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 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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

Tom and Esme married in August 2011 in Brigstock, Northamptonshire and decided to employee the services of Martmari Photography to document the occasion. Good choice guys, looks like they did you proud.

Stress Free.

I know how lucky I am when I say that choosing my w-day dress was a pretty stress free experience. I enjoyed a lovely day with my Mum and sisters trying on stunning dresses in two bridal boutiques and I couldn’t fault the service in Quello, Kenilworth. Then I had a not-so-nice afternoon trying on dresses at various high street places. I lined up an appointment in a shop just outside Birmingham (which has now closed down) that was having a sample sale. I did the usual sift through the dresses on offer, picking out a couple to try on when I saw my dress: Mori Lee, style number 2510. I knew that it was the dress that I would be getting married in the second I noticed it. Please don’t hate me fellow brides!

My amazing Mum haggled down the price and after a celebratory large glass of wine in a cafe next door, I was on my way home with my dress! I loved the shape and how it accentuated all of my best bits and the fact that it was simple but with a bit of sparkle, but the main reason I fell for it was because I knew my now husband would love it. And he did.

My Usual Style.

My something borrowed were earrings from my Mum, who also gave me a grey beaded bracelet that she had made. My very talented sister made me and my bridesmaids butterflies for our hair, which was the perfect surprise because despite collecting various clips and slides, I couldn’t find the ideal hair accessory anywhere. I decided early on that I wouldn’t wear a veil because it didn’t fit into the ‘look’ I had in mind and I’m glad I stuck with my decision. I was really pleased that everything went together, and how I would wear/use everything again because they’re very much in fitting with my usual style.

Grey-Loving Bride.

I found my shoes in the Phase Eight sale just after buying my dress and they were the perfect choice for this grey-loving bride. I had always known that I would wear coloured shoes (in fact, it was seeing brides wearing non-ivory shoes that got me addicted to RMW), despite hearing many protestations from friends and family members.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Hair and make-up – What to do… Who to have doing it… What to have – were really difficult decisions for me. After finding pictures of the hair style I wanted, I knew that it would be best done by a professional, however finding someone to do it was a very different question! We were on a strict budget and although my dress was a bargain, I didn’t want to spend loads on ‘just one day’.

Make-up was a similarly difficult to arrange. I umm-ed and ahh-ed for weeks over whether to buy new make-up and do it myself, or to find a make-up artist. In the end my husband decided for me – he hates it when we’re getting ready for a night out and I get all flustered because my eyeliner goes wrong/the shoes just aren’t right/my hair’s just not wavy enough, so he declared that I would be getting a professional in, no matter what the cost. Bless him! He was completely right and although it was expensive, choosing Sheelagh was one of the best decisions I (he) made – I was able to pamper my bridesmaids, our make-up stayed perfect ALL day, she was a true professional and ultimately gave me a peace of mind that was priceless. I couldn’t recommend her enough.

A Dab Hand With Blooms.

I have a confession to make: flowers were low on our list of wedding priorities. Don’t get me wrong, we wanted pretty flowers and I had my favourites, but I knew that we wouldn’t be spending hundreds and that other things had priority budget-wise. Luckily for us, my Mother-in-Law, a family friend and my sister are all a dab hand with blooms and so took over the task for us. I sent them pictures of a bouquet I liked, a bridesmaid bouquet and several images of table flowers with these instructions: hydrangeas, pink roses, pinks, whites, pale green, light yellow, soft colours. Jars and bottles with individual or a couple of stems of all different heights.

My Mum snuck out of the hotel on the morning of the wedding to decorate our ceremony area with wild flowers, sage and lavender. It was a lovely surprise for me and it was just enough to compliment the already beautiful setting. My ‘flower team’ also made a large hydrangea display for the ceremony and later for the dinner marquee. We also had a hanging basket with gypsophila at the entrance to the garden.

Highstreet Maids.

I knew that I didn’t want the bridesmaids or the groomsmen to all look exactly the same, mainly because I knew that I wouldn’t get my two sisters, best friend and 12-year old family friend in the same dress. My Maid of Honour and I went shopping a while before the wedding and fell in love with a purple one-shoulder dress from Coast and were able to find two in the exact same colour but different styles in Monsoon, with the fourth made by my Mother-in-Law. I loved how the four of them looked!

We bought ties for the groomsmen and our Dads, and asked them to wear white shirts and grey suits. Coincidently quite a few other guests turned up with lilac ties or wearing purple dresses, so it all tied in quite nicely!

Geek Chic.

Another bargain was Tom’s suit, bought from Charles Tyrwhitt just after we got engaged in the summer sale. He needs extra long sleeves and this is one of the only places that sells well-cut shirts in different lengths, so he got himself a white shirt from there too. Easy. Unlike his tie, which took around 8 months to find! In the end we found the perfect Ted Baker one on Ebay, the only one we both agreed on! His shoes were more expensive than mine from Loake.

As a present, I had some cufflinks made for him through the excellent website Sonia Spencer. Tom is a Research Chemist and a bit of a geek, so I designed (with help!) periodic table cufflinks – ES for Esme (Einsteinium) and TM for Tom (Thulium). I don’t know if anyone else got the joke, but he liked them!

An Easy Decision.

After Googling ‘Photography Northamptonshire’ we came across Martmari and wow, were we glad we did! It was a really easy decision because Martin and Marina lived near to where the wedding was going to be, we loved their style (I would describe it as detailed reportage, but with a classic edge) and they were offering a really good deal.

A pre-wedding shoot made us confident that we had chosen well and on the day they were absolutely amazing. They were so professional and interested in getting the best shots of all the details, not in-our-faces, but always close by when we wanted a photo taken. Plus, we couldn’t be more in love with the results – the photos are just beautiful. All of our family and friends have been raving about them and their work since the wedding and I really hope that they become more widely known and as successful as they deserve to be. Please book them!

Man Cake.

My wonderful husband made our wedding cake! After a few practices and some complicated sketches (what can I say? He’s a scientist!), he designed a three-tier square cake: bottom layer his signature fruit cake, second layer my favourite date and walnut and the top layer of my Mum’s chocolate cake, all covered in pale blue/green buttercream and handmade icing roses and petals. It was perfect – well done Tom!

Art School Hero.

We had a jazz band all lined up to play at various points during the day, who cancelled on us six weeks before the wedding. What a nightmare. With no more money in the budget we called on Tom’s old Art teacher, who we knew used to be in a band. Thankfully he agreed to reunite his Rhythm and Blues band and they did an amazing set that got everyone on the dance floor, so much so that our carefully put-together playlist didn’t get a look in.

Throughout the day we had music playing from an iPod and various leads and speakers that I won’t even try to describe because I had no part in setting it up.

Please Forgive Me.

We chose our first dance song after a romantic meal on New Year’s Eve. In fact, Tom suggested it as he said that he used to listen to it a lot when we first got together (we were 16) because it summed up the way he felt about me. Can I have a collective ‘awww’? It was David Gray’s Please Forgive Me. We followed it with Barry White My First, My Last, My Everything, because that song always gets me dancing!

Crafty Favours.

My Mum is a stained glass artist and she, along with her husband, very generously made us some Rennie Mackintosh inspired glass roses for our guests to take away and hang in their homes. We weren’t too bothered about favours, but these looked lovely hanging in the tree and we were happy to take any leftover home with us. We also made ceramic name plates for everyone, all of which were taken by our guests, so I guess they were the favours really.

Reduce, Re-use Recycle.

We wanted to spend as little as possible on decorations, partly because we were cheap-skates who didn’t want boxes of wedding only paraphernalia in the house afterwards and partly because we didn’t think the beautiful garden needed much decorating. So everything that you can see we already owned, borrowed from friends, made ourselves or bought after hours searching on the internet for the cheapest option.

Tom made a map of the venue on Photoshop which we displayed on an easel. Signs to direct our guests were stencilled and painted on old bits of wood, and we made some letters from plywood that we decorated ourselves to spell either ‘TEA’ (for during the afternoon tea part of the day) and ‘T&E’ later. (Those are now on our kitchen wall, spelling ‘EAT’.) Random bits of ribbon were tied around trees, lights and anything else that stayed still long enough and we had candles wherever we could – simple and cheap, but effective.

The biggest DIY project we did was to collect boxes and boxes of glass jars and etch them with designs of butterflies, bows, teapots, martini glasses etc. It took a whole weekend for me and my Maid of Honour to do these, but it wasn’t difficult to do or expensive (you can buy a whole bottle of etching fluid online for around £8 and we didn’t even use half) and it was so worth it because they looked lovely.

When I look at all that written out, it looks like we did loads! I suppose we did, but because we spread everything out over the whole of our engagement – buying candles whenever we saw cheap ones, printing the photos whenever there was an offer and doing the DIY projects over several months – it didn’t feel like too much. Tom is very creative so this was a really good excuse to do something together and for me to learn to enjoy making something. Making things for our wedding gave me confidence in my creative and design skills and I’ve now got loads of ideas for ways to use some of our leftover wedding bits in our home.

Make The Most Of It.

Our wedding ceremony was incredibly personal because we had a Humanist ceremony outside with our own vows. We got legally married a couple of days before in a registry office nearer to home, but this was our REAL wedding. We knew that there were quite were concerns about what the ceremony would be like, but in the end a lot of people found it very moving and we absolutely loved it. We were also lucky enough to be offered the use of a family friends’ garden for our wedding so we could personalise it exactly how we wanted to.

Our wedding was incredible, not because it was perfect, but because it was OUR day and I got to marry the man I love. But I never want to do it again!

Venue Backgarden!

Dress Mori Lee, style number 2510

Hair M&Arc Hair & Beauty

Make-up Sheelagh Powell

Shoes Phase Eight

Tailor Charles Tyrwhitt

Cufflinks Sonia Spencer

Photography Martmari

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the groom making the cake before – another Rock My Wedding first for you today folks!

Lots of details that I really love here – from the so-geeky-they’re-cool cufflinks though to the hanging stained glass, in fact all the little D.I.Y projects… Even the first dance song really strikes a chord with me – brilliant choices all round.

