Snow White obviously.

Actually hang on a wee minute there, it appears this evil queen is as sexy as Cinderella sans rags – sometimes being bad is good y’know.

Annie from Tallulahs Trinkets decided to combine all sorts of lovely and wicked in her fairytale-themed inspiration shoot photographed by the ever-so talented Anna Clarke. There is a decadent dessert table that is as calorific as it is cool, rich vibrant reds (the lip – you need to check out the lip people), all sorts of amazing tree-hanging decor and about a million zillion other ideas to steal.

For any of you gorgeous lot who are considering a stronger make-up look for W-day or how to rock shorter hair this may be just what you have been waiting for. And the paper – some of the loveliest I have seen in a while.

Once Upon A time…..

Annie from Talullahs Trinkets: I wanted to put a shoot together that was slightly quirky, fun and on trend and I love the idea of Snow White. The title alone evokes vivid flashes of crisp white, luscious reds and dark evil black and I knew exactly where I wanted the colours to be in the shoot. Snow White in all her innocence obviously had to be in white, the evil Queen in black with the red accents in the apples, cakes and flowers.

I have spoken to Anna and Simon on various occasions and love Anna’s work, she has so much scope with her vision from soft hazy shots to clear crisp sharpness. So after a few emails we had our date and our plan! We just needed the weather to play ball and it did just that.

The best part of putting a shoot together like this is working with some hugely talented people who know exactly how to create precisely what you are asking for, it’s such a great way to showcase their creativeness.

I had met Tracey from Cotton and Crumbs at a vintage bridal fair and was blown away by how beautiful her cakes were. I emailed over the mood board and she instantly came back with her ideas for the cakes and pop cakes, which were fantastic. Elle from Elle for Love also came up with fantastic ideas of how to incorporate the woodland feel along with the other elements of the shoot and then the flowers were simply stunning and totally innovative. Jodie from Make up by Jodie knew the overall look we were aiming for and delivered 100% with hair and make up.

The dresses were supplied from The Wedding Club who are a fantastic bridal boutique in Edgbaston, Birmingham with a stunning range of gowns. Claire pretty much gave me a free reign with the choice of dress, but when she pulled out the feather bodice with a full skirt I knew we had our Snow White dress. I would urge anyone getting married to go along and try on the gorgeous gowns that The Wedding Club Stock and all in a lovely relaxed atmosphere.

All that I had left to do was to styling the shoot on the day, I’d got some pretty strong ideas of how I wanted the shoot to look so with the help of a few more hands on the day we created a little piece of Snow White in the woods. I was over the moon to see it all set up, imagining it is one thing but bringing it to life is another, and for the piste de la resistance we bought in the beautiful white stead.

When designing the headbands I wanted to stick to Snow White look as much as possible so I went for a simple silver beaded bow and added some jet swarovski crystals for definition and contrast. The evil queen had to be quite the opposite so I actually put two Nancy headbands on our queen. Nancy is a vintage inspired piece that is full of swarovski crystals and diamantes and is just beautiful.

Tracey From Cotton And Crumbs: We wanted to design a simple yet elegant cake for this shoot incorporating red to tie into other elements of the shoot. The cake pops just had to be red apples, this is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of snow white.

Jodie from Make Up by Jodie: I really wanted to create a big contrast between the two model’s looks – one being very innocent with wide eyes and fluttery lashes and a really juicy fresh red lip (Jemma Kidd Lipstick Duo in Scarlett).

The other look was a lot more sultry and dark with a classic smoky eye, heavy lashes and a dark wine stain on the lips. It was important the hair complemented Annie’s gorgeous headpieces so it was kept fairly simple but with a bit of drama to fit the styling and makeup.

Elle from Elle for Love: Receiving an exciting mood board is always a great experience. I loved how different this one was with it’s woodland theme and Snow White influences.

I knew immediately I wanted to create something with a rustic feel to capture the woodland theme with distressed trees and the formidable ‘apple’ and to keep it quite simple using fonts to give a nod to the fairytale element of the shoot.

Flowers of Kidderminster: Knowing the theme and the colour scheme we wanted the flowers to compliment the overall look of the shoot so for Snow White we made a handtie design of stunning, dramatic ‘Rococo Parrot’ tulips. These flowers have a wonderful ruffled, texture effect that was perfect for the dress. For the finishing touches we encased them with a cage of Beargrass.

The second bouquet was an all wires posy of scented open Casablanca oriental lily surrounded by black marabou feathers and finially we wanted to do something a bit different so we made an ivory chiffon muff edged with black marabou feathers with white oriental lily buds and blooms cascading from the muff.

Collaboration/Stylist – Annie Nicholls

Cakes – Cotton and Crumbs

Cloak – Frocks and Flowers

Dresses – The Wedding Club

Flowers – Flowers of Kidderminster

Hair and Make up – Jodie Hazlewood

Headbands – Tallulah’s Trinkets

Photography – Anna Clarke Photography

Stationery – Elle is for Love

Styling – Tallulah’s Trinkets

Video Production – Simon Clarke

Models – Snow White: Jo Dressler jodressler@yahoo.com Evil Queen: Lana Wilson lanavejzovic@hotmail.com

Can I ask a question? Is there anyone who as a kid always wanted to be the bad guy/girl because they were kind of….I don’t know, more interesting? I remember having a She-Ra (Princess of Power!) doll but always wanting to be her arch nemesis Catra.

And for those of you that don’t know who the hell She-Ra was (or who are frankly, not old enough to remember) she was He-Mans girlfriend.

Not know who He-man is either? oh well. You are not missing out to be fair – he was a big old muscly cartoon character who’s brains appeared to be mainly in his biceps.

Ahem. Anyway… I wouldn’t mind looking like either character/model above. And that feather bodice dress?

Natalie Portman eat your heart out pet.

