Cecilia & Scott

Well isn't this wedding just a dream for a Friday morning? Cecilia and Scott's wedding day is as classic as they come, but my goodness it's beautiful! The pink floral arch of roses, Cecilia's stunning Mori Lee dress, the foliage draped from the ceilings of the Four Seasons...I could go on and on. We're on a high from yesterday's book launch. Thank you to each and every one of you who has bought Your Day Your Way and left us such lovely comments on social media. If you haven't purchased THE WEDDING BOOK of the century yet ;) then head over to Amazon or find in store and online at Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie and ASOS. The images come from Jacob & Pauline whose work is always so emotive, timeless and beautiful. The perfect match for this wedding day.

{The Film}

The Bride

Cecilia the Bride: The only thing to my look that I really had in mind before was my hair and my dress. I wanted a romantic feel and something that allowed me to feel relaxed and not like I had to hold my stomach in all day. I was sure that it would take ages for me to find a dress that I liked so had lined up a couple of different shops in London I wanted to visit, but on a spur of the moment thought I called a local bridal shop too, just to get the ball rolling. Sharon, the owner of Love Me Do Brides, was so helpful and pulled out a couple of dresses that fit the description I gave her, and a couple of dresses in I had found a beautiful Morilee dress that was perfect. With this I had a chapel length veil, which had really beautiful lace detailing similar to that of the dress, and a beaded belt. My mom lent me a pair of her Tiffany earrings, which became my “something borrowed”. I was really lost on what shoes to wear. I’m the kind of person who always ends up barefoot at the end of the night and I was certain this would happen for my wedding too, but before that I needed a heel that I could walk on gravel with and not sink down into the grass for our ceremony. All the bridal specific shoes I looked at were either too clumpy or way too high heeled, but eventually my mom and I found a pair of gorgeous Rene Caovilla kitten heels with lace detailing that have since become my favourite pairs of shoes. I changed out of my ceremony dress and swapped it for a TwoBirds Bridesmaids dress for the evening, as I wanted to be able to move and have fun, and I just loved the way my bridesmaids looked in theirs. And yes, I was barefoot as soon as we started dancing. Everyone’s makeup was done beautifully by Catherine Bailey, who created a very natural and soft look for me. Severin of The Hepburn Collection styled our hair and provided us with lots of laughs throughout the morning, and I am so grateful to him for having cancelled a shoot so that he could come do our hair!

The Groom

Scott had two things that he knew he didn’t want - black and tails. Originally he’d wanted a waist coat to go with his suit, but we left it quite late so we weren’t able to find anything that worked. We’d had Suit Supply recommended by a couple of friends so went there and found the perfect navy suit for him. It was tailored and ready to pick up within three days, so I’d highly recommend it to any other couples who are a little pushed for time. With this he had brown Aldo shoes and a light blue/grey tie. So easy for the boys!

The Venue

The venue was the first thing we started researching. We wanted to have our ceremony outdoors, but still have the option to be inside if the weather turned bad, however we knew it would be tricky to find somewhere as we were engaged in January and wanted to be married by the summer. We were so lucky to find the Four Seasons in Hampshire, and it was the only venue we went to visit, but it was perfect for us. The Walled Garden was what we wanted for our ceremony and the secluded event area was great for the dinner and evening party as you didn’t feel so spread out. Emma, the wedding coordinator, was a great help leading up to the wedding and handled everything on the actual day which made my job planning it so much easier!

The Decor

We didn’t have a specific colour scheme but we wanted it all very neutral with soft pinks and whites, and hints of warm metallics. For decorations we just wanted lots and lots of flowers and live candles, drawing inspiration from both the Swedish Midsummer celebrations, as well as Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. We wanted there to be a little bit of magic in the air and to feel like a fairy tale, yet feel warm and inviting.

The Flowers

I wanted flowers to take the main stage and the cue I gave to the florists I met with was to imagine an overgrown rose garden or for nature to have taken over the house again. I researched an extensive amount of wedding blogs, looking up different florists who had created something similar to what I envisioned. I had meetings with about five different, amazing florists but I knew the instant that I met with Kitten and Rachel from The Isle of You that I wanted to work with these girls. They knew exactly what I was hoping for and kept on coming up with beautiful ideas that were just perfect, and what they created on the actual day was just incredible! They not only did the floral arrangements but also were in charge of the menu design, the escort cards and the flower petals that were tossed for our exit, and I always felt like a priority to them, even though I knew they had some massive projects and weddings going on at the same time. I absolutely loved working with them.

