road as first song Choice.

Kate and Adam choose the lesser known but stupidly beautiful “I Will” from The White Album. In her report Kate included a few lyrics but I’ve jumped in and stolen them to put you all in the mood:

Love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we’re together
Love you when we’re apart.

So simple, yet so effective. I don’t think you could sum up that sentiment any more succinctly – and Lenon and McCartney made it rhyme the show-offs!

Anyway – on with the show. Today’s images are all by the simply marvellous S6 Photography.

Rock my Wedding; you gave me much joy searching through your pages while I was getting ideas for my wedding and I may add, I’m still slightly obsessed …

The Right Decision.

We wanted to keep our day really intimate, it was really important to us both to just have the people who mean a lot to us and that did mean not having all the extended family and friends, which was sometimes a difficult decision, but definitely the right one in the end. We also decided that we wanted the ceremony quite late, we got married at 4.30pm, and because of that we skipped the sit-down meal part – which I had worried about a bit, but so many guests told us how much they loved the informal feel to the day and the meal was not missed at all – phew!

We found the perfect location in the Leopold Hotel, which is a beautiful boutique hotel in the centre of Sheffield. It’s an old grammar school which has been restored, so is a lovely mix of vintage and modern – just what we wanted.

Heavy Cream And Lace.

I knew from day one what sort of dress I wanted, I’m quite particular in the style of dress I usually wear and someone gave me some great advice; on your wedding day you should look like ‘you’, but just a more polished, glamorous ‘you’ – this really stuck with me and because I never wear strapless in the ‘real’ world, I didn’t want to do it on a day when everyone would be looking at me and taking photos! So, I knew I wanted something with lace and sleeves (which was also appropriate given the time of year) and something with a bit of a 60’s style as I absolutely love the 60s, especially the clothes!

I found the ‘one’ on Etsy while looking for something else…it’s an original 60s dress made entirely of gorgeous heavy cream lace and was just perfect.

Lace And Pearls.

I have really short hair, so I felt a headband would have looked a bit wrong and any sort of clip would have just fallen out, but I really felt I needed something in my hair to finish the look off, so I didn’t look like just a normal day. My hairdresser, Leigh, from the Cutting Room in Rotherham has cut my hair for years so I know she does a fantastic job, and on the day she not only made me look lovely, but my mum, sister and sister in-law. It was a real pleasure having her there and we had such a laugh getting ready together. Leigh made me the most beautiful headpiece to wear. I gave her some bits of old lace and she lovingly cut out the tiny flowers and pieced them together to make the larger flowers which were joined together by wire and small pearly beads…then the best bit; she ‘stitched’ it into my hair!!

Adam bought me some gorgeous pearl earrings as a surprise, which he gave me a few weeks before (as he was worried I wouldn’t like them – as if!!) so with the lace and pearls in my hair, it really tied the whole look together.

Chunky 60’s Styling.

Because of the style of my dress, I felt the usual dainty, sparkly ‘wedding’ shoe wouldn’t really look right, so I wanted something a bit chunkier in keeping with the 60s style. I also needed something with a bit of height as I’m quite short and wanted to be able to look into Adam’s lovely eyes, not his chest! After searching, I eventually found a cream patent, mary jane style shoe in Topshop… I had wanted to treat myself to some posh shoes, as I do love my shoes, but when I came across these they just seemed so right and I think they looked perfect with the dress.

Ribbons In Her Hair.

I decided to play a bit of dress-up with my sister (my beautiful bridesmaid). My hairdresser did the most amazing beehive style up-do for her, which looked fantastic. I bought some ribbon in similar colours to her dress which Leigh then tied around her hair and clipped a bow which she had made in the same ribbon onto the side.

When it came to make-up, my sister and I decided to do it ourselves, although I don’t usually wear much, I do love make-up and enjoy putting it on. We treated ourselves to some lovely new Benefit stuff and I did the make-up for us both.

Wed In Red.

My favourite colour is red. So it was a bit of a given that we’d have red at the wedding. But, I didn’t want to go down the route of pillar box red and red roses etc, so we decided to have a dark red/burgundy, autumnal colour scheme, which actually fit perfectly with the venue too, as their décor is all dark reds and browns (which may have been why I loved the venue so much….!) I met our florist Sasha from Forget me Not some time ago so she was a perfect choice to do our wedding flowers. For my bouquet I asked Sasha for something naturally tied and not too structured and she made the perfect arrangement for me using some gorgeous red tipped roses, deep red (almost purple in fact!) calla lilies and dark red and green berries and foliage, which were all tied together with a lovely ribbon. My sister had just a smaller version of mine as I liked the idea of having them the same.

