Rock My Wedding

Vintage Inspired

The Greatest Day.

October 18th, 2011

My name is Emily and I am an RMW ADDICT…

That is how Emily should have started her report… but maybe she is as yet still unable to come to terms with her addiction. She does mention that even though now married she still visits the blog every day!

Very. Bad. Sign…

Of course, I’m only joking – we love it when you guys stick around after you tie the knot. Let’s face it – just because you are married now doesn’t mean that you have to deny yourself your daily dose of pretty. And today it is most certainly pretty. Emily and James (Mr H) married last summer in South London under the watchful lens of Emma Coleman from Blink Photography.

Did I mention that they are Rock My Wedding readers?..

Richmond Park.

Our wedding was on 29th July 2011 at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. A beautiful Georgian Mansion in the middle of Richmond Park in London.

Pembroke Lodge was the first venue we visited, hidden away in the trees of Richmond Park, with fab views over London. It was perfect.

We both knew that we wanted a very relaxed day without a specific colour theme and I wanted the day to have a vintagey feel as I was in love with the vintage themed real weddings I’d seen on Rock My Wedding. I am also a sucker for shabby chic and vintage things and often drag Mr H around little pretty shops trying to convince him that we do actually need another heart shaped hangy thing or kitchen utensil to add to our collection! So, vintagey, shabby chic with a hanging heart or two it was!

Grace Kelly.

I was mega giddy and excited to go dress shopping, so it was one of the first things I did after we had found our lovely venue. Originally I thought I wanted a fairly simple, floaty, vintage dress but after trying a few on I just didn’t feel very bridey in them. So, I tried on some more detailed and slightly bigger dresses and I was hooked! If I’m honest, I also really loved trying on lots of gorgeous dresses and spending time with my family and friends whilst doing it!

Even though I was seduced by the big strapless numbers, I knew I didn’t want a strapless frock as I’ve never felt nice in strapless tops/dresses, so I was looking for something with a vintage feel and straps or sleeves. After a few dress trying on sessions I still hadn’t found anything that I really loved. It was actually my oldest friend and bridesmaid Julie who picked out the David Fielden Grace Kelly dress in Teokath in Wimbledon

I got my single tiered, cathedral length veil from Shanna Melville who has a really gorgeous independent dress shop in Wimbledon village. Shanna is so lovely and I would highly recommend her dresses and veils (one of her dresses was in my top three).
For my jewellery I wanted something really simple that would complement but not overpower the lace detail on my dress. I don’t wear very much jewellery normally and Mr H isn’t a fan of big sparkly bling, so I started the search for some simple, vintage inspired, pearl pretty. There are so many fantastic vintage jewellery sites on the internet – most of which I discovered through Rock My Wedding during my daily nosey at the blog!

I eventually found my gorgeous Viola II Vintage Bridal Bracelet on the Chez Bec website – a three tiered pearl bracelet with a diamante encrusted filigree flower– and then opted for the matching danglys that I only wore for the evening party. For the ceremony and wedding breakfast my Granddad’s lovely wife let me borrow her pearl and diamond stud earrings from Tiffany that I helped to choose a few years ago for her 60th Birthday. I was so pleased with my jewellery on the day and Mr H loved it too.

I fell in love with Gillian Million’s bridal head bands at a wedding fair I visited in Teddington, but her stall was too busy with excited brides (like me) to choose anything on the day. So, I arranged an appointment with her and visited her studio. I have never seen a room filled with so many pretty, sparkly, dainty things. I was in heaven and couldn’t wait to start trying on some of her hand made head bands. Gillian asked me to bring a picture of my dress with me to the appointment and also asked me to describe the feel of the wedding to help her pick out some head bands that fitted in with our theme. In the end – after a lot of trying on – I found the perfect one.

Choo Treasure.

My birthday was two weeks before the wedding and Mr H sent me on a present treasure hunt around the flat, which to my delight, lead me to a shoe box with a ribbon wrapped around it and Jimmy Choo on the side – hidden amongst the scarves and hats under the bed. Inside that box was a pair of peep toe Nova champagne Jimmy’s which I took great pleasure in wearing with my pyjamas and parading around the flat in for the duration of my birthday morning!

On the big day they were comfortable for about the first 5 minutes, but I didn’t care! The pain was worth it (I think they are made for nice thin dainty feet, not my wide feet and big sausage toes!).

Turn Up The Volume.

I have been going to the same hairdressers – Garett and Jones – in Surbiton for the last few years and Ali – my hairdresser – has always done such a lovely job with my hair. I knew from the beginning that I wanted most of my hair down for the big day, because I’ve never really liked it up and I wanted something quite simple and relaxed that wasn’t too back combed and massive! Ali suggested that I buy some hair extensions for my big day do, as my hair is quite thin. I must admit I was worried that the hair extensions would look fake and add too much volume to my hair but in the end I’m so glad I got them

I am completely useless with makeup and not very adventurous so I definitely needed someone who really knew their stuff to put my big day face on. I went for a trial at mac first of all and although nice, I felt that I looked a bit too pale, the eye makeup wasn’t quite right and I felt caked in foundation. So, I searched the net and found Sally Moore’s website. I gave Sally a ring and she was so friendly and helpful on the phone. I just had a feeling she would do a great job. It was so nice having Sally around, she is so lovely and bubbly and did a lovely job of our makeup.

Pastel Pinks.

My aunty Jane has a very lovely friend and colleague – David, who offered to do the flowers and centre pieces for us and he was brilliant. He isn’t a florist by trade (although you would never know) but he had done a wedding before for a friend and has an eye for all things pretty and floral.

We wanted lots of pastel pinks and greenery and we wanted the displays and bouquets to be quite wild and unstructured, but that was about all that we knew. I’d cut lots of pictures out of magazines and saved flower pics whilst browsing RMW so I passed these on to David to give him some initial ideas and inspiration.