Big Mirrored Love

Charlotte xxx

I am so pleased to be able to bring you all a well deserved ray of sunshine this morning. Prepare for pinks and ivory, romance and relaxation and a plethora of rustic chic. And prepare too for 34 degree heat (not outside in the real world unfortunately).

Photography today is by Anushe Low. Pop your sun glasses on and we can begin.

A Bit Of Wang

My dress was by Vera Wang, Diane.

Walking out with the dress on and looking in the mirror, I could for the first time imagine how my wedding day would be like, from the surrounding of the venue to the flowers. The Dress was the piece that connected everything for me.

High Street Accessories

I wore a pair of stone encrusted earrings from Monsoon and a pair of red peep toe shoes from Topshop.

Simple Florals

We used a local florist. They provided me with a list of roses available in September. I picked the flowers and had them put into vase with water. We also had Mini Eden, Large Roses and Cala lilies. It was very simple. In my bouquet I had Sweet Avalanche.

Fashion Finds

Our bridesmaid dresses were from French Connection. Our flower girls dress was from Monsoon and Ronan wore a suit from Hugo Boss.

A Good Recommendation

Our photographer was Anushe Low, I was recommended her by David Jenkins, another photographer who had been recommended by a friend.

Food For Thought

The chef at the Villa made our cake, it consisted of a large Strawberry Mille-Feuille surrounded by smaller versions of the same cake. we had pre-ceremony and pre-reception drinks that consisted of Prosecco, Beer and Cocktails served with a vast selection of Meat, Cheese and canapés.

Chasing Cars

We hired a traditional Irish band, which played for 3 hours, then disco music played until 2am. Our first dance was to Snow Patrol, Chasing cars. This was the song playing on the radio when we had our first date.

Little treats

We gave the bridesmaids a travel bag from Aspinal of London and the Flower girl was given a charm from Pandora.

Rustic Charm

I tailored made my menus, confetti bags and table settings to go with the rustic theme. My menus were wrapped in lace and string, my Confetti bags were made of burlap and wrapped in ribbon. The guest names were clipped on wine glasses with flowery heart pegs.

The flowers were chosen to blend in with the surroundings of the garden where the reception was held. Everything from the table name holders to the Sheppard sticks to the flower jars were picked to achieve the rustic look.

Under The Skies

A lot of my decorations were brought from the US. The paper parasols, Fans, paper bags for the biscuits and sweets were purchased from the US.

I’ve always wanted to a reception outdoors under the skies, my best memories have always been outdoors under the stars, this is the main reason why I choose Italy – so we would be able to have dinner outdoors.

Hot Stuff

The overall look of our wedding was perfect. The ceremony was meant to be held in the garden, but due to the 34 degrees heat, it was moved to the court yard, which turned out to be perfect. We were lucky that the venue’s beautiful surrounding required very little decoration.

If you are having an outdoors wedding make sure that the venue has an indoor option, and do not look at the weather forecast more than 3 days before the wedding, as the info is never accurate!

Dress – Vera Wang

Boutique – Browns Bride

Shoes – Top Shop

earrings – Moonsoon

Suit – Hugo Boss

Photographer – Anushe Low

Venue – Villa Pitiana

Ha! I love that the table numbers are a childs number block set… that is so cool.

The dress is amazing, the bride and groom look like celebrities… The light that Anushe Low has captured. The beautiful scenery. The outdoor banquet, the parasols, the pastel florals. All mind blowing. Every single element of this wedding ties in together so perfectly.

It’s a little bundle of sunny wedding joy.

Adam.

So grooms, you don’t want to be just an accessory on one of the biggest days of your life and one way to prevent this most heinous of W-day crimes is to accessorise yourself (see what I did there). Groom fashion has never been so diverse and today we’re going to look at a few of the ways grooms have been getting involved, tinkering with their look and personalising their appearance.

Put Your Best Foot Forward

Socks can be really powerful and I don’t mean in the Stilton sense of the word. You can go loud and proud with your man hosiery (brosiery anyone?), safe in the knowledge that they will be safely covered 90% of the time by your trousers and footwear. A crazy pair of socks will remain pretty stealth, save for the odd ‘action flash’ as you make your way to the front of the church. You can choose if and when to reveal the power that lies beneath… The ‘shock sock’ is firm favourite with wedding photographers looking for a cheeky informal image.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Andrew Squires

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Shaw and Shaw

Wedding photographers have embraced the shock sock to such a level that some of are even writing about them… Check out Christian wards thoughts on his personal blog mainly about me.

Personally, the geek in me is loving the fact that not only can you pick a pair of socks to tie in with your colour scheme but also now, thanks to Pantone, you can do an exact sock to decor colour match (complete with pantone reference). And there are a lot of colours to choose from.

Pantone socks available from – SockShop.co.uk

Stick Your Neck Out

Bow ties have been really popular for the last year or so and I must admit it’s only recently that I have started to once again favour the look of a traditional tie over the funky dapper dicky-bow.

Identical ties or a variety that match your colour theme will pull you and your groomsmen together and unify your look. A great trick especially if you are asking them to provide their own suits. A pattern will do the same job and right now polka-dots are seriously hot.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Dominique Bader

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Katherine Ashdown

A polka dot has a knack of lending a whimsical touch to the formality of wedding attire without being too casual, and there is a great selection on the highstreet to choose from. Here are a couple of my current faves.

Blue tie white polka dot – Reiss

white tie blue polka dot – Pink

Wedding Day Bling

Another way to feel a bit different on your wedding day is by accessorising with some new or unique jewellery.

If you play your cards right and drop the odd well timed hint about the bit of bling you’ve got your beady eye on, you may even end up with a nice little wedding morning gift!

