Proud. That’s how Alex described her emotions as her brand spanking new husband stood to address the room brimming with nearest and dearest. I must take this opportunity to say that we at RMW are proud to have had Alex as one of our real brides.

Her tales has never failed to be entertianing, honest and always written from the heart. And this last bumper installment is arguably her best work yet.

So, without further ado let’s jump back into part 2 of Alex’s report – acommpanied by the awesome imagery of Especially Amy. And if you have not read part 1 yet then check it out now!

Food Glorious Food!

We went back up and before we had time to even speak to everyone it was time for dinner yay! So, we were announced as Mr and Mrs M and took to our seats, which by the way is super difficult in a huge dress and veil and it took some time to get sat down.

The speeches began and my godfather started it off with a lovely and touching story of me growing up and of our favourite memories, perfect. My sister then did her tale of my childhood and everything since and that too was just perfect and had plenty of people laughing, especially me! Then, my gorgeous groom took to his feet and did me super proud with his speech, the right amount of jokes, compliments and thank yous, I have never been more proud.

We had a delicious three course meal (chicken liver parfait or spiced prawn cocktail, goats cheese stuffed chicken with crispy bacon and dauphinois potatoes, veg and roast potatoes and a beef wellington parcel served with the same, and to finish a chocolate hobnob base vanilla cheesecake with chocolate ganash topping or sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce). We have received so many compliments about the food at Malmaison, that it wasn’t the typical wedding food and barely any was left over! Glasses were kept topped up and looking around the room seeing all our nearest and dearest enjoying a lovely meal and having a good time was really wonderful.

Evening Shenanigans

Dinner over with, time had flown so time for a quick change of hair, touch up of makeup and pinning up of dress and the evening guests were arriving! It was really great to have a fresh lot of people come and see us for the first time as a married couple and ready to have a good time.

We headed on over to cut our wedding cake, which was a beautiful fruit cake made my Mr M’s auntie who had also made us a chocolate fudge cake, a carrot cake and a tower of amazing cupcakes! We didn’t manage to get any but were assured they were to die for by our guests!!

Then we whizzed round for the first dance, this was somewhat difficult because we are not good dancers, and the first song was a pretty slow number “The book of love” by Peter Gabriel which we then quickly changed for Stevie Wonder’s Signed Sealed Delivered for a bit of up-tempo dancing!
Our Ipod playlist became somewhat of a disaster as our evening guests were after a bit of a boogie and put their own music on to dance to and we had put our guests favourite songs on our Ipod for them to listen to. But, the dance floor got filled and people danced and to be honest it didn’t really matter too much other than a few disappointed day guests that didn’t hear the song choices they asked us for. I think overall they didn’t mind too much.

Time To Elope

We were ready to elope together by about nine thirty (I know, how sad!) so we hung about and made sure people tucked into the delicious buffet food, again tons of compliments about the standard of the food! And my husband and I went up to our room at a respectable ten thirty pm, and we laughed and talked and dissected the day and the day before until about one in the morning. And waking up in the morning to see my amazing husband laid next to me about to start our married life together was one of the best feelings! I was more excited the morning after the wedding than the morning of the wedding… Who would have thought! We went down and all had breakfast together which was another really nice time and something that will probably rarely happen, and then off we went on our honeymoon!

Things I Wish I Had Done/Thought About!

A few things I probably need to mention. No matter how much you think you might need to do yourself, it’s probably best not to leave yourself too much to do the day before and the morning of the wedding in order to relax as much as possible. If you’re not the relaxing type then fire away, but I wish I had had a bit more time to just wind down rather than get everything set up and ready.

The morning of the wedding was such a rush and in the final hour especially and I ended up walking down the aisle without my something old (my grandmas wedding and eternity ring), my something borrowed (my sisters garter) and a gorgeous fur stole I had bought from Suzanne Neville that my sister had taken into her room by mistake. However, I quickly got over it and put my garter on for a wee while in the evening and it didn’t affect the day at all.

I know some people really love planning their wedding and are gutted when it’s over, however my wedding planning wasn’t exactly what I expected and didn’t take over our lives or stress us out and to be honest I can safely say I am really happy to be on the other side. Our wedding day was lovely but being married is by far the best thing and essentially all we wanted out of it. The venue and the staff at Malmaison Leeds were out of this world and we could praise them enough, it is definitely somewhere we will always go back to and would recommend to anyone looking for a city wedding.
Lots of married love,

Alex xx

Photography – Especially Amy

Brides Dress – Suzanne Neville

Brides Earrings - Liberty In Love

Brides Shoes – Coast

Make-up – Thembi at MAC

Flowergirl Dresses – Monsoon

Grooms Suit – Reiss

Venue – Malmaison Leeds

Thank you for sharing your journey with us Alex, and I don’t blame you one bit for slinking off a bit early.

Alex really does have a way with words – her report is actually very calming to read and really paints the picture of a beautiful day that was clearly full of love and emotion. I love the bit about stayiong up till 1am… Laughing and dissecting the days events.

Alex and Mr M may just be the cutest couple to ever grace these polka dotted pages.

Adam.

The Rock My Wedding ethos is ‘Your Day Your Way’ and that goes for grooms as well as brides. We love it when grooms get involved in the organisation of W-day… Especially if that involvement extends beyond simply picking the band and playlist.

So grooms, you don’t want to be just an accessory on one of the biggest days of your life and one way to prevent this most heinous of W-day crimes is to accessorise yourself (see what I did there). Groom fashion has never been so diverse and today we’re going to look at a few of the ways grooms have been getting involved, tinkering with their look and personalising their appearance.

Put Your Best Foot Forward

Socks can be really powerful and I don’t mean in the Stilton sense of the word. You can go loud and proud with your man hosiery (brosiery anyone?), safe in the knowledge that they will be safely covered 90% of the time by your trousers and footwear. A crazy pair of socks will remain pretty stealth, save for the odd ‘action flash’ as you make your way to the front of the church. You can choose if and when to reveal the power that lies beneath… The ‘shock sock’ is firm favourite with wedding photographers looking for a cheeky informal image.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Andrew Squires

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Shaw and Shaw

Wedding photographers have embraced the shock sock to such a level that some of are even writing about them… Check out Christian wards thoughts on his personal blog mainly about me.

Personally, the geek in me is loving the fact that not only can you pick a pair of socks to tie in with your colour scheme but also now, thanks to Pantone, you can do an exact sock to decor colour match (complete with pantone reference). And there are a lot of colours to choose from.

Pantone socks available from – SockShop.co.uk

Stick Your Neck Out

Bow ties have been really popular for the last year or so and I must admit it’s only recently that I have started to once again favour the look of a traditional tie over the funky dapper dicky-bow.

Identical ties or a variety that match your colour theme will pull you and your groomsmen together and unify your look. A great trick especially if you are asking them to provide their own suits. A pattern will do the same job and right now polka-dots are seriously hot.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Dominique Bader

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Katherine Ashdown

A polka dot has a knack of lending a whimsical touch to the formality of wedding attire without being too casual, and there is a great selection on the highstreet to choose from. Here are a couple of my current faves.

Blue tie white polka dot – Reiss

white tie blue polka dot – Pink

Wedding Day Bling

Another way to feel a bit different on your wedding day is by accessorising with some new or unique jewellery.

If you play your cards right and drop the odd well timed hint about the bit of bling you’ve got your beady eye on, you may even end up with a nice little wedding morning gift!

Don’t Be The Weakest Link

Cufflinks are a really customisable item that could reflect the theme or colour scheme of the day, or maybe something personal about you as a person or you and your future wife as a couple.

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Ann-Kathrin Koch

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Andrew Squires

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Chris Barber

I so badly want a pair of the plectrum cufflinks, I just don’t know whether I would opt for a silver set like the ones below from Not On The Highstreet or go down and dirty with some authentic plastic picks from eBay.

Either way, they make a bold statement and would also make a great present. You may want to provide cufflinks for all your groomsmen for example.

Born And Bred Silver cufflinks – by Dizzy via Not On The High Street

Plastic cufflinks in various designs – independent eBay shop

Get Me To The Church On Time

My accessory-of-the-minute (and not only because it allows me to do another time based pun) is the pocket watch. I love them. So. Much.

There is something ridiculously cool about having a bit of chain looping between your buttonhole and pocket, and the actual item itself? What a fabulous object to remember your wedding by, and what a perfect gift it would make too (look here grooms, you have to start dropping the hints now ).

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Chris Barber

View the whole wedding here. Photography by Christian Ward

If you are looking to source a vintage pocket watch then your best bet would probably be to check out eBay or Amazon online and of course get yourself around some local car boot sales and antique fairs.

There are also some websites out there selling brand new pocket watches in classic and contemporary designs.

Silver plated pocket watch – Jean Pierre via Pocketwatch.co.uk

O Chive pocket watch – Full spot via o-clock.co.uk

For a vintage inspired or modern elegant wedding my choice would be the silver plated Jean Pierre pocket watch pictured above. It can currently be yours for £88.00

I wasn’t sure what to make of the O Chive pocket watches when I first laid my peepers upon them but I can see these bright modern timepeices from Italian design house Full Spot fitting in to a contemporary wedding perfectly, and they are available in a range of colours.

The more I look at them, the more they grow on me. Full Spot do a range of watches in a similar style and they are all really funky and quirky.

Prices for new pocket watches seem to range from as little as £20.00 right up to thousands – so just as with wrist watches there appears to be a watch to suit every budget. The O Chive pocket watch can be yours for a pretty modest £39.95

So, just a few ways to get the fashion based creative juices flowing of any grooms-to-be (and of course all you brides-to-be) out there in blogland.

Have any of you discussed accessories for ‘him’?

Are any of you girls perhaps considering presenting your future husband with a wedding morning gift for him to wear?

Leave your thoughts as per usual in our comments box below… Right, I’m off to choose my cufflinks – do I go For Kiss or Guns N Roses?

Adam.

Hello RMW-ettes.

As you’re all probably aware it is Fashion Week here on Rock My Wedding. That’s right! And in keeping with this week’s theme, I thought I’d share with you my bridal fashion covet list.

Yes you heard correctly… I have a covet list, specifically relating to all things weddings and I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one. In fact, I’m certain that each and everyone of you has a list just like mine, split into specific categories with prices removed. You know, just so you can’t torture yourself with the extortionate price tag of that brooch that you need so that your nuptial outfit is COMPLETE.

In the interests of research…I mean I had to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything off said inventory… I have spent a fair few hours shopping which has done nothing for my oniomania. The things we do for you lot – honestly…

Aisle Style

Those of you who are currently shopping for or who have already found THE ONE will be fully aware that wedding dress shopping is not quite as simple as it seems.

The gown that you’ve swooned over in the magazines, that you’ve pictured yourself gliding down the aisle to is often nothing like the sheathed beauty that you end up with. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps some of you fabulous lot knew exactly what you wanted and it suited you down to your pretty little toes.

If this is the case, then I am mightily jealous. You see what I thought I wanted and what actually looked good on me were two very different things…and so I shall live vicariously through my mood boards instead.

This fabulous array of silk, lace and taffeta reflects my aforementioned Jekyll and Hyde personality – we have Grecian style column dresses AND full-skirted frothy drama.

Shall we go and take a look…

Top Left: Goddess Dress at Temperley. Top Right: ‘Kristene’ at Claire Pettibone. Second From Top Left: ‘Kristene’ at Claire Pettibone. Top Right: Goddess Dress at Temperley. Middle Row Top Left: Marabou Cape at The Wedding Dresser via Etsy. Middle Row Top Right: Silk and Tulle Dress at Christian Siriano. Middle Row Bottom Left: Trumpet Style Wedding Dress – Spring 2013 Collection at Jenny Packham. Middle Row Bottom Right: Sheath style Wedding Dress at Amsale – Spring 2013 Collection. Second From Bottom Left: 1950s Dress by Balmain. Second From Bottom Right: ‘Candy’ at Monique Lhuillier. Bottom Row: Style 3068 at Jesús Peiró.

I always held the opinion that a bride should look demure and romantic, shrouded in layers of lace and tulle. I am a sucker for the more traditional trumpet style gowns and frou-frou affairs. If it has volume then I’m already loving it. Add oodles of embellishment, signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours.

It’s just unfortunate that I look like a toilet dolly in them.

In another life I would like to wear both of the fabulous designs by Jesus Piero and Monique Lhuillier. Look at the glorious train in Piero’s design; the dress is beautifully simple but you can’t take your eyes off it can you? And Monique Lhuiller’s ‘Candy’ looks good enough to eat with its intricate beading and peachy hue.

But what I didn’t know is that brides can be a little bit…sexy…too.

Gasp.

Spilt thigh wedding dresses, marabou capes, come to bed eyes with a dusting of rouge lips is what it’s all about for me. Capes – how I love capes! Figure hugging gowns and the barest whisper of tulle to cover the upper torso is my look of the moment. What do you think lovelies – too much?

Also top of my current lust list is backless dresses. They exude style and impact and a naked back can turn many a man to jelly – girls I am TELLING you. For many guests, the first real glimpse of a bride is of her back as she parades down the aisle, train swishing behind her so why not give them something to look at. Temperley’s Goddess dress and Claire Pettibone’s Kristene both demonstrate how back drama can be achieved in completely different ways but with equal amounts of class.

Crowning Glory

To veil or not to veil seems to be an ongoing question/ debate for many of you and I’ve found that modern day brides are split pretty evenly between the two camps.

That said most of you still want something to adorn your pretty little heads whether it be a floral crown, a gossamer light veil or something with glitz appeal.

Here at RMW HQ we’re particularly fond of headdresses of the feather variety – in fact Charlotte and I try to wear them whenever it is physically possible although sleeping in them does crush the feathers somewhat. Take it from us, don’t try it at home…

Below is a selection of my favourite head candy…

Top Left: North Star Blusher Veil at BHLDN. Top Right: Kirsten Headband by Amanda Judge at Untamed Petals. Middle Left: Diana Headpiece by DC Bouquets. Middle Right: Pearl Embroidered Veil at Jesús Peiró. Bottom Left: Dewed Vines Hairpin at BHLDN. Bottom Right: Lilium Halo at BHLDN.

The north star blusher veil from BHLDN, made from Swarovski crystals and wisps of tulle, is not only beautiful and romantic but versatile too. The veil can be detached and worn simply as a halo – perfect for any bride wanting to make a transition from day to evening with minimal fuss.

For those girls looking for something a little edgier, then the Kirsten crystal headband is for you. Made from a sparkling navette and baguette faceted stone trim, this piece is Luxe with a capital L. The thing I really love about the Kirsten is that you can purchase it attached to either satin ribbon ties or elastic. Does anyone else have a head which elasticated headpieces gradually slide off? Just me then…well it won’t happen with this baby.

It’s the Lilium Halo that I’ve got my eye on though. Wearing this I’d feel like Titania, Queen of the Fairies, debecked in enamelled lily leaves and flowers with a sprinkling of crystal-studded pearls. It is SO pretty.

Please will someone buy it for me, I’ll love you forever…..

A Brief Dalliance

I have been spoilt.

Utterly ruined I tell you…allow me to elaborate…

You see, a couple of years ago I happened to purchase a pure silk underwear set from Marks & Spencer’s Autograph range. Yes it’s utterly impractical as it can’t go in the washing machine with the rest of the normal undies and granted you’re quite right in thinking that silk is nowhere near as durable as cotton hence the subsequent purchasing of further silky ensembles.

But ever since, I’ve developed a taste for the stuff – it’s like a siren’s call which gnaws at my soul and I can’t escape. Do you know what I mean? For some girls it’s shoes, for others handbags but for me it’s the promise of a brand new set of underwear.

And there’s something about a girl’s wedding day that really makes me want to make the effort in the lingerie department. I want to wear something that I’d be happy to prance about in on a carousel horse or leap out of a giant martini glass whilst batting my eyelashes bambi-like over huge feather fans.

I promise I’m not an exhibitionist… honestly I’m really not.

Seriously though, we are seeing a revival in the number of UK companies producing beautiful luxury underwear. The choice is endless, from cute body suits and high waisted 50s style knickers to decadent garters and elaborate lace.

Top Left: ‘Rebecca’ Bodysuit at Ayten Gasson. Top Right: ‘Rebecca’ Bra and Knicker Set with Garter at Ayten Gasson. Middle Row: Katherine Bra, Knicker and Suspender Set at Agent Provocateur. Bottom Left: Marianas Knickers at BHLDN. Bottom Right: Marianas Bra at BHLDN.

I’m also crushing over the teal, lacy number at the bottom of this set of images which could be just the ticket for your something blue or could just sit nicely in your drawers with the rest of your smalls.

My favourite is the bondage style get-up from Agent Provocateur. You can tell it’s been exquisitely designed with a nod to the suspender days of old but with a healthy dollop of modern tailoring. It would also be perfect for whenever you might be having a 50 shades moment…ahem…moving on.

It’s Never Too Cold For Peep Toes

It really isn’t.

Actually with the exception of the beribboned blue flats, all of these shoes are peep-toes. It wasn’t my intention to focus purely on this sartorial style, it just happened that way.

But my gosh, this little collection packs a punch. They are statement shoes…and a half.

I won’t be alone in thinking that if you’re going to spend a small fortune on your wedding day footwear then you want to be able to strut your stuff in them again afterwards, right? So you don’t want them to look too well, wedding-ly. Well doll-faces, I still fell hook line and sinker for two beauties that are right smack bang in this category.

It wasn’t my fault – look at them. How can you resist feathers and tulle?

Top Left: Blue Ribboned Flats at BHLDN. Top Right: Red Crossover Platform Sandal at Zara. Middle Row: Feather Trimmed Heels at BHLDN. Second To Bottom Left: ‘Lia’ Sandal at LK Bennett. Bottom Left: ‘Clue’ Glitter Slingbacks at Jimmy Choo. Bottom Right: ‘Auroral Vapor’ Heels at BHLDN

I’m toying with the idea of wearing a brightly coloured heel to my own wedding in October. If the grooms and ushers can sport the statement sock, then ladies we can sport some fabulous creations of our own and I am all over those red Zara numbers.

