Inspiration

Lovely bride Natalie is a wedding planner, working alongside the infamous Louise Perry Weddings, so naturally her big day ran without a hitch. Although she does this for a living, Natalie was the bride this time around, so she was the one making the final decisions and an excellent job she did too. Her and Adrian's wedding is full of fun, lots of music and good food, with guests clearly having the best time. Yes there are stylish and thoughtful details, but ultimately it's all about celebrating the love, which is the most important thing. Images come from the lovely Jasmine Jade Photography and make sure you enjoy the film from White Dress Films too!

Our Wedding

Natalie the Bride: As a wedding planner, I understood the planning process of a wedding but this time I had to answer the important questions - what was important to me and Adrian as a couple, to shape our wedding in the right way for us. We wanted our wedding day to really reflect us and to enjoy a wonderful day with our family and friends, which is exactly what we did. Wonderful food and drinks, amazing entertainment throughout the day and most importantly a wonderful celebration of us finally coming together to get married! It really was the best day ever (cliché I know but I really was!) and we couldn’t be more grateful to everyone involved to help bring our unforgettable day together.

The Bride

For my dress, I knew I didn’t want anything structured and was much more drawn to have something with movement and with a boho feel but still elegant. I wanted a dress with sleeves and had strangely pinned my Maggie Sottero dress named Deirdre which drew me to it even more, over a year ago on Pinterest. I was quite hesitant at first to do the dress shopping part of the planning as I wasn’t used to the attention on me, it was always the bride but this time that was me! Louise made the appointment at, Bellissima Wedding in South Wooden Ferrers and I was treated with such a lovely warm welcome. The ladies at the shop are brilliant at what they do, super professional and they really did make sure I felt comfortable and special. It was a great experience after all. Louise arrived a few minutes before me and had already picked out a dress for me to try on. When I saw it, it was exactly the one I had pinned on my board the year before and knew that was going to be ‘the one’. My dress was very comfortable, with the skirt easily having movement and the lace detail on the sleeves and chest which was stunning. She was a beauty.Bellissima Wedding is not only a beautiful store but it smells absolutely divine. I even purchased the room fragrance and perfume to spray by Connock London, on my wedding day to relive the memory of how amazing I felt. I chose a cathedral length veil which was trimmed in lace to echo the lace detail in my dress and would be perfect for a church ceremony. The veil had a layer to cover my face, which when I tried on I burst into tears as it all felt so real! I wore gold sparkly shoes from Dune for a flash of fun under my dress, a kitten heel to be able to walk around all day in them. My mum had bought me a beautiful pair of Tanzanite stud earrings surrounded with diamonds to wear on the day, my something blue. My photographer Jasmine lent me her ring to wear on the wedding day as my something borrowed. Adrian proposed with his great grandmother’s engagement ring. We had to get the ring reset as is was very old. Michael from Michael Frank Jewellers redesigned my engagement ring and adapted the stones into a new settings for its new life. Adrian’s wedding band had a diamond for the original engagement ring and the original platinum was used in his band too which made it even more special. Michael and Amanda are a fabulous family run business and their service is above and beyond fantastic. Beautiful bespoke jewellery. My hair was done by Michelle Walker Hair, who does gorgeous hair and after my trial I was so happy with the style she came up with. My make up was done by the talented Debbie Lloyd Make Up artist who made me feel confident and beautiful. Both ladies are fantastic and really made me feel relaxed in the morning getting ready too.

The Groom

Adrian’s suit was tailor made from Fox Tailoring. He wanted something stylish with a smart yet country feel to the design. John and Alan at Fox Tailoring designed and made a beautiful navy checked trouser and waist coat suite with a tailored light grey jacket to counter balance the patterned fabric. Both John and Alan provided amazing service and a great experience for Adrian and his best men. Adrian wore brown Loake shoes and biased I know, but he looked so handsome.

