Our Story
I kind of knew the proposal was coming as we had spoken about getting married a lot at the time. We spent the day in Bristol zoo near where we lived, unfortunately it was half term so every time I thought Ollie might get down on one knee, a gang of kids came racing round the corner. We walked up to see the view of suspension bridge after and sitting in the evening sun he asked me with the most beautiful art deco diamond ring. This is when the fun began. We are very lucky to be surrounded by some incredibly creative folk, who we really could not have done the wedding without them. I love weddings, I
photograph them for a living so have been to my fair share. I can’t say it made the planning much easier but at least I knew where to start, which was getting my photography and video sorted!
The Photography
I knew of
Elly’s work through other people I had studied with or worked with in the past, but we’d never actually met. When we did meet, it felt like I’d know her for years! Her work is just so beautiful and she is an amazing soul. We have gone on to be great friends. Our wedding photos are just incredible and she has then gone on to shoot lots of our other friends weddings!
The Videography
So many people say they wish they had a wedding video done, so there was never any question. As I work with the most amazing film-maker,
Jody Coffey, I knew I needed her to have something to do with the video. We have always discussed what a shame it is we never get to just go enjoy a wedding anymore so I knew I wanted her there as a guest, not working. We have done it in the past with our partnership, Jo & Jody, when she hasn’t been available to video a wedding, to send along a camera op and then she edits the footage. The lovely Angela Zoe Neil stepped in to video and what Jody did in the edit still moves me to tears. I’ve watched it hundreds of time and it is just the most important thing to me now.
The Bride
My spectacular mother made my amazing wedding dress. She has always been an incredible seamstress, and I knew she would understand what I wanted. My friend
Lucy Heather is also a fashion stylist, and she helped enormously with the designs. I love 1970s fashion but also the amazing details of Edwardian / Victorian lace wedding dresses. And this is exactly what she made me! We bought a cheap long sleeved wedding dress off ASOS and basically took it to pieces and rebuilt it with silk, tulle and lace from various Goldhawk Road fabric shops. I also was very honoured to wear the veil that has been in Ollie’s family for years. His grandma and his mum wore it, it is over 100 years old!
The Groom
Ollie is very specific with suits at the best of times so this was going to be an important one! He is a DJ and at all the mod and soul night he plays at, everyone is always dressed to the nines, so he knew exactly the style and details he wanted. The only part I played was that I wanted him in dark green, which luckily when down fine.
The Venue
We spent ages looking for a venue. The only thing we knew was we wanted it to be in Yorkshire. I’m from Sheffield and we met in Leeds, and lots of friends and family were coming from Ollie’s hometown of Leicester so it just made the most sense. We wanted somewhere that was a bit of a blank canvas but that was old and industrial. We also really wanted to source all our own catering, run our own bar, etc. We found
Standedge Tunnel and Visitors Centre (which didn’t sound the most romantic as the full title!) and just loved the space. We were already planning to do the legal bit the week before, so our lovely Grandmothers could attend, so it didn’t matter it wasn’t registered. As it is the old building for the canal, you can actually get a boat to the venue! We had booked amazing accommodation in Marsden at Crow Hill, so we all got ready there and then did a canal boat shuttle to get people there.
The Décor
I had lots of ideas about décor, lighting and flowers. I collected all cut glass wine, champagne glasses and vases together from charity shops and car boots. I also had a really strong idea of how I wanted the cake table to look. My sister makes wedding cakes part time, and they are without a doubt the best cakes you’ll ever eat. We had the designs done before most people even knew we were getting married! I love dutch masters style, 17th century paintings so wanted to create this with massive dried flower toppers, rich materials and colourful fruit.
The venue felt quite bare lighting wise, so I found
Typical Type who do amazing lights. I love their Edison bulb boards and they were so nice to work with. I had so many ideas but really need help putting it all together. This is where
Lucy Coyne came in. She is a family friend I’ve known for years, she is an amazing artist in Sheffield who works with lots of different mediums. One of the many amazing things she does is design and makes jewellery, so I asked her to make my wedding ring, which was really meaningful. She was an absolute godsend, in the lead up to the wedding and on the actual day in terms of all things décor and styling. She will be working under the company name Bowerbird so keep your eyes out for her!