Welcome to the first of our weddings to be featured on Real Weddings Week. Photographed by one of our favourite photographers, Emily Quinton, Ben and Claire had a country style wedding in Northamptonshire, with a strong purple theme. Read on for some gorgeous flower eye candy…

We got married on 12th June 2009 at Dodmoor House, Northamptonshire.

Westenius Wonder

I bought my dress from a little wedding boutique store in Loughborough, Leicestershire called ‘Grace Couture’. It was designed by Ritva Westenius. I’d tried on loads of dresses, all shapes and styles but knew I wanted a fishtail dress as soon as I put the Ritva Westenius dress on. I loved it the second I tried it on – so did my mum! I felt so elegant. It was simple but had lovely lace detail.

I wanted shoes with a bit of height but they had to be comfortable! I love heels but hate them if I’m constantly thinking I’m in agony. I shopped around lots of wedding stores but couldn’t find anything I really liked so I went to Kurt Geiger and found the perfect peeped toe ivory pair which matched the colour of my dress perfectly. I love them and they were definitely dancing shoes by the end of the night!!!

Beautiful Bun

I wasn’t sure on whether I wanted a veil or not – I tried on a few, some short and some long but I wasn’t comfortable in any of them so decided I would keep it simple and elegant like my dress by having my hair in a side swept bun.

I had a make up trial about 6 weeks before the wedding and wasn’t happy with it, even after trying lots of different styles so I went with what I knew best….I kept it simple and did my own make up. I went for the natural look and was totally happy on the day.

Country Florals

Both Ben and I knew from the start that we wanted a country garden type of feel to the day to match the gorgeous venue. We went with a lady called Sophia Pugh at The Green Room who was excellent. She captured exactly the look we wanted….actually she exceeded our expectations. We went for a colour scheme of purples for the ceremony to match the bridesmaids and for the reception we wanted a whole raft of bright colours. We were so happy with them, they were gorgeous!!!

We both knew we wanted a purple theme – a vivid purple so we looked around to see whether we could find bridemaid dresses first. We were so lucky as I happened to stumble across the exact colour dresses I had in my head in Karen Millen. We opted for knee length bridemaid dresses with a square neckline and a beautiful bow on the back. Dresses the girls can definitely wear again. For the dad’s we opted for light grey suits (a slightly darker shade to the groom and best man) with a beautiful purple striped tie which matched our scheme brilliantly.

Ben wore a light grey suit, 2 buttoned, with matching tie to the best man and the Dad’s. I saw the suit before the big day but not having a surprise didn’t spoil it- he still looked gorgeous!

Loving the chic Karen Millen Bridesmaids dresses with such a striking colour palette, – giving a really fresh modern feel to a country style wedding.

Pop back tomorrow afternoon for more reception style and the Brides glowing opinion on Emily Quinton, the fabulous photographer behind these images.

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo.

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