The Bride
Jess the Bride: My entire family live in the states so about a month after getting engaged we went to Atlanta for Christmas with my family and I decided to go dress shopping (on boxing day!) with my mum and sister-in-law-come-bridesmaid, Caitlin. We went to
Bridals by Lori (I even met Lori, what a woman!) and although adamant I didn’t want to buy a dress from the states – what a hassle – I fell in love with the Ariane gown and made my mum transport it back in a spare suitcase when she visited the following May. I wore a Helen Martin veil from
Coco & Kate. I think the most beautiful shop I’ve ever been in – we went for accessories and I got to try on my dress for all my British friends and family. My earrings – by Swarovski – were bought for me by my gorgeous mother-in-law – she wanted to get me something to wear on the day so ended up giving me some money before my maid of honour and I took a trip to Rome, so we bought them on a boiling day in Rome last August. My shoes were bought for me by my bridesmaids (my bridesmaids really are the best), from
Badgley Mischka.
The Groom
I’ve always been a huge fan of jewellery and I always wanted to be able to buy Adam a special watch as a wedding present and something that he can wear and love as much as I love my engagement ring so I started saving when we first met, about £10 a week, and as a total surprise I took Adam to London about 3 weeks before our wedding and brought him to
Bell & Ross which I knew was his favourite brand – and let him pick any!
Suits were from
The Suit Lounge, Coventry – we met Nick at a local wedding fair in Stoneleigh and he seemed lovely. We bought suits for the entire wedding party – groomsman, groom, my step dad, Adam’s dad Gary and brother-in-law-to-be, Brad. Two of the groomsmen were living abroad – my brother Tyler lives in Atlanta and Adam’s friend Simon lives in Shanghai, and we didn’t have time to send Simon’s suit to China. When the boys got ready on the day it became apparent Simon couldn’t get his suit trousers over his legs as he’s an Ironman athlete so the best man James took one for the team and swapped trousers – I think Simon’s were tight on James’s waist but he never complained!
The Venue
The Venue –
Almonry Barn – neither of us are from Somerset - I’m from America and Adam didn’t have a specific location in mind, we were just looking for a venue that suited us. I knew I loved Almonry Barn when I saw it online but it was the first venue we saw and we knew as soon as we walked in that it was the one – we both teared up walking down the aisle even on a dreary day in January.