We Kissed Like We Invented It.

Andy and Steph married in March at The West Tower in Aughton, Lancashire. Steph wore an incredible striped dress from Ian Stuart and Andy didn’t let the side down with a really cool super slim three piece from Topman.

Today’s title is one of my favourite lyrics from one of my favourite songs… And it just so happened to be Andy and Steph’s choice of first dance. Great choice guys!

Photography today is by dynamic duo and Love Lust List members Lawson Photography.

A Unique Stripe

The dress was an Ian Stuart Libertine from the Revolution Rocks collection and was purchased from Gypsophila in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. I always knew I wanted an Ian Stuart dress because of their unique styling.

I tried on a couple of styles from the Revolution Rocks collection and then whilst in one of the bridal shops I saw the Libertine in a grey stripe.

We’d already decided on a colour scheme of grey and yellow so I knew it would suit the wedding and then when I tried it on had the ‘this is the one’ moment! I loved the uniqueness of the stripe and that it was a traditional bridal shape, but with a cool twist. It made me feel like myself–but in a wedding dress!

Grey Pearls

Finding accessories was a bit tricky because all of the traditional bridal jewellery I looked for was in white or Ivory and just wouldn’t match the dress. I liked the idea of having pearls and eventually I found a light grey pearl choker from Catherine Mee in the mother of the bride section.

I contacted Catherine who makes the jewellery and she was happy to make a matching bracelet. I did try some veils, but it I felt the dress was enough of a statement without the addition of a veil.
I did want something in my hair though and found a dark grey flower hair clip with white feathers from Tessakim.com which I thought would be perfect.

A shorter Heel

I’ve never been able to walk in skyscraper heels so I looked around for a shorter heeled bridal shoe. Again, because the dress was grey the traditional bridal shoes didn’t match. I bought some shoes I loved from LK Bennett, but then they didn’t look right when I tried them with the dress.

Eventually I found some silvery grey shoes with small bows on them from Roland Cartier and they were much better suited. I have to confess though, I did swap them for some grey Toms in the evening–there was too much dancing to be done for heels!

A Simple Style

I don’t wear a lot of make up normally and I wanted to look and feel like myself on the day, but a little more glam!

A friend recommended Kathryn Wilkes and I had a trial done and was really pleased with the results. My hair and make up was fairly simple in style, but provided me with the exact look i was aiming for.

Grey And Yellow

Although the colour scheme was grey and yellow, we wanted the yellow to be a subtle highlight so the bridal bouquet was predominantly white with some yellow and we differentiated the bridesmaids bouquets with a touch more yellow. We chose greenery that was a dusty grey shade and it all fit together perfectly.

For the buttonholes, we wanted to feature ‘billy buttons’ (craspedia) as we thought they looked modern and a bit different. The flowers were done by a company called Floral Fusion They really embraced our slightly different request and we were pleased with the results. We thought they got the colour balance spot on.

• Bridal bouquet: Akito Roses, White Ranunculus, Cymbidium Mini Orchids, Lavender, Craspedia, Dianthus White Liberty and Brunnia.
• Bridesmaids: Sefer Roses, White Ranunculus, Cymbidium Mini Orchids, Lavender, Craspedia, Dianthus St Columbian and Brunnia.
• Tablecentres: a mixture of all the above.
• Buttonholes: Craspedia and Tanacetum Baya.

Grey And Charcoal

The whole wedding was contemporary and modern and initially we struggled to find grey suits that weren’t the traditional tails. We considered buying some suits, but then found a standard suit style from Swarbricks in Manchester so we hired them from there.

The two bridesmaids dresses were full length in a charcoal colour and were Alfred Angelo. We bought those from Alison Burgess in Stockport.

Slim Fitted

Andy likes slim fit suits so all of the hire options that would match the other groomsmen didn’t suit him. We decided to buy him a suit first and then find similar suits for the groomsmen afterwards.
We searched a variety of designer suits and then in the end the best 3 piece suit we found was from Topman which was great for the budget!

The suit was slim fit, dark grey and we had it altered by a tailor so it was an absolute perfect fit. Andy had a white cravat and pocketsquare whilst the groomsmen had light grey. He wore his suit with some black shoes from Ted Baker.

Enhanced Memories

The photographs were really important to us as they enhance our memories of the day for many years to come.

We looked online at various photographers galleries and found Lawson Photography. We looked through some of the weddings they had done and loved the way in which they seemed to capture the atmosphere of the day, but in a very natural way.

What we didn’t want was to be asked to leave our guests for hours, posing for dozens of photographs that we would never choose to display. Pete and Laura’s style was the exact opposite of that.
It was also nice that they got married at the West Tower themselves, so they knew the venue well. Although we didn’t want any posed shots, we did ask them to get photographs of all the details we’d worked so hard on and put thought into like the favours, guest book, table plan etc.

We’re really pleased with the results and looking through all the pictures now, really is like re-living the day from start to finish.

Lemon Stripe

We had our cake made and designed by Sue at Champagne Cakes, we had a consultation and got try some lovely cake samples! We decided on a lemon sponge and the cake design itself was a simple grey and white stripe that reflected the dress. We added cake topper models from Bespoke Toppers of ourselves which are made of clay so we can keep them.

Indie Diso

We thought about having a band, but then thought it might take over the room a bit too much so decided on a DJ from djs4weddings.co.uk. We chose them because you can specify the music you’d like, so we provided a list of motown/soul funk and then switched to a bit of an indie disco when the drinks had been flowing!

Mirrorball

We chose Mirrorball by Elbow for our first dance. Elbow are one of our favourite bands and we’d had some great memories of watching them live in the sunshine at Glastonbury.
We love the sentiment of the lyrics and thought the lines: ‘I was looking for someone to complete me. Not anymore dear. Everything has changed’ were perfect for our wedding day.

Love Icon

For our favours again, we wanted something a bit different. Something that people would really want to take with them.

We ordered dozens of cute little glass jars with white lids and filled them with grey and yellow M&Ms, both of which we found online. We finished them off with a love icon sticker on the lid, inspired by Robert Indiana’s Love sculpture in New York.

A Blank Canvas

The grey and yellow colour scheme was used throughout the decor, we had grey chair sashes with yellow flowers and these also decorated bannisters. The great thing about the West Tower is that it’s a blank canvas because it’s so neutral – there aren’t any colours to clash with.

Aside from the grey and yellow colour scheme, we chose to bring a touch of New York to our wedding day because it has special meaning to us as it was where we got engaged. Our tables were named after districts of New York and we had an American mail box for guests to put cards into.

Heart And Soul

We both poured our hearts and souls into the wedding planning and did a lot of the work ourselves. We wanted to bring our personalities and creativity through and I think we achieved that with some of the quirkier elements to the wedding.

We were so glad that so many of our friends and family could be with us to share our day and we really wanted them to enjoy themselves and we think they did.
Everyone will tell you this before the wedding day, but it really is true – the day will fly by, so make sure you really do take some time together to soak it all in.

Photography – Lawson Photography

Dress – Ian Stuart

Boutique- Gypsophila

Shoes – Roland Cartier

Groom – Topman

Florist – Floral Fusion

Cake – Champagne Cakes

Maids – Alison Burgess

Entertainment – djs4weddings.co.uk

I love the clean design from the table plan to the favours to the table names… and that stripy dress is something else.

Thanks to Andy and Steph for sharing their big day with us.

Adam.