The Venue

We chose to have our wedding reception at Weald Country Park in Brentwood Essex. It is only 5 minutes from home and a place which is very special to us as we have walked over at the park for years and is actually where Adrian proposed to me on Valentines Day, 2016. We hired out a private area of the park, Bluebell pond, and it was the perfect location for our Tipi wedding reception as it will be somewhere we can return to time and time again. Being a wedding planner and seeing all these amazing weddings, I was drawn to having a tipi as it suited perfectly our love for the outdoors. Having worked with Tentario previously, it was a no brainer that they were who to ask to have our tipi with. A professional and well organised team who provide excellent service throughout, we highly recommend them.

The Decor

As the wedding reception was outside in a park, we wanted to reflect our surroundings with keeping things looking natural. Our main accent colours were navy and gold, which was tied in throughout the wedding, the bridesmaids dresses, the suits and pops of blue in the flowers and details on the table and stationery. I love happy joyful positive quotes and wanted to spread some harmony by strategically placing boards with quotes on at the wedding. We had a photo table with photographs of each of our parents weddings and photos of us as kids. I had made a board which had one line from our first dance lyrics as a hint to guests what the song would be. To keep a boho touch, we hung dream catchers from trees and designed our table plan as a copper pipe frame, which the florist Lisa had made. Getting creative, me and my bridesmaids the day before hung navy and white ribbons with white lace to the poles, this then had the table plan hanging amongst the ribbon and dream catchers, it all looked magical! Inside Bluebell Pond were giant bluebell wooden structure which we wrapped in LED fairy lights. Louise’s girls helped the day before setting up to wrap lights and hung all the white paper lanterns in trees. In fact all hands were on deck the set up day before from both the bridal and grooms party. We named all of our table names after different fishes as Adrian’s hobby is fishing. Our top table name was Personal Best as I was his best catch ever! We even hung on the back of our chairs white wicker fishes. Box Productions provided and set up all the outside lighting and strung pea lights around the area of the tipi which looked really pretty once the sunset. Scott also up lit the trees in the park to give some depth and interest for guests when wondering outside of the tipi. We had baskets of blankets and fire pits lit for the evening and course jars of marshmallows! Not forgetting the handy basket of flip flops for ladies to dance the night away.

The Flowers

For our flowers, we wanted to have lots of texture but incorporate a range of mixing some wild flowers along with our love for succulents and big fluffy hydrangeas. Lisa from Blooms and Bows, I have worked with Lisa many times and there was no one else who was going to do my flowers but her. She is a lovely lady and brilliant florist and goes that extra mile in everything she does. Lisa dressed church with pew ends of big hydrangeas and foliage. Puddles of candles were arranged by the alter. The church is beautiful so it didn’t need much dressing here. Inside the tipi for the tables, Lisa designed an amazing birch wood tripods with flower arrangements to sit on the tables. They looked incredible and gave a great impact inside, glass baubles with candles were hung from the centre. We did 50/50 of high and low arrangements, mixing the low arrangements with gold geometric table accessories, gold glass terrariums with succulents inside and small pots of flowers and lots of pretty candles. Outside of the Tipi were large wicker baskets full of olive and Blue and White delphiniums. Our favours and place names were gold pots with succulents pants, little flags with the guests names on, all hand written by one of the grooms ladies Rachel. My bouquet was quite large, loose, layered with textured and filled with beauty such a veronicas, hydrangeas, avalanche roses, freesia, olive, astilbe and eucalyptus. Chocolate cosmos and Echinops were popping out to give depth in colour and detail in delicate petals. Trailing Kate Cullen silk ribbon hung from my bouquet to give a boho feel which looked great against my dress. The bridesmaids had smaller versions but just as beautiful and this worked perfectly against their navy blue dresses. Adrian’s buttonhole was made with small succulents, veronicas and foliage texture.