We collected glass jars of all different shapes and sizes in the months leading up to the wedding so that we could dot them around the venue. David put pink, green or lace ribbon around the tops, which looked so pretty and then filled them with pink roses and greenery. The first thing I remember seeing as I walked up the stairs to the ceremony was a jar full of pretty flowers on the edge of each stair looking lovely, and just as I had imagined. Who would have thought that gherkin, pasta sauce and jam jars could look so good!

In the ceremony room David covered a garden arch in so many pretty roses and greenery that it took my breath away and it created a gorgeous focal point for the room (but not as gorgeous as Mr H of course).

Florally Versatile.

For my gorgeous bridesmaids I wanted to find dresses that were pretty and floral but that would suit them as they are all different shapes and sizes. I also wanted them to feel lovely and comfortable on the day. So, the search began for a pretty floral dress and it proved really difficult to find something that fit the bill. Just as I was about to give up and have another panic I spotted linen cream and pink floral dresses in the Next directory and they turned out to be perfect. They all wore cute pearl studs from accessorise and as a thank you gift I got them lovely vintage pearl charm bracelets from Lisa Angel which looked great with their outfits.

For the Best men, dads and ushers we hired grey lounge suits from Moss Bross. We also found some prefect style badges for the best men which looked fab.

In The Navy.

I do love my man in a suit and awwww, Mr H looked so handsome on the day. I felt it was really important for him to wear something that he loved and felt nice in, so encouraged him to look for a really special suit that he could keep and wear again. He found a perfect navy three-piece suit in the Ted Baker Pashion store and teamed it with brown shoes from H by Hudson and a pink floral tie from Debenhams.

When I saw Mr H looking back at me as I walked up the aisle towards him, I couldn’t take my eyes off him and his big gorgeous smile. A very special moment!

Blinking Brilliant.

Photographs are really important to us and we decided that we wanted a photographer that could capture the real emotions of the day, as well as take some lovely natural shots of our family and friends.

Emma Coleman at Blink Photography was the photographer recommended by the venue so we arranged a meeting with her quite early on in our wedding planning. We knew straight away that she was exactly who we were looking for. Her photographs are simply stunning and really do tell a story.

Special Memories.

We knew we didn’t really want a fancy tiered cake – just something that tasted yummy and had lots of butter cream – so we decided on cupcakes. We spent a day together cupcake tasting in London (any excuse to spend a day eating cake!) and both agreed that the cupcakes at Buttercup cake shop were the tastiest.

I found bride and groom trolls on ebay that sat next to the cake and looked cute with their pink hair next to the pink icing! Trolls are really special to me as my Grandma, who we lost when I was a teenager, used to have them dotted around her house. My sister and I also used to collect them when we were little. Trolls therefore bring back lots of special memories, so it was nice to have them featuring at our wedding.

Mr H and I both have a very sweet tooth (I crave chocolate and cake on about an hourly basis!) and knew we wanted lots of sweet treats for our guests in the evening. So, we decided to have a sweetie table with vintage jars filled with all of our favourite sweets from A Quarter Of. I made labels for the sweet jars using floral card and we bought the stripy sweetie bags from ebay. The fabric LOVE letters on the sweetie table came from BHS.

Dance Off.

For the ceremony music, we had the wonderful Bagatelle Duo, a flutist and harpist. They were absolutely brilliant and I remember thinking how beautiful they sounded when I was walking up the aisle towards my handsome hubby to be.

We put together an iPod playlist for the background music during the wedding breakfast. It was really nice listening to everyone laughing and enjoying themselves with our favourite tunes in the background. We’ve had the playlist on non-stop since the wedding and each song brings back so many lovely memories from the day.

My sister knows the lead singer of Flood the Floor – a 5 piece band – who played during the evening party. They were amazing. They managed to get everyone up on the dance floor and played some fab tunes. At one point they had Mr H and his best men strutting their stuff on the dance floor doing a dance off to different styles of music including salsa (I have never seen Mr H wiggling his bum so much!). The Dressing up Box.

Take This.

Choosing our first dance was a bit tricky as we don’t really have ‘a song’ that is significant to us both. I have always been a big fan of Take That (me and Julie bridesmaid even had a Take That club at school when we were little, although we were the only members!) and I love the words in ‘Greatest Day’.

The band sang it really well and I remember feeling so happy as Mr H was swinging me round in my dress. We asked our guests to join us on the dance floor about half way through and it was great seeing everyone dancing together.

Sweet Favours.

James’ lovely step mum Anna offered to make some edible favours for us and spent hours trying out different sweet treats (which I very much enjoyed sampling!) and perfecting her recipe in the run up to the day. In the end she made very yummy coconut macaroons with chocolate on top.

Mr H and I decided that we would attach the place name cards to the favour bags, so chose a parcel tag design. We found some East of India cream parcel tags in John Lewis and then cut some pretty floral card (from a Tilda paper pad) in to slightly smaller parcel tag shapes and glued them on the top of the larger cream ones. I printed the guest names on to pink card and stuck these on top of the floral card. On the back of each place name card we printed ‘love is sweet…..enjoy!’. I had good fun making all of the place name cards and had lots of help from Mr H and bridesmaid Claire.

A Bit Of D.I.Y.

I really got in to making our own stationary for the day and started with our order of ceremony fans. We printed our order of ceremony and order of the day on to two pieces of ivory card and then a very kind lady at work – with a steady hand – cut round them with a circle cutter. We then glued them together with a lollypop stick as a handle in between and tied little bows with ribbon round the top of each handle. I was really happy with how they turned out in the end and I saw lots of people reading through them at different stages in the day to find out what was happening next.

We made our table plan using a large white shabby chic mirror from TK Maxx and backed the table guest lists on to the same floral Tilda card I had used for the name place tags. Mr H and spent hours measuring precisely where to stick each table list so that they looked even on the mirror!

Take Your Time, And Take Time For You.

Get and let your hubby to be involved with the preparation and decisions for the day. Even though sometimes Mr H needed a little prod – I know that he felt very pleased in the end that he had helped to shape the day (he also had one or two very good ideas himself).

