Sometimes I think we forget that a wedding is about more than just the Bride and Groom. Weddings are also about two families coming together; the start of a new generation – but also about appreciating the older generation who have loved you and supported you through the good and the bad times.

Carley and Joe’s wedding is a real celebration of that. All of the décor was made by her family and inspired by her mother-in-law’s shop, The Angel Bill Trading Company.

Carley describes planning her wedding as an emotional rollercoaster which I’m sure lots of you can relate to. She also says that not only did she gain a soul mate on her wedding day, but also a renewed strength in her love for the people most important to her.

And I suppose an occasion like that definitely calls for a big party…

A Special Place

Carley The Bride: We married at St Helens Church in Wheathampstead. We chose this church for many reasons, one being that this was where I grew up and my mothers grave is there. It felt really important to be close to my mum on our special day. We then had our reception at Tewin Bury Farm. The barn fitted perfectly with our Country Chic/Fayre theme.

Showing Off The Neck And Shoulders

My step mum is a qualified hairdresser so naturally she took up the task of doing the Brides and Bridesmaids hair. We had a wonderful make-up artist recommended to us by various friends for the day called Jessica Alice Miller.

I wanted a very relaxed boho look and for a long time I was dead set on having my hair down and wavy for the bridal party. But after the final touches were being made to my dress, I decided I wanted to show off the neckline and take my hair off my shoulders.

An Unexpected Decision

I always knew in my heart I wanted a tea length dress, but didn’t dare try one on at the start. I worried I wouldn’t look like a Bride! After trying on several standard wedding gowns, I finally tried on a tea length dress. Apparently my whole posture and body language changed. It felt right.

But I was so fussy and couldn’t find ‘the’ dress so decided to have it made from scratch. With help from the very talented Justine at Angel Face Bridal Shop in Buckfastleigh, I designed my dress exactly how I wanted it! I had my shoes dyed pink (my favourite colour) and in the evening wore special edition crochet ‘Toms’ espadrilles – it was fun to have my new name on my shoes!

Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

I hadn’t even thought about jewellery, which was odd because I had focused on every tiny detail so hard! At my Hen party, my nan gave me some amazing diamond earrings my granddad gave to her which was very emotional. And on the morning of the wedding, Joe’s sister Alice (also my bridesmaid) gave me a gift on behalf of Joe, which was a stunning diamond necklace. It was perfect!

I also had a gorgeous clutch bag from alphabetbags.com which said ‘Bride’. It was so handy and was obvious whose bag it was! The rings were made by Galio Jewellers in St Albans. Joe also had the engagement ring made and supplied from the same jewellers so it was nice to have all the rings from the same place.

Here Comes The Bride

We had two Bridesmaids (our sisters) and a flower girl (Carley’s step sister). Joe had two best men and one usher. The Bridesmaids both wore Dessy dresses and the Groomsmen wore suits hired through Angel Face. Joe bought a separate suit for himself from Ted Baker.

The flower girls dress was from Monsoon UK. She also carried a wooden sign down the aisle which read ‘Here Comes The Bride’ which was made by Joe’s mum (Kate Toms, owner of The Angel Bill Trading Company).

A Very Creative Bunch

We had a sort of rustic/country chic theme with a bit of country fayre thrown in! Due to Joe coming from an extremely creative family, we had a lot of help with making and designing all the décor ourselves. We even made all the garden games ourselves from scratch; we had a splat the rat, horseshoe hoopla, welly wanging and a giant buzzer game!

We decorated the whole venue ourselves using vintage bottles and books we’d collected. We made all the chair sashes ourselves using lots muslin and blue dye.

Simple Yet Stunning

We had all our flowers put together by Arrangements in Redbourn. I wanted my flower girl to have the exact same bouquet as me, just a bit smaller.

After the ceremony I put her flowers on my Mum’s grave. We wanted the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen to have lots of gypsophila and be very simple yet stunning. The flowers in the venue had a country/wild flower theme.

A Real Family Affair

I designed our Order of Service cards and with the help of Joe’s Mum and Sister, painstakingly tied muslin bows onto them, which were handed out before the ceremony. On the reverse we had the order of the day printed so our guests knew exactly what was happening and when.

Joe’s Grandma did a special reading during the ceremony. My Grandad gave me away. We also put together a little treat for the guests as they were leaving the ceremony; brown paper bags with a Tunnocks ‘Caramel’ bar and a map with a poem printed on the front (all made by the Tom’s family!).

The Perfect Accompaniment

During the sit down meal we hired a singer called Huw booked through Warble Entertainment. He was amazing and all our guests said his voice was beautiful and really added something special to the atmosphere.

Rather than having a DJ, we used a company called MiPod Party. We gave them a list of songs we wanted and they put together a playlist for the evening music. They provide all the sound system and lighting equipment, along with an ipod with your chosen music. It was so simple and easy, and tons cheaper than hiring a DJ. We had Jason Mraz – Lucky as our first dance, followed by Paolo Nutini – 10/10.

Delicious Food And Homemade Favours

We had a gorgeous three course meal cooked and served by the staff at Tewin Bury Farm. Chicken liver parfait with red onion marmalade and brioche for starters, loin of pork, thyme, garlic and hazelnut farce, with wholegrain mustard mash, calvados cream sauce and crackling vegetables for main and pavlova with mango coulis, pecan nut praline and cream for dessert.

Joe’s sister Alice (Bridesmaid) made homemade fudge for our favours wrapped up in brown paper and sealed with a sticker I designed. Our cake was made by a good friend, Jenny Whitehead (also mother of the Usher!). We had a five tiered (two of which were polystyrene!) red velvet cake with white chocolate icing. We used part of a tree trunk as our cake stand which Joe’s Dad cut and sanded down for us. I made the mini bunting cake topper.

Personalised Décor

We designed and made our table plan board ourselves. We had antique keys with luggage tags hanging on a board with each persons name and table number. Joe’s mum and dad made our wooden table numbers. I designed the menus on the table. We made wooden moustaches ourselves too which were put on each table. I also made the bunting across the top table which read Mr & Mrs Toms.

The World Continues To Revolve

Planning a wedding proved to be a very stressful and emotional roller-coaster for us both and it only made us appreciate each other and the people we love around us so much more. You become so absorbed in ‘wedding wedding wedding’ that it’s easy to sometimes forget that the world is continuing to revolve and that not everyone is as obsessed about your day like you are.

The day after our wedding, I suddenly felt this huge love for everyone around me so much stronger than ever. Not only did I marry my soul mate that day, I also realised the most important people in my life and how much I love them.

Above And Beyond

Our photographer was Julia West. I cannot praise her work enough! Julia and her wonderful assistant were just incredible on the day! So attentive and focused, yet so discreet. I didn’t even realise they were there most of the day! They both went above and beyond our expectations and Julia has produced the most stunning photos we will treasure forever.

We have to give a huge thank you to Joe’s Mum, Dad and Sister. They pretty much dedicated their lives for the months leading up to the wedding to helping us design and make everything. A lot of our inspiration came from the wonderful work of Joe’s mum – Kate Toms, owner of The Angel Bill Trading Company.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Angel Face Bridal
Clutch Bag – alphabetbags.com
Hair – Lorraine Hair Design
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – Dessy
Flower Girl – Monsoon UK
Groom – Ted Baker
Groomsmen – Suit Hire at Angel Face Bridal
Singer – Huw at Warble Entertainment
Florist – Arrangements
Décor And Inspiration for Décor – The Angel Bill Trading Company
Venue – Tewin Bury Farm
Photography – Julia And You

Carley and Joe make a very stylish pair. I’m so pleased Carley went with a tea length gown!

And if you want your Groom to look as dapper as Joe, don’t forget that you can view Ted Baker’s latest collections in our Designer Collections pages.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Emily and Ben met as teenagers and have been together ever since. Isn’t that incredible? The pair currently live in Switzerland and are both from Leicestershire, but chose to get married at Holkham Hall in Norfolk.

