Inspiration

If there's one thing I've noticed towards the end of 2015 and into 2016 too then it's that 'brights' and colour are becoming more and more popular with brides as a wedding day colour theme. This makes me clap my hands with glee and do a little dance on the spot because as Kirsty - this morning's bride - so sagely states 'colour is joyful'. And if there's one day you'd want a sprinkling of joy then your wedding day has to be it! Kirsty and Jon's big day has lashings of colour running throughout every single part of their wedding - from the exquisite colour pop bouquets filled to the brim with Spring flowers to the AMAZING bridesmaid outfits, and from the wonderful stationery which Kirsty designed and painted herself though to the garlands of colourful shapes hung exuberantly from the ceiling of their reception venue at Central Hall in Edinburgh. It makes me very happy indeed to see such a gorgeous affair.
Kirsty & Jon The Bride & Groom: Decisions. Weddings are full of them. We wanted to work out what was really important to us before we made any. Three things came top of our list - our ceremony, the people and colour. Here’s how we planned our best day ever...

Our Ceremony

Saying our vows and beginning our life together in front of friends and family, we wanted our ceremony to be a celebration as much as the party afterwards! We love our church community in Edinburgh and with the added bonus of a phenomenal building, it made complete sense for us to have the ceremony and reception there. Central Hall provided an incredibly personal and memorable backdrop to the whole day. We decided to learn our vows because we never want to forget them. We had readings from the Bible and the Velveteen Rabbit. Some friends prayed for us and others made sweet music that we gladly sung and listened to. We were married by our pastor who knows us well and friends who had helped us prepare for marriage gave a talk. It was a wonderful time and allowed us to get married in the way we wanted to - before God and our friends. Everyone was welcome and the reception of pomegranate-gin cocktails and 1000 little cakes made sure of that.

The People

We love people, and our wedding was a chance for us to say thank you to so many. We had over 300 to our ceremony and 200 for dinner. Long banqueting tables gave the meal a street party feel. Our caterers, Regis Banqueting, did an impeccable job with delicious sharing platters and tasty steak pies. We wanted to involve as many of our friends and family in the day as possible. Niels and Alie at Blue Sky Photography are not only friends but exceptionally good at their job, we now have photos to prove it. Our ceilidh band, DJ, music and 1000 cakes were all supplied by friends. We got our mums to sign the register because they’re special to us. A friend Dan helped with our stationery, Kirsty’s mum made our cake, an amazing friend even volunteered to look after everyone’s kids during the ceremony and dinner!

Colour

Colour is joyful. That’s why we had lots of it. Yellows, pinks and blues with hints of everything - just not much green. I did a painting for our invites and all our colour ideas stemmed from there. We found full silver-grey skirts in the Coast sale which we teamed with yellow tops for our three beautiful bridesmaids. I wanted a simple, elegant wedding dress and the fabric of the Naomi Neoh dress moved like water when I walked which is why I chose it. We decked out the boys in sharp, navy suits, complete with pocket squares and succulent button holes. Lydia at Rose & Ammi understood our flower brief entirely and we couldn’t have been happier with the result. We had hundreds - pops of colour in gold jars everywhere. Then there was décor. One of our ideas involved hundreds of metres of paper shapes all sewn together and strewn across the room and up the tables. Without Lucinda, Claire and countless others, it would have just remained a nice idea. When finished, it looked truly phenomenal.
 Decisions. We stuck to what was important to us and our wedding turned out fairly stress-free, wonderfully joyful and full of all the good stuff.
Lauren Gautier-Ollerenshaw

Written by Lauren Gautier-Ollerenshaw

Venue: Central Hall in Edinburgh | Bridal Gown: Naomi Neoh | Bridal Boutique: Anne Priscilla Bridal | Catering: Regis Banqueting | Florist: Rose & Ammi | Venue decor: Executed by Claire Fleck | Venue decor: Executed by Lucinda May | Bridesmaids Tops: Warehouse | Bridesmaids Skirts: Coast | Evening Entertainment: Bunderland

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