Tom and Esme did so much by themselves and with the help of friends and family. We have here a wedding without the cost of reception venue hire, no florist, no cost for evening entertainment and with the help of old ‘Heston Blumenthal’ with his bunsen burner and testube – no expensive cake costs… and does it show? No. It. Does. Not. And all this saving allowed Tom and Esme to really splash out on the food and drink and give their loved ones the party of their lives!

Tom, Esme (and of course all of your talented friends and family), we salute you.

Adam.

They chose Hellens Manor for its countryside setting and gorgeous amenities – a medieval manor house with party barns in the beautiful countryside of Herefordshire. The venue allowed Sonja and Shane to decorate and do pretty much anything and everything they wanted, they even rigged up a whole new lantern based lighting system for the day (all conceived and created by Shane and his helpers).

Today then, we are off to the cider county, and to document this dreamy rustic day we have Gemma from Gemma Williams Photography, and may I say you are in for a visual treat that is good enough to eat.

Lovely Memories.

From the word go we knew we wanted to stay local to our Herefordshire home and keep it a very relaxed and country wedding, full of personal touches and fun. We wanted to make it not only an amazing day for us, but for all our guests to enjoy and leave with lovely memories.

Shane and his best man had beige linen suits from Moss Bros. I loved the relaxed and ‘sunny’ look of these suits, very laid back. The ties (rented from Moss Bros) mirrored the sage green of the girls’ dresses.

Rose Detailing.

The dress, well, that was one of the first worries I had. I am not a very girlie girl and don’t really do dresses. So knowing what to go for was rather tricky. I’d decided to go to the National Wedding Show last March. I hate shopping at the best of times and it was all a bit over whelming for me. I tried the odd dress on, just to make an effort.

I had it altered a couple of times, the train shortened, the layers of netting taken up, all just to make me feel a bit more comfortable. The outcome was the most gorgeous dress I could have hoped for, it made me feel like a million dollars and I enjoyed wearing it every second of the day.

Elegant Simplicity.

I chose quite simple but elegant jewellery from Pia in Cheltenham. A lovely freshwater pearl necklace and bracelet.

For my hair I bought some little diamond and a small feathery, ivory fascinator from Hat Trick in Hereford.

Something Old, Something New…. Something Missing?

I have to admit, I was missing one of them. My shoes were my ‘something old’ (advantage being: nicely worn in and comfy!) Ivory closed toe sling backs, bought a few years ago at BHS. My ‘something blue’ was a pair of knickers Tina bought me, as a joke! She asked me to wear them (with a smile on her face), but after spending a small fortune on my bridal lingerie in Montpellier, Cheltenham, I decided not to wear them but to keep them in my little make up bag instead. My ‘something new’ was a surprise present from Shane…we agreed on not buying each other presents, but on the morning of the wedding our son Bayon walked in with a little bag labelled ‘Something new…I love you’. A gorgeous pair of diamond earrings (to go with my engagement ring) that nearly made me burst into tears! The one thing I was missing was the ‘something borrowed

…hmmm, I did borrow Simone’s hairspray, does that count?!

Me… Naturally.

My hair was done by my friend and professional hairdresser Debbie. With years of experience and running her own salon in Ledbury, I couldn’t have been more confident in letting Debs loose on my hair. We went for a relaxed hair up-do. By curling my hair and giving it more volume, Debs managed to get even my short hair up. It looked gorgeous – everybody commented on my hair and I loved it! Big thanks to Debs. xxx

I did my own make up, as I wanted to be me on the big day. My new Dior foundation and lipstick finished the natural look off nicely.

Only Time.

Lots of tea lights were lit along the barn walls for the ceremony, lanterns lined the aisle either side – Enya’s ‘Only Time’ was my entrance song. One of the most important decorative parts of the ceremony was our ceremony arch.

Thanks to my bridesmaid Simone and best man Justin, it all came together at the end and looked absolutely stunning on the day. To make it a personal ceremony we had a German and an English reading and some gorgeous music performed by Hannah and Rob (Hannah plays the sax, how cool is that?!) and to make it a little bit more special for the German guests, I said my ring vows in German.

A Country Cottage Feel…

I fell in love with Dawn Horsted Flowers, I loved her style of using country and cottagey flowers and herbs. Using just some hydrangeas, Dawn made simple and stunning bouquets for the bridesmaids. My posy had roses, herbs and hydrangeas in pink and greens. The centre pieces and two other arrangements were designed to go with our colour and wedding theme – raspberry red and apple green and of course apples were part of all of the flower arrangements – eye catching, different and earning plenty of praise from our guests.

Shane’s dad supplied a load of green/pinky hydrangea heads from his garden. We used them throughout the venue, we dotted little jam jars with ribbon around the barn and filled them with the hydrangeas. I tied a few of them into our ceremony arch and decorated our cheese cake with them too.

Remembering…

As well as having a selection of family wedding photos on our cake table, we arranged some photos of loved ones who sadly are no longer with us, next to the guest book. This was a lovely way of remembering our family members and friend who couldn’t share this special time with us.

Quirky And A Little Different.

Instead of favours and a traditional table plan, we brought in a miniature apple tree that we were given by friends for the birth of our son Bayon. I bought some chalkboard apple tags on ebay. These were used as name/escort cards, hung with jute twine off the branches. Guests had to find their apple (which they kept as a favour) and find their table. We let them chose their own seat at their table, which was a lot less hassle than trying to figure out, who should sit next to whom.

Best of Taste catering served fantastic canapés during our drinks reception. Our wedding breakfast was a three course meal including pork with cider sauce (to go with the theme). For the evening snack they served fish and chips in cones – a massive hit with all our guests!

Traditional Fun.

Being German meant my family and friends planned a few little traditional surprises for us. Wedding traditions are big in Germany. During our reception drinks and canapés my mum presented us with our ‘wedding candle’ and read out a beautiful poem for the candle ceremony. Very touching, very moving, many guests mentioned how lovely it was. Next we had to cut a big heart out of a sheet – with the worst possible nail scissors! My favourite of all and probably the most well known German wedding tradition is the ‘sawing of the log’. As a sign of ‘working together’ and ‘getting through difficult times’ we had to saw through a (thankfully rather skinny) log with a double handed saw. Great fun and the Brits could probably not believe what was happening!

Helium balloons with little address labels attached were released after dinner. We had two replies, one from a couple just 20miles down the road in Tewkesbury and the other one from a Belgian couple who found one of our balloons on a beach in France!

All Good Things Come In Threes…

Although we invested in a rather nice leather guestbook, we also wanted something a little different. We arranged some curly willow branches in a hurricane vase as a Wish Tree. Guests wrote wishes on to little cards and hung them from the branches. I also found this gorgeous idea of a guestbook thumbprint tree on the internet. Shane luckily is arty enough to draw a nice tree. We bought some ink pads from ebay for guests to ‘leaf’ their thumbprints and sign their name. This idea went down a storm and everybody commented on it. The finished art work is now on our wall for us to enjoy.

The Cutting Of The Cheese…

We both aren’t the biggest fans of traditional wedding cakes especially the icing. Cup cakes and muffins, individual fruit tarts and a cake buffet had all been discussed in detail, but didn’t really tickle our fancy. We finally decided on a ‘cheese cake’, basically three tiers of whole cheese wheels. Mouse Trap in Hereford helped me chose the right cheeses – it had to stack nicely. In the end the three tiers were: Little Hereford (bottom), Vignotte (middle) and a Welsh goat cheese as top tier.

This little cake top means a lot to us – it is our story! It’s now standing on our mantelpiece.

Greatest Day.

Herefordshire’s top DJ Roddy Hankins did the evening entertainment for us. We briefed him on what style of music we liked, gave him our first and last dance and some of our favourites.

After not wanting to have a first dance at all, we actually spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor together and I really enjoyed dancing with my hubby. Our last dance didn’t go to plan though, as we forgot to give Roddy the CD for it. In the end, knowing that I am a Take That/Robbie Williams fan, he played ‘Angels’ instead. Nobody minds a bit of Robbie, eh!

Untraditional Fun.

Well what can I say?! We nearly didn’t go for a photographer, just to keep our costs down… but I am so glad, we didn’t! Shane came across Gemma Williams Photography on the internet and we both fell in love with her style and attitude towards weddings straight away. We met up with her to discuss a few things and signed her up. A few weeks before the wedding we sat down for a final chat with Gemma and went through some details and ideas of what we were planning, hoping and looking for.

We believed Gemma would get us the images we wanted, the style and untraditional fun shots, which would document our special day beautifully. Due to the weather we only had a very short portrait session during the meal, when the sun came back out for a moment we went for it, Gemma ran from A to B and was so excited about finally doing all our fun and personal shots. We had a right laugh with the donkey, our wooden signs and of course our moustaches – we couldn’t stop laughing, we had such a ball.

Gemma was probably one of our best, if not the best, investments for our day… the images are exactly what we were looking for. Every single shot was cleverly taken. We love every single one of them… and I have to admit, I still look at them every single day – they just make me happy! Thank you Gemma for being such a fantastic and professional photographer and wonderful person!

Stick To What You Love.

Make it your day, make it personal. Don’t do what others tell you to do and don’t do things to make others happy. Stick to what you love, fancy and believe in. Don’t think about what others may say! Add personal and loving touches here and there, something different and something funny, to reflect the true you. Guests will highly appreciated your thoughtfulness, attention to detail and ideas – and they will love thinking back to the special day they were able to share with you.

Without the help from families and friends, we couldn’t have pulled this off. Our biggest thanks to our friends and family who helped made this day happen and made it so special. xxx

Venue Hellens Manor

Dress Art Couture

Boutique Grace Couture

Shoes BHS

Jewellery Pia

Fascinator Hat Trick

Blooms Dawn Horsted Flowers

Catering Best of Taste

Cheese cake Mouse Trap

Cake Topper Sunfish Handmade Caketops

Photogrpaher Gemma Williams Photography

That cake topper really is something else, and what about those laneterns?