A top tip for all you brides to be; Sasha made me a smaller bouquet up as a little extra for me to throw, such a great idea, as the lucky girl who caught it got to keep a little memento from the day (and a reminder to her other half maybe…!!)

Terracotta Arrangements.

For the evening, we had four large tables in the room, but because we didn’t have a meal we didn’t need to have full place settings or anything. I do love flowers though so knew I wanted some flower arrangements for the tables, so my florist made up four terracotta pots of flowers, using slightly different colours to my bouquet; more orangey/reds which looked lovely and made sure everything wasn’t too matchy matchy. I wanted to get the most out of these flowers and use them for the ceremony also; so there was a large fireplace in the room which I placed two of the arrangements on and placed two on the table at the front. Reusing the flowers is a good tip if you want to keep your cost down and get the most out of your flowers.

My Only Bridesmaid.

My sister was my only bridesmaid, it felt right only having one as our wedding was small and we didn’t have a large wedding party as such. She was the best person to have by my side throughout the planning, getting ready (including all the prep of having our nails done and hair practices etc running up to the day…we had such fun!!), and on the day itself. She was a true star and also kept me on the ground a bit when I had a few bridezilla potential moments! She was also the entertainment for the morning when getting ready – having us all in stitches! I really wanted to play on the 60s style with her whole outfit, and I couldn’t find a traditional bridesmaid dress that I liked and wanted her to be comfortable in it too – so I went for a very ‘non-traditional’ short dress from Topshop, which she wore with black tights and skyscraper shoes! It was a lovely silky material which hung beautifully, with long floaty sleeves in a mink colour. The colour really set off the brighter colours of the bouquets, as well as the boys’ suits and together with her beehive I think she looked absolutely fabulous!

Simple Suits.

Adam had two best men (greedy I know!!) and we wanted to keep their outfits quite simple too and because of the autumnal colour scheme, grey or black would have looked totally wrong and neither of us particular liked morning suit style jackets – we also thought it would be a nice touch to buy them their suits which they could keep afterwards and hopefully get more wear out of them.

A Reason To Go Bespoke.

I’d seen Adam in his suit beforehand as I was quite involved in this part – but when I saw him stood there waiting for me, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life, and even through the tears (I cried pretty much all the way down the aisle) I could see he looked gorgeous!

Adam has always wanted the experience of having a suit made, so obviously our wedding was a perfect opportunity. And looking back, it is definitely worth the extra money to do this as we had such a good time during the fittings etc, which was mostly because of the amazing Fiona Greene at Greene and Clark, she was fantastic right from the start and helped us choose the perfect cloth, colours and even the lovely dotty cravat and hankerchief.

Simple And Beautiful.

After searching through loads of photographers’ websites, I came across S6 Photography. Jon’s images are simply beautiful and I knew straight away I wanted him to shoot our day and Adam agreed instantly. He managed to capture the day as it happened so when we look at them (and I can’t stop looking at them!) they tell the complete story of the day, and have provided us with a lasting memory of some fabulous, and sometimes extremely funny, moments which we can now remember forever.

Mum Made.

My amazing Mum (with a little help from me and my sister) made cupcakes for us, I didn’t fancy having a traditional cake and Mum had recently been on a cupcake making course so it was an obvious choice and was a great way for her to be involved in the preparations. The day before the wedding the three of us spent the morning in my kitchen decorating 100 cupcakes with red fondant and chocolate hearts and lots and lots of glitter!

A Good Mix.

The entertainment was something we took a long time thinking about. Adam and quite a few of his friends are what you may call ‘amateur’ DJ’s! And usually at parties and weddings etc they all chip in. But, we thought it would be nice to take all the stress out of this (because it usually ends up with them setting all the equipment up themselves and clearing away at the end of the night) and hire a DJ. We went with the company that the hotel usually uses 1DJ1 and they allowed us to give them a complete play list which was great – when we sent our invitations we invited all our guests to request a song to be played later on so it ensured a good mix of music and would hopefully get everyone up dancing!

I Will.

Adam absolutely loves The Beatles… I mean really LOVES them! So, they were an obvious choice for our first dance, especially with the 60s inspired outfits. He’s also a sucker for a good love song lyric, I don’t mean soppy love songs but ones which really mean something. We chose ‘I Will’ which is the most beautiful song, the lyrics are lovely, but it is not your usually soppy love song and meant we could have a bit of fun with the dancing – by throwing in a couple of spins! We had chosen the song quite early on, but a couple of days before the wedding we had a bit of a panic that we hadn’t practiced in any way. Adam is not without rhythm, until it comes to slow dancing with me…then he turns into a piece of cardboard and he was sooo nervous about this part of the day. So, we stuck the song on and had a little dance around our room, planning where we could do a few spins – it was lovely to take a bit of time out to have a dance, when do people ever do this normally?!

