Wham Glam Thank You Ma’am.
There is no doubt that this wedding has some of the prettiest and well executed details I have ever seen…..
You know what I like best though?
The fact that the bride and groom throughout the whole glamorous affair look like they are having an absolute blast.
Victoria and Nick clearly make a beautiful couple and as the images prove they made sure their Big Day was full of fun, laughter and a whole heap of love.
All of the amazing photography is courtesy of Paul and Jasmine at Paul’s Studio
Multiple Veils and a little piece of something blue
I kept accessories to a minimum as the dress was quite plain. I had a cathedral length veil from Suzanne Neville to add the “drama” that I love. Then after the official pics I took it off and replaced it with a birdcage veil from Etsy.com and a flower hairclip to match the bridesmaids – a bargain at £1.99 from H&M! I did try on a couple of tiaras but they instantly transformed my “slinky Jessica Rabbit” look in to “extra from Princes Diaries”, so that was a definite no!
Instead, in my hair I had a tiny blue and diamante crystal vintage brooch on a hair pin as my ‘something old’ from Bespoken For.
I wore my Nonna’s pearl earrings as my ‘something borrowed’ as they now belong to my mum.
My ‘something blue’ was a garter that my Chief Bridesmaid bought for me and my ‘something new’ was a gold and pearl “Watch Over Me” bracelet from Links of London.
Boudoir Blooms
I used the recommended florist for the venue, Donna from Elegance Flowers. It was like she could literally see inside my head to “get” my “vision”. Some might say that she now requires counselling, but there we go!
I sat down with her for a while, showed her the random bits and bobs I had collected and was storing in the spare room (which was re-named the War Room after about two weeks of planning as it was filled with all sorts of wedding paraphernalia that boys just don’t understand – confetti, baskets to put confetti in, French birdcages, mis-matched tea cups from old ladies’ houses, about 25 pashminas in assorted shades of ivory, wire mannequins, cookie cutters, 200 metres of faux pearls, a variety of vintage paper samples, feathers, masquerade masks, enough silk square colour samples to make a kingsize duvet… you know what I’m talking about!).
After our chat we wandered down to the marquee and played around with some mock ups and she knew exactly what I was talking about. We took some pictures, chatted about colours and left Nick in a state of complete bewilderment, or apathy, or both!!
The Thursday before the wedding I then had a complete panic attack and Nick had to physically restrain me to stop me calling Donna to tell her to abandon the plan and just stick cream roses in plain vases on each table. Thankfully after that I was too busy packing 260 tiny gingerbread people in to little gift bags to find the time to call her and then it went completely out of my mind while my bridesmaids, mother and mother in law got me tipsy on pink champagne at the salon on Friday while having nails done!
When Donna arrived on the Saturday with the gorgeous bouquets and wrist corsages. I had to ask her how the “mad” table centrepieces looked and she said they looked fab, so I trusted her artistic judgement and let my mind be at rest. When I arrived at the venue I was so pleased. It was as if Donna had taken a picture of my mind and replicated it exactly all over the marquee. It looked quirky and different enough to be “me” but still elegant and traditional enough to keep the mothers happy! Two guest asked to borrow the bits and bobs for their own weddings and one tried to buy them off me. A success I feel!
My Bouquet included tiny pictures of my grandparents that are no longer with us in tiny brass frames attached to the stems with pearl pins. My grandpa took my bouquet to my Nonna’s grave the next morning.
Feathers, Pearls and Pirates
I wanted the marquee to look like a vintage boudoir, a glam garden party and a quirky-but-elegant mad hatter’s tea party. So four tables had flower-covered mannequins, four had french antique birdcages bursting with pale green hydrangeas, roses and brown eucalyptus leaves and four had tall cream candelabras all surrounded by mismatched tea cups and saucers filled with roses.
All were accented by strings of pearls, large feathers and feathered fans and masks. The tables were named after places we have visited together (e.g. Venice, Sydney etc), with the top table being New York – where we got engaged! My dad worked this in to his speech by giving everyone on particular tables hats related to that country’s national (or stereotypical) dress! I made the table plan myself, in keeing with the “quirky-vintage-and-glam” theme to look like a mirror or a picture in a glamourous lady’s boudoir with pearls draped on one side and a feathered masquerade mask the other.
My cake also worked in this surrounding as did other personal touches like the quote “Eat, drink be merry” strung across the back of the top table. I write this quote on every greetings card I send and is a bit of a trademark for me now. It’s also the mantra by which I try to live my life! My stationery was by Chartula and reflected the theme perfectly. My dad spent hours, bless him, writing envelopes and was so pleased when he was done.