A great bit of rigging there by Shane and his crew.

We talk about colour pop a lot here at Rock My Wedding, and today you have an absolutely classic example of colour pop perfection. The Rasberry and Apple zing off each other and give the whole event a fresh fruity vibe.

Thanks to Sonja and Shane for sharing this one with us.

Adam.

Confident I thought… then I had a look at the images. And it’s all there, from the Suzanne Neville dress to the Sex And The City shoes to the blooming great big red bus to the some-how-bigger-than-a-bus cake (seriously check that bad boy out!!!), it just looks like a perfect day.

Even if you discount old Mother Natures brazen display of technicolour, we are dealing with something pretty darn special here folks. To top it off, Rhiannon is a massive, massive, massive RMW fan so we’ve made her day today – just as much as she is about to make yours. In fact when she heard that her wedding was going to be featured she said:

“AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY DREAM HAS COME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

What a lovely story – everyone’s happy then! Grab a cuppa and dive in.

I should just mention there are two stars on the blog today – Steve Gerrard (star 01) was assisted by the stupendously fab Emma Case (star 02). You guys both rock.

Rustic And Relaxed.

Our wedding was Thursday 18th August 2011 at St. Margaret’s Church Great Barr and then reception at Packington Moor Farm, Lichfield. Packington was the one and only venue we looked at, the week after we got engaged! We wanted something rustic, relaxed and somewhere that looked fantastic even without all the trimmings. It is a working farm with stunning scenery, farm shop and a beautiful honeymoon and guest cottage.

I’m In Love With Suzanne Neville.

I tried on so many dresses I lost count. I had always envisaged a vintage lace gown but every time I put one on I just didn’t feel anything. I was about to order a stunningly designed Beverley Williams 1950’s dress from Honey Cole Bridal in Staffordshire, when I noticed a new dress in the window as we pulled up. It was really simple but beautifully shaped. The shop had just received the new Suzanne Neville line and needed someone to try them on (of course I obliged, would have been rude not to!) Then I fell in love… with a designer. Suzanne’s dresses have the most amazing fit of any designer I tried (and that was a lot!)

I’m not a fussy, embellishment kind of gal, so I finally settled on ‘Nobility’, a fishtailed, button backed, beautiful neck-lined gown. The added bonus was that my Nan (who has early Alzheimer’s) decided it was her favourite and it didn’t matter to me that she couldn’t remember it afterwards; I knew she helped choose it. Plus my Mom cried (added bonus).

Melon Head.

As the dress was so simple I wanted a full length veil, but refused to spend the £300 necessary to get one! Luckily, Honey Colel were having a sale and Bev, the owner, earmarked one with beautiful vintage crystals at the bottom. Now… I have a strange hang up about my head (it is physically quite large) so I tried on some head bands etc but felt really uncomfortable. Then I stumbled across a beautiful vintage hair comb from Liberty in Love and it had just the right amount of sparkle and didn’t draw attention to my melon head. SOLD.

I wore my Nan’s earrings, beautiful pearl and diamond screw ons and a stunning Topaz bracelet my Mom had bought for the day.

The Shoes That Carrie Wore.

I actually bought my shoes a whole year before my dress! I have a very unhealthy obsession with 1. Shoes and 2. Sex and the City, so it was therefore only right that my shoes were Manolo Blahnik ‘Something Blue’ like the ones Carrie wore marrying Big.

A Half Up Do.

I really wanted to look and feel like me on the day of the wedding. I don’t wear lots of make-up usually or have elaborate hair, so my hairdresser Chris from Harris And Gibbs created a half up do that was as natural as possible. Unfortunately for my hair, my dad had booked a convertible as a surprise, so a 30 min journey in the wind somewhat dishevelled my hair. But you know what? I didn’t care a bit!

My make-up was done by the genius that is Katy Messer from Make Up By Katy. She created a flawless, natural look (with no eyeliner on the bottom as I’m a crier!) and it stayed on all day and night; no touch ups required. Anyone reading this, book Katy… she is phenomenal and a damn nice lady!

Seasonal And Natural.

Jack and I are both English teachers, and as such, are swept away by romantic landscapes and nature! We both knew we wanted wild, naturally grown flowers that were in season and I stumbled across The traditional flower company, based in Uttoxeter Staffordshire when attending a wedding fair in Birmingham.

My Mom did the flowers for the church and they looked fantastic.

My Grandfathers Clock.

I am obsessed with all things Doris Day and chintz so where else would I go for Bridesmaid dresses than Vivien of Holloway? All my girls were very different shapes and sizes, but the shop caters for all ranges. My sister who was maid of honour had a flouncy purple petticoat and my other two bridesmaids (best friends) wore white petticoats underneath to give it a real 50’s shape. We had a flowergirl, Tanwen, and a Page boy, Jac who wore exactly what ‘Big Jack’ wore.

Once we worked out the cost of hiring suits it seemed a better option to just buy the suits. We got our beautiful navy suits from Slaters in Birmingham: waist coat, trousers and jacket all for under £100 each…they even did free alterations! All of the groomsmen wore pocket watches that meant something: The best man wore his grandfather’s, Jack’s dad wore his father’s, my dad wore my Gransha’s; it felt like everyone was with us.

If I Know What Love Is.

Jack wore the same suit as the groomsmen and as he loves blue we found the exact same colour tie as my shoes… woo! He wore a vintage pocket watch I’d gotten him for our first anniversary inscribed with… ‘If I know what love is, it is because of you’. He literally took my breath away as I walked down the aisle to see him. I know we are all biased with our men, but I think he is the most handsome man in the world (Johnny Depp included )

The Legend.

Our photographer Steve Gerrard is a legend. We wanted something fun, relaxed and artistic… dare I say it uber cool. It was important to us not have lots of staged shots. He was without doubt one of the best parts of the process; I urge anyone to book him. It was more like having a best friend at the wedding who happens to be a genius photographer. He even brought along his ‘fun booth’ where guests could dress up like crazy nutters and get papped. We also lucked out in being able to have Emma Case as our second photographer. I am not afraid of saying that I have since become a Steve Gerrard stalker and frequent his blog daily…

The Cake That Jacks Mom Built.

Our cake was the talking point for many of our guests and it was made by Jack’s Mom, my fabulous mother in law. She is so creative and just understood exactly what we were going for. The cake was around 4ft and contained four different cheeses, 3 different pies, a fruit cake and a whole lot of goat’s cheese! She had even surprised us on the day by baking our favourite quotes onto the side of the pies (how I’ll never know!) and even carved our initials into a piece of tree trunk to separate the layers. We served it with the Hog roast we had at night and it went down a storm!

Cut The Purse Strings.

We hired Engima String quartet to play in the church and during the drinks reception. They even wore four different Vivien of Holloway dresses! Our budget was pretty stretched by the end so we decided against a band. We really didn’t notice the absence of one as we had a fantastic DJ that kept the dance floor full late into the night.

Dead Ringer For Love.

Our first dance was a tough one. We have really eclectic taste so we decided on something that just summed us up: Meatloaf and Cher’s ‘Dead Ringer for love’ Jack is the biggest Meatloaf fan, so we just let our hair down and danced like loons.

Charity Favours.

For our favours we decided to make donations to three different charities that were close to our hearts: CRY (for my cousin Gareth who died suddenly at 21), STROKE UK (for my Dad’s twin sister, who had passed away a couple of years previously and Macmillan for my Gransha. Everyone received charity badges for the various charities.

Anyone For Tea?

In terms of décor we wanted to re-create an English tea party. I am not a fan of three course meals so we had a starter, then traditional afternoon tea all served on Vintage china which we hired from our florist. We had sugar cubes with pink/red hearts for the vintage sugar bowls, tiered cake stands etc and I bought a giant pack of cardboard spoons that we placed on the teacup and saucer which had trivia questions on it to break the ice. In terms of food, Packington really outdid themselves; it looked like the Ritz!

For our table plan, Jack and his Dad created a replica blackboard and hung it with our school ties. All the names were written in chalk and we even found a wooden apple for teacher’s pet! We also had an amazing sweet bar, also done by the mother in law, which went down well with our Rugby playing guests for some reason!

Our Day, Our Way.

We tried to add little extras to the wedding to reflect what we love. Rock my Wedding played a huge part in the inspiration of these (every morning I was logged onto RMW by 9am… more stalkerish tendencies… meeep)

To all other brides… It’s so easy to get caught up in the trivia of a wedding, when all that really matters are that the people who love you, are with you for that one perfect day and where imperfection only makes it more ‘you’. Yes, my hair went crazy and yes, I’m sure I was a sweaty mess on the dance floor, but I wouldn’t swap it for anything in the world. It was our day, our way.

Venue Packington Moor Farm

Dress Suzanne Neville

Accessories Liberty in Love

Boutique Honey Cole Bridal

Shoes Manolo Blahnik

Make-up Make Up By Katy

Hair Harris And Gibbs

Blooms The traditional flower company

Maids Vivien of Holloway

Photography Steve Gerrard with Emma Case

Quartet Engima String quartet

I make no apologies for the length of this real wedding report – there was no way that you could possibly miss out on this trove of pretty.

Those maid dresses are amazing, the bouquets are a feast of colour, and that little RMW Love Bug that makes an appearance is spot on too…

Thank you to Steve Gerrard and Emma Case for being super stars, and thanks to Rhiannon and Jack for letting us share their big day, their big bus and their big darn cake.

Adam.

Well prepare for some immense cuteness this afternoon folks as what with having a gorgeous one-year-old Max, Sara and Ali have made sure their day was about all ages. And as well as that they also had a brilliant guest book idea (feel free to steal – I would), beautiful D.I.Y blooms and some serious giant yellow balloon action.

Oh and the cake. Who doesn’t love a cake with lego?

All of the pretty images are courtesy of Mark Osborne.