So who will be forming an orderly queue behind me and wearing some eye-watering pops of colour on their wedding day feet?

True to form, I am also a little bit in love with Jimmy’s Pair of Clues. They are super sparkly…and sky-high after all and GOLD…which brings me nicely onto the next part of this post.

Lustre Loves

If you’ve been reading my other posts then you’ll know that I’m a bit of a magpie.

Scrap that…I’m an absolute gannet for any object radiating a golden hue so my apologies now if you’re more of a silver kinda gal. I will say though, there are some absolute bargains to be had out on the high street at the moment if you’re looking to accessorise your delicious dress without receiving a nasty call from the bank manager.

Feast your eyes on this gorgeous lot…

Top Left: ‘Fancy’ Earrings at Monsoon. Top Right: Textured Gold Band Ring at Topshop. Top Middle Left: 18ct Gold ‘Loved’ Couplet Band at BHLDN. Top Middle Right: Cyprus Coast Earrings at BHLDN. Middle Image: ‘Alberta’ Gold Bangles Set by Reiss. Bottom Middle Left: Matt Gold Cuff Bracelet at Cos. Bottom Middle Right: Paired Pearl Earrings at BHLDN. Bottom Left: Seed Bead Pearl Cuff by Topshop. Bottom Right: 18ct Gold Sea shell Enamel Bangle by Astley Clarke Colour

There are A LOT of bangles in this selection probably because I really really want someone to rock a bit of cuff action on their wedding day. I am in love with the amazing contrast between a pretty gown paired with jewellery that has a masculine edge.

Are you loving the idea but worried that it might be a bit too much? Well I’ve found you the perfect answer in the form of a seed pearl cuff that has plenty of charm without compromising your style statement.

Take a look at those rectangular faceted earrings from Monsoon. Utterly divine and wouldn’t they be absolutely perfect with swish chignon for a chic do in the city? A steal at only ten sterling pounds – proof that you don’t have to spend a fortune to look glamorous on your wedding day.

And I had to include the ‘Loved’ ring because it made me go a little bit teary when I saw it. That and the fact that it has two 0.5ct diamonds that sit on the other side of this band. No, I jest with you. It was the inscription that made me weep and I’m thinking that I might pinch it for my own ring.

Are any of you lovelies having something engraved on your rings? We’re incredibly nosy here at RMW HQ and want to know all about it.

So what do you think? Have I persuaded you to embrace the Amazonian goddess in you and wear a fierce cuff on your big day?

Will your toes be caressed by feathers or tulle?

Grecian princess all the way or does your heart belong to a full-skirted beauty?

And will anyone be jumping out of a Martini glass as part of their wedding nuptials?

Please say yes…

Answers on a postcard…(I’ve always wanted to say that)…or in the comments box, folks.

Lauren xxx

I love games… and at a wedding reception they are a really great way to get your guests mingling, meeting and breaking the ice. Amy and Craig placed fun and games at the centre of their big day in July 2012 and it looks as though all of their guests where more than happy to play ball.

The wedding was in Bristol with ceremony, drinks, games and food at The Southville Centre followed by an evening of fun at The Mud Dock, a cafe that sits on top of a bike shop. Fitting as both Amy and Craig love bikes.

Photography today is by Nabeels Camera.

A Very Talented Sister

My sister Hannah designed and made my dress (with my mum stepping up at the end to do some epic hemming and finishing off – she was a hero, the dress was finally finished just 5 days before the wedding). I had tried on loads of dresses but couldn’t find one that I really REALLY liked so Hannah offered to make me one that I did. She’d never made a wedding dress before but she’s pretty talented at fashion, design and general creative stuff (plus she’d made an awesome Elizabeth I costume for a fancy dress party- how different could it be..?!).

So over a few months we practiced and practiced until we couldn’t practice anymore and then took the plunge and bought some (stupidly expensive) lace and silk. We were so paranoid about getting the material dirty that we cleaned Hannah’s tiny bedroom so thoroughly before laying it out you could have performed open heart surgery there. As it was Hannah almost threw up on it anyway as she was so nervous about sewing it wrong. The finished dress was amazing and I was really happy with it. Hannah blogged about making the dress here.

You can see the hairy moment when she sent a link of the dress to Craig by mistake. She also made us some super cool invites which you can also see there and, as she is a lomography expert (she works at the shop in Soho) so she’s got some lomographic photos of the wedding up too (she only had three cameras with her on the day, which is not many by Hannah’s normal standards!).

Put To Good Use

I had a veil that my mum made with off cuts from the lace used for the dress.

Flats And Heels

I chose my shoes (sparkly flat sandals from Dune) because they were the only ones I could fit my fat feet into – seriously my feet are wider than I am tall (probably). I went straight to New Look to get my evening high heeled shoes – is there anything more glamorous than searching for your wedding shoes in the Wider fit section?!

A Combined Effort

I asked my other sister Sarah to do my make up on the day as she always looks so stunning (she’s one of those girls on Facebook that looks good in every picture ever and never looks rough, well jel). My hair was sort of a combined effort by me and Hannah.

Jam Jar Florals

The flowers were from Flowers By Barry Toogood. We wanted bright colours. We saved money by collecting the jam jars ourselves. This was easy as our best man has an insane peanut butter habit.

Trouser Trauma

The boys’ suits were from Moss Bros. Bit of a hiccup on the day as when our best man tried on his trousers they were two sizes too small. Luckily (and a bit weirdly) one of the ushers had two pairs of trousers, the spare pair fitting our best man perfectly. Hannah’s dress was from Biba and Sarah’s from Reiss.

Tiny Bikes

Craig had a dark blue linen suit from Reiss. His shirt was from House of Fraser and had a pattern of tiny bikes if you looked closely.

Awesome Photos

We chose Nabeel mainly because his photos are awesome. They were just what we were after – relaxed, fun and original. He was also brilliant on the day, calmed down my nerves and was genuinely excited about our wedding (you should have seen his grin when he spotted the big wheel!) which was ace.

Three Different Cakes

We had three cakes! Craig loves pork pies so we had a big pork pie cake. I love cheese so we had a cheese cake too. In the Pink, the caters at the Southville Centre arranged these. Went well with all the cider and pasties – proper west country. And my god mother made us the most beautiful Victoria sponge with strawberries, it tasted lush!

Beat The Keeper

At The Southville Centre we had hoola hoops, giant jenga, skittles, beat the keeper and table football. Our friends also made us one of those picture things that you put your face through (I don’t know what they’re called). The design was a surprise and we didn’t see it until the day. At The Mud Dock we had an iPod playlist made up of songs chosen by our guests (there were some cracking choices, and some less cracking…. that may have accidentally got skipped….)

A Muddy Haze

For our first dance we had a mash up between James Vincent McMorrow’s Higher Love and the original. We saw James Vincent McMorrow at Green Man festival last year and Craig had planned to propose then, but changed his mind when he realised the chances of me losing the ring in a drunken muddy festival haze were pretty high, so he proposed the weekend after instead.

Pick N Mix

For favours Craig’s mum made a pick n mix table of goodies. Our mums and our friends were brilliant and made metres and metres of bunting. One of the bits had our names stitched on, and we’re keeping it up in our house.

A Big Suprise

The big wheel was a complete surprise. We knew that the harbour festival would be on but we didn’t know that we’d have a fun fair right outside our venue, it was aces. We also really enjoyed riding in our cycle rickshaws from Pedalwalla.com through the festival with lots of festival goers waving and cheering us on

Don’t Fret

My advice is for the brides and grooms who are not natural wedding planners – Craig and I were a bit rubbish at it, we left everything to the last minute, and to be honest couldn’t wait for the day to come so all our wedding chores would be over! My advice is to not fret over all the details, we had the BEST day, but the best parts of our day were not stuff we planned, they were the bits that took us by surprise. And remember that after the wedding you’ll be married and it rocks (whole weekends free to do whatever you like!).

Dress – The Brides Sister!

Shoes – Dune

Flowers – Flowers By Barry Toogood

Photography – Nabeels Camera

Groomsmen – Moss Bros

Groom – Reiss

Catering – In the Pink

Venue – The Southville Centre and The Mud Dock

Maids – Biba and Reiss

Amy and Craigs wedding just looks like SO MUCH FUN.

I’m a bit of a big kid at heart so I’d have loved all the games, hula hoop in particular…. and then the funfair… BOOM! I think it would have been impossible to be a guest at this wedding and not walk about with a permanent big fat grin on your face.

Thank you to Amy and Craig for sharing this grin filled wonder with us all.

Adam.

I love this wedding. With a ruddy big capital ‘L’.

For one, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bride with such a cracking set of pins as Sophie has. Trust me if I had legs like hers I so would have worn a knee length frock too.

She also has the sweetest bow hair accessory that I have ever clapped eyes on and her dress had lace sleeves.

Oh to have lace sleeves.

And I haven’t even got started on the pistachio coloured cake complete with vintage cake topper or the homemade bar or the flamingo wallpaper yet.

Sophie and Tom got married in June 2012 at Salem Chapel, an eighteenth-century dissenters’ chapel in East Devon, and their reception was at Sophie’s parents’ house and in the village hall next door.

All this wonderful gorgeousness was captured by the lovely bundle of fun that is Anna Clarke.

A Slightly Reckless Spending Moment

I found my vintage 1960s dress at Fur Coat No Knickers. It was only the third that I tried on but unbelievably it looked such a lot like the dress that I had in my head.

I was set on having something short and quite simple in shape as floor-length and lots of fabric isn’t really my thing. I fell in love with the unusual swing back and the wide neckline.

The brilliant ladies at FCNK had to do some major alterations as the dress was too small, and at the same time they made the V on the back deeper, which I loved too.

In a slightly reckless spending moment I decided to have a change of clothes for the evening and bought a pistachio-green silk dress and some impractically high heels from Reiss. It was fun to change – like having a traditional going away outfit.

Hairbands And Veils

Fur Coat No Knickers also made my short bound veil and the bow hairband that I wore later in the day. The shoulder length of the veil seemed to go so well with the dress, and quite late on, in another spendthrifty impulse, I decided to have a hairband as well.

I’m really pleased that I did as it was so much easier eating and dancing and hugging everyone without a veil on.

I bought and returned two other pairs of shoes before settling on white, mid-height peep-toes by Rachel Simpson.

This was one of those wedding choices that I was stubbornly sure about. I didn’t want white shoes, I wanted them to be old, possibly gold – until I realised how perfectly a well-shaped pair of white shoes went with the dress.

They were incredibly comfortable too.

Smokey Eyes

My best friend Lara did my hair and make up. She always looks immaculately made up and I am a bit clueless about anything beyond eyeliner and mascara so I put myself in her hands.

We went to MAC one day, where I had a makeover, and we had a practice session or two before the wedding to replicate the look, which was fairly straightforward with smoky greys in the creases of my eyelids to make a soft version of the dramatic 60s eyeliner.

I didn’t do anything different with my hair, but it helped to have somebody else to straighten the back neatly for me! I should also thank the number of girlfriends who took it in turns to hold onto my lipstick and comb and regularly remind me to tidy myself up!

My Perfect Man

Tom wore a blue slim-fit Burberry suit, and apart from a sharp white shirt and a Burberry wool tie, he didn’t need any extras: he looked perfect.

A Profusion Of Blooms

The talented and generally delightful Abigail at Albert & Arthur made my beautiful blousy bouquet and the garlands that we had on several of the marquee poles.

In my bouquet there were peonies, British sweet peas (locally grown to Abigail in West Sussex), her own mint and sage, and Viburnum Opulus. In the pole arrangements were bombastic spray roses, hydrangeas, Viburnum Opulus, astilbe, more peonies, Abigail’s home-grown chamomile, and lots of herbs and foliage from our obliging neighbours’ gardens.

My mum and her friend made the table decorations with Sweet Avalanche roses that Abigail recommended and sourced for us (such a good tip of hers – they were like little sugary pink sculptures) and more pilfered foliage and herbs.

They put them in jam jars that I had collected and painted. Buttonholes were one of the wedding traditions that we didn’t feel very strongly about so we didn’t worry about those and splashed out a bit more on the other flowers instead.

Sugary Pinks

I didn’t have any bridesmaids and as we didn’t really want everything to be matching we didn’t ask Tom’s best men to wear any particular suit or colour.

The only part of the wedding that I had specific colours in mind was the village hall, which was such a funny-looking room that the decorations needed to be kind of over the top. I don’t think that elegant and completely tasteful would have worked in there!

I wanted it to look a bit camp and sugary so we had lots of pink, but everyone had a different plate (my mum and I collected them from charity shops and flea markets over a year or so) so there was some mismatching too.

Friendly Enthusiasm

We found Anna Clarke on a long Google search and loved the photos she had on her website. She had photographed a couple of weddings with a tone that made the pictures look a little bit old but without screaming vintage or looking too nostalgic.

I had a chat on the phone with her and was convinced by how friendly and enthusiastic she was, and even more so when she said that she didn’t stick rigidly to a particular style and to a certain extent let the look of the photos come naturally from the wedding itself.

We were also impressed by the fact that Anna’s husband Simon would come along as a second photographer: it really made a difference to how much of the day was recorded.

Grandma’s Fruit Cake

My grandma makes the best fruit cake so we had to have her make one for the wedding. And luckily a great friend of Tom’s sister is an expert homemade cake-maker and she did a wonderful job at icing the three individual cakes in pistachio-green, which I thought would go with all the flowers (and Tom didn’t want any more pink!).

She also got in touch with my florist without me knowing to arrange having the ribbon from my bouquet around the cakes and fresh peonies to decorate them. My mum found an adorable old cake topper too.

Love And Dedication

There were so many songs that we wanted played at the party that we had a DJ rather than a band. My brother’s friend played for the most of the night from a very long list that Tom gave him and a couple of our friends went on for the last couple of hours.

Our first dance was to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’, which has always been a song of ours in a way. The lyrics are about that old thing of ‘all you need is love’ but also like a set of beautifully expressed vows of dedication.

Just to really up the sentiment we asked a friend to make a film of photos of us from the last six years, which he projected on the side of the marquee behind us while we were dancing. He timed it to the music and interspersed the photos with lyrics from the song.

The same friend was filming some of the day on Super 8 so we have all these other great documents of the wedding to go with the photographs.

Quiz Time

We didn’t have any favours as we were never sure of anything that everyone would want to have, but we did have a quiz during dinner and gave away a CD of tracks from the wedding to the winners.

A Homemade Bar

For me, one of the best parts of planning the wedding was thinking about, making and finding the decorations, and then bringing it all together in the week before.

As the wedding was at my parents’ house we were lucky that we could pretty much do anything we liked and we really went to town!

I wouldn’t know where to start with all the things that my mum and I did, but one favourite was the decorations in the village hall, especially the plates we collected, the big paper lanterns I made out of lampshades and pink crepe paper, the flamingo wallpaper from Cole and Son that I put in panels on the wall behind the top table and the banners I made with the help of a kind crafty friend.

The other highlight was turning my parents’ garage into a bar. A good friend of mine made us an actual wooden bar, and we covered the walls in photos of friends and family, and a selection from the stag and hen parties.

Leave Nothing ‘Til The Last Minute

I think our wedding felt special to us, and I hope to our guests too, because so much of it was homemade, involved friends and family, or had some other personal element.

Sometimes it felt harder to organise almost everything ourselves, but as long as you leave enough time and ask favours of people who won’t mind helping, you can do it and it’s really worth it. My main piece of advice about a wedding like that would be to do as much as you can in the months before.

Don’t leave decorating jam jars, printing photos, making place settings and table numbers or other decorations until the final week, as these can all be done in advance and there is so much more to do in the days leading up to the wedding than you think!

Boutique – Fur Coat No Knickers

Shoes – Rachel Simpson

Evening Outfit – Reiss

Florist – Albert and Arthur

Groom’s Suit – Burberry

Photographer – Anna Clarke

Did you see the flamingo wallpaper? How amazing is it!

I think I might have to purchase some for the downstairs loo…

On a more serious note, my favourite part of this wedding is observing the love that Sophie and Tom have for each other. It emanates from them, you can see it in their eyes and in the way they draw each other close into their own private world.

Congrats you two!

All my love Lolly xxx

Clare and Thomas had a mid summer wedding in a giant teepee. The location for this mid summer celebration? A field owned by Clare’s parents known locally as ‘Colin’s Field’.

The inspiration behind the whole wedding was for it to be completely personal with a focus on family and friends. All of Clare and Tom’s nearest and dearest chipped in to make this countryside wedding a real team effort with homemade touches. The results are stunning.

I’m particularly loving the cuckoo feather button holes (surely an RMW first there) worn by the groom and his father – look out for them.

Countryside Style

Clare The Bride: We asked friends and family to provide us with something special for the wedding which meant that lots of elements of the day had a personal story to tell. This ranged from our gorgeous homemade cheese wedding cake , chicken eggs for the homemade scotch eggs given by our mums, homemade chutneys from my auntie, lavender and ivy from my mums garden, the list goes on and on and on. It was hard work but it was definitely worth it.

I bought my dress from a little independent shop in Kent where we added some soft delicate shoulder straps and some gorgeous vintage style beadwork on the front. The dress worked perfectly with our countryside style wedding.

I needed to feel really comfortable on the day so my gold gladiator shoes were perfect for running around the field and playing on the coconut shy. Tom wore a pair of Kurk Geiger suede brogues.

For my hair I went for loose curls around my face with a twist at the back into a side bun with gypsophila on the twist. A very relaxed style. Tom shaved his head!

Cuckoo Feathers & Gyp

My bouquet was made the morning of the wedding by myself and my good mate Frannie. White roses in the centre and gyposolphlia around the roses in a circle. Tom and his Dad wore button holes made from some cuckoo feathers his dad found whilst walking the dogs, with a little touch of gypsophila to match myself.