Little did he know he had 130 place cards to write!
I gave the children good bags full of (quiet) activities, dressing up items and toys.
I also gave the adults a dressing up box as it was “National Speak Like a Pirate Day”… so I filled a basket with princess and pirate related accessories and let them find it after dinner in the toilets!
I provided a basket of “Gorgeous Girly Goodies” in the ladies loos as at a proper party, someone is always in need of a hair band, deodorant, plasters and party feet.
The hit of the night had to be the basket of flip flops in a variety of jewel shades (to match the ladies’ outfits, natch!) with the sign ” A little treat for your dance weary feet”. The 25 people that nabbed them were most grateful, and the goodness of humanity really came out when people whose feet had recovered returned them to the basket for others to use!
I Dream in Polka Dots
The cake was very important to me. I LOVE CAKE! I possibly love cake more than shoes… and that’s saying something! I knew I didn’t want fruit cake. Hate it. yucky. I wanted chocolate cake… rich, gooey, creamy chocolate cake. But Nick doesn’t like it. (Wha??? I know!) so we compromised and had four tiers of chocolate ganache, lemon drizzle, vanilla sponge with strawberry and cream filling and moist, yummy carrot cake.
Now the design was something else entirely.
I spent a lot of time researching this and wondered if I should go classy, elegant and traditional. But that’s just so not me. So I wanted something ridiculously flamboyant, fun and kitsch. Unfortunately Nick didn’t. so we compromised and I went for something fun and quirky, but kept it simple and in keeping with the styling of the dresses. I love polka dots and I love bows. For me they are the epitome of fifties fun styling, so that had to be it.
In the end I found a design I liked and spoke with Maki of Maki’s Cakeswho created it for me. I didn’t see it until the day and didn’t get to eat any until the Monday just before we left for our honeymoon, but it was delicious!
Gingerbread Favours
As favours we had tiny gingerbread boys and girls for each guest, handmade by my lovely boss Nora. I put a gingerbread “couple” in a small cellophane gift bag from Ebay, folded and stuck it with a little retro style sticker to match my colour scheme printed with the words “With love and kisses from the Mr and Mrs Nicholas and Victoria – 19th September 2009”.
The stickers were from Sticker Me Chic boutique on Etsy.com. I wanted something homemade, original and fun but still elegant and understated. I also wanted something yummy… which is why I chose my boss to make them, she is a very talented baker and should set up a little business on the side making baked goods for crazy brides like me!
The Greatest Day
Our first dance was to Take That’s “Greatest Day” for a number of reasons. (1) everybody jokes that Nick looks like Gary Barlow, (2) it would be a complete surprise for everyone as I’m probably the only girl in the world who didn’t like Take That but instead bought East 17 albums and had posters up of Tony Mortimer and (3) because the words of the song really reflect the way you should be feeling on your wedding day.
The only dry eyes in the house were mine and Nick’s as we happily bopped away on the dance floor.
Rock DJ
Now I’m not really a band person, but I recognise that other people are. So I did look in to hiring a band, as a few of our friends had hired great bands for their weddings. But my heart just wasn’t in it.
I’m a party girl and I normally take up residence on the dance floor the minute the first record spins, I get hot, sweaty and dance like a loon until the slow song comes on at the end and that’s when I dash to the bar for a final G&T and a pint of water. So I want to hear Kylie sing “I can’t get you out of my head”, Bon Jovi sing “Livin’ on a prayer” and Tiffany sing “Running just as fast as we can” not a band singer. So that was it, it had to be a DJ.
The in house DJ was recommended by the venue coordinator and I trusted her judgement when she said ” I promise you he won’t be playing the Spice Girls and Barbie Girl all night…. Well not unless you ask for it”.
He was called Dave Groom and he was brilliant. He kept the dance floor packed all night!
I told him that I’d be a very happy bride if I heard Poker Face at some point during the night. Lady Gaga is my latest girl crush and on the second night of the hen do the girls all dressed me up as her in a long blong wig, a blong bow, and Kanye West sunnies and dressed themselves up as the “Pink-arrazzi” in pink bobbed wigs! Poker Face became the song of the weekend. So it was only right that when it came on yours truly was in the middle of the floor, wearing affore mentioned sunglasses and rocking out… and from that point I didn’t leave!