It seems to be THE place for stylish Brides to get married. Back in June we all went green eyed over this this gorgeous affair from there too.

I’m sure you lovelies are going to enjoy today’s wedding just as much. Bride Emily is wearing the divine Hepburn by Suzanne Neville which fits her like a glove. ‘The one’ was found at one of our Love Lust Bridal Boutiques, The Stamford Bridal Rooms.

The choice of Bridesmaids dresses confirms my love for neutral coloured gowns. Emily’s girls look amazing in their nude Ted Baker dresses.

And in true British style, the weather gave Emily and Ben four seasons in a day – all of which have been dramatically captured by Katherine Ashdown.

A Place Full Of Memories

Emily The Bride: Ben and I currently live in Zurich, Switzerland. We grew up in Leicestershire (a few villages apart) and met when I was only 14, Ben 15. We have been together ever since! And have enjoyed many adventures along the way.

We decided to get married in north Norfolk as we have enjoyed many holidays there over the years, together and with family and friends. It is a special place for us, with lots of wonderful memories, so it seemed like the perfect choice. The stunning Holkham Hall sits 1-mile away from Holkham Beach (which is often voted the UK’s best beach & our personal favourite), and the hall itself has the most amazing grounds, full of deer, a stunning lake and rolling countryside! I have been visiting the hall since I was a little girl with my family and it is now our favourite picnic spot.

The Perfect Setting

We had our wedding ceremony in the pretty flint stone church (St Withburga Church), positioned on a small hill, overlooking the lake within the grounds of the estate. It was truly magical and we felt so privileged and lucky to get married there. I kept thinking of all the Earl’s and previous aristocrats who would have got married in the church many years ago!

We had our wedding reception in a marquee within The Walled Gardens at Holkham Hall. Again, this felt so special, like a secret garden, just for us!

Inside the garden was a little apple orchard, and many vintage looking green houses. It was the perfect setting as we had many children at our wedding, so they were safe to run riot and the parents could just relax! We created a kids area outside with straw bales, games and a tepee. We also had our bar outside under a mini marquee structure so guests were able to enjoy the gardens and drinks outside.

A Flawless Finish

I got ready in The Vine House, in Burnham Market. Stunning boutique hotel owned by The Hoste Arms.

I wanted to look very natural on my wedding day, and to basically, look like ‘ME’, not over-done with makeup or hair. I wanted my make-up to last during the day and to also look flawless in the photos. My photographer, Katherine Ashdown recommended Love Moi Makeup based in Norfolk. Emily, the make-up artist was brilliant! I only had my trail 2 days before the wedding (as I live abroad, timings were often tricky), but it didn’t matter.

I was so pleased with the finished result and I looked just as good (if i say so myself!) at the end of the evening back in the hotel! I didn’t want to take my makeup off!!! I definitely recommend ladies that you invest that extra bit of money and have your makeup done professionally. Totally worth it!

Taking The Hairdresser With Us

Craig (based in is salon in Leicester) used to cut my hair when I was in my teens, and he still does a grand job of my Mum’s hair, so we asked him to join us in Norfolk (with his cute dogs) to do my hair, Mums and Bridesmaids. It was so great having Craig there with us and he did a wonderful job of making us all look our very best.

We had our nails done in the Hoste Arms Spa. The ‘Gels’ looked lovely, very natural and lasted for over 2 weeks without marks. I wore my favourite perfume on the day: Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir. So fresh and summery.

It Ticked All Of The Boxes

I had the loveliest experience buying my dress with my Mum and Bridesmaid from The Stamford Bridal Rooms in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The owner, Aimee was a delight and made the whole process memorable, special and fun! The bridal shop had some stunning dresses. I had an idea of what I liked: sweet heart neckline, lace, figure hugging, slinky, and elegant.

Aimee put me in the Hepburn dress by Suzanne Neville. I loved it immediately and it ticked all the boxes from my wish list! I felt comfortable, elegant and sexy on the day. I wore a sparkling head-piece and a belt in the evening both purchased from The Stamford Bridal Rooms.

Accessories With A Vintage Touch

My shoes were brought online at Rachel Simpson. She has some stunning shoes and I love her vintage designs. I was thrilled with my wedding shoes: a truly romantic pearlised leather peep-toe with beaded French lace trim over blush pink suede. They were super comfy too which is always a bonus with pretty shoes!

My veil was so fine and elegant, it was purchased from The Stamford Bridal Rooms and my earrings were from John Lewis

Gorgeous Wedding Party

My three gorgeous Bridesmaids wore a Ted Baker dress in a pale pink / nude colour. I loved the lace detail at the top, the butterfly-like v-neck back and the pleated, floaty skirt. I think they all looked gorgeous!

They also wore nude shoes from good old Clarks, which allowed them to dance in comfort all night long!

We hired the Groomsmen morning-suits from Christopher Scotney’s in Leicester. The guys look so handsome and the suits have that timeless quality. They were so fitting and appropriate for our venue too.

Our two gorgeous Godson’s were our Page Boys. They looked so cute in shorts, pale blue shirts and navy blazers.

English Country Wedding

The theme I wanted to create, I suppose, was an ‘English Country Wedding’- As the venue was in a country estate and hidden away in a secret walled garden, I wanted a very elegant, country, vintage style wedding with a relaxed atmosphere, touches of fun and play.

We dressed the marquee & gardens with bunting & pompoms in pale pinks and white, filled jam jars with wild flowers and candles, strung up fairy lights inside and out to create a lovely light in the evening. I hired two gorgeous Bay Trees from The Garden Box and these really added a wow factor to the entrance of our marquee, along with an old vintage looking bike.

My bridesmaid made lots of lovely bunting and cushions too which really added to the décor. We create a kids play area with straw bales and a tepee, plus lots of games to keep them (and some of the grown-ups!) entertained. I actually hired two nannies for the afternoon, to help look after the children. They were fabulous and played some wonderful games, allowing parents to eat and drink in peace!

We used an old suit case to collect cards, and brought a digital camera and mini portable printer for our guest book – we have some great pics alongside people’s comments which is a lovely keep-sake.

Norfolk Lavender

I love flowers, and was excited about choosing the different flowers for my bouquet and arrangements with my lovely florist, Victoria Arrowsmith. I wanted a loose, country style of pale pinks, ivory and white. I love peonies and roses, which were the main flowers in the arrangements along with lisianthus, dill, gyp and alchemilla mollis.

The flower arrangements on the tables were on vintage glass cake stands and in vintage crystal vases in different sizes. This worked so well on our long trestle tables, interspersed with candles. Every place setting also had a sprig of lavender on their menu card which looked so pretty and very fitting, being in Norfolk, renowned for its Norfolk Lavender.

I also had pots of lavender and hydrangeas outside the marquee, flowers strung in trees in jam jars and arrangements on the outside furniture. It looked wonderful and I was thrilled with the result.

Overwhelmed With Love

The wedding ceremony was just perfect, very emotional and special for us. We both held it together very well considering Ben’s brothers (best men) were crying the whole way through! I remember walking in and seeing everyone, and looking from side to side, saying “hello”. Ben looked so handsome in his morning suit, I felt very proud of him, overwhelmed with love and excitement for the day ahead and our future together.

We had a singer perform ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ by Paul McCartney during the signing of the registers which was beautiful.

Full And Rocking Dance Floor

We had string quartet Banquet Music playing during the drinks reception and whilst we ate. They were fabulous! They performed lots of modern songs including Cold Play and Lady Gaga which created a wonderful atmosphere, plus some old classics too. Everyone was raving about them.

In the evening, we had a 5 piece band, including a saxophone player to ‘jazz-up’ the soul tunes! The band was called Quince and we hired them through Silver Dog Music. They were just great from start to end, so professional too. The dance floor was always full and rocking! They really got everyone dancing and staged a fun dance off – girls against boys! Our first dance was ‘Waiting for the Stars to Fall’ by Boy meets Girl. We used to dance to this in our kitchen in London listening to Magic FM! It was upbeat and fun. The dance floor was flooded half way through!