The table flowers were all lavender potted in terracotta pots. All of them lovingly home grown by my gorgeous mum. For the church Amy, Mum and I handpicked wheat from the field and mixed it with gypsophila and lavender from my own garden in London and hung them from the end of the pews. We also hung them at the end of the reception tables and cake tables in the teepees.

We also mixed the wheat, gypsophila and lavender and placed them in old glass milk bottles and cool glass jars with beautiful labelling that I collected over time.

No Dress Code

We had a relaxed affair with no matching suits or official bridesmaid. Tom wore a three piece suit from the summer collection at Reiss. He was keen on something formal, but not too much, which was also nice and light on a summer’s day.

Snapped Up

Choosing the photographer was one of the first things we did when organising our wedding, as we knew the best ones get snapped up so far in advance. We had also heard a few stories from friends regretting their choice, so we were dead set on getting it right.

As soon as we met Owen and Charis from O&C Photogrpahy on skype we knew they were perfect for us. So relaxed, down to earth and a very talented couple. They captured moments and details of the day beautifully. Even my Nan was raving about Charis and how lovely she was on the day! Brilliant! We love them and we are definitely going to knock on their door if we are ever visiting Wales.

Charis was even on hand to help Tom when he had a slight trouser malfunction!

Mousetrap

Our cake was a four tier cheese cake (savoury) made by my very dear friend Audra or as I like to call her (Frannie) She works in a cheesery called Mousetrap cheesein Hereford and made all the cheese with her own very fair hands. It was beautifully decorated with ivy from my folks trees and was sitting on a piece of oak from my folks wood.

Welly Wanging

We wanted a very relaxed, personal, countryside style wedding. So with the help of the best man Fraser we made a Coconut shy, photobooth and welly wanging for all the guests.

Tom and I put together an eclectic mix of old favourites, a little bit of folk, blues and some 1930’s gospel. We played this during the day while people enjoyed the home made food and sloegasms (a champagne cocktail made from a slug of Tom’s own home made sloe gin and with a generous mix of champers).

During the evening we went for a DJ who was happy to take suggestions and to work off a playlist of blasts from the past. This kept us all dancing well into the wee hours.

Zorbing

For our first dance we choose Stornoway’s song “Zorbing.” It is a personal favourite of ours (Tom and I went to see Stornaway live and loved the song so we knew we had to have it as our first dance). For favours we enlisted the help of my very good mate Julie who now lives in Amsterdam and makes cakes for a living. She made some beautiful rose and lavender biscuits with ‘Clare and Tom 04.08.12 ‘and also ’Just married, 04.08.12” stamped into them. Her website is called Queen Of Tarts.

Handmade & Homegrown

It was very important to us that elements from the wedding were handmade, homegrown – unique and personal to us. A story to tell.

Mum and I handmade all the napkins with a printed woodblock flower and we stamped Clare & Tom and the date on them and my nan and mum visited charity shops for all the vintage plates. My friend Gemma, made by hand all the bunting for inside the teepees and we wrapped ivy from my folks garden around the poles. We put hay bales with material over them for outside seating and huge oak trunks as tables, we also made an old fashioned road sign introducing the venue to guests.

Clare & Tom

We had cool external feston lighting, all supplied by our best man Fraser which gave such a fab atmosphere to the evening. When we arrived at the reception after the church service, tom and I were greeted by a huge “Clare and Tom” sign along the tree line. Our best man Fraser organised it for us and he lit the letters and the trees up for the evening. It looked fab.

Our wedding car was my mum and dads white convertible Morris Minor which took centre stage beautifully in our photos.

Food & Fun

All of the food we arranged had a story to tell using local ingredients and products grown by our folks. My sister in law’s sister, hand made all the food including:

Scotch eggs. (eggs from clares mums chickens Florence and Freda and the sausage meat was speldhurst sausage (our local village)
Homemade game pie which had duck and pheasant all supplied by tom and our two dads
All the bread came from our local bakers-delivered that morning to us.
The chutneys were all handmade from my Auntie Sue and smuggled over from France. She made a variety of choices that complimented the pig, game pie and the cheese.

The Hog roast was from my brothers mate from the next village and all of the desserts were homemade by family and friends

Sit Back & Relax

My advice to any future bride and groom is to make sure you sit back relax and enjoy every second of the day because it certainly flies.

Take little moments throughout the day with your new hubbie to take it all in. You hear it all the time but it really is one of the best days of your lives.

Oh, and ask a friend to take some photos and print them out before you go on honeymoon because when you are away you’ll be desperate to see snippets of the day.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Venue: Colins Field
Groom: Reiss
Photography: O&C Photography
Cheese: Mousetrap cheese
Favours: Queen Of Tarts

I hope we see a lot more welly wangin weddings in 2013. I love the style of this wedding from the choice of Stornaway for the first dance, right through to the stationery, the village fête feel and the relaxed fashion.

The photography from O&C Photography has left me desperately wanting more. If you are feeling the same way then make sure you check out the gallery which contains every single image from this wedding. There are some couple shots of Clare and Tom in there that are just stunning.

Adam.

I love an outdoor wedding. And I love it even more when an outdoor wedding shines through a drizzly day. Umbrellas are a serious wedding accessory and Rachel’s is a beauty.

This wedding seriously pops with colour and the venue is stunning.

I also love a groom who won’t stop until he’s found the perfect suit. It was definitely worth the hunt because Al looks super dapper.

Rachel The Bride: Al and I got married at Barnsley House at the end of May this year. We chose Barnsley House because of the elegant but relaxed feeling and the stunning gardens. We wanted to get married outside and we chose the Temple as our perfect setting. The rooms were incredible and all the staff were professional but friendly. The food was absolutely wonderful too and we had a perfect day.

Decisions Decisions

When I first got engaged my mum very kindly offered to buy my wedding dress for me – I am so grateful to her for that and we had lots of fun going shopping to find ‘the one’. My dress was by David Fielden and I found it in a beautiful boutique in Bradford-on-Avon, Carina Baverstock Couture. Carina was amazing the first time I went in and sat us (my Mum, Sister and I) down with a cup of tea and talked about how I wanted to look on the day before I tried any dresses on. Then she showed us lots of dresses and I started trying on the ones that I liked. I was convinced that I wanted a dress with lots of lace but as soon as tried one on it just seemed a little too much.

It wasn’t an easy decision for me as the dress in the shop was a sample dress so it was a bit big and a different colour. I’m so glad that I had my mum and sister with me to help with the decision. I wanted something that I would look elegant in and when I finally visited the boutique to try on my dress I was absolutely stunned. I couldn’t have been happier with it.

Just Perfect

My only piece of jewellery was a pair of pearl and diamond drop earrings. I wanted something simple and elegant and as I was wearing my hair up I knew they would fit perfectly. The earrings were bought for me by my Aunty Sue (a very close family friend) as she wanted me to wear something on the day that was a gift from her. My hair piece was by Polly Edwards and I found it at the same boutique as my dress along with my veil. I was certain that I didn’t want a veil when I began my dress search but when I tried it on with the dress it just made it all the more perfect.

A Wedding Angel

My sister had worked for Clinique for a number of years and so she was the natural choice to do my make-up. I don’t wear a lot of make-up on a day to day basis and I knew that Soph would make sure I looked like myself on the day. We did a couple of trials before the big day and spent quite a lot of time and money shopping for make-up but that was all part of the fun.

I had always wanted our family hairdresser Liz Shipton to do my wedding hair. I went to her home in Wales to have a trial and took all my bits and bobs with me. Liz was amazing. On the day she didn’t leave until she was sure I was ready to go with my hair piece and veil securely attached and she helped me getting in to my dress too. She definitely is a wedding angel!

Sweet Smells

Claire from The Wilde Bunch did our flowers. We discussed the flowers for the table centrepieces and wanted something very natural with greens, whites and some pink peonies. Al then left Claire and I to discuss the bouquet, bridesmaid’s posies and button holes so that I could describe my dress to her. When I explained that I wanted to look very elegant and told Claire about the fit of the dress, she said she knew the perfect flower and showed me a picture of the ‘Gloriosa Lily’ which I loved. From there we built up my bouquet with beautiful peonies and red roses, the ‘Black Baccara’ and the sweet smelling ‘Ecstasy’ rose. When Claire delivered the flowers to our room on the day I was stunned at how beautiful they looked, as a bride in the planning stages it’s so hard to picture everything together but I think the flowers complimented the bridal party perfectly.

Quite Quaint

As we were having a very small wedding (only 13 guests) it was a very small bridal party. I had two bridesmaids, my sister and Al’s sister. I took the bridesmaids shopping a couple of times for dresses before we found some simple navy blue dresses with a detailed drop waist and cowl neck in Monsoon and they looked stunning. The shoes were from H&M but they matched the style of the dresses perfectly and the gold picked up on the small gold beads around the waistlines. I gave each of the girls their jewellery for the day as gifts. I chose different pieces that would suit each of the girls but they were all delicate gold pieces.

A Few Finishing Touches

Al had very definite ideas about what he wanted and he felt that the relaxed feeling around Barnsley House needed to be reflected in the clothing as much as anything else. His suit was from Reiss and the colour was ‘air force blue’, he looked very smart and I knew that with a few finishing touches it would be the perfect suit for him to get married in. We finished the suit off with some tan brogue style shoes from Marks and Spencer, a tan belt, a crisp white hanky placed in the top pocket and a lovely blue Hugo Boss tie. He looked incredibly handsome standing waiting for me outside and I was the happiest bride in the world walking down the aisle to meet him.

Couldn’t Be Happier

Our photographer was Sam Gibson and we found his website one evening after despairing that we would never be able to find ‘the one’. We wanted relaxed wedding photos, a photographer who could tell the story of our special day and not bark orders at our guests trying to take the perfect group shot. We met with Sam at our home and felt relaxed in his company. We looked through some albums of other weddings he had photographed and felt that he was the right photographer for us. Sam met with us at Barnsley House once before the wedding to get a feel for the place and to familiarise himself with the layout of the venue. On the day, he arrived at 12 noon to take some pictures of the bridesmaids and I getting ready for the 4pm ceremony. I hardly noticed Sam snapping away and felt completely relaxed with him in the room. He disappeared a few times to get some shots of the venue and of Al arriving but was there to capture the moment that I put my dress on.

Sam was so wonderful and stayed later than we’d thought he would to get some wonderful photos during the speeches and some photos of Al and I outside at the Temple after the sun had gone down. We’ve just received our amazing Wedding album as well as the slideshow that Sam created and couldn’t be happier with the results. I would recommend Sam to anyone as a truly gifted photographer.

Carrying On The Celebrations

I made the cake for the wedding day, a Chocolate Guinness cake (I made two and left one with my mum just in case we had an accident with the first one), which is one of Al’s favourites, presented on a floral cake stand. A couple of days later, we had a wedding reception locally to where we live with approximately 100 guests. We settled on a BBQ for the event and had a Marks and Spencer three tiered sponge with white icing and white ribbon. It was simple but effective and tasted good too!

As Al’s family, on his mum’s side are Welsh so we decided to have Welsh cakes as our favours. We ordered them from a company that we found in Mermaid Quay in Cardiff, Fabulous Welsh Cakes. We had ours shaped as little hearts with navy ribbon tied round the top to match the bridesmaids’ dresses. They were delicious and were a perfect touch.

Creating Havoc

At the reception we hired a band called The Dukes of Havoc. They played two sets and really got the party started. Everyone was impressed with them and had a great time dancing the night away. We wanted more of a party atmosphere at the reception with lots more guests there and The Dukes were perfect.

Our first dance was to ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben. E. King. In 2009 we spent six months travelling around the world together, listening to music on various road trips and we’re both musical people so there are lots of songs that are special to us. We didn’t want a song that was too slow or too traditional and both love the lyrics to this song.

Compromise

I found a circular wooden wreath in a discount shop and hung a small white heart I had found in the centre of it and tied some ribbon onto the top. We hung it from a tree in the garden where we got married. At the reception, instead of a guest book, we left out disposable cameras for people to take their photo and then left out a pile of brown paper luggage tags with little hearts punched into them for people to leave us a message. I kept all our engagement and wedding cards too so that I can make up a book full of cards, hand written tags and photos as an alternative to a guest book.

It was all far more stressful than I thought it would be and it’s hard to please all of the people all of the time. I would say definitely have a think about the things that are most important to you both and then compromise on smaller things that you don’t mind as much about. I’m also really bad at making decisions and there are so many things to choose when it comes to a wedding so always keep your groom, a bridesmaid or mum close at hand to give you a second opinion.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Venue: Barnsley House
Brides Dress: David Fielden
Boutique: Carina Couture
Hair: Wedding Angel
Groom: Reiss
Flowers: The Wilde Bunch
Maids: Monsoon
Photography: Sam Gibson

How unbelievably stunning is Rachel?!

I love the flowers on the tables and the simplicity of it all. And how much do you want to try and Chocolate Guiness cake?… Sounds incredible.

I really like the thought of a small intimate ceremony. Something so personal to just share with those nearest and dearest to you. It was something we had discussed about our very own wedding but we really found it hard to be ruthless and cut the guest list, so massive props to Rachel and Al for being able to do it and have their day their way. I bet the party a few days later was equally as immense.

So tell me, are any of you having smaller weddings this year? and I KNOW you love Rachel’s bouquet.

Becky
x

I’m nervous.

I’m aware that quite a few of you have been waiting in anticipation for this post. Admittedly we’ve been a bit mean what with our sneak-peeking here and there but finally it’s here.

Blimey, it’s nerve-racking I tell you.

But here goes…today I’m sharing my big day with you lovely lot.

Crumbs.

I’m married!!! I’m actually blinking married. Nearly three months in and it feels like it was yesterday yet eons ago all at the same time. We’ve rifled through the photos over and over again, watched our video a zillion times and I’m currently knee-high in thank you cards.

And you know what… I LOVE being married. An exhilarated thrill runs down the length of my spine every time his ring catches the light or when he introduces me as his wife. I still manage to surprise myself when I call him my husband but I’m so proud…so privileged to be his.

But you want to see the pictures right? So let’s get on with it.

I should probably say at this stage that this wedding report is going to assume a slightly different structure to our usual format. I’ll be taking you through all the nitty-gritty details in a three-part saga over the next three days so stay tuned.

It Started With Iscoyd Park…

Iscoyd Park was the first and only wedding venue I visited.

I say ‘I’ because the boy was at home in bed with man-flu on the day I ventured to Iscoyd with my parents.

And I fell in love.

Head over heels with the place. Because it is perfect and I wish it was mine. The grounds stretch for miles and the place is the size of a small palace yet somehow it feels homely and comforting and warm.

Sweet cottages on the grounds, weathered floorboards, the most delicious entrance you’ve ever seen and centuries of history kickstarted my passion for the place. And then I saw the ceremony room and it was sure as sure a done deal.

Just wait until you see part two folks!

Phil Godsal owns Iscoyd and is one of the most genuine, kindhearted and easy-going gentlemen you could meet. Frankly anyone that opens his gorgeous home to hundreds of strangers every year is a hero in my book.

Within 15 minutes of seeing Iscoyd, we had booked the last available weekend of 2012, secured a registrar and texted friends and family to save the date. I still hadn’t quite got round to telling the boy at this stage which meant that he found out via an over-enthusiastic friend of ours.

Ooops.

He didn’t really mind…

It was Iscoyd Park that inspired the theme for the day. Within minutes of savouring the atmosphere in the entrance hall I was transported back to times past, of jolly hockey sticks, polo players, gentlemen’s clubs, elegance and sophistication. Where girls wore long silk dresses for dinner, champagne saucers in hand clutching the arms of their cigar smoking, tweed-wearing other halves.

It was to be a very English Affair.

French Lace

I’m not going to lie to you.

I found shopping for my wedding dress overwhelming and all-consuming. Granted time was not our side so I really felt the pressure to choose something quickly.

Despite the quick turnaround on the venue front, I really don’t like being rushed. I’m usually pretty definite about my fashion choices, what I like and what I detest but I’d succumbed to a serious case of wedding-dress blindness.

The lovely Emma from The Bridal Room came to my rescue, subtlety directing me towards a Charlotte Balbier number called ‘Martha’ that she knew I’d adore.

I instantly felt like me. It was light and airy – a complete relief from some of the heavier dresses that drowned me – whilst being ultra fitted too. But it was the French lace that the dress was made from that blew me away.

And I was sold.

Shoes, Stoles and Sapphires

Whilst hunting for my dress threw me into a confused tangle of nerves, choosing my accessories was easy as lemon pie.

I coveted a cathedral length veil left untrimmed at the edges; I’ve waxed lyrical about this in several posts so when I found ‘the one’ at The Bridal Room I leapt about the room in glee. I paired this with a pearl hairband also from the same boutique.

My mum bought both my ‘something blue’ – an antique blue sapphire necklace and my ‘something old’ – a Victorian diamond cluster ring both of which I wear daily. My ‘something new’ was a glitzy pair of Jimmy’s that I’d popped on my wedding wish list about a year before the boy proposed.

I know! How organised am I!

Lastly my ‘something borrowed’ was the gorgeous ‘Verity’ Stole from Hope and Grace in antique pink. Perfect for keeping me warm during the outdoors portrait shots; I felt like a glamorous movie star and didn’t want to give it back!

Au Naturale…Well Nearly

Originally I wanted to braid and pin up my unruly mane. If I’m honest this was for the boy more than anything as he’s particularly smitten with my neck.

Who knew…boys are funny creatures aren’t they.

After a couple of trials experimenting with various up-dos, I just felt old and not really…well…me. For some reason I couldn’t channel the ethereal, fairytale look that I’d envisioned in my head. Wearing my bonce down and curly felt right – probably because this is actually what I’ve been blessed with so it seemed daft to fight it. I enlisted the skills of my trusty hairdresser Bex from James Bushell who styled and rollered me to perfection along with the bridesmaids and my mum.

If there’s one woman that I trust implicitly then it’s Jodie. One of the sweetest, most down-to-earth folks you could meet, I’ve been lucky enough to work with this make-up genius on several occasions.