Slightly Fancy

I did my own make up, though I went for a consultation at Bobbi Brown a few weeks beforehand, I highly recommend their long lasting makeup – the mascara and gel eyeliner did not budge even with gallons of tears. My hair was up, but just pinned the way I would on any slightly fancy day, my main aim was to be totally me, the me that Ali asked to marry, so no backcombing here. A local hair and makeup artist, Rachel Goddard was recommended to me, and she was a wonderful calming spirit to have around during the morning.

Feathers And Frippery

I met Ali at a wedding 5 years ago, and I was wearing a black feathered headpiece made by a friend, Bernadette Winter. When she was designing and making it for me, we decided it was totally Hitchcock. When Ali first spoke to me at that wedding, he said ‘nice hat, very hitchcock’ . And the rest was history…

So it seemed only right that I should ask Bernadette to make a bridal version of the original hairpiece. Based on one vague email and a couple of ‘idea’ pictures, 6 weeks later I received the most exquisite hairpiece in the post, made from ivory feathers and vintage jewellery and buttons. It was the perfect contrast to my plain dress.

Like A Glove

I wore pearl drop earrings by Glint and my Dad also gave me a beautiful moonstone bracelet just before he walked me down the aisle, which was totally magical.

I had my son Max in October 2010, so wasn’t ready to shop for a dress until April 2011, when I could just about squeeze into a ‘normal’ bra! When I got round to going to a shop, I was happily clueless as to how long it takes to get a wedding dress, but quickly put to rights by the sales assistants who pretty much all informed me that I wouldn’t be able to order anything for a September wedding, and would have to have a sample dress. That was all very well, but I’d seen a dress on ebay by Sarah Arnett (the ‘Claudine’) which I was pondering over, and decided to take a risk and spend a few hundred pounds on a dress I’d never seen in real life, unfortunately Sarah Arnett is no longer making bridal gowns so there was no chance of trying one on elsewhere. Ultimately, the dress arrived, it fit me like a glove, was made from miles of beautiful ivory silk and was everything I was hoping for. It felt good re-loving a dress from another wedding, and let’s just say I made a substantial (around £1400) saving on the original price of the dress.

Stylish Colour

My 4 bridesmaids are all very stylish women. Add that to the fact that they were in 3 different countries, had entirely different colouring and body shape (including one being 8 months pregnant), and I knew there was no way I could decide what these girls should wear. Ali and I had decided long ago that there was no colour theme, more an all-colour theme (I write a blog, colourlovingmother.blogspot.com, so I couldn’t exactly stick with one…) So I sent my lovely ladies a spec, that they should select dresses that weren’t full length, and that were part of a palette of jewel colours, and I left them to fend for themselves. This turned out perfectly, as we ended up with vintage, ebay and personalized, totally styled the way they were comfortable, and it turned out that the colours worked brilliantly together.

I’m not a heels girl and I wasn’t about to try and survive them on the one day of my life that I wanted to be comfortable. So I picked up a pair of flat gold Grecian style sandals in a sale a few weeks before. I also ordered a bespoke pair of bright yellow converse high tops, with ‘Mrs C 030911’ embroidered on the side, which I changed into when the sandals got too much (seriously, the flattest sandals in the world still hurt me after a while, I think I missed out on the shoe gene…)

Like Father Like Son

Ali bought a black 3 piece suit from Mr Start in Shoreditch, they make beautiful quality suits and the waistcoat took it a notch even further from your everyday work suit. His shirt and tie were from Paul Smith: we loved the contrast of the floral shirt with the striped tie. I also managed to get our son Max a floral shirt on eBay, perfect to match his Dad!

D.I.Y Blooms

It never occurred to me that I should use a professional florist. I totally admire their skill, but I just wanted to do my own, that was part of the fun to me. So my Dad and one of my bridesmaids Michelle came with me to New Covent Garden Market at stupid-o-clock on the Thursday morning before the wedding. I had an idea of the types of flowers I wanted, the brightest colours, but all from an English garden. I had been down to the market a week before to make sure they had what I was looking for. It was so much fun stacking up a massive pile of the best blooms, including small sunflowers, delphinium, pink ranunculus, and centifolia roses – my alternative to peonies, which I’d wanted, but were totally out of season. I managed to get a bunch of craspedia (billy buttons) from a local florist who ordered them in for me, the happy yellow balls echoed the round yellow balloon theme that featured in our invites, on our wedding website and in real life at the wedding. My bridesmaids, my parents, and I did all of the flower arrangements on tables and around the barn, in jars that we’d collected all year. The chap’s buttonholes were made up of billy buttons and ranunculus, while the bridesmaids bouquets were a combination of pink and purple hydrangea – so simple, one or two heads makes an instant bouquet! My bouquet had the hydrangea, roses, ranunculus, thistles (for our Scottish contingent), billy buttons and some daisies. My sister came up trumps remembering all her skills from a week’s work experience in a florist at school, and arranged, wired and bound all of the bouquets and buttonholes.

Just Great Pictures

So many people call themselves ’wedding photographers’ and seemed to have such varying levels of quality that I was concerned I wouldn’t find someone. However, Mark Osborne’s site showed that he was simply a very good photographer, I loved his colour balance and his composition, and the fact there was no messing, just great pictures. He and his girlfriend Jo were wonderful on the day, they were in control enough to get all the shots they needed, without being pushy – it must be so tough making sure you’re covering all of a brides possible expectations. But the majority of the day they were so discreet, some of the pictures that have come out were at brilliant angles where we had no idea where they were.

Plenty Of Cake

We decided that having one cake wasn’t really what we wanted, and that we would have tea and cake as our dessert (tea is so important to us that Ali promised to make me tea every day in his vows). So I put a call out to our closest cake-making friends and relatives, to ask them to make us something. Everyone did us proud, the cake table looked utterly amazing, with a stack of gingerbread, brilliant brownies, and amazing apple cake amongst others. Ali’s Auntie and Mum did us a surprise cake that featured tiny modeled icing elements of different parts of our life. It was such a treat to have something so personal that took so much time, no-one could cut it at the wedding, it was way too impressive! (tasted fab too, when we eventually ate it…)

Pretty Prints

I wanted to get my love of colour onto the tables, so I’d known for a while that I wanted multicoloured napkins as favours. I bought fabric by Amy Butler and Heather Bailey, as well as other offcuts, and was planning on making them myself, but my wondrous mum stepped in and whipped up enough napkins for everyone. We put the name-tags on luggage tags tied around the napkins, and included a poem with instructions for people to take them away and reuse them.

Something Borrowed

We borrowed lengths and lengths of bunting from a friend, which initially I was afraid would be overkill, but it looked fab and totally in keeping with the multicoloured patterns that reigned elsewhere. I bought vintage floral sheets to use as tablecloths and we used remnants from the napkin-making to decorate the jars that we filled with flowers. We also included individual big yellow balloons dotted around, as I’d designed a logo that featured a family of robots carrying yellow balloons, which appeared on our stationery and the wedding cake. The poms we had in the bar tent were recycled from a wedding a couple of weeks earlier who had left them for us, we just puffed them up again and moved them to where we wanted them.

A Perfect Ceremony

The most special part of the day was the wedding itself. You’d think that was obvious, but we had so many comments afterwards about how the ceremony was the ‘best bit’, when people are sometimes used to sitting through a service in order to get to the cake (and wine). The humanist celebrant we used, Kevin Murphy, made the ceremony immensely personal, and encouraged us to write our own vows. It just meant that every part of the whole standing-up-in-front-of-everyone-and-making-a-promise thing felt totally honest, these were promises we could keep because they were all about us and were our words.

..And The Perfect Venue

Rumbolds Farm in West Sussex was the only venue we looked at, it ticked all our boxes and Susie who owns the farm was wonderfully helpful and flexible to our needs. We wanted to get married outside in a humanist ceremony, and the farm had a choice of areas we could use. In the end we decided against doing it next to the lake in a wood as we didn’t want to cause any stress at all for guests not too firm on their feet. The lawn in the garden was blooming and perfect, and the bridal suite was divine!

Rockability

We had the rockabilly band ‘Derriere’ play in the evening, we were worried as we’d just found them online and taken a risk that they would do a good show. I’m a singer and Ali’s a DJ so the music meant alot to us, we were so lucky, they were phenomenal. Everyone danced from the moment they began and demanded an encore. I don’t think they were used to that kind of reaction from a wedding crowd. After the band our friend Toby flexed his considerable DJ-ing muscle and kept us all dancing until it was time to go down to the bottom field for a bonfire.

Do It Your Way

I would recommend to every bride and groom to be totally confident about doing things your way. People weren’t sure when I said I wanted to walk in to everyone playing kazoos – the bridesmaids led them in ‘You are my sunshine’ (or something approximating it). When we were deciding the music, I just couldn’t think of any song more fitting, and as we were getting married outside, I wasn’t sure of having a recording playing. Kazoos were the answer, it set the scene for the joy of the occasion, and essentially, I didn’t care if anyone thought it was a batty idea, it made me happy.

Do it your way and enjoy every minute, you don’t have to do everything the magazines and blogs say, it’s your day and your budget, spend it on the things that really matter to you.

Brides Jewellery – Glint

Brides Headpiece – Bernadette Winter

Venue – Rumbolds Farm

Photographer – Mark Osborne

Blooms – D.I.Y

And did I mention the shoes? how cool were they?

And the stationery… I vote more couples should have a W-day logo

Big All Ages Love

Charlotte xxx

That crazily talented chap Mister Phill shot my favourite wedding of last year, so what better way to start this year than with another tremendous Mister Phill affair? This time he is shooting with Nichola Rogers, and we find ourselves in the beautiful countryside setting of Oxfordshire.

Our first newly weds of the new year are Hannah and Damian, I’m going to pass you over to Hannah right now.

A Rare Moment.

We got married at Friars Court, Clanfield in September 2011. We had seen a few wedding venues but wanted somewhere that reflected what we wanted from our day – a place that was personal, informal and intimate. We instantly fell in love with Friars Court, a beautiful 17th-century stone farmhouse with gorgeous, sprawling gardens surrounded by a moat in the Oxfordshire countryside. It wasn’t just its rustic beauty that attracted us, but the potential to make it unique and special to us.