Our wedding was special to us because we both spent time enjoying the day together. We circulated the tables together in between courses, we danced together for most of the evening with lots of guests and we had a bit of time on our own together when we were having our portrait photos.

I think that the main piece of advice I would give to other brides is to plan every little detail of your day before hand so that you have nothing to worry about on the day. Take time in your planning to decide what is important to you both and don’t rush in to any decisions that you may change your mind about later on in the planning process.

Write an itinerary (I know – a bit anal) but it really helped Mr H and I get our heads round the organisation of the day.

Also, who needs wedding magazines when you’ve got Rock My Wedding! I got so many ideas and so much great advice from the fabulous blue polka dot pages. I genuinely looked forward to peeking at the blog when I got home from work every day (I still do now even as a married lady).

Oh and one last thing, brides, do a little speech. Even if you just say thanks to all of your guests. I was so glad that I stood up and said a few words with Mr H by my side (even though I did get a bit emotional).

Venue Pembroke Lodge

Photographer Blink Photography

Boutique Teokath

Dress David Fielden

Headpiece Gillian Million

Make-up Sally Moore

Groom Ted Baker

Cake Buttercup cake shop

ceremony music Bagatelle Duo

Entertainment Flood the Floor

I’m keeping my shoes in the pantry from now on!

The Jars, the wild unstructured florals, the TROLLS!! It’s a very pretty wedding but with a lot of fun and personality thrown in too.

The D.I.Y elements always help to make W day so very personal – Emily and James certainly achieved this. In true Rock My Wedding style…

Adam.

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Posted in Vintage Inspired

Tags: Bagatelle Duo Blink Photography David Fielden Flood the Floor Gillian Million Pembroke Lodge Sally Moore ted baker Teokath

My Baby Just Cares For Me… Part 2

September 21st, 2011

Well, we couldn’t leave you hanging on for part two of this Scottish gem for too long.

let’s delve straight back in to Hannah and Stewart’s Glasgow based big day. All images are courtesy of Love Lust members Lillian and Leonard.

A Hard Cake To Top.

My Auntie the super cake maker offered to make our three tiered fruit and sponge cake, topped with a hand-knitted bride and groom with perfectly matched wedding attire. The knitted bride even had a tartan garter!

Talent In Abundance.

We are lucky enough to have lots of musical friends who were more than happy to contribute to our day. It was great way to make the wedding feel more personal, and to involve some of our close friends.

One friend played solo fiddle whilst I walked down the aisle. Another friend sang during the ceremony accompanied by acoustic guitar and fiddle. We set up a brief open-mic session during drinks reception, and for the evening entertainment a friend put together a ceilidh band – the perfect way to get family and friends to mix and fill the dance floor!

Dance Like No-ones Watching.

We chose Nina Simone, My baby just cares for me because it was the only song we could dance too, and we were definitely ‘out-danced’ when other guests joined the floor…. embarrassing just thinking about it – best not mention this!

Treats All Round.

I have noticed that at other weddings, favours are forgotten and left behind. I decided to have a treats table for guests with retro sweets and homemade mini cupcakes and whoopee pies. I spent 6 months in charity shops finding glass jars and vases for the sweets and borrowed some vintage cakestands from a friend. I completed the table with Ebay sweet scoops and pink striped bags.

We asked our guests to tell us an interesting fact about themselves along with their RSVP which we printed out as a table quiz sheet and placed in a small airmail envelope which we used as name place settings. It was a great way to break the ice for guests who hadn’t previously met and the facts provided great material for the speeches!

Plan B.

We perhaps had too much to arrange for the day (slightly stressful!) but I wouldn’t change any of it. We set up our table centerpieces the day before the wedding featuring old hardback books which reflected our guests interests and glass jars and bottles for our flowers.

On the morning of the wedding I was at the venue before breakfast, setting up a table of retro sweets, our vintage suitcase table plan and a collection of old family wedding photographs stretching as far back as our great-great grandparents.

It was perhaps the over enthusiastic and slightly micromanaging events planner in me that made me want to arrange so much of the detail for the day, however I don’t think Stewart was very happy when we had to get up the morning after our wedding to clear it all up!

The Freedom To Be Personal.

We both loved having a Humanist ceremony, which is legal anywhere in Scotland. We had complete freedom to create a very personal ceremony that reflected us perfectly, and dispensed with a bit of the formality that can sometimes creep in.

The involvement of our friends and family meant a lot, whether it was a bit of DIY from my Dad, the amazing cakes prepared by my Auntie and close friends or the army of musical talent throughout the day. It was such an honour to have so many people make such a huge effort for our big day.

My advice for other brides would be – don’t think that your wedding has to have all the aspects a wedding magazine tells you… and mostly ignore the time lines and budgets!

And don’t be afraid to negotiate with your venue and suppliers to get exactly what you want.

Venue – St Andrews in the Square

Photographers – Lillian and Leonard

Dress – Magie Sottero

Accessories – Nieve Bridal Couture

Make-up – Eye Candy

Hair – Bowers and Peacock

Blooms – I Heart Flowers

Maids – Alfred Sung

Groom – Apsley Tailors

I think all the planning clearly paid off. A totally relaxed affair with a really creative vintage twist and a classic colour scheme. And such grand surroundings too. Apart from that sandwich bar perhaps

Hope you’ve enjoyed this one, and don’t feel guilty about stealing the odd idea. Not the books though – that one is MINE.

Adam.

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Posted in Vintage Inspired

Tags: Alfred Sung Apsley Tailors Bowers and Peacock Eye Candy I Heart Flowers Lillian and Leonard Magie Sottero Nieve Bridal Couture St Andrews in the Square

My Baby Just Cares For Me… Part 1

September 21st, 2011

Occasionally when you see something that is so good, you just want to steal it. Now in some cases that is very bad – and you’ll go to jail. But here on these polka dotted pages of pretty we are all for a bit of share and share a like.