Food Fit For Royalty

Deborah Steward did a fabulous job of the catering at our wedding. Debbie’s husband, Kevin was wonderful too and held the day together for us, making everything run smoothly. We felt so privileged to have them there on the day – they cook for the royal family at Sandringham at their private shooting gatherings, plus other events, so we had full confidents in them!

They served some scrummy canapés during the drinks reception including smoked haddock fish cakes, spiced prawns with dipping sauces, coconut chicken skewers and veggies muffins. They went down a storm! Debbie served up an asparagus pesto tartlet for starter with dressed baby salad leaves, and we offered a choice for the main: BBQ Legs of lamb cooked over charcoal, pan fried fillets of sea bream with Norfolk brown shrimps or BBQ aubergine parcels with red pepper risotto, all served with delicious herby crushed new potatoes and bowls of steaming seasonal vegetables.

It was so scrummy and there were clean plates all round! For desert, we had two choices; summer pudding ice cream with berries, lavender shortbread and fruit coulis or chocolate, hazelnut and raspberry roulade with berries and coulis. Again, both were amazing! Our guests tucked into our cheese platters afterwards with coffee and mints.

Even Better Than I Imagined

In the evening, we served fish finger, chicken and veggie pita-breads which were perfect for soaking up all the alcohol!
Debbie and Kevin’s daughter, Grace Steward baked all the cakes for our Wedding Cake Table – I was totally blown away by the cakes and decoration when I walked in the marquee. It looked so wonderful and just how I had imagined it, but better!

We had a huge victoria sandwich cake for our main wedding cake, surrounded by a lemon-curd cake, chocolate malterser and carrot cake, plus heart shaped rocky roads in milk and white chocolate and many cupcakes decorated with fresh berries. We had bowls of berries on the table too and jugs of cream. Everyone loves cake don’t they, so this was a real winner with our guests!

For our wedding favours, we gave all the ladies a bag of pink jelly sweets, the men some Charbonnel et Walker truffles and the children some sweeties and a book, wrapped up in pink and blue paper. They loved having a present to open on their place setting!

The Perfect End To A Wonderful Day

Special moments for me were sitting in the car with my dad, on the way to the church. It was so nice to have this time with him. Saying our vows in the church was also so special.

Going off with our photographer for photos gave us time to chat, laugh, cuddle and generally see each other as the day goes so fast and you are constantly pulled in different directions. The weather was typically British on the day; we had glorious sunshine, a thunderstorm with lightening then a rainbow! The rainbow was magical and really added to the day. Got some great pics too. It topped off the day a treat!

I also loved our speeches, dancing until the early hours, then coming back to our hotel, sharing a bath together with a cup of tea and chocolate! The perfect end to a wonderful day!

Words Of Wisdom

Be relaxed and let the day flow. If you are relaxed and happy, your guests will be too! I recommend getting in your dress one hour before you leave for the church. My photographer, Katherine Ashdown asked me to do this, and it was well worth it. I had plenty of time to sip champagne with my Mum and Bridesmaids, have a giggle, and keep calm before we left.

Delegate, delegate, delegate on the day! Ask your suppliers to approach a member of your Bridal party on the day if they have questions rather than bothering you.

Dance, dance, and dance! Everyone wants to be near you & the groom on the day, so stay on the dance floor and it will be rocking all night!

She Held The Day Together

Katherine Ashdown was our wonderful wedding photographer – we were so happy to have her there on the day – she was just brilliant! We’d met a year before and spent an afternoon together for an engagement shoot. This was such a great way to get to know Kathy and feel relaxed being ‘models’ infront of the camera!

Kathy really held the day together for Ben and I. She was calm, professional, discreet, energetic and fun to be with. We loved having our photo’s taken, Kathy worked her magic and didn’t miss a trick! The results blew us away! We are thrilled with all of the photographs. Kathy did a wonderful job of capturing our day and all those special moments as the day unfolded – we will treasure them forever.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Hepburn by Suzanne Neville at The Stamford Bridal Rooms
Shoes – Rachel Simpson
Bridemaids – Ted Baker
Bridesmaids shoes – Clarks
Makeup Artist – Love Moi Makeup
Band – Quince at Silverdog Music
String Quartet – Banquet Music
Venue – Holkham Hall
Marquee Hire – Weatherill Events
Catering – Deborah Steward
Cake – Grace Cakes
Florist – Victoria Arrowsmith
Bay Trees – The Garden Box
Accommodation – The Hoste
Photography – Katherine Ashdown

You can view the latest collections from Ted Baker and Suzanne Neville right here on Rock My Wedding.

Aren’t the ideas for keeping the children entertained great?

And don’t those cakes look delicious? I’m salivating over Emily’s description of the menu.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Today’s wedding looks like such a fun filled affair.

For a start there are deckchairs for lounging. Then there is croquet. There is also badminton. AND there are space hoppers. There are even people playing badminton ON space hoppers.

Golza and Chaz also had a magician and loads of live music throughout the day. I can’t really think of a better way to spend a summers afternoon.

And with a mojito in one hand and some of Golza and Chaz’s cake in the other, it really would be perfect.

Our Perfect Venue

Golza The Bride: We chose the Larmer Tree Garden as our venue. We fell in love with this venue from the moment with set foot on the grounds. Everything about this venue was perfect, we wanted a small intimate ceremony and the Roman Temple was the ideal place.

DIY Make Up

I did my own makeup as I am a little bit of a protectionist and love make up. And my best friend Maria Sole did my hair. The Bridesmaid’s hair and makeup was done by a company called Bridal Treats. They were a hair and makeup duo and did a great job.

Had To Have It

My dress was from a boutique in the New Forest called Karalyn Bridal. The dress was by Eternity Bridal. I was in love with it from the moment I saw it on the website.

Surprise Accessories

I wore laced Toms shoes in cream (best decision I ever made to wear flats)! My bracelet was from a sale at New Look but looked great. I also wore a Tiffany necklace and my head piece was by a great company I came across called DC Bouquets. The piece was handmade and beautiful.

I wore pearl earrings and my grandmother’s gorgeous ring, which was given to me as a wedding present the night before (it was a surprise, I had no idea as she lives in Iran and couldn’t make it but she sent me the ring). For fragrance, I wore Marc Jacobs Daisy.

Comfortable And Happy Bridesmaids

We had six bridesmaids all dressed in different style dresses but keeping the tone of the colours the same and it worked out beautifully. The six dresses were never in the same room until the wedding eve, so we did well in choosing. I wanted them all to be comfortable and happy with what they wore.

The boys wore a three piece suit in charcoal and Chaz wore a suit by Howick at House of Fraser with a purple paisley patterned tie.

Pastel Shades

We didn’t have a particular colour scheme but just stuck to pastel colours for everything.

Shirley Ponting, a Wedding Florist in the Cotswolds and a friend of the family, did our flowers. We decided to have peonies/roses in the bouquets and a mixture of different flowers for table decorations. Shirley was fantastic and helped and advised us through the process.

Written For Us

We had two readings, one by Chaz’s uncle who had written a special reading for us and another one which was Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres.

The highlight of the ceremony for me was the moment walking up to the temple with my dad and seeing Chaz’s face. There are no words for it.

Fabulous Entertainment

We had a man and his guitar during the day for background music and a three piece band in the evening called the Live Lounge Band. Both artists were organised through a company called Tailored Entertainment. They also found us a DJ.

We also had a talented family friend who is also a member of the magic circle to do magic. He kept the guest entertained in the evening, which card tricks and more. Richard Parsons is so amazing and I would highly recommend him. He has a subtle and relaxed approach and is very professional.

