Inspiration

When we receive real wedding submissions, there are some that I just know are going to be gorgeous. Danielle and Ben's was most definitely one of those. They are the people behind lovely stationery and homeware brand, Old English Company and their wedding day is just as stylish and minimal as you'd expect. Danielle looks stunning in an off-the-shoulder Pronovias dress which fits her like a glove, I really enjoyed reading her story of her dress hunt too - she's very honest and I'm sure lots of you will be able to relate to what she says. Enjoy this one lovelies, it's a fabulous modern take on a classic white wedding...
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Elegant & Stylish Modern Wooden Signs For Your Wedding Day

The Dress

Danielle the Bride: When I first went wedding dress shopping with my mum, it’s safe to say I felt a bit clueless. Other than knowing I wanted something ‘elegant’, I didn’t really have a particular style in mind. I guess in a way that was a positive thing because I was open to trying on a range of styles. A few dresses in though and I soon realised I felt the best in the more figure hugging ones. Being quite petite some of the bigger dresses, although they were beautiful, they kind of swamped me! I wanted to show my neckline but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wear a completely strapless dress. Then I went to Teokath in Wimbledon with my Maid of Honour Gemma, where I found ‘Bena’ by Spanish dress designer Pronovias. I just loved the simple elegance of the dress with the draped bodice and off-the-shoulder neckline. As I slipped into the Pronovias number I knew I’d said ‘yes to the dress’. I felt a million bucks. The girls in Teokath were wonderful. I had my alterations done at Chambers Bespoke Tailors in Wimbledon Village, who were equally as great, warm and professional. The advice I’d give to anyone searching for their perfect dress is, be open to trying on various different styles, but don’t try on hundreds of dresses! When you find a dress which makes you feel wonderful when wearing it, buy it! I think it can confuse you if you keep on searching. There are so many beautiful dresses out there it can get overwhelming and if you’re anything like me, I’m not good when faced with too many things to choose from!

Hair and make up

I had my hair make up done by the wonderful Adrienne, who was also my other Maid of Honour (I had two!) Not only is Adrienne my best friend, she also happens to be the best make-up artist in town. It’s safe to say I was in good hands. We didn’t even have a hair trial. As we live miles apart, I sent a few pictures to her and had an idea in my head that I wanted something involving soft waves and loosely pinned back teamed with a vintage clip I bought from Etsy. The way she just did her thang in the morning and made my hair have staying power, but without looking like an over hair sprayed prom queen (my worst fear). It was just genius. In a bid to keep it simple and not too ‘bridesmaidy’, the bridesmaids and my mum all opted for a big bouncy blow dry. Local hairdresser, Oliver Lee, did their hair and they all looked utterly amazing. It was such a fun morning all getting ready together. Drinking champagne and having many ‘lols’. It felt like we were getting ready for the best girls night out of our lives.  We even had a special mascot on the morning, bridesmaid Charlotte’s little boy, Arthur, who was only 8 months old at the time and is already breaking hearts for a living.

The Accessories

Jewellery: Sometimes less is more so I just wore some lovely dainty crystal droplet earrings from Chambers Bespoke Tailors. I snapped them up whilst browsing their jewellery display when I went for one of my dress fitting appointments! Shoes: I didn’t want any shoes which were too ‘bridal’. I wanted to be able to wear them again after the wedding, but not as high as my usual culprits, because I intended on dancing all night long (which I certainly did!)! I ended bagging a pair of LK Bennett shoes. These beauties called ‘Floey’ looked really chic with shimmering metallic suede adorned with sparkling crystal embellishments, they were super comfy too!

The Bridesmaids

I knew straight away I wanted to go for multi-way dresses. Having six bridesmaids all different heights and one who was pregnant the majority of our engagement, the ‘one size fits all’ dress seemed to be the perfect option. I went for the grey dresses by Victoria Lou Dresses. These dresses were amazing and Victoria was brilliant from start to finish. Her dresses are also reasonably priced and look gorgeous, although my bridesmaid are all beautiful they would have looked stunning in a black bin bag! I bought the bridesmaids a necklace each as a present on the morning of the wedding. A dainty gold horse shoe number from Estella Bartlett which looked really pretty and elegant.