For this reason I am unashamedly stealing the idea of an open mic night and also hard back book table centre piece creations for the ‘Adam Crohill marriage that may or may not ever actually happen ever in the actual real world’.

Although you’ll may have to wait for part 2 to see those gems, don’t worry as Hannah and Stewart have a ton of idea’s that are all priceless. You can see some prime examples documented to perfection in this first set of images snapped by Love Lust members Cara and Nye at Lillian and Leonard.

Oh, I’ll have that woolly cake topper too please…

An Ethical Approach.

I work as an events planner for a charity and I am always very keen to use more ethical venues wherever possible. When we visited St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow, a former church, now the Centre for Traditional Scottish Music, Song and Dance we knew it would be perfect for our Humanist wedding ceremony and reception.

We decided upon a “safe-bet” date of 27 May 2011. The end of May, we thought… Always good weather!! Clearly you can’t rely on the weather in Scotland as there was little blue sky on the day, but it was still perfect despite the rain!

Love Lace.

I originally planned to wear something knee length and plain but this was quickly abandoned when I tried on Maggie Sottero ‘Geneva’. I loved the lace and flower detail and the shape and length were a perfect fit so didn’t require any adjustments. I picked up my dress two days before the wedding and the bridal shop accidentally gave me the wrong dress which did cause some major panic when I arrived home! Thank goodness I decided to have a peek before setting off for the wedding the next day, otherwise I would have had to squeeze into a size 6 slinky number belonging to a girl named Sarah. Was not impressed but all worked out fine in the end!

Modern Life.

For a more modern look, I decided to wear a birdcage veil and lace and pearl fascinator designed by Nieve Bridal Couture. My birthday was a few weeks prior to my wedding and my Mum bought me some gorgeous pearls for my big day.

Schuh-per.

It took me a while to find some modern shoes that were in my modest budget of around fifty pounds and didn’t look too ridiculous on my size 8 feet. I was delighted to come across my Rocket Dog cream shoes whilst trainer shopping in < ahref="http://www.schuh.co.uk/">Schuh. I also killed two birds with one stone and bought some white slim Converse to change into for the dancing.

Eye Candy.

I normally don’t wear a lot of makeup and after my trial with Louise at Eye Candy Scotland I knew she would be perfect for my wedding. She knew exactly what suited me and my makeup lasted all night.

My naturally curly hair cut and styled by the lovely John at Bowers and Peacock, Glasgow, which was just round from the corner from the apartment where I was getting ready.

I Heart Flowers.

I saw I Heart Flowers work featured on the Lillian and Leonard blog, and after consultations with the lovely Sophie to discuss my flower ideas she managed to reign me in (I seemed to like all flowers!) and created amazing blooms for my big day which included pink peonies, hot pink hydrangea, snap dragons and sweet peas, bouvardia, queen anne’s lace and cornflowers.

I collected jam jars and spent hours pouring the many charity shops of Edinburgh to find glass bottles and tea cups to fill with flowers for the tables which I arranged with piles of old books to form my centre pieces.

Pockets Of Joy.

I wanted a slightly retro feel for my bridesmaid dresses so opted for Alfred Sung (style D448) in Midnight blue to match Stewart’s suit. I loved the simplicity of these dressed and they even had pockets! The hot pink shoes were an Ebay bargain at £12.

To add to the informality of the day, Stewart’s best man Mike wore his own suit and they wore matching navy skinny ties from John Lewis.

Whistle And Flute.

As Stewart is a skinny-minnie he wanted a perfect fit so decided to splash out and go for a tailored navy blue suit from Apsley Tailors, London.

A Quick Testimonial!

Cara and Nye aka Lillian and Leonard take the best wedding photographs – FACT. No-one else capture’s the emotion of a wedding like they do… and they are also a lovely couple.

They blended seamlessly into the background but captured every single moment perfectly as it happened. I would not recommend getting married without them…

Venue – St Andrews in the Square

Photographers – Lillian and Leonard

Dress – Magie Sottero

Accessories – Nieve Bridal Couture

Make-up – Eye Candy

Hair – Bowers and Peacock

Blooms – I Heart Flowers

Maids – Alfred Sung

Groom – Apsley Tailors

See what I mean?

Eye candy overload and a ton of well thought out details… and this is only the beginning.

Adam.

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Posted in Vintage Inspired

Tags: Alfred Sung Apsley Tailors Bowers and Peacock I Heart Flowers Lillian and Leonard Magie Sottero Nieve Bridal Couture St Andrews in the Square

I Melt With You.

September 20th, 2011

Charlotte and Jon were married early in the afternoon of Saturday 2nd July 2011 in Islington. Laura Babb was on lens duty, and captured the day with style.

This mornings bride Charlotte saw choosing the dress as a daunting prospect, but when you read about the dress she chose compared to how it looked on the day, you’ll start to understand the kind of vision she has. Daunted or not she wasn’t afraid to chop, change and adapt to make things just right. And the end result? The dress she always wanted. She need not have worried at all….

We wanted to keep as much of our wedding as we could local – so we married in our borough’s Town Hall (Islington), had the reception in a pub round the corner from where we live – the Tufnell Park Tavern, and sourced as many things as possible from local providers or folks we knew.

Neither of us wanted a church wedding, so the Town Hall’s Council Chamber offered us space, but also a really good balance of intimacy and formality: family and friends were able to sit pretty much all around us (thanks to its circular layout), while its architecture and decor (high domed ceilings, wooden panelling, and stained glass) gave everything gravitas without being overbearing.

A Transformation.

My dress was from Fur Coat No Knickers. I found the idea of wedding dress shopping a bit daunting, I knew I wanted a vintage dress, and I knew I wanted knee-length and kind of 50s style sticky-out skirt, but that was about it. I wasn’t too bothered about whether it was white or ivory (or blue or green!)
The dress was the fourth one I tried on in the shop, and it was originally floor-length, but I knew that I wanted a knee-length dress with petticoats underneath, so with a lot of imagination and a huge amount of work from the team at FCNK it was transformed into what I wanted! The top of the dress is lace, the skirt is silk, and there’s an under dress as well as the petticoats. The neckline and back neckline (is there a word for that?!) were changed, the sleeves were changed, the waistline was changed – in the end it didn’t much resemble what it had been originally at all, other than the fabric. I love it.