A Persian Feast

Larmer Tree Gardens provided their own catering and as I am Persian we wanted to have something different so we went with a Persian feast. We had beers and mojitos to welcome the guests in the evening.

You’ll Find Me In Hobby Craft

I made a lot of the decorations myself. The flower jars on the tables, the origami hearts and poloroid picture of each of the guests as wedding favours, doily cones for the confetti to be handed out to the guests and loads of other finishing touches! I practically lived in Hobbycraft for months.

We also had our talented friend, Daniel Argyle, design our wedding invites. We had the film ‘Up’ as a theme idea and he took that and created our gorgeous invites.

One Day Like This

Enjoy every second and make sure both of you take a step back from it all and spend a few minutes alone to look at all the people who are there for you.

Every moment was special, but for me it was the first dance when half way through the song pretty much everyone else was dancing around us. I guess it was a moving song by Elbow, One Day Like This.

A Great Partnership

We had the amazing Lisa Dawn as our photographer. Lisa and Scott were a great partnership and fitted our relaxed theme perfectly and captured loads of beautiful moments.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Eternity Bridal at Karalyn Bridal
Headpiece – DC Bouquets
Hair and Make Up – Bridal Treats
Shoes – Toms at Office Shoes
Groom – Howick at House of Fraser
Florist – Shirley Ponting Floral Design (01285 850291)
Décor – Hobbycraft
Invites – Daniel Argyle
Band And DJ – Tailored Entertainment
Magician – Richard Parsons
Venue – The Larmer Tree Garden

Aren’t they all having a wonderful time?

I can’t believe Golza didn’t have all of maids dresses together at the same time until the actual day! She must have a great eye because they look lovely together.

The place name polaroid’s are really fun too.

Lots of love,
Fern x

New Shoe Inspiration

The Merle & Morris Girls: Getting married is a big deal. Here at Merle & Morris, we’re not the type of girls who have been planning our weddings since we were small, but we understood that when we got engaged, the world changed as we knew it.

I’m getting married in December and I know first-hand that the choices surrounding weddings can be more than slightly overwhelming. After months trudging through wedding shoe options, looking for something that caught my imagination, I knew I was stuck!

Traditional creamy satin shoes can be very pretty- for some brides; they are the epitome of their bridal dream. But I’m just not that sort of girl. I wanted my shoes to be inspirational, elegant, quirky, comfortable, original – I could go on and on with a list of adjectives. But I just couldn’t find anything that I liked!

Working in the shoe industry, finding my wedding shoes was always going to be tricky – I had a strong idea of what I wanted, and how beautiful and interesting wedding shoes could be. Surely I wasn’t the only bride struggling!?

A chance conversation with a wonderful designer friend showed me that she’d also found it difficult to buy wedding shoes too, she ended up in beautiful black sandals by L’Autre Chose.

So we decided to try and change that – to create the perfect shoe to take you on the journey from bride to wife; to dare brides to think differently about wedding shoe design; to inject some of their own personality into the shoes.

Our Expertise And Passion

And so Merle & Morris was born – our debut collection melds vintage elegance with a unique twist on contemporary design. Quirky and whimsical, or romantic and bold, we think our designs are the perfect accompaniment to your wedding day.

With over 16 years of experience in the footwear industry, we are experts in cultivating truly fabulous shoes from conception to construction.

Our passion for quality leads us to travel the world in search of the perfect materials and adornments for our collections. Working with skilled craftsmen, each pair of shoes is immaculately presented in our signature pale blue box, to ensure your wedding shoe experience is the epitome of luxury from beginning to end.

The Design

Our debut collection embodies the ethos at Merle & Morris, melding the elegance of a bygone era with a unique twist on contemporary design.

Each shoe encompasses a variety of elements, from the softest pearlescent leathers to lustrous silks and gleaming gemstones, creating a synergy of elegance and character.

Quirky and whimsical, or romantic and bold, our designs are the perfect accompaniment to your wedding day.

Handcrafted Construction

Each handcrafted shoe is sculpted to the foot; elongating, teasing and moulding to ensure the most flattering fit.

Attention to detail enhances the shoes’ luxurious qualities. Each sole is gracefully embossed with the Merle & Morris emblem, quietly reassuring you of the expertise and craftsmanship that we have dedicated to the production of the shoe.

The Structure

We don’t believe you buy your shoes to dance barefoot on your wedding day. We meticulously incorporate comfort into our designs.

With supple leather linings and hidden luxurious foam padding deftly built into the structure of the shoe, you receive a luxurious and comfortable fit, without compromising the elegance and lines of the design.

Hazel & Shelley at Merle & Morris x

This is a sponsored post. For enquiries on sponsored posts please contact fern@rockmywedding.

Every last one of those beautiful paper cranes was folded by today’s Bride Alison.

In Japanese culture, a Bride who finishes this task before her wedding day will be rewarded with a good and happy marriage. And judging by the gorgeous images from Babb Photo, the Bride will also be rewarded with a beautifully decorated reception venue…

Alison’s write up is full of detail, laughter and great advice. And it shows that things will always be alright in the end.

Piglets Included

Alison The Bride: I loved the winding lanes to our venue, South Farm, and the surrounding countryside, the farm building, the barn and the grounds. Food and its provenance is important to us, so the fact that the farm is an organic smallholding that supplies much of its own fruit and veg, free-range pork and eggs was a key factor for us too.

We had the full tour including the greenhouses, poly tunnels, the works! Our guide snuck us a couple of delicious tomatoes to taste. When he asked, “Do you want to meet the piglets?” I knew we would be booking the farm.

Sparkly And Fresh

I don’t wear much make-up day to day, I’m not very good at it and I feared that the nerves on the day might make me even more clutzy. Two of my beautiful Bridesmaids booked me a trial with Dina of D & D Make-up as a present. Once I saw what she could do with my make-up and hair I was converted.

She did a wonderful job of making us look like sparkly, fresh versions of ourselves, despite the fact we had all been up laughing, crying and chatting into the early hours the night before. The hair and make-up stayed put all day in a way I could never manage by myself.

She brought Giles to help out with the hair too so we were well looked after. I was thrilled with everything they did. Getting ready with the girls, Dina and Giles was a lovely part of the day. For perfume it had to be Chloe. I don’t know if it is my signature scent yet but one day it will be.

Dithering Over The Dress

I found dress shopping tough. I knew the style I preferred pretty early on. I love lace and sleeves, with a simple silhouette but I am not sure I would ever be lucky enough to have a moment where I found “the one”. I found the shopping experience awkward and, often the assistants seemed insincere in their constant compliments when some dresses were clearly ridiculous.

I also struggled to come to terms with the idea of a dress more expensive than my car. I wanted to run around, explore the farm with my new husband and my loved ones and hug everyone in sight, regardless of whether they were holding a glass of red wine, without worrying about staining a dress. I wanted to be present, not pre-occupied. I looked at the overseas online shops and got scared of the bad reviews. I dithered.

Inspiration via RMW

When I saw the piece about Kitty and Dulcie on RMW, I began to think there was a genuine alternative. With a bridesmaid by my side, I took my measurements, then took them again, ordered my size and about 3 days later a giant pink box arrived at my desk at work! I had to wait all day to try it; it was agony.

The fit was almost perfect and precisely as it was advertised. I had some alterations done by a local seamstress to take it in and I got my full length, lacey, fishtail dress for a fraction of the cost in a shop. Overall I was exceptionally pleased with my dress and the service. I have one caveat. There was a mark on it, and I had some back and forth with the company and we never really ironed out this problem. If I sent it back, they couldn’t guarantee a replacement in time, but I couldn’t risk not finding another dress.

They wouldn’t pay for cleaning without seeing the mark and I couldn’t take a picture of it as it was on the underlayer and my camera could not be persuaded to focus on it. It went on and on. In the end I chalked it up to experience, kept the dress and wore my late-grandmother’s brooch over it. It was nice to have it as my something old, so I was content in the end after all.