We were aware that we would be spending a long time in one place, as we had both our ceremony and reception at Friars Court, so we made full use of the venue, emerging from the house to confetti and cheers, having games and drinks on the lawns, and using the marquee and cosy Garden Room as indoor areas in the evening. With so much scope for personalising and transforming we initially felt a little overwhelmed by the task of planning the day, but this helped us to focus on the aspects that were important to us – being creative, surprising our guests, and having a rare moment of being centre of attention as a couple – and doing it all together definitely made it even more meaningful and memorable!

Understated.

I had lots of fun trying on many different dresses – from big meringues to slinky, sparkly gowns – dresses that I knew wouldn’t suit me and I never intended to wear! It was a lot harder to make a serious choice, especially for someone who is renowned for her inability to make decisions – but I did know I wanted to wear something that I’d feel comfortable in and that reflected my character. So, I looked for dresses that were understated, slightly different to the norm, and subtly elegant.

Friends and family recommended bridal shops and I browsed online, looking both in London and back where I grew up in Bucks. The experience of finding a dress was also important to me – I wanted to enjoy this once in a lifetime shopping trip with my mum and sister, so the decision I made was also influenced by where I looked. Mirror Mirror, with shops in Angel and Crouch End – provided really fantastic, personal service helping me to think about the style of my wedding from atmosphere to accessories. In the end (after trying on numerous lace dresses!), I went for a simple but beautifully-fitted chiffon dress, Abaco by Pronovias. I loved the elegant neckline and the natural feel to it, but it was my mum’s reaction that really let me know it was ‘the one’!

Something Borrowed.

As much as I didn’t have a clear idea of how I wanted to look, I strongly held on to what I knew I didn’t want – anything fussy, glitzy or bling! I had intended to just wear a few fresh flowers in my hair, but the dress needed a veil. I chose to wear the veil my mum wore at her wedding (cut and simplified to one long length at the base of my neck), and was very happy – both with the final look and the sentiment of wearing something given to you by someone you love. On that note… I also wore a pair of pearl earrings that my husband-to-be had given me for my birthday a few days before our wedding.

The Footwear Challenge.

Unfortunately, I’m not a shoe fan so finding wedding shoes that both looked good, felt good and allowed me to clamber over a bridge and down the grass aisle was quite a challenge! I went for classic Rainbow kitten heels in Ivory – and can now dye them green to match the grass stains I acquired! They didn’t last all night though, and I happily changed into a pair of cream flip-flops when all that mattered was being on the dancefloor with my friends.

Natural And Simple.

I was originally planning to do my own make-up, but was very happy to hand over to someone with far more expertise than me! Amanda Head is a professional stylist and make-up artist who has recently set-up independently, and offers excellent service and value for money.

She travelled to our hotel on the morning of the wedding to make everyone from my sister to my grandma looked beautiful, and was a very patient and reassuring presence – despite having glandular fever! I had a hair and make-up trial a few weeks before the wedding and Amanda listened to my request to stay natural and simple, whilst letting me know clearly what would work and what definitely wouldn’t! For my make-up she used light, rosy colours, that I wouldn’t have thought of trying, but that made me look fresh and radiant. My hair was pinned back in low, loose curls with a few cream roses at each side.

The Blooms.

There are so many options, from the flowers themselves, to the colours, arrangements and styles, it was hard to know where to begin. Luckily we had Cindy Warne, a local florist who also got married at Friars Court, to help us decide. She was able to let us know what worked well at the venue, whilst encouraging us to let her know what we wanted.

We didn’t want to spend a fortune on flowers and didn’t feel we needed to, given we got married in a garden, but we did want to use flowers as centerpieces on tables and bring the outdoors inside to decorate our marquee for the reception. Cindy was brilliant in providing us with cut flowers and foliage to arrange ourselves on the day (well, my very lovely friends and family arranged on the day!) Small posies of flowers in jam-jars were placed in birdcages, and a neighbour’s generous offering of ivy cut the day before to drape around the cages finished the look.

Traditional Tails.

Choosing the suits was probably one of the easiest and quickest decisions we made (such a contrast to choosing a wedding dress!) We both liked traditional tails in charcoal grey; Damian wore an ivory waistcoat and cravat and his best men wore grey waistcoats with green cravats, hiring everything from Moss Bros.

My lovely little sister was the only person I needed beside me as a bridesmaid, and this made choosing her dress a far easier task as we could focus on what she liked and suited her. Green was an obvious choice, in-keeping with the setting and feel of our garden wedding, and she looked stunning in strapless Grecian-style chiffon dress from Dessy. We used this green as a central colour to match to flowers, decorations and the men’s cravats.

Legendary Status.

Mister Phill is now a bit of a legend amongst our friends… he was Damian’s lecturer in cinematography at university, and is now a renowned photographer with a big business in ‘ex-students’ weddings that is rapidly expanding! It was lovely to already have a connection to someone who will share the most intimate moments of your day; however, Phill took the time to get to know us as a couple, meeting us for a pre-wedding photo ‘de-sensitisation’ shoot! Over breakfast, he asked us not just about our hopes for the wedding, but also about our interests, characters and lives together. This thoughtfulness and understanding translates through his photos, which provide not just beautiful images of the wedding, but document the story and process of the day – from solitary moments of morning nervousness, to the uninhibited joy on the dancefloor at the end of the night!

Phill was assisted by Nichola Rogers providing us with another perspective of the day and making choosing photos to print a very hard task! Having two photographers made it possible to record both Damian and I getting ready; Phill and Nicola synchronized their cameras so we could literally watch the day’s events unfold simultaneously – a really fascinating insight into that final morning!

Double Trouble.

The wedding cake was quite far down on our list of priorities, although we were looking forward to making decisions about the flavours!! We were very lucky as one of our best friends, Nyk Huxley, just so happens to be a patisserie-chef-in-training, and offered to make our cake as a wedding present! She did a fantastic job making us a beautiful, three-tiered, white-iced glory of a cake… comprising vanilla sponge, carrot and walnut cake, and a crowning tier of fruit cake – delicious! She also provided us with and constructed a phenomenal cheese tower, which was cut and eaten in the evening… who says you can’t have your (two) cakes and eat them?!

Strings Attached.

We looked into lots of different options for music and entertainment, and were overwhelmed by the number of choices! In the end we asked a string quartet from Oxford University to play during the wedding and drinks reception. They were absolutely wonderful, both in the lead-up to the wedding and on the day, arranging the songs we wanted during the ceremony and playing a mix of modern and classical music in the gardens. A beautiful accompaniment to the serenity of the day!

We wanted the evening entertainment to have a different feel, reflecting the atmosphere in the marquee as we focused on celebrating with friends and family. We had heard The Wedding Smashers DJ at a number of events before, and liked their energy and passion, as well as their old-school sounds! We gave them a playlist of music we enjoyed, but wanted them to do what they do best by judging the atmosphere and shaping the mood of the night – we were not disappointed! From dancing-with-dad cheesiness to a full-on mash-up, some of our greatest memories are dancing with our friends and family after the happiest day of our lives!

A Song that Defines You.

Damian and I have a few meaningful, yet highly embarrassing songs that punctuate our relationship over the last ten years – but none that we were willing to use for our first dance! It seemed like a big decision to make – a song that defines you as a couple – and we admittedly left it till the last minute to pick a song! However, we needn’t have worried…. the song that we did choose, ‘Tonight, Tonight’ by The Smashing Pumpkins, fitted the moment perfectly reminding us of growing up together, enjoying love and life, and not caring what anyone else thought!

Home Made Favours.

Practically we didn’t want to spend lots of money on a token gift, and it felt more important to spend time and effort creating something that we enjoyed and that would make our guests smile. Simple… we love food! We made jars of caramelised red onion chutney, and apple and tarragon jelly, which fitted with the English country-garden feel of our wedding and made for a tasty reminder of the day!

Rustic Touches.

We decorated the venue ourselves, with the help of some very special friends, who helped us to add small, but personal touches to our wedding… home-made bunting, wicker hearts hanging from ribbon in the trees, a trellis of photos of our adventures together, and a ‘wish-tree’ on which to hang our wedding wishes! Jeffrey, from Friars Court, was also fantastic in helping us transform his venue into our own creation, whilst also providing endless reassurance and encouragement throughout the process.

Compromise And Sacrafice.

Organising a wedding was far more stressful than I anticipated, but this reflected how much it meant to us to have a day that everyone we cared about enjoyed and remembered us by. We quickly learnt that not everyone shares your ideas or expectations of the day, and whilst some compromise and sacrifice is inevitable (weddings are magical – your budget, for example, will disappear rapidly!), it is really important to hold on to what is important to you. For us, it was about the atmosphere and creativity of the day, rather than the quality or finish – although making things and seeing the effect when they all come together was really enjoyable!

Of everything that we encountered, the most important part of the wedding for me was planning it with my husband – not only did I learn a few new things about him along the way (he is scarily skilled with a sewing machine!), but it reminded me of all the reasons we chose to get married!

Venue Friars Court, Clanfield

Boutique Mirror Mirror

Dress Abaco by Pronovias

Shoes Rainbow Club

Hair and Make-up Amanda Head

Flowers Cindy Warne

Photography Mister Phill and Nichola Rogers

DJ The Wedding Smashers

A good start to the year no?

There are lots of nice little home made pieces of inspiration here to help you lot kick start a super creative 2012. We have got a perfect outdoor venue which helps remind me that I love England as I sit here in the dark January drizzle and of course some of the most perfect photography in Weddingdom.

Hannah mentions at the end there that the most important thing for her was being able to plan every step of the way with Damian, who was involved from the start. I’d loved to have seen a little behind the scenes shot of our groom sat slaving over the old Singer… I guess sometimes Mister Phill doesn’t get every shot!

Adam.