Don’t Be The Weakest Link

Cufflinks are a really customisable item that could reflect the theme or colour scheme of the day, or maybe something personal about you as a person or you and your future wife as a couple.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Ann-Kathrin Koch

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Andrew Squires

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Chris Barber

I so badly want a pair of the plectrum cufflinks, I just don’t know whether I would opt for a silver set like the ones below from Not On The Highstreet or go down and dirty with some authentic plastic picks from eBay.

Either way, they make a bold statement and would also make a great present. You may want to provide cufflinks for all your groomsmen for example.

Born And Bred Silver cufflinks – by Dizzy via Not On The High Street

Plastic cufflinks in various designs – independent eBay shop

Get Me To The Church On Time

My accessory-of-the-minute (and not only because it allows me to do another time based pun) is the pocket watch. I love them. So. Much.

There is something ridiculously cool about having a bit of chain looping between your buttonhole and pocket, and the actual item itself? What a fabulous object to remember your wedding by, and what a perfect gift it would make too (look here grooms, you have to start dropping the hints now ).

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Chris Barber

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Christian Ward

If you are looking to source a vintage pocket watch then your best bet would probably be to check out eBay or Amazon online and of course get yourself around some local car boot sales and antique fairs.

There are also some websites out there selling brand new pocket watches in classic and contemporary designs.

Silver plated pocket watch – Jean Pierre via Pocketwatch.co.uk

O Chive pocket watch – Full spot via o-clock.co.uk

For a vintage inspired or modern elegant wedding my choice would be the silver plated Jean Pierre pocket watch pictured above. It can currently be yours for £88.00

I wasn’t sure what to make of the O Chive pocket watches when I first laid my peepers upon them but I can see these bright modern timepeices from Italian design house Full Spot fitting in to a contemporary wedding perfectly, and they are available in a range of colours.

The more I look at them, the more they grow on me. Full Spot do a range of watches in a similar style and they are all really funky and quirky.

Prices for new pocket watches seem to range from as little as £20.00 right up to thousands – so just as with wrist watches there appears to be a watch to suit every budget. The O Chive pocket watch can be yours for a pretty modest £39.95

So, just a few ways to get the fashion based creative juices flowing of any grooms-to-be (and of course all you brides-to-be) out there in blogland.

Have any of you discussed accessories for ‘him’?

Are any of you girls perhaps considering presenting your future husband with a wedding morning gift for him to wear?

Leave your thoughts as per usual in our comments box below… Right, I’m off to choose my cufflinks – do I go For Kiss or Guns N Roses?

Adam.

Helen organises the BAFTA awards ceremonies (I know, how fancy is that?!) and she herself said that as a result, guests would be expecting BIG THINGS…and I’ve got to hand it to them, they nailed it.

Think the ultimate in elegant sophistication combined with a generous dose of quirk. Helen’s dress was a dream in princess-esque pretty, the blooms classic and timeless, the venue glamorous and decadent….

And then they had the order of service available in the basket of a bicycle. And some kind of awesome pink paper pom pom flower in every place setting.

Oh and of course Steve Gerrard did his thing where he somehow gives everything that certain air of 100% rock n roll…….immense.

Big Things

Andy and I got married on the 24th September 2011. Andy is an accountant so he looks after the numbers and I organise the BAFTA award ceremonies so our guests were expecting big things!

We live in Wimbledon but had spent the last two years in Sydney and moved back about 6 months before the wedding. This meant all the big things had to be booked from the otherwise of the world – easier said than done! My parents helped out enormously by inspecting venues and after a bit of looking around we chose Hassop Hall near Bakewell. As my family had celebrated my grandparent’s 40th, 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries there it seemed a good fit!

Jazzy Rector

Finding a church was a bit trickier as we aren’t from the area. The first church we liked didn’t do emails, and when we finally made contact they said they would pencil us in but if a local couple wanted the date they would get preference. I didn’t really fancy getting thrown out my church a few weeks before our wedding so I found a second church in a village really close to the venue with a vicar who not only did email but whose email address was jazzyrector!

I loved him before I even met him and luckily he was a cool as he sounded!

Second Time Lucky

I started looking for a dress in Australia but knew I could never buy something my mum hadn’t seen, so on a trip back to the UK took my mum and my bridesmaids dress shopping. It became clear pretty quick that I was going to have trouble deciding, they were all so lovely and different, I just couldn’t work out what kind of bride I wanted to be.

My bridesmaids also had dresses from America, they were from Amsale and we took their measurements then ordered over the phone. The worked out cheaper than a lot of UK dresses and the Amsale designs were very elegant and made from really lovely fabric.

When I got my dress back to London I took it to Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon to pick my accessories. The staff there were lovely and despite the fact I went in thinking I wanted a fingertip length ribbon edge veil I left with a full length lace one! It was the perfect traditional English touch to my simple American dress and I loved it so much I didn’t want to take it off all day, though Andy did manage to stand on it almost as soon as I got to the front of the church!

Beautiful Beads

When we were in New York I thought it would be the perfect chance to pick up a pair of Laboutin’s or Manohlo’s but none of them really worked, they just made my feet feel quite fat and clumpy. When I was in Dune back in London I saw a pair of beaded heels that were weddingy enough for the day but useful for more than just a white dress. Later on the in evening I had a little pair of white pump that I decorated with ribbon and added ‘Mrs K’ to the back of my dancing shoes!

Half Up Half Down

Not getting married where I lived meant finding hair and makeup people without any recommendations. My mum’s hair dresser has been cutting her hair for 25 years so when Mum suggested she did the wedding it seemed the perfect solution. She was great fun to have around and managed to make me look like Kate Middleton which was what I wanted!

I’ve had my make up done professionally at work a few times, and never really enjoyed it so wanted to do my own. I’d got quite a bit of Bobbi Brown make up and really liked it, so made an appointment for a bridal sessions. I did try out some other brands as well but the Bobbi Brown make up artists were so helpful and really listened to what I wanted. They helped my mum out too, and now we are both converts! On the day it was really relaxing to do my makeup and great getting ready in my own time.