Like A Rock Star

Along the road to planning the wedding I found out I was expecting a new arrival. I also found out that it was likely to be the hottest day of the year. I couldn’t try my dress on again and I wasn’t sure it would go over the tiny but expanding bump (particularly as I had it taken in before this news came to light!)

On the Sunday before the wedding, in a sudden burst of energy, I ordered a dress from Monsoon UK as a second option. It was the matching dress to go with my bridesmaids, but had only just been released, it was like a sign. It arrived 3 days before the wedding. It was all pretty casual.

Even if dress one fitted I thought I might need something light and flowing to be able to move around in the evening and avoid fainting. In the end they both fitted and I got to feel like a rockstar with a costume change part way through the day. Even my two dresses came to less than half of the average shop-bought dress. My advice would be to consider all the options as buying online totally worked for me.

Last Minute Accessories

I am not particularly traditional and whenever the proprietors of bridal shops plonked a veil on my head it made me feel like a little girl dressing up rather than a real bride. They just weren’t for me. I didn’t think of accessories until the Thursday before the wedding, when I ran to town after work to try and pick something up during late night shopping. I couldn’t have left it later if I tried.

I grabbed a pair of earrings, a very simple necklace and a statement cuff from Accessorize UK and ran home to finish my epic DIY projects and packing to leave the house at 8.30 am the next morning to begin my wedding adventure.

Style First, Colour Second

I had three bridesmaids, two very old school friends and Neil’s sister. Their outfits were the first things we bought for the wedding. I didn’t have a colour scheme in mind and decided to be guided by the dresses the girls liked rather than being stuck with a colour and then having a limited choice of dresses. I would thoroughly recommend this approach.

We did a few short trips to get dress ideas and browsed a little online before spotting a pretty teal cocktail dress in Monsoon UK. It had a flattering cut, it had the right amount of sparkle and it suited all of them beautifully. The dresses were Grecian-inspired silk, with a beaded belt cinching in the waist.

They were very much involved in choosing the dresses so I felt confident that they would feel happy and pretty on the day. We teamed the dresses with silver peep-toe shoes from Jones the Bootmaker, which were beautifully comfortable with a little heel. Dressing my girls was the easiest part of the whole affair.

Navy Blue And Golden Yellow

Neil asked my brother and his best friend to be best men, and his sister’s fiancé to be an usher. Team Groom and the Dads all wore navy blue three-piece suits from the high street, some from Marks and Spencer and some from Next depending on their preferred cut. Neil had his suit made at Suit Supply. He chose a brighter blue teamed with a cream waistcoat to make him stand out amongst the boys. He looked especially handsome.

We made several desperate attempts to find ties in the same shade of teal before we realised that we didn’t care about matching. We decided we wanted the overall look to be bright, colourful and inspired by summer and eventually chose golden yellow ties. We gave the boys goody bags on the day with the tie, plain white pocket square and a pair of bright socks each.

A Summer Picnic Mini Festival Mash Up

Once we had decided that we weren’t having a matching colour scheme it got a whole lot easier. We had a vague theme of teal and yellow to link with the ties and dresses but overall the scheme was summery and chaotic. The venue gardens are a riot of colour in July and we wanted to embrace the wonderful English country garden.

The venue is quietly eccentric and we wanted to embrace that. Our friends camped in the field, and some were lucky enough to stay in the restored gypsy caravans on site. The venue didn’t need much help to look stunning and the fact it was the most glorious day of the summer helped too. It felt like a summer picnic and a mini-festival all rolled into one.

A Whoosh Of Fragrance

We had a meeting with a wonderful florist, Liz of Tilia Flowers, and we knew she immediately understood our ideas. Our preference was for bright, colourful English flowers with a variety of shapes, sizes and textures. We gave her the freedom to pick whatever looked brightest and best on the day. We asked for fragrant flowers and herbs to be included in the bouquets and buttonholes so every time we had a bear-hug with someone (which happened approximately every 25 seconds) the scrunched flowers let off a whoosh of fragrance. She included blue and yellow flowers to tie in the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

I explained that I loved peonies but I did understand that they may not be at their prime so something similar would make me happy. I don’t know how she did it. I don’t know who she bribed. When she arrived with the bouquets I could not believe the monster hulk peonies exploding out of each bunch. I thought my flowers looked a bit like something from a Tim Burton film and I loved them.

As a bonus the florist was very familiar with the venue and gave us great suggestions on how to re-use our ceremony flowers later in the day so we got lots of blooms for our buck. It felt like there was an abundance of flowers around all day.

Clear Eyes And Full Hearts

I usually cry at absolutely anything but I was too excited to feel nervous or negative in anyway. As we waited to step out of the farmhouse into the garden for the ceremony, all three bridesmaids got teary instead. My lovely cousin, Katherine played a piano version of “Your Hand in Mine” by Explosions in the Sky as I walked down the lawn with Dad, trying desperately to spot Neil.

Most people were on the chairs, but some people were sitting out on blankets on the lawn in the shade as it was the hottest day of 2013. I found him at the top of the aisle looking a little shell-shocked (or suffering heat-exhaustion). We walked round into the summerhouse together and every now and then he whispered to me “Can you believe this is happening?” Somehow we got through the vows with clear eyes and full hearts. My Mum and Neil’s Sister did wonderful readings and we held hands right the way through.

Every now and then I could spot our wonderful photographer, Laura Babb, or Bee and Mark from Yay Films zipping around to get a different angle, but it felt like a very personal, almost private ceremony.

Stealthily Capturing The Day

Photography was an important part of the day for us. We found Laura Babb on the RMW Love Lust List. Her portfolio spoke for itself and her responses to emails were quick and friendly. We booked pretty sharpish when we found out she was available without waiting for a meeting. There was no need and I am so glad we got her. She gave a great personal service, she is super-friendly but totally professional. I cannot stop recommending her. Her tutorial on carrying bouquets was exceptionally helpful when my butterfly brain was zipping around everywhere before the ceremony too!

Lovely Mark and Bee from Yay! Films were there to capture the day in motion. I didn’t really notice them when I wasn’t trying to spot them, which I think is a good sign. I suspect they may have struggled to persuade our old-school crowd of family to keep moving and not pose because these new-fangled video cameras are so small they look like they are taking stills, but if this became a chore they never let on! I love their highly edited style and the modern approach of interpretation rather than transparent reporting.

Von Trapp Family Style

After the ceremony we had an open-mic session in the garden to let our wonderful, talented friends do all the hard work. I was especially nervous about this part of the day as it really relied upon everyone getting involved. My mind was officially blown by the effort everyone made to put amazing songs together.

It meant that even though I spent hours planning the wedding, there was a two hour section of the day filled with surprises. I absolutely loved it. The highlight of the entire day was when I saw Neil go up on stage to sing an acoustic cover of “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry, dedicated to me, with his best man and an old friend on guitar.

I managed to avoid crying right up until my brand new husband sang for me in front of all of our guests. I also played a little bass while my Dad played a Fleetwood Mac blues track which was a wonderful, surreal moment. My Cousins and Aunts and Uncles all played and sang, we had two singing bridesmaids and some lovely star-turns from friends.

Our first dance was the song “Perfect One” by a band called Lit that we have both loved since we first got together in sixth form. This song was on the first mix tape (on a genuine cassette) that Neil gave to me when we were both 17. It seemed right to dance to it at our wedding 13 years later after growing up together.

We decided that a band was the best way to get people dancing in the evening. I was so glad we found Pressure on Alive Network. As a lot of our friends are musical, we knew a tight band was essential and we were thrilled with these guys. They played a great mix of tunes, their Daft Punk cover was brilliant and they kept everyone dancing to the end. Neil and his sister were pulled up on stage to sing the last song of the night then we all collapsed on to picnic chairs outside to cool off until midnight.