No Frills Vintage.

I really wanted a slightly vintage feel to the wedding, but without too much of the ‘frills’
The venue was beautiful in its own right and I really felt it didn’t need too much in the way of decoration, as it had all the original features such as oak panelling around the walls and a large fireplace with a clock in the centre. We had a little side room to the main ceremony/reception room where the food and cakes etc were which I decorated with red heart shaped bunting and sprinkled rose petals on the tables.

Something Really Special.

Apologies for a really soppy moment coming up…Adam is the most generous, caring, loving person I have ever met, and I know his close family and friends think this too. He’s had some tough times in his life and when I looked round the room during the speeches there was something really special going on – it’s difficult to explain in words, but the people who know him and have been there for him had a real sense of pride about them, which I’ll never forget. My Dad, who has always got on really well with Adam, had a lot, and I mean a lot, of love for him that day – it was brilliant!!

Ooh, I also want to tell you about my invitations – because (if I do say so myself) they were amazing! After looking at various invitations on websites etc, I felt like I wanted something a bit different and something which people would want to keep (and possibly use…!), so I collected a load of 7” vinyl that people no longer wanted from people at work, and had some stickers printed with the wedding details on for the centre.

We tried to give each guest a record which would mean something to them, either the song or artist, and we had quite a bit of fun going through them all and deciding who to send what. A couple of days after posting these, I was bombarded with texts telling me how much people loved them, so a great success I think!!

Venue Leopold Hotel

Dress Etsy

Shoes Topshop

Hair Cutting Room

Blooms Forget me Not

Tailor Greene and Clark

Photography S6 Photography

DJ 1DJ1

I LOVE the stationery – when I first saw it I though, cool – they’ve had stationery printed to look like 7″ singles. When I found out that in fact they had got hold of a load of actual vinyl and sent them out with home made labels on I nearly had an accident.

I am SO Stealing THAT idea.

What Idea? My Idea… yeah… my idea.

Adam.

18 comments »

Posted in Vintage Inspired

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I Dream In Pretty.

January 25th, 2012

Dreamy whimsical pretty – that’s what I thought when RMW reader Amy submitted her big day to be featured, all soft pinks, feminine florals and romance.

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.

As an extra feature on the tables, we added vintage teacups (kindly provided by mum who has enviable collection!) and filled them with roses. For an extra touch of colour, I added two lilac glass bottles to each table which were filled with water for the guests.

The table plan was created by painting a large wooden frame that we’d taken from a mirror and backing it with Laura Ashley wallpaper. I then added on the tables which had been printed on hammered card and adorned with a bow and miniature paper rose.

Rather than a traditional guest book we decided on a Wish Tree which looked lovely. We didn’t want to spend a lot on contorted willow or hazel branches, so we found some broken branches, spray painted them white, secured them in a large glass vase with white pebbles and wrapped them in fairy lights which looked magical when night fell. A small wooden crate held tags for the guests to use and a white picture frame held the Wish Tree poem to explain the story behind it.

We decorated the aisle to the entrance of the marquee with photo’s of Matt and I, showing our progression from babies to children and then photo’s of the two of us together. We gave the photo’s a vintage look before printing them and the guests loved looking at them all!

A small round table at the entrance of the marquee served as the card table, where we stacked two white suitcases for guests to place their cards. My mum covered the inside of the suitcase with a floral fabric and I used pink card to cut out the letters, securing them to a piece of twine using miniature pegs. The table was further decorated with glass jars filled with wild flowers and a fabric book with ‘Love’ imprinted on the front.

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

30 comments »

Posted in Modern Elegance

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A Hint Of Winter Bling.

January 24th, 2012

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

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

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

Home Or Away?

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

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

I had To Have It.

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

Jenny Knows Her Stuff!

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

Sky Scrapers.

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

Relaxed And Simple.

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

Cream With Pearl And Diamante.

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

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

White And Cream.

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

Design Your Own Suit.

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

What A Bride Wants.

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

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

Fromage Heaven.

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

Cake Tower.

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

Guilty Pleasures.

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

Beautiful Words And Happy Memories.

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

Booze Based.

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

Simple And Laid Back.

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

A Special Day.

