There are a hundred and one details I love about Lizzie and Nick’s wedding in Kent (I say a hundred and one but there are probably even more than that)….from the stunning back flash frock and the loveliest maids in print to the perfect portraits and genius group shots (yes you heard me correctly folks, group shots.)

But most of all I love the laughter, from when they woke up to the point at which they all said goodnight, the bride, the groom and all of the guests had an absolute ruddy riot. One of the groomsmen even ripped his trousers right up to the erm… crotch so enthusiastic was he to get the highest “jump” in for his photo opportunity (and yes I have included some of that action and I promise it’s not too rude….)

All of the pretty (and naughty) was captured by Christine and Xander at Navyblur.

A Sophisticated Up-Do

My hair was done by a family friend who lived locally. When I tried on the dress having my hair up showed the back of the dress off at its best. I found some inspiring pictures of updos on some wedding websites/blogs and the hairdresser was brilliant at creating what I had asked – it was so much better than the pictures I had given her and stayed in place all day.

For make up I wanted to be able to do my own on the day and so went to Clinique at Harvey Nichols where they showed me how to do ‘wedding make up’ and then I bought their products. My bridesmaids were so brilliant at helping me on the day, they carried my make-up around and reminded me just before the photos to touch up!

Darling Dresses

The bridesmaids dresses I fell in love with as soon as I saw and wanted one myself! They were called ‘Darling’ and were from very.co.uk. I loved the country girly feel they had. They looked exactly how I wanted the wedding to look! Their shoes were plain blue mock suede from asos. The girls also had powder blue pashminas incase it got cold. Their hair pieces were the same as mine – hairbands from Monsoon cut off and put onto hair clips!

My sister was pregnant on the wedding day and 10 days overdue so prior to the wedding we didn’t even think she would be coming at all! So for obvious reasons she did not wear the same dress or shoes as the other bridesmaids – it was all very last minute and had to be comfy! She had the same hair pieces and pashmina as the others. (She went into labour when she got home form the wedding and had a gorgeous girl on the Monday morning called Beatrice Emma!)

DIY Accessories

I chose a long floor length veil from Wedding Belles. I love the vintage lace veils but felt it was too fussy for the dress. The plain veil didn’t take away from the details of the dress and you could see the open back of the dress through the veil.

I wanted flowers as opposed to a tiara as I wanted a country vintage look. I found these flowers on a hairband from Monsoon and did a little DIY – cutting them off the hairband and gluing on some little clips so that they could be clipped into my hair. For shoes I went for cream suede heels with round toe and gold straps, they were from Monsoon (in the sale!!).

Bride Knows Best

My dress was from ‘Tlysau’r Briodas’ (Wedding Belles) in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (!!)… LlanfairPG for short! Maggie Sottero was the designer and the dress was called ‘Bernadette’.

I tried on so many dresses that were lovely but nothing was what I was looking for. Then I found my dress and knew as soon as I saw it – it was exactly what I had wanted and then when I tried it on it looked even better than I imagined and felt very ‘me’. The cutaway detail back of the dress made it extra special.

Side Splitting

Nick and his ushers and best men wore morning suits hired from Moss Bros. We were a little worried about hiring incase anything happened to them and one of our ushers even managed to split his trousers when jumping for a photo! One of my amazing bridesmaids stitched it up after the wedding and it wasn’t even noticed!

Seasonal Blooms

Nick’s friend from school and University, Robyn Trainer had just set up her own business for photography, illustrating and floristry called Floral Footsteps when we had got engaged so we asked if she could do our wedding flowers.

She was brilliant. I talked her through my ideas for the day-colours/themes etc and she totally ‘got’ it. She used Amnesia Roses, Avalanche Roses, Delphiniums, Pale Green Eustoma, English Dahlias, Spray Roses of various shades of Pink-Red and seasonal garden cut flowers.

Creative Energy

Our photographers were a couple who work in Ireland called Navyblur (Xander and Christine). A couple had recently got married and Navyblur were their photographers and we really loved their wedding photos – they were so fun and different. When we met them they were exactly who we wanted to capture our day for us. They are both so creative and energetic, we had so much fun with them shooting engagement photos in central London! They were so sweet and really calming on the day too, Xander helped the grooms party tie their cravats and calmed Nick at the alter when I was 30 minutes late to the church!

We loved how fun their photos looked and how innovative they were. We knew we wanted photos that were different and we would love to look at for the rest of our lives instead of your traditional set of photos!

The poses and things they got us to do added even more fun to the day, especially when one of the ushers ripped his trousers from energetically jumping whilst having the ‘formal’ photos!

Tea-Bag Treats

We got our cake from M&S! We ordered it online and picked it up 2 days prior to the day! It was a white chocolate ribbons cake.

Nick’s Dad and his wife sorted out our favours for us from Canada (where they live). We had personalised tea bags with the date of the wedding on.

An Acoustic Accompaniment

For entertainment we had an ‘acoustic duo with a bit of Umph!’ as described by the guitarist Tom Copson! They were brilliant and got everyone up dancing. We then had my brother DJ’ing in between sets using his iPad and DJ App!!

Sideways

For our first dance we had Citizen Cope ‘Sideways’. After a year of going out Nick made me listen to this song as some of the lyrics are ‘these feelings don’t go away, they’ve been knocking me sideways’, and so had always been a rather special song for us both.

Make, Do and Do Some More

My bridesmaids and I had a bunting making day where we started making bunting and then my amazing mum finished it all for us. We put it up outside the marquee. My mum also made tablecloths for the reception venue out of some material sourced from Shepherds Bush. I bought an assortment of Cath Kidston paper napkins for the tables to add colour to the tables that did not have a table cloth on. We also bought some old frames from a charity shop and printed out the letters N&L and put them above the top table.

For the table centre pieces our florist made us some amazing flower arrangements using old containers I had bought and collected including bird cages, old vintage tea pots and jugs. We also sourced vintage tea cups and saucers from charity shops and had small flower arrangements also on the table.

A Very Special Service

Our wedding day was special to us because we had everyone we loved involved. Nick’s Grandad married us, my friend danced for us during the signing of the register and another friend gave the address at the service.

The service was the most important part of our day, to get married before God and in front of everyone we love was the most special part.

Advice From Both The Bride AND Groom

Lizzie- Friends and family love being a part of your day and so involve them and their talents as much as possible. It takes the strain off organising if you can hand certain tasks over to people, and they so enjoy being able to do it for you.

Nick – Make the wedding service the most important part of your day because the wedding day is all celebration of the actual marriage.

Nick and Lizzie - The wedding day is so special, but marriage is so much better!

Photography – Navyblur

Venue – Nurstead Court

Brides Gown – Maggie Sotterro at Wedding Belles

Brides Shoes – Monsoon

Brides Hair Flowers – Monsoon

Maids Dresses – Very

Grooms Suit – Moss Bros

Cake – M&S

Blooms – Floral Footsteps

I forgot to mention the gorgeous side plait up-do Lizzie had going on – LOVE that look, especially when you really need to show off any detail at the back of your bridal gown.

Oh and if you are in bit of a last minute cake pickle then you can’t beat a plain M&S design (at least you know it will taste great) decorated with fresh fruits or florals in keeping with your colour scheme or theme.

Just wait until you see what we have coming up later – when the images fell into my inbox I actually applauded.

Big Sideways Love

Charlotte xxx

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