A Glorious Feast Of Home Grown Produce

We picked the venue partly due to the amazing fresh, home-grown produce and we were not disappointed. We had canapés throughout the open-mic reception, including tuna sashimi, risotto and cheese bon-bons, mini chorizo with mash and brie croustades. We also had the South Farm vintage ice-cream bike serving home-made ice cream in delicious flavours like cherry, toffee-pecan and bread-and-butter pudding. Everyone appreciated it in the gorgeous sunny weather.

For our wedding breakfast we chose a squash ravioli for everyone, then a choice of slow-cooked pork, cod with wild mushrooms, or chard and gruyere tart. The dessert was an assiete of dark chocolate and cointreau tort, crème brulee and lemon posset. Several people have said it was the best pork they have eaten.

In keeping with the informal, summer-garden theme, the cake was a three-tier un-iced Victoria sponge decorated with an abundance of English soft fruit. It was made by my multi-talented cousin Katherine. I was lucky enough to get many trial cakes, each as delicious as the last, before the wedding day arrived.

My dad made me a beautiful wooden cake stand, out of a big slice of tree, smoothed and polished to a deep warm brown. My mum knitted two incredibly cute blue-birds from an archaic pattern I unearthed from an archive on the internet and we used them as cake toppers.

DIY Successes And Failures

I tried to make my own invitations and they were horrible. Owen, our talented, designer/web-design geek friend offered to take a look and tidy them up, or have a go at putting something together. I sent him the bones of what I wanted to include. A couple of days later a PDF popped into my inbox with a glorious personal invitation, with lots of lovely touches sprinkled here and there. He took every bit of stress and strain out of it. I got the finished prints and sewed them up with colourful embroidery thread into little booklets to post out to everyone.

I love photobooths, but the budget was stretched tight, so I made one using a vintage suitcase from my nan’s house, an instamatic camera, some really scary animal masks from the internet, some military style hats and silly glasses. I got a beautiful handmade photo album from Kate Bowles Books on Folksy and supplied markers and asked everyone to stick a photo in the book with a message as an alternative to a guestbook. The result is wonderful. As a bonus, I have a box of horrible masks to scare my new husband if he decided to come home late.

Senbazuru

The biggest and craziest DIY task was my decision to fold 1000 origami cranes. I read the myth that a bride who finishes this task, called ‘senbazuru’, before her wedding day will be rewarded with a good and happy marriage. I got two giant packs of paper and folded cranes, every evening, in my lunch-break at work, sometimes when I was stuck on hold on the phone I would finish a couple. I had shoe boxes full of cranes all over the house. Friends helped enormously. We were occasionally found folding cranes in the local pub, with each crane looking less and less crane-like than the last.

Even after they were all folded, I still had to figure out what to do with them. Eventually, with the help of several friends, I strung them on beading wire, separating each one with a bead and hung these strings of birds all over my house to avoid horrible tangles. They were spread out across the back wall of the barn behind the top table as a rainbow backdrop to the evening reception. I recommend that you do not start this unless you mean to finish. It will take hours. It will become boring. I gave myself plenty of time and it was still a rush to finish the last few strings of birds half an hour before I had to leave for the wedding weekend!

I sent a couple of tiny cranes to our florist to pop one in my bouquet and one in Neil’s buttonhole but the post didn’t work out so she didn’t get them. On the morning of the wedding, I made two absolutely tiny cranes for her to use. It was quite a meditative moment, sitting there folding the final two birds quietly while everyone ran around prepping the venue and blow-drying hair.

Mad, Bright And Colourful

Although we didn’t plan a theme, the cranes helped tie everything together in a mad, bright, colourful way. True to form, we left the table plan to the last minute. Then Neil had a vision of how it should be. He spent a sunny afternoon in my parents’ garden making a giant picture frame with my dad and staining it teal. I made big origami birds in 7 colours to decorate the tables. We strung the guest names in long lines, interspersed with cranes of the appropriate colour to show which table they should go to. It was visually stunning and I think everyone got the message, as everyone ended up with a seat!

We printed the place tags at home on paper dotted with dried flowers and bee-friendly wildflower seeds. On the back they had planting instructions and they doubled as favours for the guests.

The bunting around the barn and garden was made by friends and family, including a special string of bunting where each flag was made by one of the hens who came to my hen night. It is a keepsake I will treasure. There was also a special one made by my dad that made me cry when I first saw it.

Give Up Control

My beautiful Bridesmaids organised a spa day the day before the wedding. It meant I had to pack for the wedding, pack for the honeymoon, finish any last DIY bits and then leave the world’s longest list for Neil to organise and swan out of the house at 8.30 am on Friday. The wedding was on Saturday and we zipped off on honeymoon straight after. I relaxed, I swam, I had my nails done and I let all the rest of it go. If you can bear to give up that last bit of control, I would really recommend it. It meant that I wasn’t a frazzled, quivering mess on the morning of the wedding.

After I ran out to get jewellery on the Thursday before the wedding, I wasn’t totally thrilled with my choices. I needn’t have bothered. While I was stuffing my face with pizza in my Bridesmaid’s garden on the wedding eve, my husband-to-be arranged a secret parcel to be delivered to the house without me having a clue it was happening.

On the morning of the wedding, before I had any make-up on to ruin, my girls huddled round me with gift bags and cameras. He had snuck out and bought me the most beautiful Tiffany necklace and earrings as a surprise. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the signature turquoise boxes. He also got me some teal Rayban sunnies so I could look cool in the photos and match my Bridesmaids and then take them on honeymoon. It made me realise all over again what a sweet, crazy, extravagant, thoughtful man I was about to marry.

My advice is to plan and make and create to your heart’s content but also rely on your friends and especially your partner to be involved and to surprise you. It was all the little (and amazingly huge) things that everyone brought to the wedding that made it so special.

Alison & Neil Wedding Highlight Film from YAY! Films on Vimeo.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Kitty And Dulcie and Monsoon UK
Accessories – Accessorize UK and Tiffany
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – Monsoon UK
Hair And Make Up – D&D Make Up
Groom – Suit Supply
Groomsmen – Marks and Spencer and Next
Invitations – Owen Lewis Design
Florist – Liz at Tilia Wedding Flowers
Band – Pressure from the Alive Network
Venue – South Farm
Videography – Yay! Films
Photography – Babb Photo

I actually think it would be very therapeutic to fold cranes in the run up to your wedding.

It must have been very satisfying for Alison when she folded the final one.

They do look truly spectacular in all of their rainbow glory against the barn wall.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Most of the décor from today’s rustic farm wedding came from car boot sales. Laura and Patch seem to have a bit of an obsession with them as you’ll see…

The inspiration for their colour scheme actually came from a piece of painted, rusting metal and their brilliant DIY photo booth was made by Laura and her Dad from rescued bits and bobs. Their efforts look perfect in the gorgeous barn at Herons Farm.

Laura’s Dad has been slowly restoring a vintage Austin A40 since she was little and so Laura chose one as her wedding car especially for him. Isn’t that lovely?

A Touch Of English Elegance

Laura The Bride: Hello our Venue was Herons Farm in Pangbourne. We fell in love with this location as it had everything that we were looking for. A touch of English elegance with its beautiful courtyard and gardens to the Rustic look and feel of the Barn.

Enjoy The Girly Time

I am a bit rubbish at being a girl so luckily my cousin and mum came to my rescue. My mum booked me a pedicure and manicure by a lovely lady round the corner a few nights before the big day. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this as it was good to take some time out for myself, especially as I got to spend that time with someone I love. Thanks to Teresa Clark Beauty. I may even be ever so slightly more aware of how to make the best of myself for it.

My cousin Sam used to do bridal makeup and hair professionally so I obviously took full advantage of this I was so happy with what she did, Especially as my direction was pretty poor, with statements such as tight but loose and up but down! Luckily pinterest was one of my closest pals throughout my planning so I could try to explain with pictures of what I meant.

Patrick’s cousin did a brilliant job with my bridesmaids hair I only wish I could do my own hair like this on a daily basis.