I had an idea that I wanted to have blue as, for want of a better word, the ‘accent’ colour for my outfit. I definitely didn’t want white shoes I’d never wear again, and Jon was quite keen on a blue suit. So my dress had a navy blue velvet ribbon round the waist, and the petticoat had binding in navy blue and pale blue.

Pearls And Sparkles.

I didn’t want a veil – for similar reasons to wanting a short dress really. We got married in a registry office, and I would have felt overdressed wearing a long dress and veil. So I talked about it with FCNK and they came up with a brooch with pearls and sparkles on it that they sewed to a hair band, which was perfect.

I wore a single string of pearls that were my grandmother’s, and pearl earrings that Jon had given me (we’d both made secret visits to Hatton Garden before the wedding – I’d found him some cufflinks from the same shop, A.R. Ullman’s!). I also made a little clutch bag out of the off-cuts from my dress.

Searching For Navy.

I wore 3 inch heels, navy LK Bennett sling-back shoes with leather bows on the front. I spent months looking for navy shoes. Months and months. And none were ever really quite right. I’d seen the LK Bennett ones on the internet, but when I went shopping for shoes they didn’t have them in navy blue in any of the shops I went to around Oxford St, and they’d sold out on the internet. I tried not to get too stressed about it, and eventually found them on a random trip to Brent Cross. I can’t remember what I went there to buy, but I came out with my wedding shoes and pierced ears, neither of which were the intention.

Easton Regal.

I have short hair, so just had it blow dried (but much bigger and bouffier than normal) at my normal hairdressers, Easton Regal in Clerkenwell. We were staying in the Zetter hotel the night before and the night of the wedding, which is bang opposite the hairdresser, so it was all very convenient. We just ran across the road after breakfast…

Fresh From The Garden.

Posies for me and my sister, and buttonholes for Team Groom, came from La Belle Vie, a florist just up the road. Sam and Sarah did a great job – we spent some time investigating flowers, so had a fairly good idea about what kind of flowers we wanted and they did exactly what we asked for. Keeping with the blue theme we had delphiniums, plus stephanotis and lily of the valley. Team Groom had some sage and rosemary leaves in their buttonholes as well as white flowers.

The tables were completely different…we’d settled on the idea of live, potted herbs (rather than cut flowers) on the tables. Jon’s mum is a fantastic gardener, and she excelled herself – there were plants growing in pots at their house for months before the wedding, and the terracotta pots and various green hues looked brilliant. However, that wasn’t the end of it. Beyond the original request, we’d largely left decor up to her, and I arrived at the reception to discover an incredible array of greenery and flowers.

Best Sister.

We didn’t have the most formal of weddings, so we didn’t really have a bridal party as such. My sister was my bridesmaid. Or best-sister as I like to refer to her. She found her Eucalyptus dress on a trip home to Oxford – it was a white halterneck with a blue floral pattern on it, so a good match for my dress. She wore navy skyscrapers from Monsoon.

Jon also had a best-sister and she wore a navy blue dress from John Rocha. Team groom was a mixed group of about 12, so there was no uniform, but they all had a buttonhole so they could recognise each other.

Natty Dresser.

Jon went suit shopping with his dad and found what he wanted after a trawl up and down Jermyn Street. True to form (although perhaps surprisingly for somebody who claims not to like shopping) he did actually drag his Dad into pretty much every shop on the street by the sounds of it. He finally settled on a navy blue three-piece suit from DAKS, which he wore with a white shirt, light yellow tie and matching yellow socks. He’s a pretty natty dresser much of the time, so has lots of smart shoes. He wanted to go for something fairly traditional (which probably surprised those people who are more used to seeing him in his utilikilt or an elaborate fancy dress costume).

A Friend Behind The Lens

As a friend, Laura Babb had already given us some really good advice about things to bear in mind when thinking about what we wanted from our wedding photos. We had seen some photos she’d taken (informally) at our mutual friends’ wedding, which we thought were great. We also had a look at the photos on her website to get a better idea of the style she uses, and we thought Laura’s approach would be ideal for our day: we wanted photos that would remind us of the day and how much we enjoyed it. By this point it was (pending Laura’s OK) a done deal from our side, but we also knew that since neither of us is particularly comfortable in front of a camera, having someone we would be relaxed with was fairly important.

My Mate Marmite

Call us porkers, but we had two cakes.
One was a fairly conventional (but beautifully done), three-tiered Madeira cake, iced in white by The Sugar Smith, with navy ribbons and sporting a logo that we’d used as a recurrent theme through the invites to place settings.

The other cake was a Marmite cake (OK, it was a massive chocolate mud cake, shaped and iced as a giant jar of Marmite but with our own wording). By way of explanation…

… Jon proposed to me on Primrose Hill over a late-night picnic of cheese and Marmite sandwiches. This was the culmination of a day of ‘revisiting previous dates’ that he’d organised as a surprise, including our second date, which had involved eating cheese and Marmite sandwiches up Primrose Hill. I hadn’t twigged at all that he was going to pop the question, even though we’d been to look at rings in Brighton a few weeks earlier. It turned out that he’d been back to Brighton on a secret mission to buy a ring I’d got a bit obsessed by, and then told me it had been sold (to someone else so I supposed), so I thought I’d probably be waiting for ages.

Anyway, we both really, really like Marmite. And we have a friend with a growing reputation for fantastically fashioned cakes, so we had our giant personalised paean to Marmite, lovingly and painstakingly crafted by our mate Gurvinder Phull – he’s awesome.

All That Jazz.

We had a jazz quartet playing in the pub garden during the afternoon because, luckily, it was actually a sunny day. Jazz Band Alvin Roy had put together a crack squad! He’s a friend of my dad’s (in fact, he was there at my dad’s recommendation), and he’d actually played in the pub a few decades earlier (when it had a bit of a reputation in London’s jazz world), so hopefully it was a nice return visit for him.