The Wedding Party

It was so important to me that my bridesmaids felt beautiful on the day too and didn’t feel like they’d been forced into wearing a dress that they hated, so the current trend for mismatched bridesmaid suited me perfectly. I wanted them to have relaxed and beautifully flow dresses that would work with flower crowns, so I was really excited when I stumbled upon TwoBirds Bridesmaids. Taking out the need for each girl to be measured and having the ability to change looks right up until the day was such a relief, especially as I had my bridesmaids living in different countries! They looked so gorgeous in their dresses that I actually ended up buying one in white for myself to dance! Scott’s nephews and nieces were our pageboys and flowergirls, and they ranged in ages from 2-7, so while it was nice to have them all looking smart, the most important thing for me was that they could move and play in their clothes and also liked the clothes they wore. Scott’s sisters were a great help to me in sorting everything out, and the kids looked so sweet on the day! Scott wanted the groomsmen to match with his navy suit, and they wore pastel pink ties with their waist coats to match with the pastel colours of the bridesmaids. We had a little bit of a mishap when we realised the day before we were a tie short and had to have one delivered to the hotel!

The Ceremony

We had a small civil ceremony with just the family the day before, so for the ring ceremony we were able to be more creative as we had no legality to deal with. We wanted to keep it very intimate and relaxed despite the locations and the large amounts of guests, so we had family members be part of the ceremony. Scott’s father has been a bishop so we asked him to be the officiator, and he did this so well. Scott’s nephews and nieces were our flower girls and page boys, our readings were by my brother and Scott’s sister, and my youngest brother presented us with the rings.

The Entertainment

We had the Dotted Crochets, a highly talented classical quartet, play during the ceremony as well as for the pre-dinner reception. They have a huge repertoire of both classical and new songs and it created a great atmosphere for us to start of the day. They were so helpful and even managed to arrange a Swedish song to play during the ceremony at a last minute’s notice! Music was a tough one for me while researching options. I saw the appeal of having a band play but I know that it could easily be a make or break with covering songs. I also knew that I myself most often felt disappointed and wanted to hear the original song, so we opted for a DJ instead. Through recommendations by both the hotel and our videographer we found Matt Maurice, who created such a great party atmosphere for us! We had a separate room for the dance floor and he created a perfect party vibe in there. My parents had originally meant to surprise us, but ended up telling us that they had organised a special treat for us. Through a friend of the family they had got in touch with Måns Zelmerlöv and his band the Zappones and they had agreed to come play for us. Måns won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, and is a well known artist in Sweden. We were so honoured to have them come over and take break from their touring schedule to play for us, and it truly made for a day and a night that we will never forget! The guys were so lovely and laid-back and we’re so grateful for all they did. The look on my cousin’s (and maid of honour) face when the guys played us out from the ceremony is forever etched into my memory! We had so much fantastic entertainment for both the big and small guests! We had a bunch of children coming so it was a big priority to make sure they had a great time and that their parents’ felt that they could relax and enjoy themselves too without worrying about their little ones. Emma, of the Four Seasons, recommended some children’s entertainers and they were a massive hit with everyone!

The Food

The cake search was probably Scott’s favourite thing about the wedding planning! I’m gluten intolerant so it narrowed down a little bit the bakeries that we could meet with but we eventually found The Cake Parlour in Wimbledon. We wanted a cake big enough to feed 200 people, but we didn’t want it to be too extravagant in design. I’d found an image on Pinterest years before I’d even met Scott that was the inspiration behind our cake, with flowers and foliage wrapped around it, and Zoe and Chris created an even more beautiful version of it. Our food was all provided by the hotel, but we made sure that for each part there were at least two options to accommodate every dietary need. We had a lot of fun as the RSVPs were coming in to see who had chosen the menu items that most people went for!

The Photography

I spent so much time researching photographers but I am so glad I did, because Jacob and Pauline produced the most stunning photographs! Their use of light and the lack of posed pictures is what drew me to them when I was searching through wedding blogs for potential photographers and I was over the moon when they said that they were free on the day of our wedding. They are really sweet and when we first met with them for the engagement photo shoot they put us right at ease, despite having a camera centimetres from our faces every now and then. By the time of the wedding we felt completely calm and relaxed in front of the cameras. They captured every single aspect of the day, from the smallest details to all of our guests having fun, which was exactly what we wanted. Their turnaround was also impressive as it didn’t take long at all for us to have all of the pictures sent to us.

The Videography

I was so excited to have Reel Love shoot our wedding. I’d come across them via Instagram and just fell in love with how Frances was able to tell a love story through her films. Scott and I were both so happy and excited when she was free to come do our wedding. Leading up to the wedding, Frances was a real help with the planning and shared her wedding connections freely with us - our DJ selection was through her recommendation, and it was definitely the right one! They were not intrusive in any way during the day, but easily blended in with the rest of the guests, and the video she and her team created for our day was perfect!