Love At First Sight

Normally I am a bit of a nightmare to go shopping with, so I’m pretty sure my Mum was probably deep down prepping herself! However much to everyone’s amazement the dress was the first one I saw in the first shop we looked at.

Yes there were many beautiful gowns which I would have loved but I fell dangerously close to marrying the dress. I was so comfortable in this dress and loved every second of being in it, extra plus it had pockets!

My dress was Kelly by Stephanie Allin purchased from Windsor Bride.

The Shoe Hunt

I was convinced that I wanted the flapper vintage style dancing shoes and I did come dangerously close to getting some Rachel Simpson shoes, but they were still not quite what I had in mind. I bought vintage shoes from ASOS Boutique which were also cute but not quite right. Then I saw them like a beacon of shinning light through my depths of despair – a pair called Trip to the Light from Seychelles Footwear.

The only problem was that they were from America and did not ship to the UK. I hunted on Ebay but could still not find them. Luckily I finally just used my brain and just asked if they would ship to the UK and low and behold my dream came true. They are the best shoes I have ever owned!

Shades Of Green

I had quite a few bridesmaids. Originally I wanted all of the bridesmaids in completely different dresses but all the similar colour. Seafoam, aqua, tiffany green and mint were all names that frequently were in my search bar.

The infinity dress from Craftingsg on Etsy allowed me to create different dresses for the older bridesmaids but which still suited each of them and that they could then wear how they wanted.

Patrick’s shoes were from Ben Sherman.

Our flower girl’s dress was from Monsoon UK.

Inspiration From The Unexpected

Patrick proposed on my birthday and we were at the time looking for our first home together. We were obsessed with carboots at this time as the things some people just don’t want any more and with a bit of paint and love can be transformed into something magnificently yours and of course everyone loves a good bargain!

I’ve always loved things that others don’t see the beauty in any more…anyway staying on track…he took me to Portabello road where I spent most of my money on a piece of metal that had been painted and then had rusted over the top – it had the most beutiful colours, we used this as our basis for the colour scheme.

Again carboots all the way – tea pots and old wooden telephone boxes and jugs for vases. Some people even gave them away at the car boots as they thought that I was doing them a favour! We used old books to place table numbers on and photographs from our parents wedding, and added a spot of vintage with suitcases and lace and pearls dotted around the venue.

Foxglove Designs

My friend Amy from Foxglove Designs is the most creative person I know. Amy did an amazing job on my flowers. Seeing that the only flower names I know are daisy and rose she managed to translate what I wanted into my beautiful bouquets and table arrangements.

I love wild flowers I think they are so beautiful.

A Personal Ceremony

Our Church was St James the Less. Such lovely people at the church and made us feel so welcome when we started to attend. My niece did us a lovely reading. We were so proud of her public speaking ability and it just made the reading that extra bit special. It was from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Patrick’s family priest then did a very personal a funny little reading and the address.

If I’m honest what made the service so special was that I had my soul mate waiting for me at the end of the aisle and I couldn’t wait to get by his side.

Old Blue Eyes

Another great moment we will remember forever was when the car took us to the venue and as we pulled into the courtyard our Frank Sinatra singer was performing, it was like the icing on the cake that all of our hard work had paid off and everyone was there to chill and enjoy it with us whilst sipping on some good old pimms. He was a lovely chap.

We had Patrick’s dads friend do the DJ where we sure did bust out some moves. Our first dance was to The Lumineers.

Chocolate Cake For A Chocolate Fiend

My Mum made tasty chutney and marmalade as favors in dinky little farmhouse jars. I was most impressed with the skills she pulled out!

Our cake was from Marks and Spencer as Patch is a bit of a chocolate fiend and our catering was provided by the venue by RS Catering. Everyone loved the food thumbs up from us.

We did want to do a free bar so with the help of Patrick’s cousin who owns a few bars we managed to cater to everyone’s tipples.

Suffering For The Art

My first wedding purchase was from Nooli Bird stamps. This stamp was used on my wedding invitations where I then typed out the address details for church, venue and places to stay on a typewriter. It was a vintage one from the car boot so my fingers were a bit destroyed after finishing.

Table plan inspiration was from pinterest where we wrote on a mirror that we got from the good old car boot. My friend wrote on the cards as she has much prettier writing than me.

The photo booth and sign post was made by me with a bit of hands on help by my Dad.

We’d Relive It Ten Fold

We did find some aspect of planning our day stressful but would go through the stressful times ten fold to relive this day as it was worth it to see our friends and family enjoy it it with us.

It was a day filled with warm emotion because we stuck to what we wanted and ultimately got to marry each other. Stick to your guns with whatever you want to do and ask for help if you need it, as people normally just want to be involved. If things don’t go the way you hoped – roll with it as at the end of the day what matters is you and your partner!

One Piece At A Time

What can I say about Sassy our photographer?! I slightly worried that I was going to get a girl crush on her. She was the best photographer ever, so understanding and always knew what was best, we would trust her implicitly with what she thought and went with what she thought was the best move to get the right shot. As you can see it paid off to do so! She is such a lovely person too and she was such a big part of the day.

I was majorly impressed with how my friends and family pulled together and helped create our magical day which we will remember forever. My friend Vicky even produced the most beautiful video which blew us away I have watched this an unhealthy amount of times.

The car was picked not only because it went quite nicely with our theme and colours but also as my Dad is a sheet metal worker and has had this car as a shell in the garage since I was a little girl, he does a little bit by little bit into restoring it but is a slow process. It was lovely to get a ride in the same model with him.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Kelly by Stephanie Allin at Windsor Bride
Shoes – Seychelles Footwear
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – craftingsg on Etsy
Flower Girl – Monsoon UK
Florist – Amy at Foxglove Designs
Frank Sinatra Tribute – Book Live
Cake – Marks and Spencer
Catering – RS Catering
Car – Premier Carriage
Venue – Herons Farm
Photography – Assassynation

How gorgeous are the couple shots in the setting sun?

The tongue-in-cheek shots on the hay bales are great too.

I’m so glad Laura managed to bag her dream wedding shoes – they are beauties.

Lots of love,
Fern x

RMW regulars will recognise the sandy beach above…we used the dreamy Camber Sands as the backdrop to our end-of-summer editorial, I Believe In Mermaids.

Bride Georgie and her Groom James are lucky enough to have made Camber Sands their home. Which is why they decided to hold their wedding there – it was neutral territory, so to speak, somewhere neither of them had grown up.

James proposed to Georgie on the beach behind The Gallivant, so it was a no-brainer when it came to deciding where they would hold the reception.

Georgie’s advice to cram as much entertainment into the day as possible is great – basically just make your wedding a massive party!

Our Home Together

Our venue choice was easy. The Gallivant Hotel at Camber Sands was honestly the only place we looked at. It’s a very special place for us, the first weekend we got our keys for our new home by Camber, James proposed to me on the beach. As we walked off the sands we popped into the Gallivant for some celebratory bubbles and asked about their wedding options, and sitting there looking out to the dunes we knew it would be the perfect venue for our wedding.

The lovely thing about Camber for us (aside from the beautiful beach) is that fact that it’s our home together rather than where either of us grew up. Also, as soon as I found out they do canapés and cocktails on the beach (coincidentally, right at the spot where James proposed) I knew I wouldn’t find anything better.

A Talented Friend

I’m lucky in that my lovely friend Charlotte works for a cosmetics company, and over the years she has worked as a fabulous make-up artist for them. I have to admit I am pretty useless with make-up and cosmetics so I was happy to take direction from her. She did a fab job plus it was so nice to have a good friend with me on the day rather than a stranger.

I would also recommend getting individual false lashes done at a salon (mine were done at Beauty Forever in Ashford). I was initially quite reluctant because I’d read lots of horror stories about them pulling out your real lashes etc. I didn’t find this to be the case (thank God!) and just loved the result.