We had speeches before the main meal so that we could get everyone sitting down and the speechmakers didn’t have to wait too long before getting stuck into the wine! We’d worked out the menu with a lot of help from the pub, and the food was fantastic. We had barbecued lamb, fish and lots of different salads. The kitchen team at the pub did a great job and front of house managed to co-ordinate feeding a lot of people very well, and everyone commented on how brilliant the food was.

Pudding was cake and strawberries and cream. Later in the evening we had Melton pork pies and chicken and ham pies from Jon’s neck of the wood (loosely speaking) and cheese from Cheeses in Muswell Hill (a fantastic shop run by Vanessa, the really lovely cheese-expert). Our friends Gerred and Hannah (who run the Smashed Up Soiree nights in London) did the honours on the wheels of steel, with all the kit, and roping in a few other willing friends for the occasional guest slot…

Last Minute Choice.

We picked our first dance song the morning before our wedding, so you couldn’t really say it was a significant tune! We hadn’t had time for dance lessons or anything – I had an idea that we should learn to foxtrot but it didn’t happen, so our A-frame shuffle was to I Melt With You by Nouvelle Vague.

We did spend a lot of time choosing the music for the ceremony, though. We spent a lot of time listening to classical music, but we had to make sure that there were no religious references so it was quite difficult. Jon’s got a bit of a thing about traditional English music, so in the end we had Ralph Vaughan Williams ‘Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis’ before the ceremony. We got really stuck on the entrance music (not wanting to be too clichéd or grandiose – at one point Jon had his mind set on a brass band), but eventually inspiration hit and we got Gerred to edit an excerpt from the theme from The Princess Bride. We both rate Labi Siffre very highly, and played ‘Watch Me’ whilst we signed the register, and we walked out to Movin’ on Up by Primal Scream – a nice blend of triumphant and celebratory.

Flavours For Favours.

The herb pots from the tables doubled up as ‘favours’, which seemed to go down really well: when Jon told everyone they could help themselves there was an audible gasp from the guests – and we’ve had loads of messages since from people telling us about how the plants are doing and what they’re cooking with them!

We arrived after the wedding to find that a hit squad had decked out the place with flowers, balloons, and the table settings. Jon and his dad had made a board to display wedding photos of our parents and grandparents. Finding pictures of my grandparents was pretty difficult as both sets got married in wartime, however we did find an original menu from my paternal grandparents’ wedding in 1917 (featuring such culinary delights as glazed tongue and a clear soup of an unknown flavour).

Jon and his dad also put together the boards for the seating plans – with diagrams of where the tables were traced by me (I did have a bit of input!). After coming up with all sorts of silly ideas, we decided to name them after characters in The Princess Bride. It was quite revealing to see who got the references to Vizzini, Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen (hopefully they didn’t take it personally) – and the kids seemed quite oblivious to the Dread Pirate Roberts sign on their table!

A Team Effort.

The best thing about the day was getting married, which was brilliant! I couldn’t stop grinning like a loon the whole way through the ceremony, even (especially?) when Jon was having a prolonged lip tremble. The only-just-runner-up thing was seeing so many family and friends all together in one place and all (seeming to and hopefully) having a good time.

I think the most frequently repeated comment we’ve had on our day was that it was very “us” – which we’ll take as a compliment! We had tried very hard to put the emphasis on our guests (the people who one way or another, over the course of our lives had all contributed to making the day possible), to source as much as we could locally or from known smaller suppliers (who consistently proved that bigger isn’t necessarily best), and matching the formality of the ceremony with a fun celebration.

Our families and friends rallied round and took on some of the jobs and generally made our lives much easier. We will always be grateful to them for that!

If we had a few bits of advice to pass on to anybody else (we have!), it would be to say: work out really early on what’s sacred to you, fence that off and make sure it happens, and you can work around everything else. If you can do it early, just get it done. Be prepared to make little changes as the whole day’s plans evolve. And relax and enjoy – each other, your guests, the day, and the memories.

ceremony Islington Town Hall Council Chamber

Reception Tufnell Park Tavern

Dress Fur Coat No Knickers

Shoes L K Bennett

Photographer Laura Babb

Marmite Cake Gurvinder Phull

Traditional Cake The Sugar Smith

Jazz Band Alvin Roy

Dj’s Gerred and Hannah

Being a bit of a foody chef type (only in the comfort of my own home mind!) I think it’s really cool when couples opt for herbs in place of more traditional floral choices. The tables had a really homely rustic feel with brown paper and terracotta, and the fact that the guests could help themselves tied in well with Charlotte and Jon’s ethical approach – nothing was wasted.

A really clever and thoughtful idea.

Adam.

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Posted in Vintage Inspired

Tags: Alvin Roy Fur Coat No Knickers Gurvinder Phull Islington Town Hall Council Chamber L K Bennett Laura Babb The Sugar Smith Tufnell Park Tavern

Brighton Rocks.

September 15th, 2011

I love Brighton.

When you think about Brighton you probably think Seaside, Pier, Pavillion. You are less likely to think thistles, open fields…. kilts?

Re-adjust your expectations people!

RMW readers Liz and Colin brought a little piece of Scotland all the way down to the south coast of England, and in the process created an effortless and elegant start to the rest of their life together. Lisa Devlin also made the journey, and she brought her camera along…

A Long Weekend.

Our Brighton wedding took place on Friday July 8th 2011 St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean and Pangdean Barn for the reception. Colin is Scottish so we had lots of guests travelling down for a long weekend. We had heavy rain the day before the wedding and at the rehearsal the night before we had to shelter in the Church until it stopped… I was a bit worried as we had chosen ‘here comes the sun’ by the Beatles for our leaving the church song so I was so relieved when we the sun came out just in time for us.

Five Votes For Suzanne Neville.