There was no doubt then that Miss Hazlewood would preen, moisturise and prime my face to perfection on my big day. And she did just that…

I wanted a luminous, fresh look suggestive of an English Rose but with special attention paid to my eyes. They’re my best asset after all

To the soundtrack of ‘Allo Darlin’, Jodie worked her magic on me and the girls whilst simultaneously preventing me from zoning out from the mania that was taking place around me.

Now that’s talent!

Men In Blue

Mismatched country squires in keeping with our wider wedding theme was our original brief for the usher’s outfits. We were keen to avoid the traditional morning suits and black tie attire in favour of a more tailored eclectic look.

Think striped blazers, brogues and chinos in a blue through to brown colour spectrum accessorised with bowties and beautiful pocket squares.

Yeah…ummm, it didn’t quite turn out that way.

With Mother Time snapping at our heels we were forced to compromise and the boys ended up wearing identical outfits that we assembled in Zara Men.

That said they still looked gorgeously dapper in navy chinos, herringbone patterned shirts, black velvet bowties and blue blazers complete with suede elbow pads. A pair of brown brogues also from Zara was a subtle nod to the initial ‘country squire’ inspiration.

Flower Fairies

My maids or the flower fairies as I called them on the day consisted of my two sisters – Imogen and Thomasin and the boy’s brother’s girlfriend – Laura. Still with me…?

It was important that my maids embody the spirit of Ralph Lauren girls – sophisticated, glossy and refined. I’d already half-jokingly explained at length to my genius of a photographerAnn (Kathrin Koch) that my wedding photos should look something like an ad campaign. Yes because we’re so model-esque aren’t we?!

Snort…

Aside from these quixotic demands I was pretty laid back about the girls’ appearance. All I asked was that they looked H.O.T.

Surprisingly it was Tom that took the lead; she hated what she called the conventional bridesmaid dress and schemed and dreamed up a design with a dressmaker she’d known from her fashion days to produce a silky, sexy dress complete with covered buttons and a slit half way up the thigh.

It was important that the girls retained some semblance of individuality so I suggested they each sport a different colour – we chose grey, dirty peach and a very very light smokey green. The silk was purchased from The Clothhouse in London on an immense trip that might have ended up in quaffing copious amounts of champagne in The Wolseley.

Lastly dreamy hydrangea and eucalyptus crowns and ample corsages finished their look off perfectly.

A True Gent

Ste maintained that if my outfit was to be a complete surprise then he was going to have fun playing that game too. It didn’t stop him asking for my mum’s sartorial expertise though.

During the run-up to the wedding, several friends asked if I was nervous about being left out of the loop, but hand on heart I can honestly say that this was one area that I didn’t fret about. Ste has a classic yet modern style of his own (ok I’m biased!) but I knew he’d look gorgeous in whatever he wore.

In the end he opted for a chequered blue three-piece from Tiger of Sweden paired with oxblood Paul Smith brogues topped off with a baby blue shirt also from Tiger, a spotted cashmere pocket square and a crocheted navy bow-tie both from Reiss.

Endearingly, he accessorised his outfit with an antique Victorian pocket watch which he whispered to me later was going to be our family heirloom to pass onto our children and theirs too.

It was clear that my mum had cast her fashionista influence over the boy when he appeared for the evening entertainment in a change of outfit.

Yes you heard me – the groom actually had more outfits than the bride.

Summer’s Last Hurrah

I remember Selina’s slightly bemused look when I shared my vision for the wedding flowers with her…

‘Old garden roses thick with aroma, berries and foliage scooped into old kitchen jugs and trophy cups.’

…but she rose to the task admirably.

Based at Iscoyd, Selina knows the house intimately so it made complete sense to enlist her floral expertise in dressing each room and creating my bouquet, the buttonholes and the girls’ flower accessories.

Instinctively she knew that I was keen to avoid anything that appeared overly engineered or too stylised and produced the most wonderful organic and unruly arrangements. I may have actually squealed at her when she bought my bouquet to me on the morning of my wedding.

I wanted the boys to have masculine buttonholes so Selina pulled together a clutch of thistles,berries, catkins and foliage tied with burnt orange ribbon that I’d found in VV Rouleaux. Being a feather fanatic I couldn’t resist adding some pheasant tail feathers into the mix either.

They looked delicious.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Dress Charlotte Balbier
Shoes Jimmy Choo
Boutique The Bridal Room
Venue Iscoyd Park
Makeup Make-up By Jodie
Hair Bex at James Bushell
Photography Ann-Kathrin Koch
Videography Shutterbox Films
Groomsmen Zara
Groom Tiger Of Sweden
Groom’s Shoes Paul Smith
Flowers Selina Godsall

And guess what…that’s not all…

No I have not one, not two but three videos from the immense Shutterbox Films to share with you lovely lot over the next three days too…

Selina also integrated ‘Irish Bells’ into some of her floral masterpieces which was especially poignant for me.

Why you might ask?

Well you’ll have to wait until tomorrow won’t you.

All my love Lolly xxx

This really is one of the loveliest wedding reports I’ve read so if you can get 5 minutes with a cuppa to sit and read Leonie’s words as well as look at the stunning photography from Love Lust List member John Day I promise you will fall in love with her wedding story.

With a professional florist as a Mum the flowers really are beautiful. And you get a real sense of the entire day, from Leonie setting up the wedding breakfast in her dressing gown to dancing the night away to a band she’d known for over 10 years.

There are perfectly mis-matched bridesmaids and beautiful flower girls. The cake is also pretty flippin’ cool.

Dan and Leonie got married at The Rectory Hotel in Malmsbury in April last year.

Here is their story.

Leonie The Bride: I found my dress in the very first shop I went into, Caroline Castigliano. My mum, sister and I were welcomed with a glass of champagne and regardless of the fact it was an 11am appointment we were happy to toast such an exciting day. The manager was wonderful; the shop was ours for as long as we needed and I tried on around 12 dresses, starting with huge ‘princess’ dresses, slowly working my way down in scale. When I tired on ‘the one’ I’m afraid I lived the cliché; we all cried and I knew instantly that it was meant to be (and typically cliché it was way over budget.) The multitude of delicate ivory lace gave it a feminine vintage feel, whilst the cluster of diamantes below the bust line added some glamour.

Diamantes couldn’t be any less ‘me’, but with a cathedral length veil the dress was toned down and I felt every bit of the bride I wanted to be. We visited another couple of shops that day, but I couldn’t shake ‘the one.’ Wary that it was over budget I promised myself (and my generous mother) that I would sell the dress as soon as we were married, but she knew then as well as I do now that I will never be able to part with it.

Something Borrowed

I fell in love with my veil (almost as much as my dress!) I felt particularly special shrouded in such delicate silk. I thought I’d be able to save money on the veil and so I investigated buying a second hand one; buying directly from a lady who makes them in Ireland; but none seemed to match the quality of the fine silk from Caroline Castiglinano so I ended up splurging there too. Unfortunately you get what you pay for in the veil department!

I bought my diamante hair-clip from Ardinglay antiques market – and bought 5 more for each of my bridesmaids! My tiara was my ‘something borrowed’ from my sister and was originally from Liberty. It felt very special to have something of hers with me all day.

The Perfect Balance

I was struggling to find suitable shoes. Thankfully I saw some adorable ivory heals on Rock My Wedding. Rachel Simpson shoes are the perfect balance of vintage glam, and the heals aren’t too high for dancing the night away (although admittedly mine were kicked off immediately after the first dance.) I bought mine from a gorgeous boutique in Soho called Fur Coat No Knickers.

Incredibly Thankful

I feel most comfortable with my hair up (because I have no patients and scruffy-up is my fallback position.) I had planned to go ‘curls loosely pinned up as if just been frolicking in field’ look, until I tried on the veil and for some reason the combination of a cathederal length veil and an ‘up do’ left me looking bald – which wasn’t the look I was particularly aiming for. So I had no idea what I was going to do until the day, when my wonderful makeup artist popped some curlers in my hair (as simple as that!) As soon as we had finished the wedding breakfast, I was whipped upstairs to take the veil off and pin my hair up; this took all of 30 seconds and I was thrilled. I was lucky enough to have my makeup done by one of my best friends who is a professional makeup artist for film and television. I had a trial the week before and I couldn’t believe the magic she can conjure! I was frightened of looking too ‘done up’ but she gave me a very natural look, and added a little more eye shadow in the evening – I was incredibly thankful to have my makeup artist on hand all day, and one of my best friends with me as I got ready in the morning. If anyone wants to save money by doing their own makeup, I’d avoid doing this as professional makeup artists have an incredible ability to ensure the makeup stays put all day, and it’s a very long day!

A Bunch For Everyone

In the floral department I am very lucky as my mum Lizzie is an incredible professional wedding florist (she even did the televised ‘BT wedding’ commercial where Chris Marshall finally gets hitched to the girl he met in a lift… remember that one?!) For someone who can make huge, elaborate, painstakingly well crafted centre pieces, I was relieved that she was happy to go with my request for ‘flowers that look like they’ve been picked from a field and thrown together in mismatched vases.’ Mum had a collection of vases for me to go through, as well as some original 1950s milk bottles, some jars, zinc troughs and wooden boxes and we selected them based on a loose colour theme of dirty pink, sage green and duck egg blue. I wanted nothing too manicured or pruned, just natural and so so beautiful; I wanted flowers-flowers everywhere; I wanted the rooms in the Rectory to smell of rose beds; I wanted it to look like a field in the sunshine, and it really did. There was 6 vases on each table; troughs of bedded flowers in the conservatory; flowers hanging from green vines on the ceiling; rose petals on the floor and dripping from the cheese cake; my beautiful niece and flower girl had a head band of fresh flowers. And at the end of the day there wasn’t a flower left in the building as mum wrapped a bunch for each and every person. Lucky us.

My Beautiful Girls

I went a bit leftfield with my bridesmaid dresses. Although matching dresses can look divine, I felt like it would give the impression of formality and tradition, which is what I was desperately trying to avoid. I’m lucky enough to have friends with very different personal styles and I wanted everyone to feel comfortable on the day, and themselves. I wanted to see each of my beautiful girls just as they are, not stuffed into a uniform that would disguise them. So, I asked that each of them find a dress in a ‘dirty pink, cream or brown’ in exactly the style that they like the most and I think it worked out perfectly.

My husband wore a very dashing, made to measure three piece suit from Reiss. His two brothers also wore suits from Reiss, as well as matching ties. Dan has a collection of around 50 pocket squares, so as a homage to Dan, they all wore Reiss pocket squares and looked very dapper indeed. I can’t begin to describe the moment I first saw Dan as he waited for me at the end of the aisle… breathless. We held it together for about 2 minutes but after that we pretty much sobbed throughout the ceremony. It was a very wet day! It didn’t stop pouring outside and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Emotive

Our photographer was fantastic – another Rock My Wedding find! As soon as I went onto John Day’s website I knew he was just who we were looking for. It was so important to us to find the right person, who could capture the day in such a way that means that for the rest of our lives, when we look at the pictures, we can be transported back there, time and again. His reportage style captured treasured moments, without us ever having to pose, or force a smile, or be taken away from our guests for hours on end. He snapped away whilst I was getting ready with the girls, with Dan and his friends in the pub, whilst my sister and I had a pre-wedding tearful hug, when Dan and I held each other for the first time alone as man and wife – John was there, but we barely even noticed. To me, his work is natural, emotive, honest, artistic, unique and he is as charming as his work.

Cheesy

Dan and I both love cheese; selfishly we decided that we would prefer to eat cheese than cake so it was an easy decision to make – a cake of cheese! We went to our lovely local cheese monger Hamish Johnston and enjoyed a delicious tasting session. The cheese proved incredibly popular whilst the band was taking a break and everyone needed re-fuelling.

I knew which band I wanted ten years before I’d met Dan! When I was at Uni my friends and I loved dancing to Mowgli, who were all Music students at the time. And years later they are incredibly successful and have been invited to play at weddings around the world – including at sisters wedding where I didn’t stop dancing ALL night. They lived up to my expectations and more and even though it was a small wedding, the dance floor was heaving!

Impromptu Moments

We struggled to find a first dance as our favorite songs all seems to be a bit inappropriate for the occasion. So instead of going for something with a ‘cool factor’ we went for a song that we found ourselves singing along to together years before – ‘Everlasting Love’. Our wonderful band learned it especially for us, and as the chorus kicked in, everyone around us began to dance. Alicia Keys ‘Empire State of Mind’ is a favorite song of ours (New York being one of our all time favorite places) and when the band played it during their second set we had an impromptu ‘first dance’ moment. Everyone gathered round us in a circle and sang their hearts out to us as we spun round in the middle. That will remain one of my most treasured memories of our day – a moment that was entirely unplanned but meant so very much.

The Hangover

My Mum and all her wonderful friends collected antique cup and saucer trios for months before the wedding so that we could give each girl at the wedding a lovely memento of the day. It took quite some time (and a lot of ‘antiquing’) to find enough, as complete trios are hard to come by. Aware that the boys would be a lot less sentimental, we made them ‘Hangover Kits’ containing essentials such as Paracetamol, cans of coke and chocolate. The night before the wedding my bridesmaids and I spent hours packaging them up, which was a hangover in itself!

Pretty Perfect

Being incredibly lucky to have a wedding florist for a mum, she was able to bring a lot of magical touches to the décor, including home made bunting, wooden hearts, lace ribbon, candles and an incredibly array of containers. There was a bird theme running through the wedding. Dan and I fell in love with and bought a beautiful original bird print and I got this design made into a rubber stamp. So, anything that couldn’t move – was stamped, from the stationery to the table plans; even the hangover kits were branded.

We wanted the beautiful venue to feel like home so we filled it with as many personal touches as we could, including framed pictures of our friends and family. We fell in love with our venue, the Rectory Hotel, because of its unique, bold and creative décor, so our canvas was pretty perfect to begin with.

Stick To Each Other Like Glue

The Rectory Hotel and all their staff were simply incredible. Their attention to detail was thorough and the wedding planner was dedicated to responding and meeting our every need in a laid back and sincere approach. No task was too great for them, even when my friends were ordering unusual cocktails at 3am! My advice to brides to be is to find a venue that you love and the rest will follow.

We spent a full weekend at The Rectory before we made our decision – we ate the delicious food which is all sourced from local suppliers; took a look in every single bedroom; sampled the wine; spent a good few hours in the local pub – and never wanted to leave. And now we have an excuse to return there every year for our anniversary!

Everyone will tell you how fast the day will fly by, and it really does – find a moment to take a breath, look around the room at all your amazing friends and family who have made your day, and pinch yourself that it has all come together perfectly. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Who cares if your napkins don’t match the particular hue of green you spent hours perfecting on your invites – none of that really matters – what matters is that you are marrying the man you love, so whatever you do, please stick to each other like glue throughout the day, and find a moment to be alone, to thank each other for the best day of your lives.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Venue – The Rectory Hotel
Boutique – Caroline Castigliano
Shoes – Rachel Simpson
Flowers – Lizzie Moreton
Grooms Suit – Reiss
Photographer – John Day Photography
Cake – Hamish Johnston

How simply lovely is that! And if you take anything away from it I think it should be ‘what matters is that you are marrying the man you love’.

Nothing else in the world really matters.

Happy happy Monday to you all.

Becky
x

By gosh, have we got a sartorial treat for you lovelies this morning.

The beautiful Helen chose to channel a bit of Audrey in her vintage inspired wedding to the dashing James last year. Think catflick eyes, a slick of scarlet lippy and one of the most beautiful veils I’ve ever seen.

Honestly when you’ll see it, you’ll go green with envy.

I also have to say that serious style points have to go to James who looks achingly hip – especially given that he only managed to find the suit of his dreams a week before the wedding. I know!

And that’s not all. There’s a beautiful cake, a wedding breakfast bbq, the sweetest dessert table and some exquisite florals.

Come and take a look!

A Rather Grand House Party

Helen The Bride:The venue for our perfect wedding day was Didsbury House Hotel in Didsbury, Manchester which is part of the Eclectic Hotels Group. We wanted our wedding to be intimate and relaxed and for the whole day to feel like a rather grand house party. Didsbury House Hotel was the perfect size and has an extremely relaxed atmosphere which made it perfect for the kind of vibe that we were hoping to achieve. We also wanted somewhere which had character and had the kind of interior styling that we liked, it was important to us to have this and not just a function room in a large hotel.

Channelling Audrey

I love the classic looks of years gone by, in particular the 1940’s and early 1950’s and looked to this era for the inspiration for the beauty styling. Not wanting to go for traditional wedding make up with neutral lips, I opted for a classic flick on the eyes, Audrey Hepburn style and a bright Chanel lipstick with matching nails. The bridesmaids opted for pale pink hues to compliment their dresses. The make up was done by Lauren Coombes at Cheshire Make up, who is absolutely amazing, all of us absolutely loved our make up on the day, I only wish I could have Lauren come and do my makeup every day of the year!

The hair on the day was also in a classic 1940’s finger wave style. The look was achieved using curling tongues from the root and the hair was pinned up and under to achieve a classic shape. Hair was styled by Paul Quinn from Harper and Quinn in Wilmslow www.harperandquinn.co.uk and we worked on it for months with lots of trial sessions to get exactly what we wanted. I think we were both very pleased with the end result.

Vintage With A Modern Twist

The dress was a vintage inspired Lusan Mandongus Gown. Lusan Mandongus are fabulous at creating a vintage look with a modern twist – perfect for the look that I wanted. The dress had a combination of lace, satin and tulle and created a classic and soft sillouhette.

I had in my head exactly what I wanted and as soon as I walked into the bridal shop that day I saw it. I tried lots of other dresses on first and saved that one until last and then as soon as I put it on, both me and my mum were like ‘yes, this is it!’.

