Rock My Wedding

Posts Tagged ‘O & C Photography’

You And Me.

September 8th, 2011

I am so waving the welsh red dragon flag this week – this time for Olivia and Maurice’s sophisticated big day in Pembrokeshire.

To start with Olivia is certainly one hell-of-a stylish bride, from her delicious Bruce Oldfield gown to her sprig of ivy adored hair (love that). And as with every W-day we feature captured by Love Lust List members Charis and Owen at O & C Photography, the couple portraits are (said in best welsh accent) LUSH.

And I’ve got to say, this is one of the cutest flower girls I’ve ever seen.

Oh and the image where Maurice is whispering to Olivia as her father “gives her away” ? You just know he’s saying something to the tune of “You look beautiful….”

Le Sigh.

Happy Thursday Lovelies….. Enjoy the pretty!

A Timeless Choice

My dress was an off the shoulder, ivory, silk chiffon gown by Bruce Oldfield. It had a wrap around Grecian style front with transparent back detail, full skirt and 12ft train. It was not what I had originally planned which was lace with a tight straight skirt!

I had always wanted something classic, elegant, timeless, but different from all the bustier everyone else has. I tried on 4 more Bruce Oldfields after, but that was the one!

A Touch Of Ivy

I always wear my hair down & had planned to but the back detail in my dress required a half up, half down, to not detract from the back. It was in ringlets, with ivy & daisies to decorate. Originally I wanted it to look kind of Thespian, Pre Raphaelite, and a bit Mid-Summer Nights Dream…. I like antique classic things.

For make-up I went for a natural look, deep pinks that I know suit my complexion. I resisted the fake tan, to go for a more modern natural skin glow!

A South African Influence

Our colour scheme was Emerald Green & Yellow, as per the South African Flag. My maids wore Emerald green chiffon strapless gowns from Sexy Her, a store in Croydon. I wanted the girls to feel comfortable, feminine &and like themselves so they all had their hair & make up how they wished as I didn’t want them to feel they lost their own identity.

My little niece Jess wore a white dress from John Lewis. We got a sash that matches the girls dresses and my clever mother fixed it to her dress.

Simple And Classic

The bridesmaids and I all had roses- simple & classic, cream for the bride & pale yellow for the bridesmaids. The ushers had yellow roses and ivy button holes. At the church and the reception we had seasonal and some wild countryside yellow flowers with lots of greenery & ivy. I wanted a very British countryside style wedding with the Saffa green & yellow theme.

In the marquee we had ivy & fairy lights wound up the poles, it was stunning….

Strict Instructions

The grooms party wore black suits, white shirt, green tie and yellow button hole. Maurice wore a slim fitted grey/ blue suit. I also gave strict instructions to his mother to made sure he exfoliated & moisturised first!!

Young, Fun And Informal

My Mum found our photographers Charis and Owen, they are young, very friendly, fun and with a great non formal, artistic, experimental take on wedding photography.

As a young married couple themselves they were perfect for this special occasion.

All Abut The Music

We had Hymns during the ceremony that included a very British Jerusalem and the South African national anthem Nkosi Sekaleli. An old school friend who is first violin for the Welsh national opera played Lark Arising during the signing of the register.

We walked out of the church to The Beatles “All you need is love” played on the Organ and our first dance was the Dave Matthews Band “You & me”.
We had a lovely 4 piece jazz band for the beginning of the evening. That went down a treat. Later in the evening we had a fab disco and everyone was up dancing!

The Gift Of Song

Our cake was made by my God Mother, a 3 tiered gloriously moist carrot cake. With beautiful big handmade iced flowers. We love carrot cake, not particularly into fruit cake and liked the idea of having something different.

Instead of favours we gave each of our friends a family a gift of a song- that were either was a favourite of theirs, reminded us of them or one we had enjoyed with them in the past.

In Maurice’s case this may have been enjoying jamming with them, in mine getting down on the dance floor(!) If guests wished their song to be played they took it up to the DJ.

Advice from The Bride

Be different, individual, be true to yourself. Do whatever you want to, for yourself, its your day. Do nice little things, gifts or speeches for the important friends & family who are important. Get all the family involved- we did, it’s a family affair…..

Brides Dress – Bruce Oldfield

Reception venue – Upton Castle, Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire

Photography – O & C Photography

I am definitely having an ivy moment. And a chiffon moment. And a ooooh isn’t it all lush moment.

Anyone else having a yellow and green “fresh” theme? anyone else having a big welsh bash?

Yes?

There’s Lovely.

Big Proud To Have From-The-Valleys Genes Love

Charlotte xxx

15 comments »

Posted in Modern Elegance

Tags: Bruce Oldfield Bridal Green and Yellow wedding colour scheme O & C Photography Welsh Wedding Upton Castle

Concrete Cool…….. Part 2

January 7th, 2011

After a city chic ceremony at the National Theatre Sarah and Paul enjoyed a laid back garden marquee reception at Sarah’s Mum’s in Barnet.

Some really really beautifully captured moments courtesy of Charis and Owen at O & C Photography, look out for the “kissing in the lift” series…..

Absolutely wall-worthy.

Gorgeous Blooms

For the reception as well as bunches of flowers in borrowed mismatched vases each table had an assortment of white, cream and blue plants with flowers on. I hated the idea of the flowers ending up rotting, and Emily from Urbanstems came up with lots of suggestions before settling on the lovely flowers & plants we had. She also did the small posie we had on top of our wedding ‘cheese’ cake. All gorgeous!