I found my dress from Leonie Claire in Brighton who were amazing from start to finish. The girls were so welcoming and made us feel really relaxed. I went along with my 5 bridesmaids and mum and we had a lovely time picking out dresses with a glass of champagne in hand. As you can imagine with 5 bridesmaids in tow there were a lot of opinions as I tried on each style! But when I came out in the lace long sleeved design by Suzanne Neville, it just felt so perfect and finally they all agreed that this was the one!

Simple Vintage.

I chose a simple veil and a vintage look side pearl head piece from designer Polly Edwards. I didn’t have any jewellery other than diamond ear-rings that my husband-to-be had left with my bridesmaids Jenny and Katie on the morning of the wedding – which they woke me up with by jumping on my bed!

The Perfect Pick.

I loved my ivory satin 40s style peep toe shoes from Rainbow Club, my mother-in-law Carolyn actually picked these out for me at my final fitting and they were perfect!

Wind And Veil.

Originally I thought about doing my own make up but I really wanted to relax on the morning and this turned out to be the right decision as I could really take everything in and watch the girls getting ready. I actually had the make-up trial the day before the royal wedding, so we had a really fun afternoon where my bridesmaids came over and we had champagne and Will & Kate cupcakes! I was really happy with the look on the day, although I did put my hair spray to the test by having pictures up on a hill by a windmill and in a corn field, at one point my veil flew off and Colin had to chase after it through the corn field! Luckily it was all caught on camera and video too!

Vintage Blooms.

My bridesmaids and I had bouquets of Old Dutch, Amnesia and light pink Sweet Avalanche roses, light pink peonies and hydrangeas. Our florist The Vintage flower house tied the colours in perfectly with our ‘sage and pink’ colour theme. On the tables we had a mix of candelabras and clusters of silver vases with different posies of our flowers. They were so beautiful we took all the posies home and gave them away to friends as we were going on honeymoon. My sister-in-law Monica also had the idea to press some flowers from my bouquet so we did this the next day and I’ll frame this later.

A Scottish Touch.

Our colour scheme was sage and pink. Our beautiful bridesmaids wore sage green dresses from Coast – although we had a bit of a drama when Sam announced she was pregnant and would be 6 months pregnant on the day! Luckily Coast did the same dress in a long length that suited her bump perfectly and she looked gorgeous. The girls all chose their ivory shoes from Next in 2 different styles. Our best man Iain and the ushers all wore their own tartans and jackets from Macgreggor Macduff in Glasgow.

A Tot In Time…

My husband wore his family Logan tartan. His best man Iain had thoughtfully bought along a hip-flask of Whisky to calm his nerves which seemed to work, as he almost fainted in the Church.

Double Vision.

We chose Lisa Devlin as our photographer after seeing her work on her website, I loved the vintage look to her photography and she really captured the feel of the day. Lisa had the idea for her assistant Jayne to photograph Colin and the ushers getting ready in the morning at the flat while she did me, my mum and the girls getting ready at the hotel. This was such a good idea and I loved seeing them all getting ready at the flat and seeing what we were doing at the same time on the morning.

Floral Flourishes.

We had a jam and cream sponge 3 tier cake from the Marks & Spencer that tasted delicious – we asked our florist to decorate it so it looked really effective.

All Day And All The Night.

We found a band that we had seen on a night out called Tongue and Groove and they were amazing 5 piece rock band after our first song they launched straight into ‘All day and all of the night’ by the Kinks which got everyone up after we had told them we had that inscribed inside our wedding bands, so that was such a lovely moment.

First Dance.

We chose ‘In my life’ by the Beatles because it seemed right for us and not to difficult to shuffle along to.

A Joint Effort.

My bridesmaid Aimee and I spent the weekend before the wedding making the table plan, wedding post box, menus and all the decorations, it was a really special and made everything feel so personal. We used a mirror from our flat and stuck plain paper to the back of left over invitations and printed the names on and it looked really effective. I would also suggest using tableplanner software which was only £10 and really helpful when you are deciding on the table plan. My bridesmaid Sam also made photo displays of us growing up in beautiful heart frames that really tied in with the barn, they were a surprise on the day. The barn was also filled with fairy lights and candles which looked so pretty and cosy.

It’s All Part Of The Process.

When you are saving for the wedding it’s easy to think ‘all that money just on one day’ and to focus on making the day perfect, but I think the best advice I could offer is to see the wedding build up as just as important and enjoy things like choosing a band, dress fittings and picking the rings as experiences in themselves rather than jobs being ticked off the list. Looking back I will never forget some of the lovely days in the build up like having fun nights out with Colin seeing random bands, making the decorations with my bridesmaid and the dinner with my family the night before the wedding.

Church St Margaret’s Church

Reception Pangdean Barn

Photographer Lisa Devlin

Boutique Leonie Claire

Dress Suzanne Neville

Head piece Polly Edwards

Shoes Rainbow Club

Flowers The Vintage flower house

Grooms men Macgreggor Macduff

Entertainment Tongue and Groove

Erm… Brighton Rocks, yes?

Things I love about this wedding…. The stationery (understated but with beautiful detail)… That first black and white shot of Liz in the window (Grace Kelly anyone?)… Windmills and wind beaten grass (something perfect about this that I can’t quite place my finger on).

Oh, and that massive London bus, you’ve got to love London by the sea.

Adam.

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Posted in Vintage Inspired

Tags: Leonie Claire Bridal Shop Brighton Lisa Devlin Macgreggor Macduff Pangdean Barn Pangdean Barn Wedding venue Brighton Polly Edwards Vintage Wedding Jewellery and Accessories Rainbow Club St Margaret's Church Brighton Suzanne Neville long lace sleeve bridal gown Grace Kelly The Vintage flower house Tongue and Groove

The Relaxed Romantic…Part 2

September 13th, 2011

Clearly I said the W-day of Mel and Tim was romantic but did I also mention how very pretty it was?

No?

Well now I am. Super SUPER pretty. A cotton candy palette and so many delicious details you will have to come take a second look. And maybe even a third…

Oh and the portraits?