The inspiration for my styling and accessories came from an old wedding photograph of my grandparents which was taken in the 1940’s. My grandmother wore a bridal cap for her wedding and had her hair exactly how I wanted mine in finger curls. I absolutely love the picture and decided I should try and create a modern take on her look. And so the hunt started for the perfect bridal cap which was a bit of a mission as I knew exactly what I wanted in my head and wanted it to be exactly right. I also wanted to wear a veil so searched hard to find a combination of the two that matched. Both were purchased from the Etsy website, which is a vintage magpie’s heaven! I wore a soft cuff bracelet embellished with pearls and diamantes also purchased from Etsy. Underwear was from Agent Provocateur; I love AP so I knew that my trusted wedding undies had to come from there!

I also wore a fabulous pearl garter with a satin bow from a lovely lady at Britten Weddings; they have some really unusual bridal accessories.

My shoes were from Dune and were gold with silver sequin detail and peep toe. I didn’t want to go for a traditional plain bridal shoe, I wanted something fun which I could wear again and these were the perfect pair.

Pretty In Pink

I had three bridesmaids who are my closest friends. The bridesmaids wore pale pink lace knee length dresses from French Connection with belts which I made using lace and Cameo Brooches. In their hair the bridesmaids wore birdcage veils also made by myself after the ones I had ordered online got stuck in customs! The shoes were from the Jenny Packham range from Debenhams and were pale pink with diamante detail and peep toe.

James had a complete nightmare finding a suit that he liked for himself, the best man and my Dad. He looked for months on end and we only got the suits for the best man and my Dad literally the week before the wedding!

In the end, James wore a custom made navy suit from Reiss with a white shirt, pink pocket square, blue braces, neck scarf and brown brogues. He looked very good on the day, a real gentleman. The best man and father of the bride wore William Hunt suits in navy.

Floral Fancies

The main colour featuring throughout was a very pale pink but because we wanted to achieve an eclectic mix of colours we also mixed in creams, pale greens and blues and silvers which also complemented the décor in the venue.

The fabulous flowers were provided by Sian at The Flower Lounge in Didsbury.

I wanted the flowers to be soft and pretty in colour and with the flowers used and opted for pastel colours throughout. I wanted neat looking bouquets without lots of foliage. The main flowers used were Roses of all varieties and Hydrangeas.

I carried a large hand tied bouquet bound with lace and a pink cameo brooch to match the belt of the bridesmaids and the bridesmaids carried smaller versions of the hand tieds. James wore an ivory Rose, and the best man and father of the bride wore pale pink roses with a sprig of Rosemary bound in lace to match the bridal party.

The flowers throughout the venue were kept informal with a collection of vintage vases filled with hand tied arrangements on the ceremony table and then smaller arrangements were scattered around the venue in vintage tea cups and saucers which I had been collecting for months from various places. Tall floor standing candelabras were also decorated with flowers.

From This Moment On

We opted for a civil ceremony which we felt helped to create the relaxed and informal mood tone for the day.I walked down the aisle to our favourite classical song Clair De Lune and we stood to be married in the most beautiful bay window in the hotel with the fabulous October sunshine flooding through. We both beamed and smiled throughout the whole service, we also did lots of giggling and laughing especially when I kissed James and covered him in bright red lipstick! Our dear friend Beki read a piece of text from the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which is one of my favourites. Once we were married and had signed the register we left the room to ‘From this Moment on’ sung by Ella Fitzgerald who we both absolutely love!

We are both massive fans of music and we spent goodness knows how many hours on the run up to the wedding putting together a playlist of music which was carefully selected to create the mood that we wanted for different times throughout the day. The music was played throughout the reception during the day whilst everyone chatted and those that hadn’t met before got to know one another. Late afternoon we had an acoustic set from Tom Jarvis; Tom sang a variety of songs including some Ben Howard as well as some other favourites including ‘Your love gets sweeter every day’ by Finlay Quaye, which was dedicated to me by my lovely husband.

Our first dance was to yet another Ella number, I love you madly, which we always dance around the kitchen to at home at any given opportunity. We didn’t really practice our wedding dance but I think we just about pulled it off in the end.

The music in the evening was a set by a brilliant Manchester DJ and friend, Peter Jay and my only complaint would be that it all went far too quickly!

Something For Everyone

The catering for the day was provided by the hotel with canapés early doors including mini steak and Guinness pies and other tasty morsels washed down a glass of prosecco. We then opted for a BBQ which had just about every kind of meat and fish you can possibly think of; it really was a treat and something for everyone’s tastes.

The cakes and cookies were a real talking point of the day and were that beautiful to look at, everyone was scared to eat them! They were made by the beautiful Jane at Cookie Couture who did such a fantastic job. The Vanilla cookies looked like vintage brooches with exquisite detail. They were decorated with pearls, lace, cameos, roses and hydrangeas. The cake was two tier with champagne buttercream and again featured lace and a beautiful pink rose and green hydrangeas to match the bouquets. There were also mini cupcakes which went down a treat!

There was also a fruit cake lovingly made by my mum to finish off the cake table. Because I also love my sweeties, there was another table filled with vintage sweeties including bon bons and love hearts.

Heaven Scent

Since there wasn’t a sit down meal, as we opted for the BBQ, we didn’t have formal favours. However next to the signing register, I left a treat for the ladies, a large jar of perfume samples in little vintage boxes including Vivienne Westwood and Agent Provocatuer.

The invites were important to us and we wanted them to reflect the informality of the day. I made the invites myself which featured pink roses, pink ribbon and cameo brooches on each. Everything was purchased from Imagine DIY.

Love

Our wedding day was all about celebrating our love with our closest friends and family and having a day which totally reflected our personalities and everything that our relationship symbolises. Everything that is important to us we wanted to feature and we tried to reflect this in the detail. We wanted the day to be fun and more than anything we wanted ourselves and our guests to laugh and have lots of happy memories.

I wrote a poem for my husband which was a surprise and I read this to him on the day. I was really pleased that I did that, I think it’s nice for the bride to be able to share her feelings too and of course it was great to almost reduce him to tears

We Did It Our Way

The other thing we did on the day which I would recommend to any bride and groom was to go off for an hour and have some photographs taken on our own. The whole day flies by so quickly and you barely get the opportunity to speak to each other and just reflect on everything. It was important to us to just have that alone time together to say all of the things that we couldn’t with everyone else around us. We went to a local village green for our photographs in Chorlton and got lots of cheers from everyone sat outside the local pub when we rocked up in our wedding gear!

I would urge any bride and groom to be sure of the style of wedding photographer that you like and be 100% happy with your choice. We didn’t put enough emphasis on our photography in the beginning and were trying to do things on a shoe string and then changed our minds completely and I am so pleased that we did that. Sam Clayton did such an amazing job of the pictures and they are exactly what we wanted – a relaxed editorial style. Sam and her assistant made everyone feel so comfortable on the day and I have to say I love the final result. Everyone who has seen them has commented on just how fabulous the photographs are and we are both over the moon with them.

We ran out of time on the day and threw our confetti at night which I think was a first for our photographer Sam! I was glad we did that too as it was a bit different and we got some brilliant shots.

Finally, my advice to any bride and groom is don’t always go for tradition. Think about what makes you a couple and what makes up your personalities and put together a day which depicts that. That way it will be a true reflection of your love for one another and will give you a lot of beautiful memories that you will cherish forever.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Venue – Didsbury House Hotel
Dress – Lusan Mandongus
Hair – Harper And Quinn
Make-up – Cheshire Make-Up
Groom Reiss
Florals – The Flower Lounge
Cakes – Cookie Couture
Entertainment – Tom Jarvis
DJ – Peter J
Photography – Sam Clayton Photography

Confetti throwing at night? Ummm hell to the yes.

Which of you will be trying this new tradition then?

All my love Lolly xxx

Suzie and Joe are pretty darn savvy. For example, they married on Sunday 26th May 2013. Obviously Sundays are slightly cheaper but there is the downside that the party atmosphere can somewhat get affected because it’s a school night. However, this particular Sunday was a bank holiday… So party on.

And party on they did… With An Arabian Influenced big day complete with gold colour scheme.

Urban Bare Brick

Suzy The Bride: Both Joe and I are from London so when we began thinking about what we wanted from our wedding we knew we wanted something that was very symbolic of us. We were both born and still live in London so we thought we’d get married here too.

My parents are both Albanian and we knew we wanted to incorporate this foreign edge into a part of the day and thought that the evening reception would be perfect in a Lebanese/Moroccan type of restaurant. We actually found the reception venue first; Kenza right in the heart of the city. Once we had found the venue I thought we’d better get looking for somewhere to actually get married.

As I was googling places to get married in the city I came across Devonshire Terrace which was right next door to Kenza. We couldn’t believe our luck! It is the most beautiful venue with its bare brickwork and urban, indoor / outdoor feel with a glass roof so it didn’t matter if it rained. Perfect!

A Very Deep V

I have always loved lace and knew straight away that I would have a lace dress. The dress is called Gambia and is from Pronovias on New Bond Street. My mum, sister, one of my best friends and I knew it was the one as soon as I tried it on. Only about the fourth dress I had tried on. I loved the back so much. A very deep ‘v’. I wanted to walk round backwards all day to show it off!

Diamonds Aren’t Forever

My mum leant me my something borrowed – a diamond bracelet. I wore a waist length veil that I bought online for about £30 from the wedding veil shop. I wasn’t going to spend hundreds of pounds on something that I would only wear for half an hour for the ceremony and then take off. The night before the wedding Joe told me that he hopped that I wasn’t wearing a veil as he said how much he hated them (cheers Joe!!!) I had my heart set on wearing one and knew he would change his mind when he saw it… I loved it and that’s the main thing!

Bespoke Ballet Pumps

As well as lace I love everything gold. Wonderful; yellow gold. Therefore, I wanted to wear gold shoes. I am 5ft 11 so didn’t need to add any height and never wear heels so flats it was. My wonderful friend Jenna Speers is the women’s Ted Baker shoe designer. She made me some beautiful bespoke gold glittery ballet pumps with a baby blue insole (my something blue). As a surprise she engraved the shoes with mine and Joe’s name and the date we were getting married. They are just amazing. Thank you Jenna!

I wore some lovely art deco Lulu Guinness earrings from Whistles which matched a hair pin I bought from ebay. The hair pin was also gold and crystal which matched my beautiful engagement ring.

Loose Curl & Natural

I thought that I would treat myself and my bridesmaids to having our hair and make-up done. I found the hair and make up artist Nicola Hughes and had a trial a few months before which was really useful and we agreed on a loose curl with my hair down and quite natural make up with an eye liner.

My bridesmaids looked so slick with their very striking make up and side chignon. Nikki did a fantastic job and it was actually such a pleasure to have her and her assistant with us throughout the getting ready stage. She felt like one of the girls which made it so much more relaxing and stress free.

Flowers Forever

The only flowers we had were the bouquets for me, bridesmaids, flower girl and the button holes for all the men in the bridal and grooms party. My friend Gemma’s mum did all the flowers for me. It’s a bit of a hobby for her and she did such an amazing job. My instructions were I like roses and the colours blush / cream / pinks and that I wanted mine to be big! That was it! I was actually blown away by how beautiful the flowers were. Mine is drying now so I can keep it forever.

At Devonshire Terrace instead of flowers as decorations I bought and borrowed lots of lanterns as I love candles and think they look so pretty. My friends and family also collected about 200 glass jars (jam, pesto and sauces) which were scattered all around the place. Even though it wasn’t dark as it was such a beautiful bright day I love the look of candles as a decoration.

Blue, Grey & Gold

Joe and I thought it would be nice for him to wear something that stood out and was different to his best men and ushers. Joe’s suit was from Reiss in the colour air force blue. He looked so handsome in the suit. I absolutely loved the colour. His best men and ushers wore their own grey suits and so we matched the page boys in grey also. Everyone wore the same gold/yellow tie including my dad, brother, Joe’s step dad, best men, ushers and the page boys wore gold bow ties!

The bridesmaids were also in gold and blush and I made them wear ridiculously high gold peep toe shoes so that they would be closer in height to me! Sorry girls! My love of gold was really evident throughout the wedding. It wasn’t really anything that I thought that much about I just choose things that I loved and then it all just seemed to tie together.

Unobtrusive Style

The wonderful Matt Parry was our photographer. This was one of the first decisions we made about the wedding and by far the best decision we made; apart from Joe asking me to marry him of course! We have never looked so glamorous. I still can’t believe it’s us when I look at the photos.

I was initially quite nervous about being photographed throughout the day. Matt arrived at my flat for the bridal prep where I was with my bridesmaids getting ready and he fitted in straight away with his relaxed style chatting to everyone but also almost hiding in the background with his unobtrusive reportage style.

After the ceremony and while the guests were making their way to the restaurant and being seated Joe and I went off with Matt for thirty minutes into the deserted streets of the city to have some shots together. This was one of the most fun parts of the day and we totally trusted Matt when standing infront of corrugated iron and scaffolding. His style fully incorporated the city/urban feel of the start of the wedding and the photos truly speak for themselves.

Unique Cake

My friend recommended her friend DiDi so once I had tried some of her cakes we booked her straight away. We had a chocolate top tier which she intricately decorated with flowers and then had loads of cupcakes in chocolate; chocolate orange; salted caramel; raspberry; vanilla and amaretto. She makes totally unique and bespoke cakes. I told her what the colours of the wedding were… so yes you guessed it gold and we didn’t know what it would look like until the evening of the wedding. They were amazing and even though we had four courses for dinner including dessert the cupcakes still all went. Luckily we had asked the restaurant to put away the top tier and Joe and I ate that on our mini moon!

Throwing Some Albanian Shapes

Our first dance was a traditional Albanian dance which included everyone holding hands and dancing round in a circle which was really special for me as this is the usual style of dancing at an Albanian wedding. We had thought that it might not work as no one apart from the wedding party knew we were going to do this however, everyone got stuck in and helped us to recreate some traditional Albanian moves.

I love candles and as candles featured heavily at Devonshire Terrace and Kenza I wanted to get everyone something similar to remember the day. I found some very delicate and simple glass bauble hanging tealight holders from John Lewis which I added lace ribbon, some dried rose petals and a tealight candle inside.

Arabian Inspired Stationery

Our friend James Allen is a fantastic painter. We told him about the foreign theme we were going for and as we had been on holiday to Morocco together the summer before he knew about the kind of style that I liked. He created the most magnificent invitation which incorporated an Arabic design totally created by James. We also used the same design for the order of service.

Completely Us

Our wedding day was completely fantastic! What made it all the more fantastic was that the day was completely ‘us’. I found all the planning really easy and simple as I just choose things that I already liked and did not get bogged down by little decisions because they didn’t really matter.

Venue: Devonshire Terrace and Kenza.
Dress: Pronovias.
Veil: the wedding veil shop.
Hair & Make-up: Nicola Hughes.
Groom: Reiss.
Cake: DiDi.
Photographer: Matt Parry.
Stationery: James Allen .

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bunny ears, cigars and sombreros? My Kind of wedding

Seriosly though – I have totally fallen for this venue, I am a big fan of London and Devonshire Terrace looks absolutely epic in these striking photographs from Matt Parry.

Hearing a beautiful story of how two people met is one of the many perks of my job… Although how Claire and Tom met is more of a beautiful mess rather than a beautiful Story. Tom Crashed into Claires car.

“WHAT THE?… YOU STUPID IDIO….. Oh, hellllooooo…”

That’s how I imagine it happening anyway And in terms of a story with a happy ending, you can’t get much happier than this…

A Little Bit Different

Tom and I were married at St Andrew’s Church in Mells on 1st June and our reception was held at The Grange in Whatley. We really wanted to find a venue that would be relaxed, with great food and just be ‘a little bit different’ – we both felt The Grange fitted the bill perfectly. Not only does it have a fantastic restaurant, which we had eaten in a few times already and loved on every occasion, The Grange is also home to a wonderful cookery school. Jane and her team are really easy-going too and we knew that they completely ‘got’ our vision.

We hired a traditional marquee from South West Marquees to go on the front lawn, which Crescent Moon decorated beautifully with plain white linings, fairy lights and chinese lanterns. It was so lovely in the evening that the waitresses told us they wanted to sleep in it!

Grecian Updo

I knew that I wanted to wear my hair up, and felt that a low Grecian-style updo would suit the style of the dress. As soon as I met Maddy from Melanie Giles at my trial and I knew that I would be in good hands. She created a beautiful hairstyle that was even better than I could hope for. On top of this, Maddy and Scarlett, who did my sister Abigail’s hair, were a real pleasure to be around, especially on the wedding morning.

I don’t wear much make up so I wanted to find someone who would give me a natural look, but with slightly more coverage than usual. Melanie Giles recommended Charley Brunskill and I’m so happy that they did – she was lovely. Despite having to make up my Mum and Sister too, Charley was really calming and gave me a look that made me feel really confident. She also gave me great advice when I had a break out the week before!

The Fashion

Even after visiting several boutiques, I struggled to find ‘the dress’. I had quite a strong idea of what I wanted and felt it was silly to spend money on something that wasn’t completely perfect (to be honest I don’t think being a textile designer helped the hunt!). In the end I sourced a cream lace, set out to find a champagne silk, and had the dress made. Unfortunately this wasn’t as straightforward as we expected – the design evolved with every fitting (and there were quite a few!) but my lovely dressmaker June went with it and I was over the moon with the result.

Tom isn’t a fan of tails so he wore a charcoal grey three-piece from Austin Reed which showed off his cycling figure perfectly. He wore this with a light grey spotty tie from Reiss and black shoes (complete with purple laces) from Jasper Conran. He even bought a beard trimmer just for the occasion. He looked so dapper at the top of the aisle – I couldn’t take my eyes off him!

Vintage Accessories

I spent hours trawling the internet to find some vintage earrings that wouldn’t cost the earth but didn’t look tacky. Eventually I came across the beautiful designs of Gillian Million in Teddington. After a fun trying on session I settled on some art deco style, crystal drop earrings and a pearl and rhinestone hair piece.