Capturing The Day

Paul found Owen and Charis whilst we were away travelling. We really liked their online portfolio and approach. We met a few photographers before making our final decision, and some of them weren’t exactly the kind of people you’d want to spend any time with, let alone your big day. They had lots of great ideas for pictures and we’re really happy with the work they did.

I Love London

For favours we the guests all had London red bus keyrings to take home, as well as the plants on the tables. They travelled between the National Theatre and Barnet on a vintage routemaster bus.

Delicious Dairy

We had cheesecake/key lime pie on a stand for the pudding, but the cake we cut was all British Cheese from Neals Yard dairy. Perfect for us.

Contemporary and Traditional

Paul is an architect, and once we’d decided it would be a London wedding we realised that the National Theatre would be a really special place to have it, you don’t get much more London than looking out onto St Pauls.

It was really special to have the reception in the family home, and it allowed us to have it all just the way we wanted it. There we had a traditional marquee and paper bunting, and heaps of fairy lights up the king poles.

Memories Are Made Of This

We had a squeezebox and fiddle when we first arrived back in Barnet, then after the meal (hog roast) some friends did a fantastic DJ set.

Dean Martin – memories are made of this was our first dance. We had no idea of what to dance to, but loved this when we heard it on the radio whilst we were planning the wedding. We liked that it was short(!) but also had a great retro positive cheery feel.

Making It Magical

We were really pleased that we had everything just the way we wanted, the sun even came out! Just as everyone will tell you, it is magical having all of your favourite people together, and it really does fly by. We had planned to have all sorts of extra things that got missed on the day but it didn’t matter at all. You do have to allocate jobs to people then let go of things & let people get on with stuff.

Photography – O & C Photography

Blooms – Urbanstems

Cheese “Cake” – Neal’s Yard Dairy

I would like a big red bus keyring please….

And some images like those lift ones of Mr O’Shea and I, delicious.

With thanks to Sarah, Paul and O & C Photography for sharing the pretty.

Big Lift Kissing Love

Charlotte xxx

19 comments »

Posted in Contemporary Cool

Tags: Back Yard Reception Blue Bridesmaids City Chic garden reception London Wedding National Theatre Wedding O & C Photography

Concrete Cool……Part 1

January 7th, 2011

I love nothing more than a never-seen-before-on-RMW unique venue choice for W-day and Sarah and Paul really pulled out all of the stops with the National Theatre for their July ceremony.

Think statement backdrops and breathtaking views of the city, think stark urban architecture dressed with delicate fabrics and feminine florals, think complete concrete cool folks….

All of the amazing images are courtesy of Charis and Owen at O & C photography.

A Last Minute Fix Of Fancy

My mother lent me some jewellery that my Dad had bought her, which was very special. I was still finishing making my birdcage veil on the morning of the wedding! Getting ready at the hotel whilst getting my fingers covered in glue trying to attach the blue feather (for the something blue bit!!!), I was thinking ’this probably isn’t what most brides do on their wedding morning’…..

Sparkles And Symmetry

My shoes had a 2 inch heel, but I don’t often wear heels so was very glad I hadn’t gone for anything more skyscraper. They were from Next, and were absolutely the nicest appropriate shoes that I’d seen.

I don’t understand why shoes that are designed for weddings look like shoes no one would wear at any other time? Like really big kids shoes, why?! I liked their colour which matched the dress almost perfectly, the dangling sparkles which I hadn’t seen anywhere else, and their symmetry.

Informal Blues

The Groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids were all in blues. We didn’t want to be too prescriptive as it wasn’t a very formal wedding. One of the bridesmaids (matron of honour to be precise) was actually wearing her wedding dress.

Understanding What Suits

My hair and make up was done by someone who’d done my friend’s hair and make up. I was really lucky that she was able to do it as she’s really busy. She completely understood what would suit me & was a beacon of calm.

Boutique Chic

My dress was designed by Magic Moments in Southgate, North London, made from Thai silk in Edmonton. This was pretty handy as we only got back from 8 months away around the world 3 months before the wedding. A lot of the dress shops I went to were amazed that I was making appointments to try on dresses in May for a wedding in July that year.

There were lots of other dresses that I quite liked, some samples which were also a lot cheaper, but none that gave me the Cheshire cat grin the one I chose did. My Mum also found it, we were just leaving the shop when she said ‘what about trying that one’? It was on a mannequin so I hadn’t seen it. Magic Moments is a really nice little shop, I hated the production chain feeling at the bigger bridal stores.

I loved the corset and bustle, and whilst all the dresses I tried felt to an extent like there were from a ‘dressing up box’, that one made me feel special.

A Western Feel

Paul wore a blue suit from Reiss. Although he didn’t know what my dress looked like they were both a bit ‘wild west’ . I helped him choose the suit, and am glad in the end that he didn’t go for cream/oyster!

Although it was fun checking out the tailors on Saville Row, the suit from Reiss was actually the nicest, and he will get much more use out if it than me of my dress! It was adjusted by a local tailor, so it fitted him perfectly on the day.

Phlox in London did the flowers for the National Theatre, the button holes and the flowergirls posies – we wanted English country style flowers with a touch of blue and they were great.