Luxe For Less

Our florist was Sophie from Beau Blossom. She has to be most patient florist ever as I was a very demanding client! Being surrounded by big budget flowers at work I had quite grand ideas, and she helped bring them to life on my rather less grand budget! The archway over the entrance to the church was so beautiful the ladies at the church wouldn’t let her take it down and it stayed up for a week after the wedding.

The Right Fit

Andy doesn’t look great in hired suits so we decided the boys would wear their own. I liked this idea as I hate it when you see guys at a wedding in a suit that doesn’t fit well and luckily for us they all had similar grey suits! We bought them matching ties and personalized cufflinks with miniature maps on of a place significant to them and Andy.

Andy wore a suit he had made with a waistcoat – I love a guy in a waistcoat! We had spent lots of time choosing the fabric and the cut, and getting all his accessories. He looked very handsome and I love that he can wear his outfit again, it’s much better value for money than a wedding dress!

Stevie G

Finding a photographer seemed an impossible task at first, there are so many great people out there with different styles, and just when I thought I had found the right one someone else great would come along. Or they would have one wedding that I loved, but when I looked closer at their portfolio other weddings would not be my style. When I discovered Steve Gerrard (or Stevie G as he is known in our house!) I thought he had just the right balance between unposed, natural shots and some really clever and interesting portraits. He suggested we called him on Skype and he was friendly, funny and understanding of these two crazy people calling him from Australia!

On the day he was brilliant, I never felt like I was missing out on the party to have my photo taken, yet he has a great range of images and captured everything we asked for, he was like an extra guest.

He also worked really well with Jeff Wood who captured out wedding video. I wasn’t going to have a video until I saw a trailer Jeff had made on Rock My Wedding. I don’t cry at weddings very often but his videos had me in tears and after that there was nothing else but to book him. It is the best money we spent all day and I would recommend him without a second thought.

The Sound Of Music

We had a live jazz band for the drinks reception, followed by a pianist during dinner and then a swing band for the first bit of the party. After that the DJ played until the end of the night and seemed to keep the dance floor full. In the bar we placed some board games for the guests who were tired of dancing, and we set up a backdrop and some props for a photo booth with some pretty interesting results!

The Kings

We started our first dance to ‘Someone Like You’ by Kings of Leon. This is one of Andy’s favourite songs, which I allowed him to have in return for him coming to dance lessons. Sadly we weren’t quite the Strictly Come Dancing couple I was hoping for and with the exception of the lift we were pretty rubbish.

While on my hen party the bridemsaids and I put together a dance routine which we filmed on my phone before sending it to the wedding party, our families and even our friends in Australia to learn. When the first dance ended, Black Eyed Peas came on and Andy and I started the flashmob, soon to be joined by the bridesmaids, the ushers, the mums and some of our friends before breaking out into a huge dance party complete with Andy’s special handstand party trick. It certainly got the party started and went pretty well seeing as we had never practiced all together – the evidence is on youtube somewhere!

Baking And Making

My mum had made a wedding cake for my uncle and Andy’s mum likes baking so we asked them to make the cake together. Andy’s mum made the fruit cakes, the bottom one was so big she had to mix the ingredients in a crate! My mum religiously copied a design I had seen in Martha Stewart Wedding and painstakingly made the lace pattern for each layer, ordering all kinds of cutters and special pieces of equipment and going on several cake decorating courses!

My lovely bridesmaid Heather made the cake topper matching the details right down to the colour of Andy’s tie, she also made the orders of service through her stationery company Satsuma Stationery.

An Adventure

For favours we had biscuits for the boys and hand creams for the girls from Crabtree and Evelyn. The place names were tea bags as Andy loves tea and every place setting was decorated with a tissue paper flower. We also made “Little Books of Adventure’ for each table, where guests could recommend places for us to visit, restaurants to go to, books to read etc. in our first year of married life. Instead of a table plan we had escort cards and each guest had to find their envelope then inside was the menu and a timetable for the day. We made a treasure hunt for the children and gave them mini video cameras to interview the guests which made fun viewing afterwards!

Lovely Light

The room at Hassop was quite grand and we wanted to make it feel warmer, so I hired in coloured table cloths and different chairs which made a real difference. I didn’t want candelabra but instead used lots of pillar candles, hung little tea lights from branches and decorated the fireplaces with gypsophila and fairy lights. We hired some simple uplighters to place around the room, which really helped the atmosphere once it got dark, and the venue had some lovely chandeliers which mirrored the taller table centres.

Sound Advice

For me the hardest thing was deciding what ideas to use and which ones to let go. We were engaged for almost two years and in that time I managed to collate thousands of magazine cuttings and wedding blog photos, my wedding folder was bursting at the seems. When it came to choosing which ones to use I found it really hard, and once I chose I was really sad I wasn’t going to use the idea I had rejected!

I definitely had a bit of post wedding blues once it was over, mainly because I felt sad that we weren’t going to ever get to do it again, nor was anyone ever going to give me that bigger budget to spend on my own party! My only regret is that I didn’t check what speed the vintage car would travel at; there is nothing worse than being slightly late for church in a car doing 25 on a 40 miles per hour road!

Venue: Hassop Hall

Brides Dress: Priscilla of Boston

Videography: Jeff Wood

Photography: Steve Gerrard

Blooms: Beau Blossom

Paper: Satsuma Stationery

Car: Poplar

Brides Accessories: Luellas boudoir

Brides Shoes: Dune

Grooms Suit: Cad And The Dandy

How cool were those favours? I want one – a really lovely and personal idea.

And I know I mentioned it earlier but the dress……I definitely want me one of those.