For ages, I had been umming and ahhing about having a veil, partly because I couldn’t find the right colour. Two weeks before the day I was still looking, but luckily Gillian came up trumps again. She made me a very simple, single tier cream silk tuille veil and it was the perfect finishing touch.

Our wedding rings were made by Annette Gabbedey. Annette is not only a great friend but the most talented Goldsmith we know and as soon as we got engaged, we knew we wanted her to make our rings.

The Wedding Party

For Abigail (a rock throughout the entire process along with Mum and Dad) we bought a teal chiffon dress from Coast and our flower girls Eloise, Evie and baby Enya wore ivory dresses from Zara. Abigail’s dress was originally floor length but we realised two weeks before the wedding that a shorter length would suit her better, so it became knee length instead!

We were quite keen for the men not to match so our Dads, Best Man James and Ushers John and Milo wore their own suits. As a result we ended up with a great mix of styles but they were all linked by their cream buttonholes.

Elegant & Understated

We didn’t have a theme as such but our aim was to create an elegant, understated look with lots of rustic touches. The combination of a traditional marquee with plain white linings, fairy lights and trestle tables and a charcoal carpet gave us exactly the look we were hoping for.

We followed quite a contemporary colour scheme of dusky pink, deep teal and citrusy yellow for the wedding. Obviously the flowers were a massive part of this – helping to link the marquee and restaurant too – but there were also bits of stationery and a few props dotted around The Grange.

Milk Bottles & Jam Jars

I always knew that I wanted Grace from Bramble & Wild to do our flowers. I scoured Pinterest for inspiration but then came across Grace’s dusky pink ‘Jam Jar Posy’ and it was perfect. The bouquets were made up of Amnesia Roses, O’Hara Roses, white Waxflower, Peonies, Super Bubbles Spray Roses, Jasmine and Honeysuckle vines and the men wore Vendella Roses with Waxflower as their buttonholes.

On the tables were clusters of old, embossed milk bottles and jam jars full of flowers, which brought the marquee to life, and in the restaurant were a couple of flower buckets. I completely relaxed knowing that Grace would be one of the last to see the church and marquee, especially as everything she does is so incredible and stylish.

Low Key & Romantic

We’re both pianists so we were quite taken with the idea of me walking up the aisle to something low key and romantic. In the end we chose Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘I Giorni’ and Tom’s friend Jamie kindly played this for us on the piano.

During the service Tom’s sister Maddy sang ‘Songbird’ by Fleetwod Mac, which proved to be quite a tearjerker. My Godmother Carolynn read 1 Corinthians and Tom’s other sister Sophie read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.

One of the funniest memories that we have of the service is when I tripped on our way to sign the register. It just so happened that Guy Collier was stood directly in front of us at this moment, and took quite possibly the best shot of our entire album.

Feeling Good

We decided it would be great to have a band at the reception and thanks to the lovely sunny weather they were able to stand outside on the patio. Round Midnight Quartet played during the time between the speeches and first dance, creating an atmosphere which fitted everyone’s mood perfectly. At the same time, my cousin Jeff was assigned with the task of taking Polaroids of everyone for our guestbook – this worked really well and has become a keepsake which we love going through again and again.

For our first dance, Tom chose Michael Buble’s cover of Feeling Good – he’s a huge Muse fan so had to slip this link in somewhere! After this, the DJ indulged us with some cheesy classics to help everyone onto the dance-floor.

A Summer Selection

Tom is the ‘foodie’ in our relationship so he and Jane at The Grange came up with our menu. We were quite keen to have summery dishes and Jane completely took this on board and came up with the most amazing ideas. We had canapés and Pimms followed by Antipasti platters, Piri Piri Chicken and Summer Fruit Strudel (because it’s my favourite!) as a desert. It all went down a storm.

The cake was made by Tom’s sister Sophie (future Bake-off winner we’re sure). It had 3 tiers – all with different flavours – and textured white icing. Sophie did a fantastic job and the cake was beautifully decorated with flowers and vines from Bramble & Wild. In keeping with the food theme, we made small jars of tomato chutney as our favours. Thanks to help from our friends Tina and James, this became a military operation and with a little more help from friends Pinot and Grigio, we made 130 jars.

Personal To Us

Being a designer (and complete control freak), I really wanted to design the stationery myself. I gathered various bits of card, text, etc that I loved and took to Photoshop to design the lot.

For our table plan we used vinyl artwork and named tables after the albums. Tom works for a record label so this was his baby, and I think he quite enjoyed it.

For the tables, we designed and printed menus for everyone, which were placed on top of the napkins with luggage labels as the place cards. Admittedly these little details took some time but were well worth the effort and made the whole wedding more personal to us.
As an extra touch we also designed a framed storyboard, which detailed our journey from how we met (Tom crashed into my car by the way) to his proposal. This was really fun to design and now sits proudly on our mantelpiece.

It’s Never Too Late

My main piece of advice would be that if you’re not happy with something (and you can usually tell if you keep looking at it on the internet!) then do something about it. We actually had another photographer booked before we came across Guy Collier’s website. As soon as we did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it – his work
had such a natural, timeless quality.

After a lengthy discussion with Tom we bit the bullet and booked him – losing our original deposit but gaining the most talented photographer who also became a friend. My mind was completely at rest as soon as we’d made this decision, so we knew straight away that it was the right call. Guy captured our day in the most amazing way and we are still over the moon with the photos. We can’t thank him enough.

Venue The Grange
Marquee South West Marquees
Decor Crescent Moon
Hair Melanie Giles
Make-up Charley B
Suit Austin Reed
Tie Reiss
Earrings Gillian Million
Rings Annette Gabbedey
Bridesmaid dress Coast
Flowergirl dresses Zara
Blooms Bramble & Wild
Photography Guy Collier

Click here & view all images from this wedding

What a beaut… And so lovingly and skillfully captured by Guy Collier, just goes to show that last minute wobbles can often lead to changes that are for the best. So, as Claire says, don’t be afraid to make changes if something isn’t feeling quite right.

So, can anyone beat the story of how claire and Tom met? Leave some love and let us know your story in the comment section below.

Adam.

If the title of this wedding hasn’t got your heart pumping already then honestly folks what the heck is wrong with you!

I promise you what you’re about to see is truly epic. This folks is how to do a super cool, super chic, city wedding.

Cheryl and Brooke married in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona at Santa Anna church and then whizzed off on Trixi bikes afterwards to their favourite champagne bar to celebrate. I’m told by David from Modern Vintage Weddings that they and their wedding party just rocked up in ten of these bikes and ordered 30 bottles of Champagne before heading to Hotel Mercer for dinner by Barcelona’s best chef.

How insanely rock and roll is that?

There are so many things I love about this wedding that I’d be here until Midnight listing them all for you but I will say that Cheryl’s headpiece is perhaps the most beautiful hair accessory I’ve seen this year and I absolutely most definitely need a gold lead embellished cake in my life.

Cheryl and Brooke…take it away!

Cheryl The Bride: Having our wedding in the beautiful Barcelona was a no-brainer for us – we fell in love with the city after our first Valentine’s getaway together seven ago and have visited many times since. We knew that the historical gothic architecture would make the perfect backdrop for our small, intimate ceremony and for our guests who had not had the pleasure of visiting the city before, we knew it would be a weekend they would remember.

My husband visited the city with his best man a few months before the wedding to scope out venues for the ceremony and reception. He did a wonderful job and he found one of the oldest Churches in the city, Santa Anna. With its tranquil cloister and interior steeped in history it was absolutely perfect. I later learned that we visited this very same church seven years earlier on our Valentine’s trip and we have photos of us together in the grounds! (He remembered!)

We held the reception in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter at the beautiful Mercer – designed by Spanish architect Raphael Moneo. The hotel incorporates part of the Roman walls of the ancient city of Barcino, some of which date back to the 1st century A.D. The hotelwas amazing and the staff were so helpful; nothing was too much trouble for them.

Most of the gothic quarter is pedestrianised so when we stepped out of Santa Anna as husband and wife, there was only one mode of transport that would do to take us and our thirty guests back to El Born – a fleet of Barcelona’s famous trixi bikes! It was a real show stopper and we felt like celebrities as we weaved in and out of the crowds on Plaça Nova, all cheering and waving as we rode past.

Our first stop on the way back from the church was La Vinya Del Señor, a delightful al fresco wine bar which sits cosily opposite Santa Maria Del Mar Cathedral. With its street performers and bustling atmosphere it really got the party started! After a good few bottles of local cava we made it back to the Mercer for canapés, wine and more Cava followed by a delicious three course meal. After we had finished eating and the speeches were over we took our guests to the lift which accessed the rooftop bar and pool area. We had arranged for an acoustic spanish guitarist to play Flamenco style music while the bartenders made sure that we had a constant supply of mojitos and strawberry daiquiri’s (our favourites) late into the night!

Looking back at the pictures of the day, we really do feel blessed. We not only had the most beautiful wedding but our photographers managed to effortlessly capture the essence of the day in those shots. We personally loved David‘s own creative photography and wanted him to have a lot of freedom with our wedding pics – we really clicked and just had 100% faith in him. My biggest worry for the wedding, before I’d booked anyone, was the photography – I am so fussy! You want those pictures to evoke the feelings you had at that moment and David and Mark have done that exceptionally.

Our first top tip for any couples thinking of getting married abroad is to find a photographer whose own personal projects you like if you cant make up your mind simply from looking through their wedding work – you have to remember a lot of couples impose their own set of do’s and don’ts on the day and so the work may not fully represent the photographer usual style or vision.

Our second tip is to get a local wedding planner. Even if you speak the language, the chances are you won’t have the local knowledge and connections which are so important, its definitely worth finding the extra money in your budget.

And lastly, relax. What will be will be. There’s no point getting stressed about things that you forgot to pack or the weather. Focus on your friends, family and the person standing opposite you at the altar.

Photography by Modern Vintage Weddings
Champagne Bar La Vinya Del Senyor | Reception Venue Mercer Hotel | Dress ‘Regency’ Dress by Suzanne Neville | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Groom’s outfit Reiss | Transport Trixi Bikes | Wedding Planner Gemma Sala at Your Barcelona Wedding | Bridal Boutique The Mews | Florist Plantas y Flores | Headpiece | ‘Valentine’ by Jenny Packham | Flower girl outfit John Lewis.

Phil married Francesca at her Grandmother’s beautiful 19th century house in Chiddingfold Surrey. With a ceremony in the walled garden and reception on the front lawn this is a simply stunning back garden wedding by any standard. Boys out there will probably appreciate the wedding car… An Aston Martin DB4 (007 alert) that belongs to Francesca’s Uncle and any girls will no doubt swoon at Francesca’s gorgeous Justin Alexander dress, skilfully altered by Sam at the now sadly closed Mamfii bridal.

Actually, I’m being terribly sexist here… Every one of you will appreciate every single detail of this mornings wedding… Because it is simply beautiful.

Francesca The Bride: I have always known that I wanted to get married at my Grandparent’s home in Chiddingfold, Surrey. It’s where I grew up, spending cosy Christmases by the fire and summers in the pool, and where Phil has got to know my family over the last six years. The day before the wedding the place was a whirlwind of activity. Jesse and Nick at Perfect Pitch Marquees had about 15 guys setting up the two marquees. Phil and my family strung up over 400 meters of fairy lights whilst my bridesmaids set out over 300 glass jars with tea lights that friends, colleagues and family had all collected for us over the last 18 months, and hung tea light lanterns in all the trees.

Caroline Oleron lives just down the road from my Grandmother’s house where she runs Cherfold Cottage Flowers. She immediately understood my vision of bright, unstructured, sumptuous summer florals and brought round buckets of flowers from her cutting garden which she mixed with some flowers that my Grandma had grown especially to create our beautiful table arrangements. These flowers went into mismatched cut glass vases which I had collected from car boot sales and charity shops. Caroline also created all our bouquets and button holes which could not have been more perfect – the flowers were one of my favourite ‘things’ that made up our wedding day.

Choosing a dress was one of my favourite parts of the planning. I saw a Justin Alexander advert in the first wedding magazine I bought and thought it was ‘the one’. So I found the nearest stockist which was Mamfii Bridal near Guildford (which has sadly since closed) and booked an appointment. After spending a couple of hours trying on dresses with the lovely owner Sam, one of my bridesmaids found a dress which was the perfect lace but not quite the right style. We ordered the dress in my size and Sam worked her magic, cutting bits off and sewing extra bits on until I had my perfect and unique Justin Alexander dress!

Getting Phil’s suit was not quite as easy… He’d seen one in Reiss that he really liked, but by the time we went to buy it, it was in the sale so there was only one left in his size in the south of England! I managed to dash over to Regents Street one lunch break and grab it, hoping that he knew just how blue it was and that it was definitely the right size as they don’t do refunds on sale items! Luckily the suit was just right, but they had run out of the matching waist coat. “No problem” I thought, “we’ll just have one made!”. This turned out to be a big problem, we could not find matching fabric ANYWHERE! After months of trying to figure out a solution, we were shopping for the groomsmen’s suits in Next, when we spotted a waist coat that perfectly matched Phil’s suit – a wedding miracle. We also ended up the best man’s and usher’s suits there which were their thank you gifts. I found them each slightly different but matching ties in TK Maxx – another bargain!

The 7 bridesmaids all wore the same dress from French Connection, which again were all eBay bargains! I wanted something bright and fun and these fit my bright summer colour palette perfectly. My wonderful seamstress Jane who altered my dress, also altered all the bridesmaids dresses, as well as making them sashes and adding straps for Phil’s nieces. My gorgeous twin cousin flower girls wore ivory dresses from Monsoon.
It was so much fun getting ready with my bridesmaids (all 9 of them!) in a big bedroom at the front of the house and watching guests arrive. Stephanie Munn did all our hair. My lovely sister in law Amy had been expertly colouring it every six weeks leading up to the wedding whilst Steph had been trimming. We had one trial beforehand to check that my idea of an up do for the ceremony that could be taken down for the reception would work.

I decided to wear a simple veil after seeing how lovely it looked in a colleagues wedding photos, and that colleague Kate kindly leant me the veil she had worn so that was my something borrowed. My Filippa Scott shoes were another eBay bargain at just £25! I am such a magpie for all things sparkly, jewellery was always going to be an important part of my outfit. My uncle who is a gem stone dealer leant me some dazzling diamond earrings and a pendant to wear during the day. For the evening I wanted to make a bit of a statement so after hours of hunting down the perfect necklace I bit the bullet and ordered one from J Crew in America even though it was about 4 times over budget! When it arrived it was exactly what I had hoped for and I’ve worn it several times since.

We had a legal ceremony at Guildford Registry Office at 10am on the morning of the wedding with just our parents, casual clothes and no rings. We then had what we considered our actual wedding ceremony in the walled garden at my Grandma’s in front of all our friends and family. The walled garden is full of flowers and so beautiful that it didn’t need any decoration once the marquee was up and all the chairs were in place. The only addition we made was the huge pots of pink and purple flowers that sit under my Grandma’s kitchen window. This wasn’t planned but my Grandma had the bright idea on Friday evening once I’d gone home to be pampered, and I’m so glad she did as they finished the space off perfectly. My Dad walked me down the to a string quartet playing Elbow, One Day Like This. We had a beautiful ceremony conducted by Graham from Precious Moment Ceremonies. We wrote our own vows, our lovely friend Joni read The Wedding Song by Bob Dylan which she adapted slightly so it perfectly suited us, and Phil’s Mum’s best friend Maria Carmen read Corinthians 13 in Spanish and her daughter Maria Jose read it in English. We had family fly in from all over the world to be at our wedding including Phil’s Spanish aunts and uncles who speak very little English so we thought a reading in Spanish was a good way to involve them. We exchanged rings which we had made by David Law at Your Personal Jeweller. After the ceremony the string quartet started up again and the drinks and canapés began to flow.

Once we’d had a chance to say hello to everyone we disappeared with our wonderful photographer David Long to have our couples portraits taken. I was in contact with various photographers when a friend told me about her sister’s husband David. When I got in touch he sent me some links to Rock My Wedding blog posts which were exactly the kind of photos we wanted from our day, and when I spotted a couple I knew who were guests at one of the featured weddings we decided it was fate! David was absolutely brilliant on the day, organsing our rather large wedding party and families into group shots which were done in minutes and actually really fun! He captured so many special moments without us even realising and everyone said how nice he was. We love every single photo he took and cannot recommend him strongly enough.

As our ceremony and reception were in the same venue and we were staying there that night we didn’t actually need any nice transport but my Uncle has a beautiful Aston Martin which Phil couldn’t resist not having as part of our day. So it sat outside the reception marquee looking pretty until it started to rain, at which point Phil and my Uncle got in and drove it off to be safely tucked away in the garage. Apparently my Dad turned to my bridesmaid Joni and said “Well that didn’t last long!”.

Our main reception was in a marquee on the front lawn. We had a delicious summer feast provided by Just Jane catering of big bowls of salads, vegetables and breads on each table and barbequed meats which were served to tables by waiters as they were cooked. Dessert was our amazing wedding cake made by Emma at Yours Tastefully. To me, strawberries personify summer, and I have spent many a happy afternoon picking them from my Grandma’s vegetable garden. Emma made us six variations of strawberry cake combinations and in the end we went for vanilla sponge with fresh strawberries baked in, a filling of cream cheese frosting with layers of more fresh strawberries, then the whole thing was covered in cream cheese frosting and decorated with more fresh strawberries! People still talk about how it was the best cake they have ever had and the whole thing was gone within minutes.

As well as the beautiful flowers in vases, there were wooden table numbers which I had spray painted gold and silver tea light holders leant to me by a friend. Jewelled coloured name baubles from Cox and Cox, which I gradually collected on eBay doubled up as favours which people could take home to hold a little photo. Next to each setting were sparklers with a ‘light up our first dance’ tag, we thought these would make for pretty first dance pictures and also take some of the attention of us! Caroline our florist lent us a small blue wooden ladder which we decorated with flowers and used as the table plan. When walking past a Monsoon store one afternoon I saw huge flowery hearts made of card hanging in the window and thought they’d be perfect to decorate the ends of the marquee. With some fairy lights woven in they worked perfectly.