The Wedding Party

I had 6 bridesmaids who all wore navy blue multiway dresses from Debut at Debenhams. From a mix of all sizes, these dresses are a great way to fit all and to be worn in many different ways. We held a prosecco wrap party for the girls to decide which way to wear the dress and everyone decided to wear it with a one shoulder. The bridesmaids all wore their own gold shoes and looked amazing. I gave all the bridesmaids necklaces on the wedding morning from Victoria Millesime which were handmade with a rose gold hexagon pendant which had a pearl and swarovski stone hanging in the centre. The bridesmaids hair and make up was done by a duo The Perfect Marriage, who made all the girls looks gorgeous, especially my mum who never wears make up and she looked amazing. The two best men wore the same styled waistcoat as Adrian from Fox Tailoring, along with their own grey suits. Adrian bought the best men and his groomsmen cuff links to wear on the wedding day, all in shades of navy with patterns.

The Ceremony

We decided to get married at St Peters church at South Weald, which was only a short walk to the park for our reception. Adrian and I always knew when we were to get married it would be a church wedding. It is a beautiful church and our reverend, Jane was just amazing. My godmother Shama read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres. I had heard this at another wedding and was so moved by the words, I had to have it ours! Adrian’s sister Becky read Blessing of the Hands. Another reading I fell in love with and the words are very touching. Adrians’s nephew Jake walked down the aisle holding a sign saying ‘Uncle Hair Gel, Here Comes Your Pickle’, both our nicknames. My nephew Hayden, then followed holding another sign saying ‘Don’t Worry Ladies, I’m still Single’ which brought smiles all round. My Dad walked me down the aisle to the song ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ performed by Amy Langmead and Ben Hackett. Dad was pretty nervous on the day and did us proud. Our signing songs were both songs which had a lot of meaning to us as a couple. ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ by Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole performed by Ben Hackett. Me and Adrian would listen to this whilst day dreaming what our future would look like. We also had ‘Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude performed by Amy Langmead and Ben Hackett. This song was a fun garage throwback of our friends and good times. Both our mothers were witnesses for our signing of the register, who else would be better to watch us take our next chapter in life than the ladies that brought us here. We then walked out to ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’ by Stevie Wonder performed by Ben Hackett.

The Entertainment

For the drinks reception, I decided to surprise Adrian with a Steelpan band playing for our drinks reception. This was a nod to our Trinidadian roots whilst we served iced cold Carib beers. Adrian had no idea until we got out of the car and was walking towards to the park that I said to him, ‘can you hear that?’. With it being a hot day, the sounds of the steel pan playing was perfect. We had a belltent by Bluebell Tents set up on the grounds for the children to play in which was filled with games and activities. We had lots of children at the wedding, so we wanted something to keep them entertained and this worked perfectly to keep them occupied. During dinner we had the lovely Timeless Acoustic Duo, Kerrie and Paul playing and singing which was perfect. Kerrie was heavily pregnant at the time and they both did a great job at entertaining our guests. For the evening, we were rocking the dance floor to the band One Foot In the Groove, which is actually Louise’s band and her husband is the drummer! Amy and Ben who performed at church then joined the band for the evening and Amy was amazing. Louise even joined the band for a quick number which was brilliant. Seeing our guests having a great time was beyond words. Our first dance was an 80’s throwback to my guilty pleasure and Adrian agreed it was perfect, ‘Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now’ by Starship. The first dance song and bands set was arranged by Chris Burgess, Louise’s husband, so it couldn’t of felt more personal. During the first dance, we were surprised by an awesome confetti cannon explosion! It was a total surprise for us both and lots of fun. After the bands sets we went onto the sounds by DJ by Louis Smyth from MLC Disco. They provided all of the setup and lighting inside and was responsible for the confetti cannon. Louis was brilliant, playing current and old skool tunes and had everyone dancing till the late hours. We had the best photobooth in the business, Boutique Booths which was fun entertainment all round. Andy is a fantastic host to the booth and really gets you to make the most fun out it!