One of the signs I appreciate the most is the promise of bright and colourful blooms, daffodils, crocuses, tulips….. all of which George used for W-day. Officially one of my favourite bouquets of 2011.

Oh and clearly now everyone needs a swing. And a cake with ladybirds on it.

All of the pretty images are courtesy of Rosie Parsons.

An Incredible Experience

The dress was from “Cocoa Couture” in Cheltenham, designed and made by Cara Wagstaffe. My brother’s girlfriend made me an appointment way before I was even thinking of getting the dress. We had a long engagement as I had a one year job in Canada so when Lottie said she had booked me in for an appointment just over a year before the wedding I thought she was mad. I had no intention of getting The Dress when I went in. Cara and her assistant listened to what style of wedding we were having and my thoughts on the dress (there weren’t many, except that I wanted straps!). They pulled out one with an empire line for me to try on. I would never have picked it out from the hanger but it was stunning on – very ‘Jane Austen’, which I liked.

The dress I tried on was a prototype, and over the next year Cara made one to my exact measurements. I even got to pick the fabric. It was incredible.

A Sense Of History

I really wanted an antique lace veil – when else will I ever get a chance to wear a veil again! I’m drawn to antiques for their sense of history. When I first tried the dress on Cara at “Cocoa Couture” leant me an antique cathedral length lace veil to get the full effect. In fact, the dress with the veil was what completely convinced me this was the dress. Cara hired us the veil for the wedding day.

I cannot walk in heels. I wanted to be able to dance all night. After much searching on the internet I ordered some salsa dancing shoes with a Cuban (small) heel in ivory satin. Dancing shoes are great as they are designed to be comfortable, you can often choose which heel height you want, and you can order most in ivory satin. They do take a while to arrive though so order well in advance! On the day they were really comfortable and pretty.

A Spring Palette

We didn’t want everything to be too “matched” but our loose colour scheme was royal blue and yellow. The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Dessy and they call the colour “electric blue”.

We hired the groomsmens’ attire from the same place as the groom, another small local business: “Nicholas Smith formal suit hire” in Worcester. They were the only suit hire place we could find where you could actually try the suit on in the size you would have on the day. The guys wore dark grey morning suits and ivory waistcoats. They wore shirts with a normal collar and normal ties as Mike is not a fan of the crevatte or the wing collar. It looked really smart. The ties and handkerchiefs were ordered in the same fabric as the bridesmaids from Dessy.

My Favourite Thing

Sophie Chamings based in Cheltenham, did the makeup for myself, my bridesmaids and my mum. None of us wear much make up so we wanted a natural look, but Sophie was also very good at persuading us to go strong enough for it to look good in the photographs. Unfortunately I forgot all of my touch-up makeup so I am pretty shiny in the evening photos after the Ceilidh!

I was the only one with an updo. I went for a side chignon. I didn’t want to look too severe or have my hair scraped back, and I wanted a vintagy look. My hair was probably my favourite thing about the look –it really felt special.

The First Signs

Our florist was another local -Jo Hiorns of “Simply Flowers at Aston Cross”. Jo is absolutely lovely and we were so pleased with the flowers. We didn’t want anything formal, we emphasized that we’d like the flowers to look almost unarranged. We wanted seasonal, meadowy flowers. We went for deep blues and yellows as I wanted the wedding to be bright and yellow and blue are opposites on the colour wheel.

I’m not sure what the names of all the flowers Jo used were, but she definitely used Irises! I loved the flowers…

Capturing The Light

Our photographer was Rosie Parsons . As soon as I saw the images on Rosie’s website I was convinced she was the one for us. We wanted relaxed documentary footage. I wanted someone who could capture the personality of us, our guests, and our wedding without lots of formal shots. You can also see the quality of Rosie’s images in terms of the crisp focus and great quality of light she captures. When we met her, she was so incredibly nice that we had no doubt she was our photographer.

Lady Cake

I am intolerant to wheat, so cake was an issue. My mum is a keen baker and she had always said she would make me a wheat free cake for the wedding. She did a fantastic job and the cake was delicious! We had traditional fruit cake. Mum found a local cake maker who would decorate the cake for us. The cake was mum’s domain, she designed it in collaboration with Lucy James at “Cracking Cakes”. Lucy executed and interpreted mum’s ideas brilliantly.

They incorporated the celtic pattern I had used on the invitations, and added some ladybirds –this was a surprise and related to an anecdote my dad told in his speech.

A Whole Lot Of Talent

We had a Ceilidh performed by “Between The Acts”, followed by a disco DJ’d by a friend.

One thing that made our wedding special was the help we got from family and friends: my brother’s tablecentres, and MCing, a pigroast from Mike’s uncle, the cake made by my mum, the bunting erected by a host of friends and siblings, the jamjars(!) borrowed from villagers, and the use of the lawn of the ex-vicarage following the ceremony, to name just a few of the ways people helped. We also used local small businesses as much as possible and this made it feel like a real community event. We met so many nice people that way too.

Photographer – Rosie Parsons

Brides Gown – Cocoa Couture

Cake – Cracking Cakes

Maids Dresses – Dessy

Blooms – Simply Flowers at Aston Cross

Ceilidh – Between The Acts

Table Centres – Sticks and Stone

Those table name cards? so easy breezy yet effective. Simply print of your chosen name in a fancy font, print off and glue to a card covered in pretty wallpaper…. lovely.

Anyone else having a yellow and blue colour scheme or getting married in the Spring?

Do tell.

Big Only A Few Months Away Love

Charlotte xxx

They married on September 24th 2011. The ceremony was at St James the Less Church in Dorney and the reception was in a field at the back of Helen’s parents house. The eye candy today is the fine work of Assassynation.

The Biggest In The Shop.

My dress was Benjamin Roberts 2058a, I knew I wanted a lace dress but thought I’d have a smaller dress due to my reception being in a field however I ended up falling in love with the biggest dress in the shop! That’s probably why the bottom is all black and torn now!! I ended up buying it from another bride off Ebay who had fallen pregnant so wouldn’t be able to wear it for their day.

I also wore a lace shrug which I bought very last minute from The Wedding Warehouse in Ascot which went perfectly with the dress.

As Pretty As A Princess.

I didn’t think I’d have a veil but the girl I bought my dress off gave me a veil with it as it matched the dress and I’m so glad I did as I felt like a princess! I wore the Tiffany necklace James bought us for our 1 year anniversary and a bracelet of his Mum’s which was my something borrowed!

Dancing Shoes.

I don’t do heels and as my reception was also in a field I wasn’t about to start! I ended up buying embellished ivory pumps from Barrats of all places! They were so comfy and perfect for dancing the night away.

Keeping It Simple.

I decided early on I would do my own hair and make-up not only to keep costs down so we could spend on more important things (alcohol and food!) I knew I wanted to keep it simple as our day was quite relaxed and simple. My bridesmaids and flower girl were on hand to make sure I looked my best.

Sprigs And Plumes.

Our colours were sage and lavender so I decided I wanted a bridal bouquet purely of lavender sprigs and I wanted the bridesmaids to have plumes of babies breath as it looks so romantic and simple. The buttonholes were sprigs of lavender and babies breath and looked so natural like everyone had just picked them fresh out of the ground on the way in! The bouquets and buttonholes were made by Simply Flowers a mobile florist.

I made the table centres myself, I didn’t want massive fussy floral displays as that’s not our style so I filled some cream planters from Ikea with some purple bedding plants.

Searching For Sage.

From the word go I wanted my Bridesmaids in sage green, finding suitable dresses in this colour ended up being a nightmare! Coast did a full length and short length sage dress but they were just out of my price range. I very nearly gave up on my colour choice when I found the perfect dresses in Linea at House of Fraser. The little shrugs were in Wallis. The flower girl dress was from Next and her headband from Monsoon, I wanted her dress to be similar to my own and it was perfect with the tulle and flower belt.

The Grooms choice.

I left the Groomsmen completely up to James. He wanted to be reasonably casual, vintage style and decided early on not to have a jacket. He found the prefect grey waistcoat and matching trousers in Topman which he bought for himself and his two best men. The best men wore them with a pale blue shirt and lavender skinny tie. The page boys wore similar waistcoat and trousers from Next.

Relaxed and Unfussy.

James wore the same waistcoat and trousers as the best men but with a lavender coloured cravat. James finished his outfit off with wrist accessories and a pocket watch. I loved how casual yet smart he looked, the entire outfit was so his style, especially the rolled sleeves and wrist accessories! I loved how unfussy our outfits were as we’re such relaxed people anyway.

Beautifully Captured.

Our photographer was Assassynation and I found her through another bride’s wedding report, the style was exactly what were were looking for, relaxed, fun and incredibly arty. We knew she’d be able to perfectly capture the relaxed feel of our day and of us as a couple. I also knew she had a great eye for details and as I was making a lot of things myself I knew she’s capture them beautifully!

We had massively high hopes for the photos as sassy is super talented and we were not disappointed. Her photos are beautifully shot and really show what a beautiful day it was emotionally as well as aesthetically.

Unfussy And Delicious.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times that we are a relaxed couple! Well for that reason we wanted a cake that was unfussy and delicious but still a little different. We decided on a 3 tier Victoria Sponge as it ticked every box and it fitted perfectly in with the style of our day. It was also absolutely divine! It was made by a local cake maker Ann from Cakes Unlimited.

Talented Friends.

All our entertainment was provided for us by our friends. We had one of our friends play guitar and sing in the church whilst we signed the register, two more of our friends played guitar and sang songs for us to dance too including our impromptu ‘First Dance’ We were adamant we wouldn’t do a first dance, it just wasn’t our thing to slow dance to love songs however we ended up having a first dance purely as we were the first ones up on the dance floor when our friends started playing! It was the White Stripes’ song Hotel Yorba!. Then we had a friend who DJ’s finish the night off and get everyone up on the dance floor.

Pins For Favours.

Our favours were so personal to us. James battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year which is a cancer of the lymphatic system. We decided to buy their charity pins for each of our guests to help fund research into the disease. I made up little cards to go with them all explaining the charity, what they do and a bit of information about the disease such as it’s the most common cancer in under 30’s.