Big Elegance + A Touch Of Rock N Roll = Perfection Love

Charlotte xxx

In light of the location of their meeting photographer Juliet McKee decided the Rural Life Centre would be the perfect backdrop for the couples engagement shoot. And it was – perfect I mean.

There is a classroom and a piano and a caravan and some kissing behind the bike sheds action…..*sigh*, a whole lot of symbolism actually – as Juliet will go on to explain.

Some people are just meant to be together forever – Hannah and Jon certainly were.

Happy RMW Love Story Monday folks.

Juliet: I met the gorgeous Hannah and Jon back in December and like all couples I meet asked how they met. It turns out they went to school together, ‘childhood sweethearts’, how lovely is that?! So fast forward to April and we started to plan their engagement shoot, however the couple were in a bit of a quandary trying to think of a location. Luckily I always have a few ideas up my sleeve and given the school link I could think of no better location than a special place I’ve shot at before, The Rural Life Centre.

I chortled a great deal to myself whilst editing this shoot, there are no shortages of hidden or not so hidden symbolism; the playground of youth, the classroom of life, the wriggly tadpoles – well yes moving swiftly on. The train station – the journey of life, the little chapel – arriving at marriage, the caravan – the honeymoon that certainly isn’t over, and the big ‘Frys’ sign – well a girl loves a bit of chocolate.

This was a wicked shoot and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I just love couples who are up for anything I throw at them and I can’t wait to capture the couples wedding for them later in the year.

Hannah: Jon and I first met at Secondary School in Hampshire in the 1990s. It was a time for Take That worship, mobile phones as big as bricks and Morgan was the label to be seen in. For the next five years we shared the same tutor group, Oasis battled with Blur and the ‘Rachel’ haircut came and went.

Fast forward 10 years… We went to different sixth form colleges and universities, and lived in different cities. I travelled before starting my job back in Southampton where we grew up and Jon worked hard for his PhD. Then one April evening four years ago our eyes met across a crowded room (actually a pub in Winchester) and we’ve been together ever since.

Jon proposed last year at sunset over a champagne picnic on the island of Sark where we were enjoying a fabulous relaxed long weekend break. He popped the question with the perfect ring and I was ecstatic!

We set about planning our wedding for August this year almost immediately and eventually settled upon a gorgeous Georgian mansion in the heart of rural Hampshire. The ceremony will take place in a little Church a stone’s throw away from our venue and this will be followed by a champagne reception and dinner in the ballroom of the house. My favourite flowers are peonies but as they are out of season in August, I have settled on a gorgeous apricot rose by David Austin which will set the theme for the wedding.

Juliet McKee, who is our photographer, has already made an excellent job of our engagement shoot, cleverly using the theme of school where we first met. We had huge fun on the day expecting to feel self conscious but we soon relaxed under her careful guidance.

We already have lots of great memories of the preparations for our day and although we still have a long way to go, we are so excited!!!

Take That, the Rachel cut….what do you think of when you remember the 90′s?

I remember boob tubes and long skirts with splits up the side. I remember MAC lipstick in Cherish and Hard Candy nail polish in Sky Blue. I remember the Spice Girls being the biggest girl group but wanting to dress like one of All Saints – they were way cooler.

I remember disposable cameras from Boots and a big crush on Ethan Hawke. I remember holiday romances and listening to Matchbox 20.

I remember hoping that one day…. I would meet the man of my dreams.

Big Retro Love

Charlotte xxx

The venue lies on the banks of the Breede River, in the South African country side, surrounded by farm lands – a setting that led Matt and Gill to decide upon a Country Chic theme for their wedding.

All of the stunning photography today is by Mavric Photography.

Bespoke Dressmaker

I like to believe I know my shape better than anyone, and what makes me self-conscious is not necessarily what a designer would consider an unattractive feature, but it is MY little insecurity. I also had to consider my budget and how much I wanted to spend on a dress I would only wear once, so I had a look at all the clothing pieces in my cupboard that make me feel good about myself and I chose features like cap sleeves to hide my “swimmers arms” and an empire line skirt to disguise my lack of a waist, and I started to look for ideas online.

I then worked with a dressmaker, Julie Douglas, to construct a frock. It was important that the dress fit perfectly and that I was comfortable. A very valuable exercise was to make a mock-up of the dress (but in black fabric), which I wore to an event a few months before the wedding. Not everyone will have this luxury, but I learnt so much from the mock-up dress that we changed for the wedding dress.

A Simple Veil

I wore a ring, in which my late grandmother’s rubies were set. Even though it didn’t go with my dress at all, I am glad I wore it. It was comforting.

I had a very simple veil and a diamante hair clip, and black Swarovski crystal earrings.

Two Toned Mary Jane

I wore black two toned Mary Jane style shoes with a medium heel so that I could navigate the lawn to the altar!

Healthy And Clear

My hair stylist, Cindy from TOSCA, made the long drive into the country to help me and my bridesmaids look fantastic! I wore my hair down with a simple braid on the side and minimal make-up, as I still wanted to look like myself. As long as my skin looked healthy and clear, I was happy.

Country Blooms

I used only local and quintessential country blooms, Barberton Daisies and Vynbos (“fine bush” which is indigenous to South Africa). My bouquet was made up of 25 yellow roses to accent the colour scheme of the wedding “Yellow, black and white”

I used local suppliers for all the main elements, including the cake and the appetisers (home baked country style quiche)

A Single Yellow Rose

The bridesmaids were in identical yellow summer dresses, all of which were made by Julie Douglas, the dressmaker I used for my own dress. Matt wore a dark grey tailored suit (which we decided to invest in), with a yellow tie to match the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen wore black suits with silver ties. All the men wore a single yellow rose on their lapel.