The Groom

Ben ended up choosing a charcoal grey three-piece suits for him and his groomsmen, which I teamed with muted grey ties to match the bridesmaid dresses. To save money, the boys hired their own suit jacket and trousers from a local suit tailors and we bought them their shirts and ties as a present from Marks and Spencer, as well as a mini bottle of Jack Daniels for good measure (to calm the nerves!) The boys looked so sharp and oh-so handsome!

The Venue

Having moved around most of my childhood because my dad was in the military, I didn’t really have a particular place which felt that sentimental to me. Whereas Ben grew up in the picturesque town of Stamford, Lincolnshire. We also now live in Stamford having recently moved there from London, so it felt like an obvious place for us to get married. We had a fabulous marquee in Ben’s parent’s stunning back garden, which felt so special and relaxed! The marquee company Relocatable were so professional. The marquee was put up so fast and before we could blink it was erected and ready for us to decorate. Even the torrential rain (how very English) during the build didn’t put them off! Having a marquee in Ben parent’s back garden not only made it even more personal to us, but it gave us a blank canvas to add our own style. With us running and owning a homeware and stationery business, Old English Company, the styling was very important to us and we wanted to add our own personal touches and style throughout the whole wedding!

The Décor

We wanted to go for a white wedding, with lots of greenery, foliage and white flowers everywhere! Although I wanted a fairly traditional wedding, I still wanted it to feel very modern and stylish. Ben is the founder and illustrator at Old English Company so this did come in very handy! He designed the invitations and all the other wedding stationery and signage. This also allowed us to make our wedding totally unique to us and just the way we wanted it. We wanted a photo booth but we wanted something a bit different and a lot cheaper – we bought a Polaroid camera, some photo props and made our own boards from OSB boards and copper wire to peg the photos too. It went down a storm and looked really cool too! For the wedding favours my Dad and Step Mum made some cute love heart shaped shortbread biscuits all washed down with our very own hand made damson gin, picked from the trees which stood in the marquee covered in twinkly lights. We hired giant LOVE letters from Jonny Ross music, which looked amazing and turned out to be a great backdrop for photos. We lit up the garden with lanterns and lights throughout the trees and hedges in the garden – it was so lovely in the evening. Even though it rained in the evening, the lighting still looked atmospheric and dreamy.

The Flowers

My word. Our florist was amazing. Flowers were one of the most important things for me and I had clear visions of how I wanted it to look. I couldn’t quite find any photos online of exactly how I wanted things, but Helen Jane floristry brought my visions to life and turned them into a reality. The top table garland which featured lots of foliage, gorgeous white hydrangeas, peonies, stocks and roses, ran the whole length of the table, frame by the trees covered in twinkly lights, it just looked magical. My hand tied bouquet was filled with scented white & ivory flowers, offset by trailing foliage in dark green and silvery grey - truly gorgeous! It contained a lot of seasonal flowers, like peonies which are just divine. The bridesmaids' posies were made to compliment my bouquet and looked fabulous with their silvery-grey dresses. Ben and his groomsmen wore buttonholes of Akito roses with sprigs of eucalyptus.

The Ceremony

Stamford Boys School, Ben’s former school, also happened to have a gorgeous chapel with the most manicured grounds you’ve ever seen! It made the perfect place to get hitched. They say a little rain on your wedding day is good luck. Just before I entered the chapel with my Dad and bridesmaids it was a little gloomy with rain. By the time I got to the bottom of the aisle, a big ray of sunshine shone through the stain glass windows and I remember vividly thinking how beautiful it was with a warm fuzzy feeling sweeping over me. My lovely brother Aaron kicked off the readings with a poem called ‘Love’ by Roy Croft, which is one of my favourite poems. Then our beautiful friend Camilla read an extract from Captain Corelli's Mandolin. The words ‘Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two’ is just so beautiful and we knew we wanted it to be part of our ceremony. Our wonderful reverend also quoted something similar during one of our marriage lessons and I remember at the time it made me smile. Last but not least our dearest friend from uni Jonny did a perfect reading from the bible for us, 1 Corinthians 13. Reverend Mark Goodman from Stamford Boys School was a pillar of strength and advice throughout the whole process. During the ceremony he was so personable and made us feel like we were the only two people in the room, we feel really lucky to have been married by him. He actually also married Ben’s Sister Kate (also one of my gorgeous bridesmaids) and her now lovely hubby Tom the previous year, so it was really special having him marry us too. Highlight has to be when I got slightly tongue tied during our vows and said something like ‘holy hog’, followed by much laughter from the congregation.