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

Venue Bibury Court Hotel

Dress Jenny Packham

Boutique Wedding days of Cheltenham

Shoes Jimmy Choo

Hair And Make-up Blushes

Blooms Ultraviolet Flowers

Tailor aSuitThatFits.com

Photography Big Bouquet

Band The Reacharounds

Cheese The Cheese Works

Cake Angel Bakery

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

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

Breathtaking stuff.

Adam.

31 comments »

Posted in Baby it's Cold Outside

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The Other Side Of The World.

January 23rd, 2012

In the midst of planning their Australian W-day it became apparent that groom Martin’s family who are from England, would be unable to travel the-half-way-around-the-world distance to make the celebration. Determined to continue with their dream destination in the country where bride Mel originated the couple decided to hold their special day there and follow a month later with a blessing and reception in the UK… the best of both worlds if you will.

Mel was adamant that just because it was essentially the “second time” they would be saying I do it should be no less significant and planned a quintessentially “London” inspired affair with a relaxed and autumnal back-drop. I have no idea how you could plan a wedding in Australia whilst in London, and I certainly haven’t a clue how you would then plan a second wedding just a month later, these two deserve an actual round of applause because let me tell you, this big day is as pretty as they come.

When I saw Mel’s Cymbeline gown I got goosebumps, when I first laid eyes on her bouquet I wanted to run off with it, and when I peeked at her unstructured plaited up-do I wanted to wear my hair like that for the rest.of.my.life.

And that was before I saw all of the rustic potted plants and portraits taken in the perfect golden late afternoon October light. Oh and this will be the first time where we’ve had a wedding submitted and the bride has taken her future husband with her to find “the dress” – it sounded a lot of fun actually….

With thanks to photographer Dominique Bader whom Mel and Martin discovered on Rock My Wedding.

Powder And Paint

My Mum and I had our hair and makeup done at the Powder Room on Columbia Road. The ladies there all wear these fabulous pink and black vintage style outfits, and are so lovely and accommodating. Of course, I hadn’t remembered that Columbia Road becomes a bustling flower market on Sunday mornings, so we ended up becoming part of the tourist attraction that morning!

My makeup was very simple, with a bit of 60’s style eyeliner and a little pink lipstick. Most importantly, I wanted to look like ‘me’ and to steer clear of anything that I thought would be too ‘bridal’, as it just wasn’t my style! I had already had one terrible experience with a traditional bridal trial, and wasn’t going anywhere near it again!

My hair was braided and then pinned across the back of my head; a style that Beth, at the Soho Powder Room, had suggested at my trial and one that I had really loved. I had originally planned to wear a floral headpiece at the blessing, similar to the one I wore at our Aussie ceremony, but it didn’t work out on the day. Instead, my Dad and Mother in Law helped me put a single cream rose, some eucalyptus leaf and a rosehip spray in my braid just before we left for the church, which tied in to the bouquets and buttonholes perfectly. Who knew my Dad had last minute bridal hairdressing skills?!

Vintage Elegance

My dress was from Blackburn Bridal Couture in Blackheath, and was by the French designer Cymbeline. Everyone at Blackburn Bridal is incredibly helpful and the store itself is so relaxing to be in. If you are a London bride, I would really recommend you take a look!

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t actually enjoy the process of shopping for a wedding dress much at all! Everything I found just wasn’t “me”, or just wasn’t in our budget. I wanted something that was vintage in style, was elegant but wasn’t too stuffy, and would work just as well in an Australian garden wedding as it would inside a London church. So many bridal stores I visited just didn’t get what I was talking about at all- huge ball-gown dresses in an Australian garden? I don’t think so!

I actually gave up shopping for dresses, until I suddenly realised I was close to that ‘6 month minimum’ ordering period. I knew I had to get my act together and find something, so, panicking slightly, I went back to Blackburn Bridal, as I had loved their dress selections when I had visited many months before. Mandi, the store manager, picked out a few dresses for me, and one of them was the Exalto dress. It didn’t look like anything much on the rack, but I trusted her judgement and tried it on. It was so comfortable to wear, was made of the most beautiful lace, and most of all, I could actually see myself wearing it on my wedding day in both countries!

Of course, one downside of planning an overseas wedding meant that all my close friends and family were out in Oz while I was dress shopping in London. Buying my wedding dress without a trusted second opinion was more than a little nerve-wracking, so Martin came with me to see a few dresses. I would really recommend taking your partner with you, it was actually a lot of fun! He completely loved the Exalto dress as soon as I put it on, so that settled it for me, really! It ended up being as great for a Spring outdoor wedding in Australia as it did in the middle of London in Autumn, and I must say it felt just as nice to wear it the second time around!