A True Professional

After looking at many different photographers’ websites, I chose Kirsten Mavric, because of her unconventional style and eye for clever compositions. I love her dedication to capturing the image as close to perfect as possible, without having to do too much in postproduction. This is the sign of a true professional! She was always around, but practically invisible and the result was that Matt and I got a storyboard representation of the day. We are nothing short of THRILLED!

A First Swim

I have always been a water-baby and my passion is open-water swimming. Matt and I decided that we would be much more comfortable if we were true to ourselves, so instead of a first dance, we decided to have a “first swim”!

On the count of 3, Matt and dashed for the river, followed closely by our guests. The photo opportunity was priceless!

Country Chic

The only noteworthy décor pieces were the 2 beautiful, large chandeliers, which we hung from the trees, under which were the reception tables. Keeping with the “Country Chic” theme, we used storm lanterns for lighting and fresh flowers on every table.

Rough Charm

For each guest I designed a personalised button badge with their name on it, and a “country icon” eg. A chicken, sheep, cowboy hat, cactus, windmill etc.

We decided to include disposable cameras on each table for the guests to capture themselves and their dinner-mates. Although there was plenty of wastage, I am happy with the rough charm these candid pictures have. Everyone looks so happy!

A Touch Of The Farm

What made our wedding unique was the introduction of the “Country Chic” theme. We asked all of our guests to dress smart casual with “a touch of the farm”. People then interpreted this in their own way and arrived wearing pretty summer dresses and wellington boots, checkered ribbons at the end of pigtails, large cowboy hats and feathered country fascinators.

My advice to future brides-on-a-budget would be not to get wrapped up in expensive traditional décor and flowers, but rather incorporate small creative details like the personalised button badges. Not only did these look cute at the place settings, but were great ice breakers. They also doubled as wedding favours as I saw most of my guests leaving the next day with their badge pinned to their luggage.

Photography – Mavric Photography

Venue – Round the Bend Lodge Cape Town

Hair – TOSCA

Chandeliers hanging from trees outside might just be the coolest thing. Ever.

And the whole first swim instead of a first dance? Words fail me… In the true spirit of RMW this was Matt and Gill’s day, most certainly their way.

Adam.

Next week we are taking you to Cape Town. Join us.

The Weekly Round-Up

• On Monday brought you Out Of Africa, an amazing bank holiday desitanation wedding.
• On Tuesday the girls talked about childhood dreams in When I Grow Up and we travelled From Beruit To Brighton.
• On Wednesday we Brought You Sunshine and in the afternoon She Wore Flowers In Her Hair.
• On Thursday we served up a Winter Warmer and we welcomed new RMW real bride Kitty.
• And On Friday We asked the expert Paula Pryke for Floral Advice and then we went all Calico Sky’s in the afternoon.

Thanks for joining us, see you next week folks.

Adam.

Photography this afternoon is buy that delightfully devilish duo Craig and Kate who are here to ease us all into the weekend with some ‘cool as’ wedding pretty…

Ocean Bride

My dress was from Ocean Bride in Brighton, I’m not sure who the designer was. I looked in a couple of different shops with my bridesmaids, but wanted to get my dress in Brighton because that’s where I was living and the girls at Ocean Bride were really lovely. My now mother-in-law, sister-in-law and best friend from school came with me – they all cried when I tried this dress on so I thought that must be a good sign. I had a tiara with little dark cream and beige flowers on it which I also got from Ocean bride. I also wore a floor length veil for the ceremony.

Pretty Detail

I only bought my shoes a week before the wedding as I couldn’t find any that I liked that I could also walk in! I wanted cream shoes to match my dress. I walked past The O zone in Brighton with my friend on our way to lunch which was near where I was working, and saw some really nice Rainbow shoes – they have really pretty detail that matched my tiara and were also really comfortable.

Half up Half Down

My bridesmaids and I had our hair done at a local hairdressers, Hoop. I wanted my hair half up, half down and wavy but without being over the top. My friend Holly who was one of my bridesmaids, suggested having a couple of small plaits to pin behind my tiara. My bridesmaids all have very different hair so I didn’t mind what they wanted to do with it, but they all had a small plait in too, to tie the theme together.

My make-up was also done by Holly, who is a doctor when she’s not being my chief make-up and hair consultant.

Autumnal Colours

Because we were getting married in October, I really wanted the flowers to match the Autumnal colors outside – oranges, reds and golds. The bouquets, button-holes and wreathes were made by a local wholesale florists, Triangle Nursery who did a fantastic job and were really helpful in suggesting types of flowers.

As the reception was at my father’s house, he also did a lot of work all summer planting shrubs to match the autumnal theme. He was even gardening right up until 5pm the day before the wedding so it looked its best!

Not A Meringue In Sight

I bought the bridesmaid dresses from an internet site. It was difficult to get something that matched everyone’s coloring, and I definitely didn’t want to make my bridesmaid’s look like meringues! In the end we decided to get brown dresses to match the autumnal theme and to brighten them up with colorful bouquets. The groomsmen all wore rented suits from TM Lewin with brown ties to match the bridesmaid dresses. My husband’s niece who was only 18 months at the time, was our flower girl, and she wore a pretty cream dress, with light brown leaves stitched in – she looked very cute!

Hot Stuff

Dave wore his suit very nicely – he looked very handsome! It was a really hot day though and I knew that he’d be smoldering in his suit. Dave hates two things – 1. getting too hot, and 2. wearing a suit. I could see beads of sweat rolling off his face as we were standing at the aisle. He was very relieved when we were able to get outside – I had to fan him in the car to cool him down!

Awesome Photos

We were recommended Craig and Kate by a family friend, and as soon as we met them new that they were the right photographers for us – they are good fun and take awesome photos. We had a pre-wedding shot done in Brighton which looked really cool. Kate was also very helpful in giving suggestions about where to take photos. They also did a ‘doofus booth’ with dress-up – I never realised our families enjoyed dressing up that much!