The Food

Adrian and I are both half Trinidadian so we wanted our food to reflect us and our family traditions, which is warm welcomes, great party and that there is always lots of food at the table and plenty to go round! We opted for bowl food during the drinks reception and a fantastic BBQ wedding breakfast. Limeberry Catering catered our day. Having worked with Ange who was our event manager before, it was an easy decision who to turn to for our catering team. Delicious food and fantastic service. When your guests say ‘this is the best wedding dinner I’ve ever had’ that really was golden and was the exact feeling we wanted our guests to feel, to enjoy a dinner that was delicious and made you feel welcome. Ange and the team at Limeberry run service so well that everything was effortlessly in hand. It was also a great comfort to us both knowing we didn’t have to worry over anything on the day as Ange was there. Also on the day overseeing everything was Helen who was an intern we had worked with us and wanted to help me and Adrian out on our wedding. Not forgetting the watchful eye of Louise, even though a guest with her family, I know she did more than she needed to on the day to ensure everything run smoothly. We cut our wedding cake as we were announced into the tipi for dinner as this was then prepared for dessert. To us this made sense to use the cake as dessert so nothing went to waste. The wedding cake was a delicious semi naked cake in 3 yummy flavours, cherry bakewell, Madagascan vanilla and chocolate with passion fruit conserve. Evening food was by The Mobile Pizzeria, delicious stone baked pizzas made on site from a converted Land Rover! Adrian and I love pizza, and I had worked with the company before and knew how amazing their pizzas were. This was the perfect late night food after a few drinks and dancing.

The Photography

Jasmine from Jasmine Jade Photography was our photographer. I had worked with Jasmine before and not only is she so lovely but she is a brilliant photographer! We loved her style of photography and how she can capture moments and emotions artistically without you realizing she’s even there. Adrian loved her energy just as much, it really was the best decision having Jasmine shoot our day and be with us. We did a pre wedding shoot over at the park, which was a great way to see the spaces together before the wedding and also a chance to relax in front of the camera together. Jasmine was great on the day, a real sense of calm and gentle guidance to shoot our day so brilliantly. Jasmine invited us to her studio to preview a slideshow and view all of our photos which is a wonderful personal touch and is something we looked forward to after the wedding. Jasmine is passionate to provide a photo album with her packages as often or not, no one actually prints their photos anymore or are just sent a USB of photos. We now have an amazing album of our best photos which was a hard selection process taking up to 5 hours to do! Our photos are incredible and we cherish all of them which we are so grateful to Jas for doing such a superb job.

The Film

I decided to book White Dress Films for our video. Richard makes beautiful wedding films and he came highly recommended by Louise. Adrian had no idea until the week of the wedding we had a videographer even booked! It can be hard to explain just how much he would regret not having one made if only looking at budgets was the reason not to, so I took the risk of booking Richard and knew Adrian would love it and he absolutely did! Richard made us trailer which we watch often and a full feature film, both are so incredible and he had captured our day so perfectly.
{Watch The Film}
Fern Godfrey

Written by Fern Godfrey

Videography: White Dress Films | Tipi: Tentario | Event Equipment Hire: Outdoor Event Equipment | Venue: Weald Country Park | Flowers: Blooms & Bows | Dress: Maggie Sottero | Boutique: Bellissima Weddings | Shoes: Dune | Ribbon: Kate Cullen | Groom: Fox Tailoring | Shoes: Loake | Bridesmaids: Debut | Hair : Michelle Walker | Make Up: Debbie Lloyd | Bridesmaids H&MUA: The Perfect Marriage | Jewellery: Michael Frank Jewellers | Catering: Limeberry Events | Cake: The Little Pop Bake Shop | Lighting: Box Productions | Music: Amy Langmead | Ben Hackett | Steel Pan Band | The Timeless Acoustic | One Foot In The Groove | MLC DJ | Kids Tent: Bluebell Tents | Photobooth: Boutique Booths | Pizza: The Mobile Pizzeria | Security: Denbigh Franks | Wedding Planner: Louise Perry

Inspirational articles you may also find useful