Inspiration

If The Little Mermaid were to live in Sheffield, in 2017, then this is what I imagine her wedding would look like...Laura is essentially the human version of Ariel and she looks flippin' gorgeous in her fishtail Pronovias gown. Laura and Dave chose to hold their wedding at three different venues across Sheffield, each one totally unique, but all three perfect for the couple. I really like the idea of keeping things moving on your wedding day, sometimes a change of scenery livens things up, especially when each one holds new and exciting things to look at. From the lush botanical gardens, to the industrial Chimney House, to cocktails at a city bar - this wedding has it all.

The Bride & Groom

Laura The Bride: I really wanted a dress that I could run around in and enjoy the day, Pronovias 'Irune' was perfect, I fell in love with the crepe fabric and simplicity of it. Accessories - I chose simple stud earrings from Swarovski and white sandals from Dune with floral emboss detail on the heel. Dave chose a skinny fit electric navy suit from Topman and brown Loake shoes from the City Cobbler.

The Venues

We chose 3 venues, The Botanical Gardens, The Chimney House and Bloo 88, all a short distance apart within Sheffield. We wanted a wedding that was casual but fun, the venues were a perfect fit for this.

The Styling & Flowers

The colour schemes were white, navy, grey and pale pinks. For my bouquet I chose the simplest flowers - white roses and the bridesmaids had gypsophila bouquets. Because the ceremony was in the botanical gardens we didn’t need to overdo it, there were plenty of flowers/cactuses.

The Wedding Party

The bridesmaids (Naomi, Rachel and Agata) all chose different styles of dresses from ASOS, they picked ones that they could wear again. Even though they were all different it worked really well and suited the day.

Favourite Moments

The day went so fast as we had so much fun. Here were a few of our most memorable moments... At the botanical gardens - having a ginger cat the size of a small tiger become part of our wedding and a pensioner on a scooter wanting to get in on all the action. (my dress now has cat paw prints all over which stressed some of my friends out but not me)! At the Chimney House - The best man speeches had everyone in stitches, they had edited a video in the style of x-factor of Dave’s drunk guitar playing/ lack of. We were lucky to have such creative bestmen (Olly & Ed).

The Entertainment

We hired a steel band for the botanical gardens, they played before and after the ceremony, we even got to have a go on the drums. At the wedding breakfast guests helped themselves to pick & mix and snapped away with our DIY photobooth. We wanted something that we could keep after, this was great as we have hung all our polaroids up as a reminder! We had a DJ in the evening at our last venue, Bloo 88. Our first dance song was Prince’s 1999.

The Food

The Chimney House put on a house feast where guests could help themselves a variety of amazing foods. The mains included short rib of beef slow cooked, slow cooked chicken with chorizo and roast aubergine with homegrown chilli, whilst the dessert was rhubarb compote spiked crème brulee. Rachel our very talented bridesmaid had made us a bespoke cake/ cake pops as our wedding gift, it was amazing. (especially considering that she had never made a wedding cake before!)

The Photography

10. Our photographers were really important to us, we came across Paul Joseph Photography (Paul and Kelly) after doing a bit of online research, we knew straight away that we wanted them! They were so down to earth and really good fun to be around (not forgetting super talented) we loved how they joined in with the whole day and just had a laugh. They really captured the whole wedding as it was, the photos were amazing, they were worth every penny and a lot more! They were such an important part of our day.

DIY Projects

We made our own bridesmaid/ bestmen boxes. Inside the bridesmaids boxes were a mini bottle of champagne, champagne and strawberry truffles, a personalised letter necklace and a reminder of the date. The two bestmen had the same style box with a personalised hip flask. Our save the dates were based around the idea of forget-me-not flowers, guests would plant the seeds within the tin and keep this as a reminder of our wedding. We sprayed tins the friends had collected for us and sourced bespoke stamps from Not On The High Street. (Each save the date included forget-me-not seeds, a small bag of soil and tin to plant the flowers in). I (Laura) designed the invites based around a newspaper style, I included the photos Kelly and Paul had taken for our engagement shoot to give a personal fun feel and reflect the style of the day. Included within the design was a running order of the day, along with menu and entertainment info. The RSVP was designed as a cut out from the newspaper where guests had a chance to request a song to get them on the dancefloor at the evening venue. We were really excited that Dave’s parents (Anne & Joe) and aunty (Dawn) had made it to the wedding having travelled from South Africa. It was amazing to have them there.

Advice

Our advice to others planning a wedding would be: 1. Make sure you plan ahead. There are lots of smaller bits that bob up as you get closer to the big day so make sure you have all the major things out the way as early as you can. 2. Make it as personal and unique as you can. Spend the time looking around or exploring ideas and go for things that you feel reflect your personalities. Bigger doesn’t always mean better and the best ideas don’t always have to cost a lot.
Fern Godfrey

Written by Fern Godfrey

Bride: Pronovias | Jewellery: Swarovski | Shoes: Dune | Flowers: Lockwoods | Venue: The Chimney House | Balloons: The Ultimate Balloon Company | Bridesmaids: ASOS | Groom & Groomsmen: Topman | Newspaper Printing: Newspaper Club | Steel Band: The Pantasy Steel Band | Transport: Coach Hire
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