Instead of gifts we had asked for contributions to our honeymoon which was a safari in Kenya, so I found an old suitcase in my Grandma’s attic for people to put their cards in got some old binoculars and vintage plastic animals on eBay to set the scene. A basket of jewel coloured pashminas and flip flops were by the card table to keep people comfy in the evening. Another one of my favourite ‘things’ at our wedding were the fantastic F&P light letters that my Dad built and Phil wired up. I’d seen and loved them but they are so expensive to buy! My Dad is the ultimate DIYer so I showed him a photo and a few weeks later they were built. They are now hanging in our spare room!

There were 3 fantastic speeches from Phil, my father John and our best man Alex which were all contained just the right amount of warmth and humour. We then had our first dance to The Lumineers ‘Ho Hey’ surrounded by sparklers waved by our guests. The party was properly started after that by our DJ John who played all our favourite music from The Police and Fleetwood Mac to Calvin Harris and Daft Punk. A very well stocked bar kindly provided by my Dad as well as a giant paella at about 10pm kept everyone dancing until the early hours.

My Grandma had all 40 of our family members back the next day for a BBQ which my Dad heroically managed to cook despite consuming what I’m sure was a large percentage of the whiskey on offer the night before. It was lovely to talk about everyone’s favourite parts of the day and spend time with our families who had come from Spain, Canada, France, Laos and Thailand to be with us. The entire weekend was the most fun we have ever had and if we could do it all again this weekend, we would.

Photography by David Long
Marquee Perfect Pitch Marquees | FloristCherfold Cottage Flowers | Gown Justin Alexander | Groom Reiss | Maids French Connection | Beauty Stephanie Munn | String Quartetstring quartet | Rings Your Personal Jeweller | Catering Just Jane catering | Cake Yours Tastefully

Oh I do love barn weddings. Especially ones in the Cotswolds with pretty vintage details, bundles of gypsophila and mismatched Bridesmaids.

And this one is full of so many lovely details – I just know you’re going to love it.

Nat and Nick made sure that their own Cotswolds wedding had a special twist. Nat is half Brazilian so the pair included lots of Brazilian wedding traditions in their big day.

Including drinking lots of caipirinhas…with the World Cup on it’s way, I keep seeing these everywhere and am ashamed to say that they are actually one of the (few) cocktails I haven’t tried. They sound delicious though…cachaça, sugar and lime – the perfect refreshing drink for a summers day.

For the accessories I wanted things to have a country feel but with a bit of bling as well so I chose to go for fresh flowers in my hair (gyp). It was made by the lovely Josephine from Josephine’s Fabulous Flowers and to go alongside were some sparkly flat shoes from Milk & Honey. I loved designing my shoes as I couldn’t find what I wanted on the High Street. I wanted to feel as comfortable as possible so I could enjoy the day and not worry about anything.

Choosing Nick’s outfit was quite easy and fun. He wasn’t so keen on the formal look of a morning suit as one of our priorities for the wedding was to keep it as informal and fun as possible. We went to a couple of shops looking for a three piece suit and found one at Reiss that was exactly what he wanted, which was something a bit different to an everyday work suit. We went to Savile Row one Saturday to try to find a tie for Nick and we found one at the first shop we entered! We didn’t have a colour scheme per se but I liked the idea of pastel colours for the details.

We wanted a summer wedding from the word go. I’m half Brazilian, half Welsh and Nick is from London so it was a bit tricky deciding were to have the wedding. In the end we went for somewhere that was easy for my Welsh family to attend (especially my 90 year old Nan) and not too far for Nick’s family and our friends in London as well. Although some still had to travel really far as they were coming from Brazil! Keeping with the relaxed feel that we wanted, we found this incredibly beautiful barn in the Cotswolds and it was love at first sight. They had accommodation on site for us and some of our guests and we could have the ceremony there as well so completely hassle free. The Great Tythe Barn is an all in one venue! I was very happy with our choice.

As I said before, we didn’t have a colour scheme but used pastel colours for the details like décor and we also wanted to give the venue a vintage feel. I found Lesley Davis from The Vintage Hire on Rock My Wedding. Lesley is amazing, she is based in the Cotswolds and we did a few trips to her “warehouse” to decide on the look we were going for. She has a table set up and lots of props etc so we played around until we found a look that we liked. She had plenty of ideas and suggestions and was awesome to work with, she really seemed to care and was patient as I had a new idea every day. She provided the vintage props and also helped setting up the venue on the day. A special mention to my wonderful bridesmaids and friends that also helped with the décor on the day, the venue looked exactly like I imagined.

Lesley Davis from the Vintage Hire introduced us to Josephine Balme from Fabulous Flowers as they work together now and again. She was based close by from Lesley so we went there to discuss our vision for the day. I wanted to use plenty of gyp but also pink peonies and lavender for the sent. I used pinterest a lot during the planning process and it was a really useful tool to show her some of my ideas for the flowers. We used vintage tea cups filled with flowers, old books, old medicine bottles, small vases and lots of tea lights as centrepieces and each table was a bit different from each other.

As for venue decorations, we used old suitcases, we used one for cards, we had a lovely old typewriter so guests could leave messages, family photos and a finger print tree guest book. We also had some music bunting cleverly made by Lesley from old music paper and my favorite – we had a basket full of hessian sacks with a sign – sack races! This was fun for guests to race each other in (after a few drinks!). We also had a photo booth full of fun props. My bouquet was made of the same flowers used for the venue decorations and my bridesmaids had a smaller bouquet made of gyp and fever few. We also used gyp for the buttonholes. For the table plan we used an old staircase and some crates and scattered around mismatched picture frames with the table plan. Lots of guests commented on this! We used our favorite holiday destinations as our table names and we decided against a formal top table. For your table name we had New York which was where we got engaged.

As I grew up in Brazil, I was keen to have some Brazilian elements to the day. In Brazil it’s not common to have Bridesmaids but couples that are your “godparents” for the marriage and the women would make sure they are not wearing the same colour as this would be a faux pas. I had 5 bridesmaids, 4 Brazilian and 1 English so keeping with Brazilian tradition they all wore different dresses picked by them as anything different would have been a logistical nightmare as 2 of them came to England especially for the wedding a couple of days before. Their only briefing was to pick pastel colours. I loved the end result, 2 of them used flowery dresses, the other three plain pastel colours and they really complimented each other. We asked Nick’s 2 best men and 5 ushers to use navy suits and gave them pastel colours ties to use on the day. The best man had soft blue ties and the ushers a minty green tie.

I had a flower girl as well, she’s my cousin’s beautiful daughter and she used a pretty dress that I found on Tesco online! She looked adorable. We asked one of Nick’s brothers to be the MC for the day. He came especially from Canada for the occasion and did a fab job. To keep with the same look but make him stand out a bit we bought him a soft green bow tie.

We had our ceremony at the barn, the initial idea was to have it outside but the English weather didn’t let us do that as it was really windy and we had a few showers in the morning so decided to go for comfort inside. We had 2 readings, ‘The Last Good Time’ by Richard Bausch read by Nick’s school friend and ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ by Louis de Bernieres read by Nick’s brother. As we had a civil ceremony, the readings made the ceremony feel personal. Strangely, I wasn’t feeling too nervous as I walked down the isle with my Dad, just very excited to marry my best friend with all our favorite people around us. It was such a special moment.

During the drinks reception we had a string quartet playing all our favorite songs as well as some Brazilian tracks. They also played a few songs at the ceremony, which was special to us. We went to a friend’s wedding the previous year and saw them playing and we just has to have them. For the evening we decided to have a DJ and I had my one and only bridezilla moment, I actually chose all the songs (together with Nick of course!) and compiled list of must have songs, which was quite long. It was important to us to have many people on the dance floor so we picked the tracks that make us want to dance and it seem to have worked as the dance floor was packed until the end of the night. We gave away glow sticks to the guest and dressed up using the props we had for the photo both on the dance floor so at one point, I was a bride with a beard and Nick was dancing wearing a mariachi sombrero! Guests joined too with Hawaiian skirts, different hats etc.

Our talented friend Felicity made our cake. She’s not only a Doctor but also an amazing cook. This was her first time baking a wedding cake and I knew it would be wonderful. There were three tiers, dark chocolate sponge and ganache for the bottom layer, lemon Madeira sponge for the middle layer and fruit cake top layer all toped with white icing and styled with a vintage cup on top. It was to die for! We served it together with cheese and crackers etc as our evening snack and I was really disappointed not to have much left the next morning.

We used Dine With Style as our caterers and we had a summery menu:

Starter – Goats Cheese and Pine Nut Ravioli with Shallot Puree, Balsamic Vinegar and Basil Oil
Main Course – Herb Crusted Fillet of Salmon served with Crushed New Potatoes, Fine Beans and Lemon + Dill Cream
Dessert – Warm Chocolate Fondant served with Raspberry Coulis and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Dine with Style was very accommodating and easy to work with and their food was yummy!

I found Richard Jones on Rock My Wedding, we wanted our photographer to be relaxed, friendly and we were keen to have a documentary-style album. Richard was all these things and more, a real pleasure to work with. From the moment we met him I knew he understood what we were looking for in the photos.

As for personal touches we had a few little things that I’d like to mention. Keeping with the Brazilian touches, for our favours we had Bem-casados (happily married, if it can be translated), they are two little sponge cakes filled with dulce de leche, and are a must have in any wedding in Brazil. They were individually wrapped in pretty flowery fabric and tied with a little bow (oh, so adorable!) The confection represents the couple in their new sweet life together. A good friend of mine brought them with her especially from Brazil. We also had some Brazilian music during the wedding breakfast (My parents made a special playlist for my iPod) and had caipirinhas (cocktails made with cachaça, lime, sugar and crushed ice) as well as bubbly for the drinks reception. And for me the most special part of the day as part of Nick’s speech we spoke in immaculate Portuguese which made me teary eyed.

We were very lucky to have lots of help friends and family. My lovely mother in law has pretty hand writing so she wrote all table place names for us, my sister in law helped with the pom poms and flower decorations for the ceremony.

Our first dance was For Lovers by Pete Doherty. It took us a long time to find a song that we liked for our first dance, I wasn’t so keen on the first dance at all but ended up loving it. We wanted something that wasn’t cheesy and this song fitted the bill perfectly.

As for advice, I’d say to try to have personal touches for your wedding, I went to so many weddings and the ones I remember the most were the ones were it was all about the couple, what they liked etc instead of following rules. Do what you like, it’s your day! We were lucky to have easy going families so the process wasn’t stressful, now a days I actually miss planning and researching for our big day!

Photography by Richard Jones
Bride Pronovias | Boutique Teokath | Jewellery Poetry | Shoes Milk & Honey | Florist Josephine’s Fabulous Flowers | Venue Great Tythe Barn | Decor The Vintage Hire | Caterer Dine With Style | Groom Reiss | Shoes Barker | Stationery Mooks Design | Entertainment Nero String Quartet & Concept Entertainment

They say that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain don’t they. Not so for Gary and Eleanor and their beautiful destination wedding at Cortijo del Marques in Granada. In fact the pair were subjected to a spot of flash flooding in Granada whilst a heatwave raged back at home in Wales.

But the rain did not stop play – in fact this gorgeous pair fully embraced the elements moving their courtyard based wedding reception into an exquisite old barn that they’d wanted to use in their day but just couldn’t work out how. Serendipitous I think…

So sit back, relax and enjoy this exotic adventure.

Eleanor The Bride: Gary is a designer by trade but also is a qualified carpenter with a huge fondness for wood, so it was only natural for him to spend six months whittling a proposal ring from a piece of driftwood found on our favourite beach, Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire. After a lovely proposal back on that very same beach, it seemed the obvious choice for us to get married in Wales. The frequent rain however dampened this idea and after months of searching online for the ideal location abroad where we could have a relaxed rustic and outdoorsy day in ‘guaranteed’ sunshine, we found our dream venue in Granada – Cortijo del Marques. Spain offered our favourite things in tapas, rioja and sunshine and so when we visited the venue (the only one we actually visited in our long search) we knew it was perfect for us.

Little were we to know that it was going to rain more than it had for years (they’d had no rain in August in Granada for five years) so flash flooding in Granada and a heatwave back in Wales! 

As we were getting married in Spain I wanted my dress to be quite simple as well as light and floaty to cope with the heat and also to transport out there on the plane. However the dress I found was nothing like originally planned (it was actually quite large and poofy!) and after a tipsy lunch at Claridges with mum we knew we’d found THE dress. It had a long bodice of lace which sat low on the hips and a beautiful full tulle skirt and train. After a few alterations to take some layers out of the skirt and cut the train down my dress was perfect… it even managed the journey on the plane!

I wanted simple jewellery to complement my dress and wore a diamond pendant necklace that was a 21st birthday gift along with some diamond stud earrings that my mum had specially made from an old pair of her mums. My mum was brilliant helping to choose and if it wasn’t for her begging me to try on a veil ‘just to see how it looks’ I would never have discovered the beautiful lace La Sposa veil that perfectly set off the dress.

Gary doesn’t wear suits to work and has a relaxed style, he wanted to feel comfortable and again he needed something light and cool for the Spanish weather. I had seen a lovely alternative groom style on an American blog which gave us the idea for his outfit, which was a 3-piece suit minus the jacket, so trousers and waistcoat, with the shirt sleeves rolled up to maintain that relaxed vibe. He was determined to have a very pale grey colour, so after several shopping trips we found the perfect suit shirt and shoes in Reiss. The groomsmen wore the same style and all had matching knitted ties from Uniqlo. His choice was perfect and he looked gorge!

The venue was stunning and very us in style. There were so many nooks and crannies, orange trees, accommodation on site – every bedroom was different and themed from its old use when the place was a country estate (the Stables room still had the original mangers lining the wall and the pigeon loft is divided between bedroom and bathroom by the original pigeon holes). It also had its own ancient chapel and despite dreaming of getting married outside amongst the olive groves, we could not turn down using this beautiful space for the service.

We didn’t want to follow tradition and I wasn’t keen on the idea of having too much of a strong theme, we just wanted to keep everything natural – something simple to complement the venue, as well as maintaining some wooden elements throughout, such as wooden table numbers made by Gary. We had a photo wall incorporating photos of all the guests and fun times we had shared together. Pinterest was a great inspiration and useful tool.

I always wanted peonies at my wedding, but the time of year put a stop to that, so I was recommended to have avalanche roses which are similar in shape and look to them and then chose a selection of flowers that I had taken inspiration from the Liberty flower stall, including lithianthus, spray roses and Verde Africana. I wanted the bouquets to be natural with the ‘just picked’ look. It was held together with twine and the wooden proposal ring. The buttonholes were spray rose, rosemary and gypsophila. We had a mix of flowers used on the bouquets in jars down the aisle, along with gypsophelia, these were then used as table centres for the dinner (3 per table) plus the altar flower piece.

I’m not a big fan of the matchy matchy look and plus the girls are all very fashion conscious, so I wanted them to look and feel hot in their outfits. I gave them a a loose theme to work with which was a colour palette of creamy nudes and gave them full creative license to choose their own dresses and shoes. Funnily enough the dresses they chose all had a similar theme running through of being floaty with edgy embellishment and they worked really well together. As a thank you to my bridesmaids I had ordered some thin cotton flowery ‘getting ready’ robes in their favourite colours from etsy, which looked great in the pictures. I wanted the pageboys to look cute in their outfits, nothing too formal and wanted them to be comfortable and not hot so chose some linen shorts from Zara with white short sleeved shirts.

One of the reasons we chose the Cortijo was because we fell in love with the ancient chapel in the square and its outside spaces. We had three readings as part of the ceremony including the Velveteen Rabbit and one of Gary’s friends wrote and read a brilliant poem about us as a couple. Everyone searches for the ultimate wedding where nothing is going to go wrong, the crazy weather was completely unexpected but it didn’t spoil the day one bit, in fact it gave us the excuse to move the dinner indoors (from the orange tree courtyard where it was planned) to the beautiful old barn which we had felt it was a shame to not be using in some way anyway and which we transformed with candlelight. Many guests even commented how that would have been their first choice anyway!  

With the music we wanted something traditional for the venue so hired a Spanish guitarist who played me in with Pachelbel and out to the Beatles ‘All you need is love’, then played traditional Spanish songs as well as incorporating some fun British songs during the drinks reception. In Spain they’re pretty relaxed about timings so we knew the evening would be an amazing party and we weren’t wrong. We hired a local DJ and gave him a playlist and genres to work from; he did a great job, the dancefloor was packed all night and we had to ask him to play the last song to send the partygoers home!

We chose to go with traditional Spanish food & drink of course which our venue provided. This was a tapas selection for canapés with rose cava, Sangria and Alhambra beers and Spanish wines. The main menu was a goats cheese salad, a choice of cordoba style beef with beans and straw potatoes or prawn and monkfish brochettes with asparagus and a leek sauce, dessert was chocolate mousse with strawberries and was delicious.

Joseph was such a great photographer, his style of natural reportage was exactly what we were looking for with our wedding day shots and we were delighted with the finished results. Joe managed to capture the essence of our day effortlessly – he is able to show the feelings and emotions of the day in his photography rather than them being just purely visual reminders. He was a dream to work with and I would recommend him to everyone! 

Gary’s friend and colleague Steve was super sweet and filmed all elements of the wedding for us.

I would definitely recommend getting married abroad, just be prepared for rain even there! Our guests all had an amazing holiday and we were able to hang out the days before with a lovely pre-wedding meal at a restaurant overlooking the Alhambra and a paella party at the venue the day after. It was such an amazing experience… a completely perfect wedding! 

If you are thinking of booking abroad I’d suggest using a planner to help with the language barriers. Our planner Theresa Guthrie was a godsend! Don’t worry too much about the little things and most importantly take time for the two of you to step back and take it all in, it really does fly by.