I die.

The Big Decision

Tim and I are both really interested in photography and it was one of the first things we got talking about when we met a couple of years back at a friends party. As a result, picking a photographer was a big decision and we wanted someone who would capture informal pictures of the day using the natural light and provide us with relaxed images of what would hopefully also be a relaxed day.

Tim asked at work for any recommendations and as luck would have it, one of his colleagues mentioned Lee Robbins, a friend of hers. We feel we were really lucky to find Lee as his style fitted in perfectly with what we wanted and on the day he was wonderful – unobtrusive and really helpful too. When I arrived at the church he even helped still my nerves by confirming that Tim was inside waiting as the sudden worry as to whether he had actually turned up kicked in!

Vintage Entertainment

At a vintage wedding fair in Harrogate we had seen a DJ playing old 78 records on a gramaphone which we just loved. We knew that it would also fit in perfectly with the day and that it couldn’t fail but appeal to the mix who would be at the wedding, both young and old. We provided our DJ, Sid, with a list of some of the records we wanted to be included on the playlist and the kind of thing we liked and he just turned up and did the rest. He came all dressed up for the occasion, with all the props for his stand and everyone loved it. It was just perfect when we all walked from the church to the marquee in the grounds of the church hall to be greeted to a perfect scene – the marquee all beautifully decorated with flowers and bunting and bathed in sunshine, trays of Yorkshire bellinis (rhubarb rather than peach in honour of being on the edge of the Rhubarb Triangle) and all with the backing of 1940s records being played on a gramophone.

For the evening, we had another DJ who plays at many of the bars in Leeds. He played every track, of the many, we had asked for and and quite literally had everyone up and on the dance floor which you don’t get to see very often! The dancefloor being a little uneven due to the ground underneath meant that not everyone always stayed upright on the dancefloor but everyone was having to much fun – and drinks – to care!

Sweet Treats

There had been good intentions to make the wedding cake myself but unfortunately, with everything else to plan, time ran out. Instead we bought two tiers of sponge cake and one tier of fruit cake from Marks & Spencer which were covered in ivory royal icing. I encircled each tier with blue ribbon over which I then secured ivory lace and the cake was topped with flowers that tied in with those used in the personal flowers and those displayed throughout the marquee. The morning before the wedding we also baked some vanilla cupcakes which we later decorated at the church hall.

As Tim is not a big fan of cake, we also had a cheese tower which was put together after a few tasting sessions at Neals Yard. (They do a postal delivery service and were really helpful and happy to advise). Apparently it tasted very good although not liking cheese I am unable to comment! Unfortunately, there are no photos of the cheese tower as it was not unleashed and placed in the marquee until the evening as the thought of cheese sitting in a marquee on a sunny day didn’t really appeal!

Delicious Decor

The marquee we opted for was the Mughal from Shades of India which looked especially fantastic when bedecked with the miles of bunting that my friend Hannah and I had made with fabric purchased at the Cloth House in London. The colours of the bunting and the flowers displayed in the vintage glass bottles and jars and hung from the tent poles were beautiful and really tied the whole thing together.

We had hired an old tin bath which was filled with ice and bottles of beer and cider so allowing people to just help themselves. On the cake table we also had jars of sweets, old silver sugar prongs with which to get the sweets out and paper bags so that the children – and adults – could help themselves. There were also old fashioned games such as tiddly winks and happy families to keep the children entertained indoors and croquet and quoits for outside.

A Talented Groom

The tables were also decorated with antique silver tealight holders and the candles were lit on the evening as were those outside in heart etched jars and large lanterns. Log fires were also lit outside in braziers which seemed to keep the men happy, gave the children an opportunity to toast marshmallows and kept the rest of us warm!

All the graphics including save the date cards, the invites, rsvp cards, table plan, table numbers, menus, etc were designed by the talented groom and although it took a lot of his time it was much appreciated by me and meant we had something that was both personal to us and our wedding day.

On the Friday a team of us assembled at the church hall to put together all the finishing touches – writing the place names on luggage tags which had old stamps affixed to them, decorating cakes, tying ribbons around the napkins, bay trees, labels around sweet jars, etc. Everyone being so kind and coming together helped so much not just in ensuring everything got done but also in alleviating the nerves and allowing Tim and me to both relax knowing that everything was ready for our big day.

The Personal Touches

It wasn’t just me that got to turn up to the church in style in a vintage motor. Austin, one of our ushers, very generously lent Tim his vintage 1960′s Alfa Romeo.

My mother is from Argentina and it meant so much to both her as well as me that some family were able to travel over for the wedding. I hadn’t expected any of them to be able to so was thrilled when I heard they were definitely coming and happy for my mother to as she rarely gets to see them.

Having a ‘designer’ husband to be certainly has it’s benefits. Tim was secretly rather pleased with himself when I commented that I was happy to be marrying a man that cared as much as me about getting the right colour/matching ribbon for cakes, orders of service, etc.

As Tim has two boys, Joe and Freddie, we wanted to ensure that the day was as fun and enjoyable for the children as well as the adults hence indoor and lawn games and a plentiful supply of sweets!

Savour Every Moment

I would advise any bride and groom to try not to panic even when things may seem to be going wrong in the final run up! On the afternoon before our wedding there was torrential rain which not only caused flooding resulting in some roads leading to the church being shut but also resulted in the church hall flooding too. As the church hall was being used this was mildly concerning to say the least! However, not panicking and everyone pulling together got this sorted so that it all came right on the day with the sun shining gloriously and no hint at the near disaster.

Sleep. Get as much of it as you can in the days and weeks running up to the big day. Chances are you’ll get no sleep the night before!

Ultimately, doing it your own way surrounded by friends and family is what really makes the day and provides the memories the rest is just detail.

As every bride and groom before have probably said, enjoy and savour every moment of the day as it goes by so quickly. I woke up early the next morning just wanting to do it all again as I had had the most wonderful day ever and with the most wonderful man I could wish to have married.