For the children we did goody bags with colouring books, bubbles and curly straws to keep them happy!

A Mix Of Influence.

Our décor was a mix of country garden party with a little Indian theme running through as we love India and got engaged in Udaipur in Rajasthan and honeymooned in Kerala and Mumbai. The country garden theme was in the ivy running up the marquee, the bunting, haystack seating areas and the location right in the middle of a farmer’s field! The Indian theme was in the table names and signs and the table plan.

I wanted hessian runners on the tables to keep the look rustic and casual and they looked perfect with the ivory linen and white washed chiavari chairs. I bought the hessian from ebay and my mother in law kindly hemmed the hessian for me for all the tables.

We Did It All!

Our wedding was so special to us because we did it all ourselves. As we were holding the reception in a farmer’s field at my parents house we had to sort out every aspect of the day from food and alcohol to toilets! The run up to the wedding was stressful trying to organise delivery and installation of all aspects and at times we wished we’d just gone to a hotel but on the day when it all came together and watching our guests having fun and relaxing on our hale bales we knew we’d made the right decision.

My parents have had their house since the 60’s so I grew up there and it was such a lovely feeling to have my reception there with all my and my families past happy memories mixing in with the ones being made and had right there.

Delegate.

My advice to other brides particularly those who are doing it all themselves is delegate on the run up to the wedding so you’re not doing it all yourself and then on the day if anything happens or comes up assign someone else to deal with it and then forget about it. The toilets stopped working halfway through the meal and were starting to block up, there is no way we were going to be sorting out blocked toilets on our wedding day so we asked my dad to sort it out and then we got back to socialising with our friends and enjoying the evening and the toilets were sorted out in 10 minutes.

Dress Benjamin Roberts

Lace shrug The Wedding Warehouse

Necklace Tiffany

Shoes Barrats

Maids Linea at House of Fraser

Photography Assassynation

Cake Cakes Unlimited

It. Just. Looks. Like. FUN.

Clearly they didn’t spend a million pounds on it, we have here a dress bought off of ebay, high street fashion galore and a wedding reception based at home (ok a ruddy great field near home). But it looks a million dollars.

I’m not sure what the exchange rate is at the moment but I reckon that’s pretty good going.

Adam.

Admittedly a lot of the time they are… but I saw one a few weeks back (The one where they ended up with Posh and Becks thrones… and the groom swore blind that they weren’t tacky) and at one point the groom decided that the venue was going to be a farm. Well, suffice to say, he got absolutely slated by the narrator for that decision, but I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one sat at home (shouting at the telly) who was of the opinion that a wedding on a farm sounds really really cool.

Our couple today certainly agree with me, after a church wedding at St. Matthews in Rowde the party kicked off at Chris’s parent’s farm. Chris, by the way, is dashing the groom. Christiane is the beautiful bride, and Rachel Hudson was the lady with the lens. Kate Hassen was second shooter.

A Fairytale Come True.

A split-second moment in the Disney movie ‘Fantasia’; Two little girls watched wide-eyed as a beautiful centaur (half woman, half horse) looked back over her shoulder and kicked back her long, elegant, rose-strewn tail with one elegant hoof- and the dream was born. Looking for a dress that was a cross between a centaur’s rose-strewn tail and a flower fairy’s gown (another childhood dream) was no mean feat, but my sister knew exactly what I wanted, and with the wonderful help of Anna, at Anna Mcdonald Bridal Gallery in Thame (a beautiful, quiet haven from the stress of choosing ‘the dress’) and her dressmaker Sue, we created it!
Anna helped me to select my gorgeous Paloma Blanca gown, and after ordering it (with extra tail length of course) Sue set to work on adding the 40 metres of tulle to give it that dreamy, creamy, fairylike look. My sister and I selected beautiful fake flowers and I arranged them into clusters for Sue to attach at the hips and strewn down the train. I loved my dress to bits, and kicked it back all day long!

The Woodland Fairy.

I opted for a garland crown of flowers for my hair, rather than a veil or tiara, as it felt a softer look, more likely to fit in with my woodland fairy theme, and my dreamy dress.

Shoes For A Pound.

Chris and I had been traveling for a year together when he proposed to me in Vietnam. By the time we got to India in march, my thoughts were all of wedding plans! We managed to scoop my bridal shoes (black Indian slippers with pale gold embroidery) for about a pound! Bargain! I was so nervous about tripping up walking down the aisle though, that at the last moment in the church porch I kicked them off and walked down the aisle barefoot to be married. No-one could tell under all that tulle anyway! I slipped them back on again as we left the church.

Go And See The HeadMaster.

We had our hair done at headmasters in Bath. Natascha, my hairdresser, was very patient with my many changes of mind, and we finally decided that with the flower garland, it would be best to have simple, big, loose curls for me (which she did beautifully) and half-up curls for my beautiful bridesmaids.

Dark Eyes.

A good friend, Jamie-lee o’Brien and her assistant Nicci Tanswell came to do our make up. I didn’t want my whole face to look too heavily made up, but I did want to have dark eye make-up as a contrast to that big white dress and all the pale flowers in my hair. Jamie-lee was wonderful, she and Nicci did a fantastic job of everyone’s make up and I felt beautiful!

Down On The Farm.

I am a florist, so for me the flowers were one of the most important parts of the day. I had a berries and blush woodland theme, and I wanted the inside of the marquee to feel green and leafy. We gathered blackberries, hops, elderflower berries, branches of late summer apples and all kinds of branches of leafy green foliage from all around the hedgerows on the farm, and I bought hundreds of the creamiest of pale pink and white heavily scented White o’hara roses, bombastic spray roses and quicksand roses, along with white ranunculus, stocks and scabious. To create a bit of height I arranged tall bottles with branches of apples, blackberries and hawthorn from around the farm along the tables amongst overflowing bowls of roses and fruit, and Chris and the boys even dragged a few small trees into the marquee to give it that woodlandy feel. In the Church I decorated the porch with loads of farm foliage and some clusters of roses, with long branches of berries and fruit overhanging. Inside the church I placed two large urns overflowing with flowers, berries and fruit at the top of the aisle, and tied flowery sheafs on the pew ends.

I had two good florist friends to help me who were both fabulous in their dedication to my vision for the day!

Grey Champagne.

Chris had a best man and five ushers. All the groomsmen wore their own grey suits, and my two nephews who were pageboys had little grey three piece suits. All of them wore matching champagne coloured ties. Chris had his grey three-piece suit made in Vietnam, in the town where he had proposed to me. It was so smart, and fitted him so perfectly! He looked very handsome waiting for me at the church!

Someone Who Cares.

Our photographer, Rachel Hudson, did an absolutely fantastic job! She made us feel so relaxed, nothing felt posed or unnatural. She managed to capture every moment of our day and yet we didn’t feel that we spent hours standing around for pictures – after a few romantic shots around the farm we were back with our family and guests to join in the fun!

The gorgeous album that she sent to us is full of so many happy memories and the beautiful oak-carved presentation box for the CD with all our images was a fantastic detail! The whole experience made us feel that she cared just as much about our photos as we did.

Three Tiered Treat.

We bought our cake from marks and spencer, three-tiered with the top made of chocolate, the middle of sponge and the bottom of fruit cake. We decorated it ourselves with apple branches, blackberries and flowers from around the farm.

Jazz Masters.

My younger brother is good friends with a jazz band, and we knew straight away that we wanted to use them! Their playing was so absolutely fantastic that several times I looked over to see our guests simply standing and staring in fascination! Everyone was up and dancing and the party didn’t even slow down until almost 3am!

Let There By Love.

Our very first dance was ‘let there be love’ by Nat King Cole, a song that we both loved for its simplicity, and also because we often listen to nat king cole in the evenings.

Keep The Doctor Away.

We didn’t really have any specific wedding favours that we wanted to do, but we placed apples from the farm on each of the place settings to tie into our theme- the apples were small but tasted very sweet!

Bringing The Outside In.

We wanted a late-summer, woodlandy, fruity feel, and we wanted our guests to feel as though they were outdoors, so we kept the sides up on the marquee for as long as possible and used haybales as outdoor seating areas. We strung lanterns in the trees around the marquee, and in one area of the garden we hung silk Vietnamese lanterns that we had bought on our travels. Under these lanterns we had a borrowed thai canoe, from which the caterers served our ‘round-the-world’ starters of thai street food, south American empanadas and Indian malai koftas.

We hung small glass globes containing tealights at different heights from the roof of the marquee so that it glittered and glowed over the trees, the flowers, the glasses and the guests all evening.

Boutique Anna Mcdonald Bridal Gallery

Dress Paloma Blanca

Hair headmasters in Bath

Photographer Rachel Hudson and Kate Hassen

Settling down to read though Christiane’s report, having already feasted my eyes upon the stunning W-day eye candy, it was no surprise to learn that Christiane was a florist. Firstly, it answered one big question that I’d had… Isn’t that the bride on her hands and knees trimming a load of foliage – shouldn’t she be getting ready or something?

Secondly, it explained why this celebration was so floral. There’s flowers in hair, flowers on dresses, flowers on the cakes. If not flowers then foliage, fruit and farm stuff. Ok, I’m not sure what “farm stuff” is but I was desperate to complete my alliterative witterings.

Chris and Christiane certainly succeeded in bringing the outside in for their woodland themed farm wedding. And I think you’ll agree that Christiane’s dream of becoming a flower fairy also came true – in spectacular fashion!

Adam.

Ohh the beautiful polka dot pages of RMW, where would I have been in the 12 months leading up to our wedding if I hadn’t found you!