Stepping Out In Style

For jewellery I wore a beautiful diamond necklace that my parents had given me before our Australian wedding as a wedding gift. I knew early on that I wasn’t a veil-wearing bride, although I did try on a few beautiful ones at Blackburn Bridal, and was very nearly swayed in my last minute wedding panic, but decided against it. From the state of my dress after the first wedding, I don’t think the veil would have survived until the blessing, anyway!

My shoes were “Carmen” by Rachel Simpson, from Fur Coat No Knickers in central London. They are off white with a T-bar strap and a vaguely Art Deco design across the toes. I rarely wear heels and knew I needed shoes that would be as easy to wear at an outdoor wedding as they would be in the city- not an easy task, as it turned out! I chose these as they not only looked lovely, they were comfortable too, and had the added bonus of an invisible platform on the sole, so I was able to cheat the heel height and still be able to walk! They were almost ruined by the mud from the Australian wedding, but the dry cleaner was able to clean them up for the Blessing for me- I don’t think you can notice at all!

Pretty Darn Dashing

Martin wore a lovely light blue bespoke suit from King & Allen. We had such a hard time choosing something that would suit both a Spring garden wedding in Australia and an Autumn city wedding in the UK; so much so that we still didn’t have a suit almost a month before we left for Australia. Like my dress, we knew we wanted something non-traditional, but were getting nowhere fast on that front.

At the last minute, we discovered King & Allen, who are a bespoke tailoring company based in the U.K. We made an appointment for a fitting and consultation, chose the fabric type and colour from a swatch, and the tailor measured Martin up for the suit. An hour later we had paid and nervously crossed our fingers while we waited for his suit to arrive, well aware that we were leaving for Australia just after that and would have no other option if it didn’t work out. When he tried it on four weeks later, it fitted perfectly and was so well made- it hung beautifully and he assures me that it was incredibly comfortable to wear too. I must admit that when we first saw it, it was much more blue than we had expected it to be, but this is always bound to happen when you can only go by small fabric swatches! The suit is so unlike anything else we had seen before, and he has had many compliments on it- we are both so glad that we took a leap of faith and chose it.

He also wore a white shirt with light pink stripes (which matches the lining of his suit) that we bought from TM Lewin, a blue patterned tie that he borrowed from my Dad, and some silver cufflinks that were my great grandfather’s. As a special touch, the jacket has our wedding date sewn into the lining.

All in all, I think he looked pretty darn dashing, if I do say so myself!

More Bloom For Your Buck

We decided we wanted to spend as little as possible on floral decorations, as hosting two weddings in quick succession really stretches your budget. The Union Chapel is so huge that we really struggled with how to decorate it at first- you could literally spend thousands of pounds on flowers for them to fade into the background. They also had the large stage still set up for their concerts, so we needed to work around that as cheaply as possible. In the end we decided to just let the venue speak for itself, and to add things where we could afford to.

We found 2 matching wooden lanterns from North One Garden Centre in Islington and set them up on the two front corners of the stage. We then surrounded them with rosemary bushes, flowering heather and white cyclamens that we bought from Homebase before the wedding. It definitely didn’t disguise the black stage, but it tied in nicely to the decorations at the reception, had an autumnal feel to it and felt like a link to our garden wedding in Australia. As a bonus, we now have 2 lovely lanterns that we can use in our flat, and we have kept all the plants on our balcony as a little reminder of the day.

For the reception we scattered little pots of heather, herbs, violas and forget-me-nots around the bar (also from Homebase). To save time and money we didn’t bother to replant many of these- instead we stuck burlap ribbon around the plant pots and tied it with twine, which linked in to our invitations and Order of Service booklets that we had hand made and tied with twine. We also used recycled glass jars for tea light candle lanterns and scattered them amongst the flowerpots in the bar. The bar normally has some flowers in vases around the venue anyway, so we also used these in our decorating scheme.

Our bouquet, buttonholes and corsages were all from Angel Flowers in Islington and featured a mix of cream roses, black viburnum berries, rosehips, oak leaves, and some eucalyptus leaf as a nod to the Australian wedding. We wanted all the flowers and plants to have an ‘autumnal’ feel to them, particularly as it was an easy way of tying both weddings in the opposite seasons together.

The Most Important Supplier

Our wedding photography was incredibly important to us- in fact I would say it was the most important decision we made in the planning process! We honestly cannot recommend Dominique Bader highly enough, and we feel so lucky that she was able to photograph our day for us!