Photography by Joseph Hall
Venue Cortijo del Marques in Granada, Spain | Dress Detalle by La Sposa | Veil La Sposa | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Groom’s outfit Reiss | Boutique Emma Victoria Payne | Planner Theresa Guthrie | Groomsmen Ties Uniqlo | Bridesmaid dresses Topshop French Connection and Little Mistress.

I’m so excited to be sharing the wedding of Amal and John with you all this morning. Partly because it’s just so, so, so pretty, partly because it’s such a wonderful mix of cultures, but also because the write up comes from the lovely Groom, John. He has clearly been welcomed into Amal’s family with open arms.

Amal looks breathtakingly beautiful in her Justin Alexander gown and veil. The lace detailing is exquisite and it’s such a stunning colour. I’m also in love with her elegant up-do.

Ohhh just wait until you see the bridesmaids too – they look amazing!! Gold and pink is the best combination and each girl looks fabulous.

Also, I’m afraid I can’t promise that this wedding won’t make you cry – we’ve got the wedding film from Andrew Marshall for you, as well the images from Angela. The bit where Amal’s Dad hands her over to John set me off…and then I couldn’t stop…

It’s such a pretty one lovelies – enjoy!!

We were married at Romsey town hall because it is near my family home and because we have a fair bit of family history with the town hall (a beautiful Georgian building in Romsey’s Market Square). We chose Houghton Lodge as the reception venue because it is set in breathtaking grounds and encompasses the natural landscapes we love.

We used tipi’s rather than a marquee because they are much nicer, and because it was a nod to a more Arabic culture, right down to the layout inside the tent (including a firepit-style area, and a pretty discreet approach to alcohol). Amal’s uncle read a beautiful poem (Do Say I Love You by Nizar Qabanie) during the ceremony, in both English & Iraqi.

When we entered the tipi’s Iraqi custom holds that the Bride & Groom are greeted by drums & music, so our Iraqi DJ played music that was at first danced to by our parents, before we came in and were greeted by our guests; this turned into an amazing twenty minute celebratory dance. During the speeches, my Dad made a lovely speech where he linked our families together, as it appears one of our ancestors is buried in Iraq.

Amal’s bridesmaids wore dresses in the same colour, but which were adapted according to their culture and customs, and whom all looked impossibly glamourous.

The food was Lebanese, and delicious, and again echoed Amal’s family as they used to holiday in Lebanon.

Amal’s gown was from Leonie Claire in Brighton, and was an embellished lace gown with a lace-edged veil. She also had mendhi on her arms & hands.

Our beautiful floral arrangements were by the talented Blooming Workshop in Winchester, and they decorated the delicious cake baked by my Mum according to an old Tippet-Cooper recipe.

Our videographer was Andrew Marshall & he did an fantastic job – we edited the footage ourselves (my brother is a filmmaker), but Andrew also made a brilliant edit of the day here.

We chose Angela as our wedding photographer because we liked the softness she brought, and loved her use of available light to the advantage of her subjects. We thought she did an exceptional job. That shot of us under the tree with the sunlight filtering through it has become the photograph of our relationship.

Photography by Angela Ward-Brown
Videography Andrew Marshall | Florist The Blooming Workshop | Bride Justin Alexander | Boutique Leonie Claire | Groom Reiss | Ceremony Venue Romsey Town Hall | Reception Venue Houghton Lodge | Catering Samara Cuisine | Illustrations Livi Whitworth

As much as I love thrown-together-boho weddings, I’ve also got a place in my heart for a theme wedding…especially a well executed one. And I think it’s fair to say that Charlotte & Will totally nailed their 50s inspired shindig!

From the gig style posters designed by Charlotte, to the life-sized cardboard cut out of Elvis – their wedding is a proper 50s rock and roll party.

Guest were even served diner-style burgers and fries, complete with French’s mustard, followed by knickerbocker glories…I know! How amazing does that sound?

I also love the use of bright yellow flowers – perfect for bringing some sunshine to a February wedding, as do those gorgeous the butterfly print Bridesmaids dresses…

My wedding dress was from the Sincerity Bridal collection (my dress style is now discontinued) from The Bridal Suite in West Bridgford. The boutique caught my eye due to having lots of vintage, lacey dresses in the window. Being a lover of vintage I knew I wanted a dress that had that feel. I’d had my eye on the 50s style tea length dresses as well as 40′s style gowns, and when I eventually tried on my dress I just knew it was the one. I loved how free I felt in it, plus it had lots of sparkly detail on the waist. To begin with I didn’t want a dress with detail and sparkle, but that soon changed when I tried mine on! My veil was also from the boutique.

I don’t tend to wear much jewellery on a day to day basis, so I was keen to have minimal amounts on the day. The necklace I wore on the day was my Great Grandmother’s which she wore on her wedding day. This has been passed down through the family and has been worn or featured by everyone in the family who have got married. I felt very honoured to wear something with such importance. I wore pearl stud earrings which my sister bought me for Christmas.

I had two pairs of shoes (greedy I know!). Originally I bought my red shoes to wear all day (from Debenhams on sale at £15!), but I forgot these at a dress fitting. So I tried on some shoes the bridal boutique had in store. My Mum loved me in them so much she insisted I had them. These were £30 on sale. I wore the white shoes for the ceremony and the red shoes for the reception. I also had two different hair accessories to compliment both sets of shoes, firstly a pearl hair bow which I bought from Primark (of all places!) and a red glitter bow handmade by Beau XOXO. The fur wrap was lent to me by a good friend.

Choosing our florist was probably one of the most easiest decisions we made, as we already knew them and the work they did. We used VAAS The Florists based in Nottingham. Because of this explaining what ideas we had and the types of flowers I wanted was a very organic process. We wanted the flowers to look fairly natural as if they had been picked that morning from the garden. Plus being February, normally a grey month, I was keen for them to be as cheery as possible, so we chose yellow. To compliment this we collected lots of jars, bottles and vases for all the flowers to sit in. I love succulents so I was very keen on having them in my bouquet. Marc at Vaas listened to all of my ideas and together with the rest of the team final result was incredible.

Myself and Will wanted a church service, as both of us have grown up being involved in the church in one way or another. We decided to marry in the church in our village, St Helens. We had a friend do a bible reading and a little off-piste reading about us as a couple. It was a lovely to have all our closest family and friends in one room together witnessing such a special moment.

After this, we had our reception at Burton Joyce Village Hall. We wanted a venue that had character, and somewhere that was a blank canvas that allowed us to create the type of day we wanted. Living in the village we had often walked past the hall and talked about it’s possibilities as a venue for a wedding.

We wanted to create a 50s style tea party with influences from 50s rock and roll, railway travel and the iconic british rail travel tourism posters. Being a graphic designer I designed some 50′s style rock n roll gig posters to dress the walls and other elements like the wedding favours, the postcards, telegrams and stationery.

My Mum made miles and miles and miles of bunting, and my mother in law & I made the paper pom-poms. We also didn’t want a ‘traditional’ sit down meal so we served diner style burgers and chips with knickerbocker glory for pudding! We hired Gail Dandy Catering to do our food for the day. Gail and her team did a smashing job and everyone said how great the food was.

I bought my Bridesmaid dresses from Viva La Rosa. I was keen for my Bridesmaids to have dresses that they felt they could dance around in and wear again. Plus they complimented my wedding dress and the feel of the wedding perfectly.

Will’s suit was from Reiss and his shoes were from Loakes. His tie and belt was from Ted Baker and socks from Paul Smith. I bought him the ‘stag’ tie clip, as Will has been a lifelong fan Mansfield Town FC (otherwise known as ‘the stags’). I also bought him the pocket watch for his birthday prior to the wedding. We asked the Groomsmen to wear their own suits but bought them all a tie, handkerchief and cuff links.

We mixed all of our own music and played it through the village hall’s PA system. We revealed the stage to our guests in the evening which we had decorated with a jukebox, Elvis and Marilyn cardboard cut outs, LOTS of balloons and a banner that I painted with my Artist friend. We also asked our guests to guess what our first dance would be and made a list of betting odds to aid them. We also made a lounge area in the bar and filled it with traditional board games, for anyone who wanted to chill out and have a natter for a while.

We discovered our photographer through my Bridesmaid Laura who recommended her to me. We were really keen to have a photographer who captured as much of the day as possible as well as the people. Clare really fitted the bill. After meeting Clare and seeing how lovely and creative she was, we had no doubt how brilliant she would be and booked her there and then. Clare captured the day so beautifully and with Clare taking our photos we felt completely at ease. I think the results speak for themselves.

Planning your day can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you intend to plan everything yourself. But at the end of the day, even if you were getting married in a car park or a wooden shack it wouldn’t matter, because all of your guests are there to see you and witness such a special moment in your lives. And the best bit is your married at the end! So relax, on the day all the stresses and woes you have about what may or may not look right won’t even bother you, the day whizzes by so fast and you don’t stop smiling!

Photography by Photography By Clare
Bride Sincerity Bridal | Boutique The Bridal Suite | Headband Beau XOXO | Florist Vaas | Venue Burton Joyce Village Hall | Catering Gail Dandy Catering | Bridesmaids Viva La Rosa | Groom Reiss & Loakes

There’s nothing quite as delicious as portrait shots backlit by that wonderful luminous light taken as the sun goes down and Carolyn and Tim’s wedding has that in spades. Heavenly!

This smiling duo married at Coombe lodge amongst rolling lawns and mature trees with an oh so elegant theme complimented by pink bridesmaid dresses, peach and creamy vuvuzela rose bouquets and Carolyn’s glossy locks. And they are glossy, all thick and perfectly groomed – the perfect complement to her lace & crystal headband which I quite want myself!

You also need to check out the awesome cupcake tower complete with DIY flag toppers (check out our own DIY flag topper project if you’re after something similar) and Carolyn’s beautiful Pronovias dress.

Carolyn The Bride:I was pretty sure I wanted a dress that incorporated lace, but had no idea on the shape or style really. After trying a fair few dresses on it was clear that I wanted something with a fishtail shape and with some sort of sleeve/straps. The final shortlist were all Pronovias and had all-over lace. I absolutely loved the Balta dress when I tried it on, it made me feel like a film-star but in a bridal way. I didn’t actually choose it on the day I tried it on, but after sitting at home later, irrationally worrying that it would go out of production, I knew it was the only one for me!

I decided to add a long lace-edge veil for a bit of drama, as my dress had a small train and wasn’t a very full skirt. The only other jewellery I wore apart from my engagement and wedding rings were some teardrop crystal earrings, and a lace and crystal headband (I wanted something that would stand out as I was keeping my hair simple). My shoes were simple satin courts with a diamante brooch on the toe, they had a medium heel and I have to say I was surprised how comfy they were, even with the silver sixpence in them all day! My mum made me a crystal belt that incorporated mine and Tim’s initials, which will always be a treasured keepsake.

Tim The Groom:As I wear a suit to work every day, I wanted my wedding day to feel special so decided to hire morning suits for me and my groomsmen. I did a lot of research into places not on the high street as I was keen to get a better fit and great quality. Buckleigh is a wonderful little family-run tailor in Chelsea who have made suits for Prince Charles but their prices were lower than most high street shops! We were really well looked after by the owner who let one of my ushers try on almost every size of jacket they had before of course settling on the first one we saw. Extra points awarded for delicate critique “oh dear, we appear to have a slight problem in the derriere”.

We knew we were looking for somewhere where we could have the ceremony, reception and evening party all in one venue, because we had so many guests coming from different places and we thought everyone would be more relaxed if they didn’t have to travel around. We’d settled on a country house style venue and although Coombe Lodge was the first venue we saw, as soon as we arrived we were smitten! It was so grand and impressive but also intimate and we could picture our wedding there straight away.
 
Carolyn amassed an absolute wealth of wedding magazines after getting engaged, and all her favourite features had pastel tones. We wanted a theme which wasn’t traditionally autumnal as we were getting married in October, and settled on blush pink, peach and duck egg blue as a palette. Having more than one main colour allowed us so many more options, but kept everything tied together. 

Carolyn The Bride:I wanted spring-like flowers, so we researched good autumnal alternatives. We wanted all the colours from our theme to be incorporated, so our florist Tina used vuvuzela roses, hydrangeas, sage leaves and rabbits ear foliage to create the effect we wanted. We were keen to show the flowers off so we invested in a large flower arch to maximise photo opportunities outside. Inside, lots of smaller posies decorated the hallways and we added white shabby chic accessories, including candelabras with mirror plates for centre-pieces and framed photos of past family weddings to bring back happy memories for everybody.

Fairy lights in Kilner Jars gave a modern twist and looked fantastic in the evening. Our table plan was made from a large white frame backed with a fabric print from Liberty which matched our colours perfectly. A bit of creative ribbon placement means you would never notice the major measurement miscalculation on the part of the groom!

The bridesmaid’s dresses were the first thing we bought – even if we did go to every H&M in central London! As there was 18 months until the wedding, we bought eight dresses when we only needed five just to ensure everyone had the size they needed! My mum used one of the spare dresses to create a mini-version for our flower girl. The groom and groomsmen had polka-dot socks from Reiss and the groom’s polka dot tie (also Reiss) perfectly matched my peach bouquet.

As neither of us are particularly religious we had a civil ceremony but we wanted to make sure it was memorable, moving and joyous. We eventually settled on The Good-Morrow by John Donne which was read by the Tim’s godfather Roger, and a speech from “Stardust” which is one of our favourite films. This was read by Tim’s sister Amy and was easily the biggest tear jerker of the day (especially for Tim!). 

The guests were played into the ceremony by a string quartet, with a mixture of modern and classical songs and this really set the scene. I made my entrance to The Flower Duet by Delibes, and we signed the register to a rendition of “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. We wanted something uplifting for our exit music and the original recording of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys put a smile on everyone’s face. It was also on the first mixtape Tim ever made for me! Our best entertainment investment was the Photobooth, which was set up under the stairs between the bar and the disco and had a queue all night (even my 94 year old Nannie had a go or two!).

We chose to have a cupcake tower because of the variety of flavours we could have and as we wanted to serve the cakes between the ceremony and the wedding breakfast to keep everyone going! Our favourite flavour was salted caramel, and we included a recipe for this in our favours. Making the 150 cup-cakes with help from my Mum and Auntie was one of the best bits of the week leading up to the wedding. The catering team at Coombe Lodge seamlessly turned out 145 perfectly cooked dishes without batting an eyelid! In the evening we served hearty bacon and sausage ciabattas which mopped up some of the alcohol!

After extensively googling “best wedding photographer Bristol”, it seemed there was only one choice to make! Albert’s photography immediately appealed to us as he has an amazing ability to capture all the tiny moments that make a wedding so special, and we wanted to be able to relive those forever. We had a great time getting to know Albert at our engagement shoot before the wedding, and he really helped us feel at ease while being snapped, and we couldn’t be happier with the results! On the wedding day we were blessed with amazing sunshine for October and we were taken aback by how breathtaking the photos were, especially the landscapes around the venue. A lot of our guests commented on how brilliant Albert was and how much he was able to cover without anyone noticing! We think he may even be some kind of ninja. 

Photography by Albert Palmer
Venue Coombe Lodge, North Somerset | Dress ‘Balta’ by Pronovias | Boutique The Wedding Dress Shop, Wimbledon | Shoes Perdita’s Wedding Shoes | Groom’s outfit Buckleigh of London | Veil Joyce Jackson from The Wedding Dress Shop | Wedding Rings Bespoke by J&C Martin | String Quartet Lochrian Ensemble | Florist Tiger Lily | Candelabras Teazel Floral Designs | Pianist Phil From Stardust Music | DJ Simon Tucker |Bridesmaid dresses H&M | Photobooth Groovybooth.

Now I have to be honest here and tell you that green is not my favourite colour. It has just never appealed to me in the same way as gorgeous shades of blue and grey. But having seen this shoot – I have to say that I now see green in a whole new light!!

The sheer number of different shades of green on show here is unbelievable…the vibrant and fresh apple green, the muted and slightly grey sage green, the richness of ivy green and the yellowness of the young budding flowers. All created by nature. Amazing.

I mean just look at that table scape below…it’s like a glimpse into a hidden tropical garden of Eden!

I love the idea behind the shoot too – just because you are getting married in a rustic venue, doesn’t mean that you have to compromise on the glamour!

We used wild and natural displays of flowers, featuring rustic elements of moss and bark, to compliment the barn and surroundings. A fresh and crisp palette of white and apple green was used to create a huge burst of spring fresh colour amongst the natural tones of the maze.

Anemones, ranunculus, stocks, lilac, hypericum, spirea, paper whites, hyacinth, tulips, fountain grass, fern, olive and green bell are just a few of the flowers which were used to create this rustic, but glamorous wedding scene.

To create a relaxed but stylish setting the barns were filled with strings of festoon lights and draped fabric. The ceremony barn featured an oversized wreath full of textured foliage and fern. Pretty hand picked style groupings of flowers were displayed on log stumps with candles along the aisle. Streams of flowing ribbon hung from the wedding stage adding softness and pops of vibrant colour.

A wooden swing was hung above the top table displaying a wild design of white flowers and trailing foliage. The table was dressed with green glass bowls filled with grapes and apples mixed with spring flowers. Glass bottles filled with flowers added to the crisp look. Ribbons were used through the centre of the table adding spring shades of fresh green. White linen kept the table looking fresh enhancing the flowers and quirky apple name place settings. Giant illuminated letters added impact to the stage area, setting the scene for the evening celebrations.

The Bridal gowns featured are Ivonne by Enzoani, The Glasgow by Blue by Enzoani and Loucia in Platinum by Anouska G London. They are stylish and utterly feminine, accompanied by HF Couture’s exquisite detailed headdresses – the Bride looks ultra glamorous.

Photography by Dominic Wright
Venue York Maze | Florist & Prop Styling Lucy MacNicoll Flowers | Hair & Make Up Helen Guy | Bridal Wear The Harrogate Wedding Lounge | Headdresses HF Couture | Menswear Reiss | Cake Choose Cake | Illuminated Letters Coco Luminaire