Good afternoon peeps. Super Velvety, that’s how I’d describe James and Laurens wedding which took place on the 12th November 2010. The deep blues, the light gold shoes, the warm winter hues…. it’s all captured in a way that makes you want to reach out and touch.
OK, I think I might have gone a bit too poetic and giddy for a Monday afternoon so I’m going to go and have a sit down. I’ll hand over to bride and Rock My Wedding reader Lauren, but before I do, I just thought I’d mention that I created a brand new RMW photo template just for this wedding – As I looked through the images from Rebecca Honeywell I just though that some of these portrait shots have to be shown at full width, and so they will be!
Oh one more thing – I’m also loving the fact that James got busy with a bit of needlework to give his waistcoat the perfect finish…
From the beginning we were clear we wanted an informal celebration combined with a highly personal ceremony. We didn’t feel a church wedding was right for us, but it seemed a little odd that with a civil ceremony someone who didn’t know us would be instrumental in the most important moment of our lives. Cue an unorthodox format to our big day! I called my sister to ask if she would perform our ceremony. Her first reaction was ‘Oh, that’s really big…’ followed by a text message with a huge resounding yes! Sadly as Hannah is a Primary School teacher, not a Celebrant, we had to work out how to incorporate a legal contract into the proceedings. We toyed with the idea of getting married abroad, of having a separate register office ceremony days before and even abandoning our unique idea, but then we met Mark at Dodmoor House. Not only did his beautiful venue tick all the boxes aesthetically but they embraced all our plans. I think I could have asked them to let me jump off their balcony Ann Widdecome style and they would have found a way to make it possible. All the staff there were simply outstanding. We legally married on the mezzanine balcony at 2.30pm with our Mums as witnesses. We then spent a fabulous relaxed afternoon with Rebecca having our couple shots, and drinking champagne with our families. At dusk, I went into hiding as our guests arrived to our candlelit venue. James, Hannah, and I wrote our ceremony, inspired by Peonies and Polaroids humanist wedding. Our blessing ceremony was my most favourite part of the day. It was heartfelt, emotional and beautiful and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! We will forever be grateful to Hannah for taking on the massive task of leading the ceremony. She was incredible.
Home A Dress
Born and raised in Sheffield, I thought if I wasn’t going to get married in my hometown that my dress should be from my favourite city. I must admit I was petrified about trying dresses on and had absolutely no idea what I wanted. I purposely didn’t look at any pictures online or in magazines and set off with my lovely Mum, Sister and Bridesmaid Caroline, with a very open mind. The staff in Blushes were fantastic and asked a whole host of questions to get to know me and my style. I tried on three dresses, the third being Maggie Sottero’s Vanessa. I walked out of the fitting room and saw Caroline’s face and knew that we’d found the dress!
Heading In The Right Direction
I bought the striking headpiece from a work colleague (originally from Rock n Rose). James had seen both my hair and make-up trials so I wanted a hair accessory that would be a bit of a surprise for him. I chose simple studs from Jon Richard and a Mikey bracelet. I wore a fairy brooch on my garter that my sister and I had bought my Mum as a Mother’s Day present when we were very tiny.
Pleasure And Pain
I really wanted silver t-bar shoes but after many unsuccessful shopping trips, I settled for the Flatiron from LK Bennett. Although they weren’t quite the right colour, I loved them and told myself that the concealed platform would make the towering skyscrapers comfortable. It didn’t!
An Up Do Won’t Do…
I had my hair done at my usual Salon, Style Lounge, by the wonderful Sophie. I had three hair trials, and decided an up do wasn’t the look I was after. We settled on loose volumised waves to suit the relaxed but elegant style of our wedding.
Make-up artist Liza Smith was recommended by a friend and she was fabulous. She was friendly, professional and even though one of my bridesmaids only arrived 15 minutes before the ceremony, they all looked stunning.
Blog For Blooms
Working in online marketing, I ignored most of the wedding magazines and instead spent hours researching blogs. I used an image bookmarking tool to create my own online scrapbook, adding tags to any photos that I loved. When I looked at all the images tagged as ‘flowers’ there was a definite theme – white anemones, pale pink roses and berries. Emily at Manic Botanic was recommended by the venue and she completely understood the look we were going for. Originally I had wanted glass cake stands on each table but saw an image online of a tree stump, and thought this would go well with the burlap table runners that we had made ourselves. Luckily, one of our friends is a Tree Surgeon and he lovingly made our table centrepieces. I had requested a few stems to go in the vintage bottles and tealight holders that we had spent nine months collecting. Nothing could have prepared me for walking into Dodmoor House and seeing how Emily had used all our trinkets to create a beautiful rustic wonderland.