Having seen a lovely engagement shoot of hers that was featured on Rock My Wedding (Emily & Pete’s), we contacted her to explain our plans for our wedding blessing. Luckily for us, she was still available on the date we had chosen! She was very personable and professional in her emails, and her photos were just so beautiful, that we knew she would capture the day perfectly.

We decided to include an engagement shoot in our photography package as well, which was so much fun, and something we would definitely recommend to other couples. We were able to spend time with Dominique and her lovely husband, Samuel, before the big day, which really helped us relax in the hectic lead up to the wedding. We got on really well with them both, and had such a lovely time on the shoot, that we could have easily planned another one straight after it (if we could have thought of a legitimate reason, of course)!

On the wedding day itself Dominique (and Samuel!) worked tirelessly in the un-seasonably hot weather, and were completely focussed on ensuring we had a great day and beautiful photos to remember it by. We had many of our guests comment on what a lovely couple they were, and they put everyone at ease while they were taking the photos.

Before we started the search for our photographer, a friend said that we should try to keep in mind that it will be these pictures that we will keep coming back to over the years, because they will document the very beginning of our brand new family. Dominique is able to take pictures that are not only beautiful, timeless and elegant; most importantly she is able to get to the true ‘heart’ of important moments like these. It makes us so happy to know that we will have these photographs to reminisce over in the years to come- we honestly could not have hoped for anything better!

Canon in D

We actually left the music at the reception entirely up to the bar staff, and it was great background music for the day.

The Union Chapel staff very kindly let us use their fancy sound equipment for the service, so we set up a couple of playlists and asked a good friend to be in charge. We used the same music as at the Australian wedding; I walked down the aisle with my Dad to ‘Canon in D’, and we walked back up after the ceremony to ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’. Canon in D is actually one of Martin’s favourite pieces of music; it is so beautiful, and gets me teary every time I hear it!

Canon in D actually featured many times during both our wedding days- without us knowing, Martin’s brother had made a slideshow from their old family photos to play at the Australian wedding that was also set to Canon in D.

During the ceremony, Martin’s Mum sang a hymn that she had chosen especially for the day, which was incredibly touching. Martin’s brother did a reading, and my Dad read a poem; ‘The Master Speed’ by Robert Frost, for us as part of the ceremony. When I read that Frost had written the poem before his own daughter’s wedding, it seemed only fitting that my Dad should read it at our wedding…

It’s All Worth It

As it was a blessing ceremony, and not a wedding, there weren’t any legalities that we needed to cover, so we could really do as we wanted with the content of the ceremony. At the same time, we wanted it to be as important and meaningful as the first one; particularly as this was the first time Martin’s family would be able to be there to share it with us. At first we really struggled with how to make both ceremonies as ‘valid’ as the other, and worried that repeating the same vows at the wedding blessing would seem forced, or worse, only a pale imitation of the ceremony we had in Australia. We came to realise that it didn’t matter whether we were signing anything at the end, it was important that our families and friends were there to witness us take this new step in our lives together, and for us, repeating our marriage vows and exchanging our wedding rings again made the most sense. We ended up having a ceremony that was very similar to our first wedding, but was definitely not a pale imitation of the sentiments we felt and shared that day!

Looking back, we can definitely say that our second wedding ceremony was no less emotional or valid than the first, and that having two wedding days actually added to our memories and experiences of both of these days in ways we could not have imagined before hand. If you and your partner are also considering planning more than one wedding ceremony, I will not lie to you- it can be tough and emotionally exhausting, and there will probably be more than a few occasions when you both just want to start screaming and call the entire thing off, but it is very much worth it in the end, I promise! I wouldn’t trade the memories I have from both my wedding ‘days’ for anything!

I would also say that we were both so much more relaxed at the blessing, despite the fact that a few things went wrong- just as they did at our first wedding! I now wish I could travel back in time and tell my overly anxious, not-yet-married-self to stop worrying so much, but I will just have to tell your nearly-married-selves instead! Things are bound to go wrong, or get forgotten about on the day, but no one will notice or care, if I’m honest! And more importantly, when things don’t always go to plan, people will eagerly jump in to lend a hand in whatever way they can. In the middle of all that crazy planning, it is easy to forget that no one is there to judge your flower arrangements, or turn their nose up at the cake you serve (or forget to serve!) They are there because they care for you both and want to share this special moment with you, and will do whatever it takes to make it a truly special day for you both. So try to relax and enjoy it all, whatever kind of day(s) you end up having!

