Sam & Tom

Oh my days. I mean would you just take a moment to look at that glorious image of Sam and her girls at the top in the slider there. Don't they look amazing with their oversized bouquets and perfectly peach frocks. Utterly dreamy. It doesn't stop there either. There is the cutest flower girl complete with floral crown, a rustic bicycle made for two complete with basket of blooms and all kinds of portrait gorgeousness outside a greenhouse. I'm in heaven looking at the images. Sam's Charlie Brear frock looks as if it was made especially for her and I love the family history that is entwined with the duo's choice of venue. I won't reveal too much here and let Sam tell you about it herself; suffice to say though that it is so sweet.

The Bride's Fashion

Sam The Bride: My lovely dress was from Charlie Brear, I visited her studio and showroom in London and fell in love with the studio before even trying on any gowns, the staff were amazing and gave me such a relaxed experience, they got my style and what I was after instantly which is so helpful when looking for a dress. I knew I wanted something simple yet breathtaking and I think my gown really embodies that. My shoes were from French Connection and I made my headpiece from some of my Nan's old jewellery and a vintage piece of beading from an old dress that my Mum and I found at a flea market.

The Groom's Fashion

Tom wore a lovely two piece suit from Next along with my Dad and our best man. I bought Tom a blue pocket square to open and wear on the day.

Venue

The venue holds a lot of significance for myself as my Granddad used to be a Gamekeeper on the grounds and so my dad lived there whilst a young lad and further to that as a teenager my mum worked in Claydon House tea rooms! The Claydon estate staff were so helpful! It was also so lovely to be married in the tiny church on the grounds which was only lit by candle light! We had our reception in the beautiful Tipis from Sami Tipi; Jodie Craig and the team were so helpful! Jodie was so lovely to work with and really helped make the whole planning process enjoyable!

Colour Scheme

The colours were pastel, peach, blue and cream. We did all the decoration ourselves with help from our wonderful families and friends. Tom and I are designers so we designed the invitations and had the main invitation letter pressed by Cherry Press and were really pleased with the result.

Flowers

The bouquets and buttonholes were from our local florist; Proctors. The rest of the amazing flowers we selected and bought and Tom's wonderful Godmother and friend arranged all of the Tipi and church flowers! They looked incredible in the blue wooden boxes that we painted!

The Wedding Party Fashion

The ushers all wore a slate grey/blue suit from Next also, their blue ties were selected to go with the statement blue doors at Claydon Estate. My beautiful bridesmaids wore peach midi dresses which we bought from ASOS and the prettiest girl of all, my flower girl, wore the cutest dress from John Lewis. The ceremony was my favourite part of the day and was set in the tiny church on Claydon Grounds, all lit by candlelight. Our readings were read by Tom's brother and my brother's partner, which was so special.

Food & Entertainment

We had such an incredible band, The Vents, who were complimented through out the day. They played acoustic sets in the church and in the garden for reception drinks and later as a live band. Our caterers were on site from the Carriage house courtyard restaurant, the food was amazing and Sophia from the restaurant couldn’t do enough to help. Our beautiful cakes were made by Jackie at Cake Expectations in Edgcott; not only did they look great they tasted incredible!

Photography

Our photographer Frankee Victoria took the most beautiful photos, the photos look so natural and she really did capture the day, it was such a pleasure to have her at the day too. We felt truly blessed that the day went so perfectly; we were so lucky have the help and support of our family and friends. All of our suppliers were amazing and couldn’t do enough to help! It was hard going taking on a lot of the work ourselves, stationary, decoration, flower buying etc but the end result was totally worth it, to stand back and say we did that, we made that happen was a lovely feeling.