White, Cream And Brown

My bridesmaid, Anneka made the cake for us which was amazing! We had a 7-tier cup-cake tower, as well as a two tier fruit cake (the best of both worlds!). She decorated all the cakes with hand-made sugar flowers, in white, cream and brown – it looked lovely. I wish I’d eaten more though!

Singing And Dancing

Our friend Ed played an acoustic set on his guitar while we were having drinks and canapés. We had a DJ for the evening that my uncle recommended as he’s his resident at the hotel he manages – he definitely kept everyone on the dance floor all night. There were even a few injuries!

A Bit Of Macca

We chose “Calico Skies” by Paul McCartney. It was hard to choose one song, as there are loads of songs that we’ve loved together over the years, or remind us of bands we’ve seen. But Dave played this song to me on one of our first dates and we listened to it a lot when we first started going out, so it meant a lot to us.

Personal Geography

Each table was named after a place that held significance for Dave and I – either we’ve lived there, or had an amazing trip there. We printed the table names and framed them along with a photo of dave and I in the place.

We chose favors to go with the table themes: Canada – mini maple syrup bottles, Paris – little eiffel tower candles, chile – mini chilean wine… we got a bit stuck on Brazil though, until my brother suggested Brazil nuts, which we put in favor bags.

A Backgarden Wedding

The Marquee was done by Chelmer Marquees, and it was really nice inside. We had a few picture windows so it still part of the garden where I played as a little girl.

I planned the wedding in only 4 months which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend – if you have less time, you need some amazingly dedicated friends and family to help, which fortunately we had.

Photography – Craig and Kate

Boutique – Ocean Bride

Shoes – Rainbow shoes

Hair – Hoop

Marquee – Chelmer Marquees

Florist – Triangle Nursery

Well, I think you will all agree that is a mightily impressive shindig for only 4 months of planning!

A backgarden wedding is a really personal way to do things and if you get a nice day and are able to enjoy the outside space you really can’t beat it. And of course it is a budget friendly option too!

thanks to Emily and Dave for sharing your idea’s and your big day with us all.

Adam.

Paula will be around today answering any questions you may have on flowers and foliage for W-day, what’s in season, what she recommends….pretty much anything you can think of.

And in the meantime here is some information from Paula on what in terms of floral design she loves in weddings at the moment, as well as some lovely images for you to be inspired by.

Enjoy!

Paula Pryke: I have been in the flower business for nearly twenty five years and during that time it has been my pleasure to work on many memorable weddings. My favourite summer weddings are country weddings particularly in a Marquee where you have a blank canvas. I did a great summer wedding last year in an all black nightclub in May! We festooned the ceiling with brightly coloured paper lanterns and the filled the tables with lots of garden flowers in matching colours. It was simple but very effective. Once the tables have all been clothed and flowered it is amazing how much you can transform a space.

I also like quirky venues where the venue is rather faded and has a great history. Wiltons is perfect for a shabby chic wedding. It is a hidden gem and so just finding it is like a big ‘reveal!’Currently country castle weddings are the very much in vogue and so I am often spending our weekends in the splendour of these historic buildings.

Highclere (now more famous for being the setting for Downton Abbey,) is one of my favourite castles, along with Sudeley, Leeds and Belvior. British floristry has always had a tradition of using foliage and the recent Royal wedding was an example of how dear greenery is to us here. I prefer arrangements with some greenery and I am particularly in love with silver foliages at the moment, Dusty Miller, Senecio, Eucalyptus are very popular over here and also in the States.

Most of my wedding designs this year are also including a succulent or two! This trend came from California but I am just back from the East Coast of America and the flower markets are full of cut supplements there too! The other silver plant of the moment are air-plants and of course spanish moss.

I have had the pleasure to travel overseas to design wedding flowers and Italy is my favourite place. There is something so romantic about a wedding in Venice and it is logistically challenging to move all the flowers by boat! The Venetians love weddings and so you always are warmly received when you have ‘Fiori!’ in your arms. The Italian lakes and also Portofino are other wonderful backdrops for a wedding and I also adore Umbria and Tuscany. I have one event in Rome this year and I am hoping to use lots of herbs, lemons and brown sunflowers and Dahlias. I adore the mix of colour in the Dahlia family and this will be very eye-catching. The climate and the venue are very important to the choice of colour for a wedding but I always advise my Brides to have a bouquet that suits their personality and dress.

Don’t feel the need to theme everything!

Currently, wedding style, like fashion is being influenced by the 1920′s and the 1950′s. Glamour and elegance are key and we are going back to more traditional wired wedding work. With regard to trends in the colour of wedding flowers white and green are perennially popular although in recent years we have noticed a growing trend towards antique and pastel colours to match the shabby chic trend. Small flower heads and more natural flowers are making a huge comeback and I think the ‘all one type of flower’ maybe waining in popularity.

I have a few Brides with the Great Gatsby as a theme and I am sure by the time the re-make is out on release that will influence a few more Brides to take that path! It is one of my favourite books so it does not take much to talk me into working with that as an inspiration!

Pink has been the dominant wedding choice for the last three years and it seems to be the same for 2012 although we are seeing a lot more mixed coloured weddings!

At the moment this is my favourite wedding decoration. We have hung individual rafts of horizontal willow over each individual table as well as making giant ones to fit over bars and dance floors!

So then lovelies – ask away (and I really want that bouquet with the small peachy pink rose and muscari…dreamy)

You can see more of Paula, her books and floral designs on her website - www.paula-pryke-flowers.com

Big Blooming Love

Charlotte xxx

Ok Kitty, take it away…

Hello everyone!

I’m terribly excited to be writing this for you, so before I get into full swing I’d like to say thanks again to everyone who voted for me and Al!