Blessing Venue – Union Chapel

Reception Venue – The Four Sisters

Make-up – The Powder Puff Girls

Brides Gown – Cymbeline at Blackburn Bridal Couture

Brides Bouquet – Angel Flowers

Brides Shoes – Carmen by Rachel Simpson

Grooms Suit – King & Allen

Photography – Dominique Bader

Is anyone else opting for fruit-filled blooms?

And how about a Cymbeline gown?

If you answer yes to either of the above I want you to tell me ALL of the details in the comments box below. And I can’t pretend I won’t be green with envy.

Big Two Weddings Would Be Lovely Right? Love

Charlotte xxx

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Posted in Rustic Romance

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What Jo Did… Toes And Teeth.

January 19th, 2012

Happy New Year lovely RMW-ers! I’m still trying to fit back into my work trousers properly after much festive indulging. At the moment they feel a bit like jeggings. No offence to jeggings fans, but they REALLY aren’t flattering on me!

Anyhoo, 147 days to go. I just had a little look at my last post and realised that, of the five things we’d hoped to have sorted by now, we’ve only sorted… ONE! That’s better than none though, right?!

Thanks to two very lovely chaps, our ceremony details are almost finalised. The first very lovely chap is Reverend Jackson (Rev J), our Chaplain, who popped over for dinner this week to discuss readings, vows and general wedding-y bits. As we are a RIDICULOUSLY indecisive couple, we’re still to-ing and fro-ing with regards to readings. Sensing our inability to make up our minds about it, Rev J directed us to Your Church Wedding a brilliant resource!

The other thoroughly lovely chap, Simon, is our organist. He has been playing at weddings for 37 years, since he was 13, and we will be number 3728! Despite this, he is still VERY excited (or, at least, appears to be!) We met in the organ loft of the chapel – very small, very cold, VERY loud – and he played lots of options for the processional and recessional music. We also discussed hymns, and have (almost) reached a final decision… The two definite are: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling and Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer. The other will be either: I Vow to Thee, My Country, Be Thou My Vision, or How Great Thou Art. Should have asked Santa for the power of decisiveness for Christmas ;)

To get to the organ loft we had to walk up the aisle! It seems to get longer every time!

I almost slipped over three times – they’d just ruddy well polished it! Mental note to self: ask them NOT to polish it for at least a week before June 7th. God only knows how K-Midd managed the Westminster Abbey aisle, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t white-knuckling her father’s arm! Bit worried about cutting off my lovely dad’s circulation! Blu-tac on the soles is still an option, although fellow RMW-reader Anita suggested these beauties.

Oooh, that brings me to my next piece of news… My gorgeous girlfriends clubbed together to pay for my W-day shoes (thank you ladies!), and we went to Westfield (man alive, that place is VAST!) earlier this month to check out what was on offer. The answer? Not a huge amount. I mean, I tried on A LOT of shoes, but almost every pair had a massive heel and platform.

I a) cannot walk in anything over 4 inches, b) don’t want to b taller than Mr A and c) need 3.5 inch heels with my dress. However, I know that lots of you can walk in very high heels, and lots of you want to show off your shoes in shorter dresses, so here is a selection of the foot candy I tried on…

Please excuse the sock lines, the fact a have very wide frog-like feet (squeeeeeeeze!), and the fact that some of the pictures don’t show the whole shoe very clearly.

Number 1: Gorgeous, but I can’t be trusted in slingbacks (currently £25.00 in the Debenhams sale)

Number 2: Love the traditional elegance of these. (£50.00 – Roland Cartier at Debenhams)

Number 3: Pretty, but too low for my dress (also in Debenhams)

Number 4: Glitter-tastic, but MUCH too high. (Dune: £90.00, with £50.00 going to the Teenage Cancer Trust)

Number 5: I LOVE these Grecian beauties (£135, Dune)

Number 6: Seriously funky heels – I adore this colour, and the bow! (Topshop – now sold out)

Number 7: Look at the angle of my foot! How does ANYONE walk in shoes this high? I blame Lady Gaga. (£70.00, Schuh) Kudos to any bride who can wear these and not end up on the floor!

Number 8: Low heel and lacy silver numbers (Stuart Weitzman for Russell & Bromley, in the sale)

Number 9: More Grecian-style beauties (Coast, £75.00)

Number 10: I ADORE these champagne coloured heels – look at the detail!! Alas – too high for me! (Coast, reduced to £75.00)

Numbers 11 & 12: Both by LK Bennett, and both now sold out BUT they do have the black version of the orange shoe, which would look stunning at a monochromatic W-day (reduced to £75.00)

So, which ones did I go for? Two pairs actually (Shocker!) First up, the turquoise Topshop bad boys. Not only did my friend say they looked like Valentino shoes (sold!), but they fitted my frog feet AND, when I got them to the till they were reduced to £20.00! Deduct 10% student discount and *BOOM*… 18 squid!

