Connie & Joe

This is not the first time we've been lucky enough to grace our pages with gorgeous images by Irene Yap of Connie & Joe's wonderful love story. We also featured their engagement shoot. We knew then their wedding was going to be equally fabulous. That and the fact that Connie is Founder of stunning jewellery company Astrid & Miyu, which the whole RMLtd team absolutely adore. Connie wears a Grace Loves Lace Hollie dress which is simply stunning. So floaty and ethereal, and suits her down to the ground. She tops it with a flower crown with a big bloomsey coral peony that sits beautifully on her luscious wavy locks. There isn't one picture of her that doesn't captured her kind spirit and infectious smile, but why wouldn't you be beaming from ear to ear when you get to marry your beau surrounded by your family and friends with the picturesque Walled Garden at Cowdry Park as your backdrop. So much pretty. Get ready to PIN!

The Wedding

Connie the Bride: I actually didn’t have a wedding dress up to a month before the wedding. I ordered a Jill Stuart evening grown from Shopbop.com and subsequently found a dress I kept on seeing on Pinterest – the Hollie dress from Grace Loves Lace – which after the wedding I found out is the most pinned dress in the world. I ordered the Hollie about 3 weeks before the wedding online which luckily fit perfectly on me. 
I wore the GLL dress during the day with a floral crown and Astrid & Miyu jewellery, and wore the Jill Stuart dress (slightly altered to give a mermaid shape) for the evening with Astrid & Miyu jewellery. I wore a pair of Classic Tribute 105 sandals from Saint Laurent in tan colour - I wanted to wear something I would wear again, not just at the wedding.

The Grooms Fashion & accessories

Joe altered his Spencer Hart work suit to wear it with suspenders. 
I got a shimmery baby blue tie from Gieves & Hawke for him. His shoes are from Crocket & Jones, his suspenders and socks are from Shibumi online.

The Venue

We chose the Walled Garden at Cowdray Park as we wanted a beautiful, very English 
garden wedding, especially with many friends attending from all over the world (Hong Kong, Paris, Geneva, Manila, San Francisco, New York, Seoul to name a few..). Midhurst and the surrounding area was beautiful with many places to go for gastronomical experiences. We had a pre wedding reception the night before at the Leckonfield, and a post wedding BBQ brunch and the Duke of Cumberland. Both turned out amazingly.

Colour Scheme/Décor:

We kept the décor pretty simple, as the garden itself was beautiful with all the summer flowers blooming during our wedding weekend (first week of July). We had coral peonies as the theme of the décor including table tops, my bouquet, flower crown and the cake topper, and had copper foiling details on the stationery.

Flowers

I wanted coral peonies to be the centre piece of all décor with eucalyptus garinish for a garden-y and summer-y feel to suit the garden venue.

The Wedding Party Fashion

Groomsmen had a uniformed outfit, with blue Zara blazers, white chinos, green socks from Shibumi and green tie from TM Lewin. For bridesmaids, I went with nude pallets, but wanted to let everyone choose their own style of dress that is flattering for them. I ordered all of the bridesmaids dresses from ASOS, from different brands.

Ceremony

The whole week, we were worried about the weather, as it had been raining every day leading up to the wedding, and the forecast told us that it would definitely rain. We took the chance and set the altar up outdoors the garden. The weather turned out to be perfect – sunny and breezy, perfect English summer weather. Following the civil ceremony, Joe and I read our personal vows. We both got super emotional during the vows, that a lot of our guests started crying as well. And immediately after our vows, it started pouring with rain for about a few minutes and then stopped. It was so magical - it felt as if even the sky was getting emotional and giving us a blessing!


Entertainment

During the day we had a string quartet playing classical and pop songs. We had canapés, champagne and cocktails throughout the day reception, and had a photo booth with 4 polaroid cameras and a bunch of props – we got many fun polaroids out of this after the wedding and had a good laugh. 
In the evening, we had a bar with unlimited booze and DJ James Malin, who played old school hip hop and R&B, which is my favourite type of music.

Food

During our afternoon reception, we had some canapés, champagne and cocktails. For the wedding breakfast, we had a 3 course meal – salmon macaron and smoked salmon / beetroot macaron and summer vegetable for starter; sous vide lamp / halloumi and roast vegetables for main; decomposed cheese cake for dessert. We also sourced our own wine. We had a semi naked raspberry and white chocolate cake and French cheese for evening snacks, with limitless bar.

Photographer

We found Irene Yap through The List. I must’ve gone through more than 30 photosgraphers’ portfolios, and I knew Irene was the one. She put us at ease during the engagement shoot which took place 2 months before the wedding. We became complete naturals for the wedding!

Videographer

Skinny Boy Films was recommended by Irene, our photographer. I had a few exchanges with Kate, the manager, who was extremely friendly and professional. 
Steve, the videographer, took and edited an amazing film which we played at our Korean reception 2 months after the wedding.