The Transport

Ben parent’s friend owns a rather beautiful vintage Jag. It was amazing! In return of a bottle of nice gin, he kindly drove dad and I to the chapel. Then after the ceremony he drove us newlyweds to the reception! It was so special being driven in style.

The Entertainment

We had an acoustic guitarist for the canape reception. Our guitarist Matt had a voice as smooth as chocolate! He certainly created a really chilled atmosphere for all the guests to mingle after the chapel service. In the evening we basically wanted to party! We opted for the DJ and Sax package from Jonny Ross Music. The sounds of the sax with the DJ created such a party vibe. They played all our favourite tunes, old and new, which went down really well to with the older folk. It was so much fun!

The Food

OMG our food. There’s no words to explain how delicious it was. I mean, it looks yummy in the photos but in reality it was like we’d died and gone to heaven. We chose The Dimblebee Catering Co. to do our food for the canapes, wedding breakfast and evening food. They were impeccable and top class. We wanted to incorporate all our favourite foods, we wanted to be classy but we didn’t want a traditional 3 course set meal. We opted for a posh BBQ theme which involved lots of sharing dishes brought to each table. And then for the evening we had freshly baked pizzas, which certainly mopped up the booze nicely. We didn’t have starters, we went heavy on the canapes and then just had rustic breads with dipping oils and olives on each table for people to nibble on before the mains arrived. For the mains we had wooden boards brought to each table with BBQ ribeye steaks served with a jug of sauce béarnaise and marinated chicken thighs, along with chargrilled veggie and halloumi skewers. To accompany we had pots of roasted new potatoes cooked in sea salt and rosemary with lots of yummy salads scattered around each table. Last but not least we had tower stacks of gooey chocolate brownies for each table – it was actual heaven. Our cake was a bargain - £80 from M&S! We went for a plain white 3 tier mix of chocolate and vanilla sponge cake, then our florist made some fresh flowers and foliage garlands to run around the bottom of the cake stand.

The Photographer

Our official photographer was insanely good. James Corbett was like a secret ninja, with his silent camera and impressive skills to blend in with the crowd. We wanted a photographer who captured the moment and didn’t take us away for hours making us do staged photos, which I always looks so uncomfortable a goofy in. James is a Documentary Wedding Photographer, he certainly managed to create a body of work which documented a visual narrative of our day - capturing the love and laughter (sometimes uncontrollable) in the room shared by everyone! When we received our photos back from James I felt like we were reliving the day once again. He also managed to capture the impressive dance moves during the evening which summed up the epic party we had (bride and groom last ones standing!) I was also lucky enough to have a talented photographer as one of my bridesmaids. Before James arrived, Vicky was able to capture some cracking shots of us lot having our hair set in rollers and enjoying our champagne fuelled breakfast, it’s really nice to have them too and tell the story of the whole day from start to finish.

Advice

If you choose to get married in England you cannot predict the weather. As much as you’ll hope and pray for glorious sunshine, there’s always a big chance that a summer wedding will result in rain. But don’t let it stress you out too much, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. As come rain or shine, nothing will dampen spirits. It’s such a euphoric day filled with so much happiness you won’t care about the rain and you can’t control it. It’s what makes your wedding quintessentially British.
Fern Godfrey

Written by Fern Godfrey

Stationery: Old English Company | Catering: The Dimblebee Catering Co. | Bride: Teokath | Bridesmaids: Victoria Lou | Hair & Make Up: Make Up With Dren | Florist: Helen Jane | Marquee: Relocatable | Music : Jonny Ross
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