I also couldn’t stop thinking about the lacy Roland Cartier ones, so went to buy them on line a few days later. Couldn’t find them… massive panic… my lovely friend picked me up a pair from Oxford Street.

I’m not sure when I’ll wear the Topshop ones – hen do? Wedding rehearsal? Evening of the wedding? But they will DEFINITELY be worn at some point. I have added some blue shoe clips from The Vanilla Tree to the ivory shoes, to make them a bit unique – thoughts?

OK, so now you’ve seen many, many pictures of my feet(!), I thought I’d give you an update on another of my ‘hang-up’ areas… le gnashers.

As the regular Real Bride readers amongst you will know, I started a course of Invisalign at The Gallery Dental Practice back in August. I am now on my penultimate set of aligners (number 10 of 11) and thought I would show you the difference it has made so far. I may have to have a twelfth set, as there is still too much gum on show when I smile. The aligners can push your teeth upwards, taking the gum with them, so the gumline is reduced. Very clever (still not 100% sure how this works, but it has moved, and can apparently be moved by about 2 more inches).

Again, excuse the dodgy picture quality – poor lighting for photos at Chez HarrisArnold!

Top:
Taken at a wedding in July, before treatment. I seriously LOATHE this picture – I think I look like some weird feral cat/other type of creature. Obviously a reportage shot, which is what our lovely photographer Guy Hearn specialises in, but if I look like this in any W-day shot, I would be gutted!

Bottom Left:
Taken today, and without the brace in. The gap has almost closed, and I’ll be having the funny little muscle that runs from the inside of the top lip to the gum cut in two weeks, as mine runs between my two front teeth. After that, the final set will close the gap completely, before my dentist caps the concave front tooth (already capped from when I nose-dived into a swimming pool aged 9 and broke the tooth in half).

Bottom Right:
With the aligners in – almost invisible, apart from the little nodules they attach to some teeth to allow the brace to grip.

I anyone else having any ‘work’ done before W-day? I hadn’t even considered it until a friend mentioned she was thinking about it, and then I couldn’t shake off the thought of not being able to smile naturally in our wedding pictures, or laugh without covering my mouth.

At almost £4000.00, I regularly have pangs of guilt about having them done too. In fact, the M-word (money) has really started to concern me. I COMPLETELY empathised with Vix’s Little Miss Worry post earlier this month. I seem to fluctuate daily (sometimes hourly) between thinking, “it’s the ONLY time we’re doing this, and probably the only time we’ll have all our loved ones together EVER”, and “how on earth can we justify spending so much money on one day?!”.

Usually, the latter stems from having a ‘moment’ about a) being on a student teacher salary, b) the fact our boiler is broken (£££), c) the fact the car keeps breaking (£££), d) the fact that Elvis (our cat) got a piece of grass lodged in his nasal passage and had to have it surgically removed (£££) etc etc *moan moan moan bore bore bore*

I guess everyone feels like this though, yes?!?

Well, we spoke to the wonderful aforementioned Rev J about this, and he said that this is a common feeling amongst couples before their wedding. Interestingly, and helpfully, he said that if we allow the wedding to become all about the amount it is costing, it then becomes defined by the money. Yes, all that money, however much you are spending, could (easily) be spent elsewhere, or saved, or given to a worthy cause BUT why not spend it on celebrating your love for the person you have just vowed to spend the rest of your life with?

Aaaaaaaand breathe.

See you in six weeks (which fly by, by the way!) for stationery sneak peeks and (hopefully) some catering news! I would write a to do list, but it would be almost the same as my last one ;)

Lovelovelove,

MrsA-to-be

Xxx

PS: Dress fitting (and BM dress fittings) THIS SATURDAY J

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Posted in Jo - Rustic Romance

Under My Umbrella.

January 19th, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simple Lace.

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

The Veil Of My Dreams.

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

Three Pairs Of Shoes.

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

Keep It Simple.

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

Pick Your Own Blooms.

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

Colour Is The Key.

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

The Right Man.

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

Relaxed And Laid Back.

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

Three Flavours.

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

Ready To Rock.

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

The Sweetest Feeling.

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

Umbrella Theme.

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

The Best Find Ever.

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

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

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

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

Completely Us.

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

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

Venue Monks Barn

Dress Phase Eight

Hair piece etsy

Shoes Irregular Choice

Blooms Green and Gorgeous

Photography Debs Ivelja

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

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

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

Adam.

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