Unique Chic
My wedding was special to me because I spent so much time and effort making it so. It wasn’t gushy or lovey-dovey and it wasn’t overly styled but it was great to look at, individual and unusual while still being classic and elegant. It wasn’t full of fluffy, cliche romance but it was romantic in our own way – we felt like we were swimming in love and friendship all day.
As nice as it is to see a bride and groom in love, some things are better left in private in my personal opinion, so what our guests saw was us, not being too serious about the whole affair, having fun with each other, joking with our family and friends and being true to ourselves and what makes us happy – which in the words of one guest can apparently be described as “good food, good company, good music, great outfits and a free bar!”. It had the elements that we wanted and contained things that we liked and it really was “our” day, but we were also empathetic to our guests’ needs and wants to make it a comfortable and fun day for them.
At the end of the day, we created some beautiful memories and I when my children get married my one piece of advice will be “have fun like your mother and father did!”
However….I’m the kind of person that really does worry a lot and even when people tell me I shouldn’t – I can’t help but “sweat the small stuff”. So if you’re that kind of person – plan everything well in advance and hire suppliers and staff that you really trust to (a) carry out your instructions and (b) make the right decisions for you. They may cost a little bit extra, but it’s worth it when they look after everything for you and let you get on with being the centre of attention and enjoying your day. As far as I was aware my day ran perfectly to plan and everything went swimmingly.
If anything did go wrong I certainly didn’t know about it! I had so many comments from guests that they had never seen a bride have so much fun and I truly think that was down to careful planning and letting someone else “sweat the small stuff”.
Seriously I am totally in love with this whole affair.
Not only does it provide fantastic eye candy but also an incredibly well written account from the lovely bride Victoria and some very very good advice.
Best wishes and lots of love to you both.
Charlotte xxx
P.S Victoria and Nick used their “thank you” picture and made it into the actual “Thank you for attending our wedding” cards to guests. Flippin’ brilliant.
Loving the red lip and reception quirks Victoria – thanks for sharing!
Contra
xoxo
Oh lordy, lordy… Just gorgeous! Can I ask where the polka dot ‘cake’ letters are from? xxx
Yes – serious wedding envy!!! so many lovely details. Love that picture of you and Hubby taking to the dance floor!
So great to see a couple be fun and have a fab time. This is just how I want my wedding to be xx
Thanks ladies! Big smiles form me today!
The polka dot cake letters were from Ebay. They came unpainted and I sprayed them cream and gold in the garden – all very pretty, girly and nicely shabby chic… I went back an hour later to check on them and apparently a big gust of wind had blown a zillion little seed pods all over them and they were ruined. So I sanded them down and sprayed them brown with Plastikote and then using a cotton bud (I couldnt find any brushes in the house apart from make up brushes) I dabbed on the polka dots. Cost me about a tenner in all! Hope that helps?
xoxo
Sorry *from*
Yay the next bit! Has been my morning entertainment – just love it ALL!!!!
Laura x
Wow – what an amazing wedding, love it all, the whole thing. Thank you for sharing that with us Victoria. Reading your report has made me feel excited about planning my day again as I’ve suffering a bit from wedding preparations overdose recently so thank you!! xxx
here here on the supplier advice. I’m glad to hear I’m not being too fussy.
thank you for sharing your weddingg it really did look fantastic. you must be a photographers dream!
What a gorgeous wedding, thank you for sharing
WOW Amazing! You looked so gorgeous and you can tell you had a blast! Fabulous!
I must agree your hubbie does look like Gary Barlow!
Congrats hun.
xXx
“…my one piece of advice will be “have fun like your mother and father did!”” – Lady, this is so true! Although my other piece of advice would be “don’t wear a bra” (especially if I have a son) and “remember where you put your deoderant”. I believe in fun on W-day over and above absolutely ANYTHING else. And that you did! Whilst looking gorgeous of course. Really congratulations, this was a real pleasure to read with some serious eye candy! Anna K
Thanks so much Victoria, they look fantastic, well done you, they look really professional
) Congratulations on a beautiful day xxx
One word FABULOUS!
Gorgeous and you have amazing pics that will last you forever!
x x x x
This is my kinda wedding! So many of my own ideas here for my day, it’s been tricky to really visualise it but this report and pics have been a huge help, it’s just gorgeous congratulations hon, love love LOVE it! x
A brilliant report of what appeared to be an amazing wedding! Congratulations! X
Thanks very much for your lovely comments! It was great to re-live it all as I think I’m still slightly wedding obsessed… I think I need a new project!
xoxo
Lovely shots…it does rock a wedding when you have a talented photographer!