A Match Made at Midnight
With three bridesmaids (my sister, James’ sister and my close friend) scattered over the UK, it wasn’t feasible to get them all together. I had seen the beautiful Coast Harmony Dresses and thought the midnight blue would suit all their varying skin and hair tones. Our gorgeous Flower girl, our niece Felicity, wore a beautiful Monsoon dress with detailing to complement my own dress. We didn’t want to get too hung up on matching colours and so ordered dark blue ties for the boys from Savile Row Company. However when they arrived, they matched perfectly! As we were going for an informal, relaxed wedding we just told the groomsmen to wear their own dark suits.
All Sewn Up
James wore a gorgeous Hugo Boss Suit, Paul Smith shoes, tailor made Curtis & Dyer shirt and Vivienne Westwood cufflinks. A month before the wedding he decided he wanted a waistcoat too but it was very difficult to find one that went with his suit. After ordering countless waistcoasts he chose one from Savile Row Company and even sewed his own buttons on to add an antique element! James couldn’t decide between a blue or pink tie so wore both, changing to match the groomsmen for the evening party. It was wonderful to walk in alone to meet James for our legal ceremony. I thought he looked amazing and it was our own private moment before we went up to the mezzanine to join our Mums.
The School Photographer
James went to School with Rebecca Honeywell and one night showed me her website. I instantly recognised her work from several blogs and couldn’t wait to meet her. Rebecca’s portfolio encapsulated exactly what I wanted in a Photographer; an eye for capturing detail and emotion. We spent a lovely morning up at Becky’s studio at the beautiful Newby Hall where we had a very relaxed engagement shoot. I was so pleased that I got to meet Rebecca before the big day as she played such a huge part in our wedding and it really helped James to understand what was expected of him in the couple shots!
Piccies Rebecca Honeywell
Place Dodmoor House
Boutique Blushes
Dress Maggie Sottero – Vanessa
Shoes Flatiron from LK Bennett
Headpiece Rock n Rose
Make-up Liza Smith
Flowers Manic Botanic
I’ve had a sit down now and I’m feeling much better, although I may get a bit excited again tommorrow when part 2 arrives… I hope you’ll all join me!
Adam.
WOW – THE most beautiful bride ever. I have dress hair and face envy!
That hair piece… OH the hair piece!!
This is absolutely beautiful. I have the swoon factor this afternoon! Gorgeous!
The blown roses and tealights in the mirrored glasses are some of my favourite flower shots. Ever.
This is so lovely, and such a pretty bride. I love, love, love that her sister did the ceremony, that’s amazing x
Absolutely beautiful! Having serious dress wobbles looking at these images – I very nearly bought that exact dress from Blushes in Sheffield too! Lauren wears it so well and I have to agree that the staff at Blushes were fantastic.
Hearnea – I was just about to say exactly the same thing! Wowsers re: the bride.
Also, surely the bride and groom one of the most handsome couples E-V-E-R?!
xoxo
Simply divine…x
Wow, Lauren is one absolutely beautiful bride! Gorgeous photos. This might just be the push I need to finally get around to having my hair cut that length – nice to see how fantastic it can look.
Such a stunning bride – I love her hair and hair piece, she looks beautiful! x
Umm, is the bride a model? Surely she is too gorgeous to be a real bride! And that dress looks out of this world! Thanks for sharing this wedding with us.
Incredibly beautiful bride – i love the dress and the tones of the flowers are stunning! Cant wait for part 2!
Rachie xo
Oooo what a lush wedding – this relaxed and personal approach is right up my street. The pictures are lovely and everyone looks so happy.
Wow Adam! I have to say I was a little sceptical of having someone other than Charlotte and Rebecca writing (due to a love of them not a dislike for you!) yet I found it very beautifully written. The wedding is no different, incredibly personal. I could almost feel the emotion of the ceremony from the bride’s description and I hope my own wedding holds the same personality and sentiment. Gorgeous stuff!
Oh my… one of my fave dresses yet.
Am green with envy. I want!
Fiona – Thanks for the support. Obviously you are all aware how busy the girls have been recently with last weeks mammoth event. I have been trying to ease the workflow a bit and I too was a touch worried that I’d let the side down…
I’m glad to hear that I’ve done ok!
I much much MUCH prefer this layout. Its much easier to copy images into our scrapbooks now!
Love the dress but my favourite bit here is the bride’s hair and make-up. I imagine that this is how she looks all the time (GORGE) and this is a more dressier version. Just how we all want to look.
Best hair in a bob length I have ever seen! Gorgeous wedding xx
As if you could let the side down Adam, you’re doing a wonderful job
What a gorgeous Bride and wedding. Love the dress but most of all the hair. Come on the short haired brides!