I’ve decided to keep it quite simple for my first post, and thought I’d share a bit more about me and Al and about our wedding plans so far.

A Match.com Made In Heaven

We met online on a dating website, and after a couple of back and forth emails I agreed to meet Al for a date. We got on really well straight away, had loads in common and shared the same sense of humour. After a year of amazing dates (including midweek roast dinners, baking cakes, the zoo, the beach and loads more) we’d just moved in together, and one evening in our teeny weeny flat Al proposed to me!

He had picked out a beautiful ring and had it hidden in the flat for a couple of weeks (not sure how, as there were no good hiding places!). His initial plan was to propose on a special weekend away in London, but a week or so before we went we watched not one but TWO wedding related films in one evening. It got a bit too much for him and he couldn’t wait any more. I’d like to say at this point that the wedding films weren’t deliberate at all – Bride Wars was my choice and he picked out I Love You, Man because he has a bit of a man crush on Paul Rudd!

Anyway, I hadn’t expected it at all and was literally lost for words. So much so that after a moment Al had to check that my answer was actually a yes!

I mentioned in my Real Bride entry that Al and I have already had quite a long engagement and by the time our wedding comes around on 30 May next year it will have been three and a half years…

Planning Finally Begins…

We didn’t set a date straight away, as I had only just finished uni and we wanted to save up a bit of money to have the kind of day that we both wanted.

Initially, my dream venue was Rhinefield House Hotel in the middle of the New Forest. It’s a beautiful country house hotel and I do still love it. However, from looking at the website we knew that it was mightily over our budget, and so we didn’t even arrange to go and look at it.

The venue we did choose is just as beautiful though, and we both really liked it as soon as we saw it. Stanwell House Hotel was the first place we visited in person, and other venues we went to see just didn’t compare. It’s in Lymington, which is about half an hour from where we live in Southampton and has so much character and loads of gorgeous period features. The staff were really friendly and interested in how we wanted our day to be, and not just trying to give us the hard sell on the venue. They’ve also been really flexible with things like menu and what drinks we’d like to have to fit in with our budget.

We’ve been told that we can choose pretty much anything for our wedding breakfast, so now we have the small task of deciding what to have! We’ve booked to actually go and test out the food by going for dinner with Al’s mum and dad next week, so I’ll keep you posted on what will hopefully be a taste sensation!

…And Then Stalls Again!

After the venue was booked, which is now well over a year ago, we were all excited and ready to start arranging other things but after contacting a couple of suppliers just to ask questions we were told we were too early!

Now that we have just over a year until our wedding, we’re so excited that we can finally start doing things! Waiting has been the toughest part of this long engagement lark, and as a result we’ve been quite organised and already sorted out what we consider to be the “big ticket” important items!

Photographer

We didn’t need to think too long about the type of photography we wanted, as neither of us like overly formal photos and wanted natural looking, unposed snaps of everyone (hopefully) having a bloomin’ good time!

I also get very nervous in front of a camera and tend not to like most photos that are taken of me, so getting on with our photographer and feeling comfortable with them was a top priority! On various trips to wedding fayres we spoke to plenty of photographers, who may well have been amazingly talented, but just made me feel a bit uncomfortable! So, when we got talking to the wonderfully lovely Beki Young at a village hall wedding fair and got on really well with her, it didn’t take us long to decide that we wanted her to be our photographer.

The fact that we also love her photos was a mega bonus, and here’s a few to give you an idea of her style:

Photos courtesy of Beki Young Photography.

We’re hoping to arrange our engagement shoot for a bit of practice soon, which we’re planning to have at “The Otter & Owl Centre” in the New Forest and is where we had one of our favourite dates. Otters and owls are my two favourite animals and when we discovered a place existed with both we just had to go! Here’s a funny photo of an unruly dear nibbling my coat on our date!

Videographer

I’ll admit that when we first started thinking about our wedding, a videographer wasn’t up there on our list of priorities. In fact I was actively against having one, as shaky cameras, poor sound quality and having to sit through the entire day came to mind. But this all changed when I saw a friend’s wedding highlights clip that I watched not once, but over and over again! It was so well shot and despite not being at their wedding day the highlights gave a real feel for what it was like and I found myself getting a bit choked up. Then I imagined what my reaction would be if I was watching our own wedding, and what our family and friends’ reactions would be, and I started to think that maybe we needed to think again.

We were almost put off a second time by the cost of the good quality wedding videos we were seeing, and the fact that more reasonably priced ones still seemed a tad cheesy and not what we were looking for. Then by chance I came across a video at work (a night club promo of all things) from Southampton based company Family Creative. I thought it was a long shot as their website didn’t mention weddings, but I sent them an email. They got back to me really quickly saying they were just starting to look into filming weddings, and had their first few booked for 2012.

Despite not seeing an example wedding film from them, the quality of their filming and editing on their other videos was really good and they seem to really understand what we’re looking for. So we’re confident we’re going to get a film we love after our wedding!

Here’s their showreel:

Wedding Rings

Al bought me a beautiful engagement ring which I love, but it’s a bit of a funny shape so we decided to look into getting a wedding ring designed to fit around it. I had no idea how long this would take, and with the price of gold still going up we decided to get the rings ticked off the to-do list nice and early. We ordered both of our rings from Ernest Jones, mainly because we got a 10% discount as that’s where my engagement ring is from!

I would definitely recommend getting a wedding ring designed to match your engagement ring if it’s shaped – look how pretty they look together!

Those are our plans so far in a rather large sized nutshell! Does anyone else feel the need to start practicing smiling for photos in the mirror? What do you all think about wedding videos? And how have other brides-to-be coped with having to wait to start planning?

I look forward to telling you all about our food tasting at the hotel, a wedding dress trying on session, a great idea that Al has had for our favours and a few other bits soon!

Kitty x