Jonny Commissioned August 2010, and booked for the two of us to head over to Cyprus for a week to relax with each other in the sun before my return to university and Jonny being sent off for more training. Whilst we where out there he proposed. My father was serving out in Cyprus when he was killed in a parachuting accident when I was just 3 months old, and Cyprus for me has always been a place of mystery… where my life changed so drastically, and where I lost a part of myself and my history. It was there, standing at my father’s memorial on the RAF base that Jonny asked for his permission to marry me. Later that day after cooking me dinner, and we watched the sun set and the stars pop into the sky Jonny got down on one knee with a ring that he had designed himself – three diamonds (three is my lucky number), two of them green (yup, green is my favourite colour)! Those who know me would tell you that it is vary rare that I am speechless, but after Jonny had asked me three times I finally managed to squeak out a ‘yes’.

And there starts our wedding story…

Happy Days.

Jonny and I got married in Ufford, Suffolk on the 3rd of September 2011. The wedding was held at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, and then had the reception at the old rectory paddock in a beautiful marquee. Jonny and I live in the West Country, but I simply couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere different to Ufford, for me it held so many memories of growing up. When my father passed away, my mother moved back from Cyprus with me as a new born, and my sister of 2 years to live with my grandparents until we got on our feet. I have spent many happy days running around Ufford, and I think deep down I always knew I would get married there. This did however build in a slight logistical element to the wedding, but it was worth it, being able to stay with my grandparents the night before, and walk to the church in the afternoon.

The Price Of A Car.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel trying on dresses. In the first shop I almost got snow blindness with all the choice and I must have tried on nearly every style of dress they had with very little luck. It seemed so strange putting on dresses that cost more than my first car, and to know that it would only be worn once, but I took my mum with me who was the most amazing support and egged me on. I had always been sure that I would wear something very Grecian, but as soon as I put on my first lacey number in the second shop, I knew it would be lace all the way. Jonny would be wearing his military uniform, and there was something lovely about trying to complement a uniform that hasn’t changed in hundreds of years with something that look equally classic! I found my dress in Nottingham by chance. I was running a little late, and I almost didn’t try the last dress on…it really didn’t look at all impressive on the hanger, but as soon as my housemate had persuaded me into it, everything fell in place. My dress was called Gatsby by Maggie Sottero, the material was almost champagne in colour and the lace was detailed with gems and pearls, with the most amazing train. As soon as I was in it I couldn’t stop smiling and I knew Jonny would love it too.

Ebay Bargains.

I hadn’t given a moment thought to veils or accessories, even though I love all things pretty. My veil was half price as it was such an unusual colour to match my dress; it had a scalloped edge with teardrop pearls all the way round. For the evening I wanted to take off the veil, and so I bought a vintage leaf broach from ebay, and then wired hair combs onto it and my sister put it in for me that evening. My earrings where also from ebay, they where vintage costume jewellery and only cost me £2, but really helped make my outfit and helped to bring green through as the colour scheme. My grandma also lent me her pearl bracelet which went with the vintage look of my outfit. It was so special to be able to wear something with family ties… my ‘something borrowed’.

Teeny Tootsies.

Like most ladies I am shoe obsessed, my friends always tease me for my tiny feet, but then grumble that I get most of my shoes in the sale as not many people have size 3/4. My wedding shoes where no exception. With 75% off in Kurt Gieger, green with a slight platform (to give me some height) they had my name all over them. I really wanted shoes that I could wear again, and these have already been out on the town several times!

Neither Up Nor Down.

I had my hair and make up done by the very talented Charlotte Elizabeth. She was so lovely to have around on the morning of the wedding and completely put me at ease. I tried to keep my make-up fairly soft as I don’t normally wear too much, and Charlotte did it perfectly. I normally wear my hair down, and so I decided I’d look too different to wear it up on the wedding day, so I had it half-up half-down so that my veil could fix in, and to keep my hair out of my eyes.

Road Side Blooms.

Flowers where left to the last minute…I knew we couldn’t afford a florist within our budget, and I loved the idea of having relaxed arrangements, less fussy and more homely. We ordered the flowers for the wedding the week before from the local farm shop, who also pulled in a favour from a local florist who ordered us in some white roses! The flowers for the church where put together by my mum and aunties the day before and the flowers for the marquee where done by bridesmaids/cousin/sister the night before. Mum and I also made my bouquet, it took us about 5 minutes and I was so proud of it. I have always loved succulents in bride’s bouquets, and so bought a pot of 3 succulents for £4 and had a go at wiring one in myself, and the small daisy flowers I found growing wild at the side of the road! The buttonholes came from our garden, we picked green lavender for devotion, olive for peace and rosemary for remembrance…they smelt amazing!

Flip Flops And Flower Girls.

As I’m so petite my lovely bridesmaids said they where happy to wear flats/small heals so that I didn’t look too tiny! In fact they all ended up wearing flip/flops which looked amazing. We ordered their dresses online from In Wedding Dress, which allowed them to pick the exact style that they wanted and then we picked the colour together to go with the green colour scheme. They all looked stunning, and I cannot thank them enough for everything they did to help… without these girls so much would have been left undone. Darcey, our lovely little flower girl wore a dress from Monsoon, with the same green as the bridesmaid for a big bow at the back. Jonny’s boys hired suits from Moss Bros as they could all go to their local stores to get fitted up! Again we tied the green through the cravats, but went for a grey suit as to not clash with Jonny’s uniform which was a very dark Blue. The Guard of Honour all wore their ‘Blues’ (this varies with regiments). They all looked so dashing…there were many female admires for the boys in uniform!

A Man In Uniform.

My gorgeous husband, what to say, he took my breath away as I saw him when I walked into the church. Jonny wore his blues with his sword, and he looked so smart. I walked into the church to Jonny’s favourite piece of music, I didn’t want to down the isle to the usual music, and actually I only decided the music as we drove over to Suffolk the Wednesday before the wedding. The Earth Prelude by Ludovico Einaudi came on Jonny’s iPod and as he hummed along saying ‘I love this music’ my mind was made up. It was really important that the music was personal to us, and this really set the scene. The organist also played the music from Pride and Prejudice (my favourite film) whilst the church filled up and when we signed the register.

Safe Hands.

It’s a very daunting prospect when you set out to pick your wedding photographers. After all, when the best day of your life is over it is the photos that you look back over to make you smile. I found Craig and Kate online after looking for a photographer in Suffolk. As soon as I read about them I knew there where right for us, their bubbliness and passion for photography bursts out of them. This was confirmed when we met up for our pre-wed photo day in Dorset, I have never met two people who can put you at ease so quickly. Jonny hates having his picture taken and I’m equally awkward, but after we got the photos back we knew we where in very safe hands for the wedding. I am still amazed looking back at the photos at all the details that they picked up over the day. I really hope to stay in touch with Kate and Craig as it was a real joy to have them at our wedding, they were there more as friends than photographers.

Super Mum.

My mother is my hero. Jonny’s Nanny and my mum baked the cake, Mum iced it, and then I made the tiny bunting and the wooden cake topper. The cake had a large chocolate base, a lemon middle tier and a sponge top. My mum then also made 130 of each of the mini puddings that we had for desert, where were beyond amazing! I had also made some chocolate tiffin the day before what we stacked into towers around the cake. I stamped some cheap brown bags with our A&J stamps, so that if people where too full they could take some home for a mid-night snack or a hang-over cure!

The Spirit Of Jazz.

Our music was supplied by the Jazz Dynamos. They played instrumental music whilst the drinks reception was served and then they put on a killer set in the evening. The dance floor was filled, and remained rammed the whole night, they really knew how to get people in the mood, and the atmosphere was perfect. I cannot recommend them highly enough!

Kissing You.

Our first dance was Des-ree : Kissing you. Jonny chose the music, and insisted that we took a dance lesion to prevent him marching me round the dance floor. It gave us the confidence not to be too awkward on the day, and it was great to have some time alone on the dance floor.

A Little Favour Enterprise.

I wanted the favours to be something that people would want to take away with them and something that would last. Whilst I was at university I had the amazing opportunity to use the laser cutter to make models. I also was able to sweet talk the technicians to let me use the facilities to make my wedding invites, signs/name places and the favours. These I designed on CAD, and then cut/burnt them out of wood, they where really unique and they had great impact! Not a single packet of seeds was left behind and lots of people commented on them. I’ve since thought about setting up something on the side to offer the same service to other brides, so maybe watch this space!!!

A Blank Canvas.

Our Marquee came from Country Marquees East Anglia, a small family run business. We opted for an unlined canvas traditional poled marquee. These guys where great to have on hand before, and offered superb advice and guidance leading up to the wedding. The marquee gave us a beautiful blank canvas to really make our own. I wanted to make material bunting to go all around the outside, but time simply ran out. So, instead I made the bunting out of Wallpaper. This gave me a huge range of patterns, and was easy to cut and wiz through on the sewing machine. The trunk and the type writer I picked up at car-boot sales, and the lanterns and camera I found at my mums house!

People Make The Day.

Our wedding was a blur, but without a doubt the best day of our lives. I think what is important to remember leading up to the wedding, is that there is a reason for you all gathering, for the two of you to become man and wife, and that it is the people that will MAKE the day, not all the finer details. I can’t even begin to explain what the atmosphere was like, but it was so relaxed and friendly and it was amazing to be surrounded by all the people we love the most in the world. I would recommend surrounding yourself with brilliant people who are all happy to muck in. My family, friends, bridesmaids and ushers were epic, and without all of their help the wedding would have been so hard to pull off. If you put lots of work into the preparation, you will be able to really relax on the day and know that those around you will be able to sort any small issues out! Finally enjoy the planning process, follow your heart, and what is important to you, and make it personal to you and your future husband.

P.S – married life is bliss!

Venue the old rectory paddock

Dress Maggie Sottero

Shoes Kurt Gieger

Hair and Make-up Charlotte Elizabeth

Photography Craig and Kate

Entertainment Jazz Dynamos

Marquee Country Marquees

Maybe I ought to say a bit now then…

The green colour scheme sits so perfectly in the setting, and the apples are a really nice fresh touch (we love a bit of fruit at Rock My Wedding).

Also, Anna – I love all the laser cutting – there is defo a little business for you there just waiting to be set up! Failing that I think you could probably go into floristry instead by the looks of things….

Adam.