Am loving seeing these as a reader instead of blogger!
xoxo
Gorgeous hair and make-up (from a make-up artist near to my venue – I’ve already emailed her!), absolutely beautiful decorations and great writing from both bride and Adam. I love the bit about her shoes! LOVE.IT x
Wow – I have been in a stinky mood all day for no reason other than it’s Monday. This has cheered me right up! I now can’t wait to get home to Mr F and spend our first Valentine’s as husband and wife and getting soppy over our wedding video. What a stunning wedding, thank you! x
I agree with all the previous posts – what a stunning bride! Totally reminds me of Gemma Arterton, it’s full on movie star glamour!
Can’t wait for part 2
Love the dress, the flowers, the photos and the write up! It’s so beautiful and personal and exactly what a wedding should be.
Love having a little bit more of Adam on the blog…he’s definitely done you proud girls! xo
I loved photographing this wedding, everything was so beautiful! Really like the write up Adam and the new templates x
Gorgeous gorgeousness!! I love her hair, the hair piece, the dress… it all looks stunning. I just couldn’t walk in those shoes though – lovely though they are!
i am obviously totally biased as this is my sisters wedding, but i have to say it was a truly amazing day.
being asked to do the service, although utterly terrifying, was so special and will stay with me til the end of my days.i am extremely proud of my little sister and her wonderful husband for creating such a unique and personal day but i know that the everything they did was to show how much they love their family and friends. i am getting married in july and feel very very lucky to lauren and james help in all our planning. thank you my luvlies xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I love the tree trunk table, its incredible! and the blue crystals on the bottom of the shoes is so cute!
Beautiful, beautiful bride. She makes me wanna change my clothes, my hair, my FACE (in the words of Springsteen).
I’m hyperventilating at the sheer beauty of the bride. Please God – Please let me look that good! (On hands and knees)…
I love the big images, Adam and of course, it helps that this wedding is so easy on the eyes!!
Lovely honest wedding if you know what I mean, and I adore the way the bride talks about the day and their ‘secret’ ceremony x
What a stunning bride! I’ve got shoulder length hair and have been stuck about what to do with it – she looks AMAZING!
Anyone know where those blue shoes with sparkly bows are from?
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, I’m really overwhelmed!
Rebecca – I promise you I don’t look like this on a daily basis. We had an extremely fabulous Photographer and wonderful hair and make-up ladies!
Becky – My sister’s beautiful blue sparkly shoes are from Debenhams. My mum managed to pick up the same ones in ivory too!
Happy Valentines Day to you all. You’ve totally made my day xx
Exquisite details and what a beautiful, glowing bride. Excellent.
I just don’t know where to start…. Lauren and James are so lovely, it was pure pleasure providing them with their wedding flowers. I loved every minute of it. Right from the start I knew it was going to be an amazing day for them. They made it so personal and unique.
Rebecca your photos are amazing x
Seeing this wedding on rock my wedding is the best valentines day present ever xxxx
absolutely fantastic! 264 days until mine!
I’m soooooo excited after seeing this. Emily is my florist too and seeing these pictures makes me so happy we chose her!
Loving the whole look of this wedding and the bride looks stunning!
xx
I cannot describe how bad I want her hair!! Its so beautiful…the whole day in fact is stunning!
Oh, and Adam, you have another fan over here! I think your posts are great! x
I love the photography! The back lit shots of the bride are amazing! And I agree with Lizzie, I LOVE her hair!!!
Thank you so much for letting me know Lauren – I’ll be taking a look at those! x
Lauren & James, your wedding look truely wonderful and really commend your attention to detail. My fiance and I are getting married in August and are currently searching for some blackboards to post little messages around our venue. I just wondered where you got yours from, or if you have any recommendations as an alternative?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Holly
Holly – Thanks for you kind comment.
We actually made the blackboards ourselves. They were just mdf from B& Q (and I think they offer 4 cuts for free) with holes drilled, and ribbon threaded through. I painted them with blackboard paint and then used a chalk pen from Hobbycraft. I actually made about 8 of them so that we could use this for photos of guests (with messages like Kiss me quick, i love my wife – inspired by the fabulous Mrs O’Shea!) but they went missing during the evening party so sadly didn’t make it to any photos!
Have a wonderful wedding x
I LOVE the way you worked the Maggie Sottero dress. I ordered the same dress and was doing google image searches for it since I didn’t get too many good pictures and it hasn’t come in yet. We must be on the same wavelength – my fiance and I are also doing a vintage theme with typewritten invitations, and our typewriter as guestbook next to our victorola at the reception table. Congratulations!!