My hair was done by the Rye Retreat, a really lovely spa/ salon in Rye. I knew I wanted my hair up and after a couple of sessions with the lovely Katie, we decided on a style that would work with my dress and the veil.

Beautiful Lace

I initially really wanted to go for a boho, beachy type dress but unfortunately none of those sort of floaty styles suited me. The dress I wore was from Johanna Hehir bridal in Marylebone. The lace on it is beautiful and after a few bootcamp sessions and a bit of needlework it fit perfectly. I was also lucky enough to have a sample which really helped with our budget.

Amazing Accessories

James actually bought me the earrings (by Beaut at Grays Antiques Market) before we got engaged (amazingly he chose them himself!!) but I had never had the appropriate occasion to wear them. Luckily they were perfect with the dress, and because they are quite big and dangly it meant I didn’t need a necklace on the day.

The bracelet was borrowed from my mum. The veil was loaned to me by my lovely friend Rowena and the shoes, Vamp by Jimmy Choo, were a 30th birthday pressie from my Mum (I think they were my favourite part of my outfit!).

Bespoke Wedding Party

My lovely bridesmaids were Karen and Maddy (whom I went to primary school with), James sister Natalie and Cate who I met when I first moved to London. I think picking dresses for them was probably one of the hardest tasks. All of them are quite different shapes so finding one that looked good on all of them was near impossible. In the end I was recommended lightinthebox.com by a friend. This company based in China allows you to pick the fabric/ colour you want along with the style, you then supply the exact measurements and they are made within about 4-6weeks.

It was great because it allowed the girls to pick the style that suited them best and all I had to do was pick the fabric and colour. I was a bit sceptical about ordering online but they were really well made. I would recommend ordering the sample fabrics before deciding though. It’s about £30, which is a lot in the budget – but it’s worth it to see the fabric and colours in the flesh before ordering. I’ll admit we did have to do a few alterations (which weren’t expensive) however overall I was really pleased with the result.

James’ suit was custom made by Tiger of Sweden. The ushers all wore their own blue/navy suits or borrowed one from James (strangely he had three that he wears to work) so that worked out well and saved us some money.

Sea Shells And Bunting

I was lucky that the Gallivant decorate the venue beautifully so in all honesty I didn’t need to do that much. Having the beachy theme actually made making decisions about décor much easier (I think it must be easy to get overwhelmed with choice without having a strong theme). I used local scallop shells which I drilled and tied with raffia and tags for the girls place names and we used stones from the beach where James grew up for the boys place names.

I collected a lot of jars, filled them with shells and floating candles and tied them with raffia which looked nice on the tables outside and for the favours I bought a load of Guylian chocs (shaped like shells) and put them in bags tied with raffia (tied enough raffia to last me my life!). My friend Louise had painstakingly handmade 200m of beautiful blue and yellow bunting for her wedding which she kindly lent to me. I also bought a load of paper lanterns with pretty little lights which were hung in the party room – perfect for when it got dark.

Pinterest was my inspiration for most things! It’s like porn for brides.

Miss Piggy Roses

I owe the beauty of the flowers to the lovely ladies at Café des Fleurs in Rye. I just asked for a mixture of wild(ish) flowers including some blue and pink and they came up with a beautiful selection. My favourite were the beautiful orangey pink roses wonderfully called ‘Miss Piggy roses’. I bought a lot of small milk bottles and collected jam jars which they filled for the tables. We also had a couple of nice arrangements in the church and on the pew ends.

A Magical Moment

For the readings we had; I Carry Your Heart In My Heart by EE Cummins (I love this), The Lovely Dinosaur by Edward Monkton and Song Of Solomon 2 V 10-13. One of my favourite moments had to be walking into the church and seeing all my friends and family smiling back at me. With everything going on I’d almost forgotten how many of them were going to be there! Saying our vows to each other was also pretty magical.

Like Being In A Movie

The band were recommended to us by The Gallivant (Freddie And The Freeloaders)- they were absolutely brilliant. They played a great selection of tunes to get everybody up and dancing without being cheesy at all.

My lovely Dad secretly organised three singing waiters from Encore Entertainment for after dinner (I had previously said “no way”). I am so glad he didn’t listen to me because they were absolutely brilliant. Given how much planning I had done for the wedding, I never expected any kind of surprise and he pulled it off brilliantly. All of the guests also had no idea what was going on either and watching their faces as they realised what was happening was priceless. My favourite part of the whole day has to be watching all my wedding guests flinging their napkins around their head trying to sing along to “Funiculi, Funicula”. I almost had to pinch myself. It was like being in a movie.

Our first dance was “What A Difference A Day Makes” by Dinah Washington. We had a few lessons from a friend of a friend (Susan Conway based in central London) who I’d also recommend.

Starfish Adorned Cake

The Gallivant did a great job on the food. It was all sharing platters which was great because we got to try a bit of everything. The cake was a plain three tier mixed sponge from Marks and Spencer and a friend made the starfish for me after a bit of inspiration from Pinterest. I’m sure a custom cake would have been lovely but you have to cut costs somewhere and the Marks and Spencer one was really delicious plus the starfish looked great.

A Stationery Challenge

The invites were my nemesis. I really wanted to do them myself but I also wanted to them to be perfect so they took me way longer than I could have anticipated. I was really pleased with them in the end but James will tell you I wasn’t the most fun person to be around whilst doing them…also having to pick only 100 guests when you want 200 people to come is quite stressful.

However they worked out well in the end and was so nice to be able to have everything matching (orders of service, invites, table plan etc) without it breaking the bank. I found a great printers near where I work in London (Reprocopy on Ludgate hill in London) who were really sympathetic to what I wanted and so helpful advising me on what would work and how I could save money.

The card was called Barley Mo from Paperchase and I just designed them in word. I think having a single motif throughout worked really nicely (I found a great little scallop shell motif online).

Put On A Show

Figure out which things you want to spend time on in the days leading up to the wedding and those things which you can delegate. You can’t do everything yourself (I did try) and friends and family actually like to help so they feel included. I loved doing all the crafty stuff so all the heavy lifting (running around, raking sheep poo outside the church etc) went to friends and family- thanks guys!

Get in as much entertainment as you can throughout the day. One of the things I loved at our wedding was all the musical entertainment. I can’t take all the credit for that because the singing waiters were actually organised by my Dad (unbeknown to me) and our gorgeous friends Rupert and Ruth who are in a folk band surprised us by writing us a wedding shanty for the occasion.

Another friend Faraz was our resident DJ and there was a bit of a spontaneous open mic session at the ‘after party’ which I can only blame on all the alcohol. Actually…all we really organised was the band! Looking back all the entertainment worked brilliantly and I’d highly recommend trying to cram as much into your wedding as possible.

We were lucky that James’ close friend Stewart is extremely good at shouting so was delighted to be asked to be our MC. Having someone whose job it is to tell everyone what to do means that you don’t have to so I’d recommend that.

Fantastic Suppliers

I would seriously recommend all of the suppliers listed (they were all amazing) especially our lovely photographer Juliet McKee. The photos are beautiful and Juliet was a delight to work with. We also hired Gorgeous Film to video the wedding. We haven’t got it back yet but if it comes out like any of those we have seen on their website I’ll be delighted. I was a bit worried initially that having both a photographer and videographer might be a bit intrusive but I barely noticed either of them all day.

The Gallivant were also fantastic. Alice, Mark, Diana and all the staff on the day and leading up to it made it so easy for us. They put up all the decorations and even finished off the cake which freed up so much of my time and really eased the stress.

Bride’s Gown – Johanna Hehir
Shoes – Jimmy Choo
Earrings – Beaut at Grays Antiques Market
Hair – Katie at The Rye Retreat
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – lightinthebox.com
Groom – Tiger Of Sweden
Florist – Café des Fleurs
Band – Freddie And The Freeloaders
Singing Waiters – Encore
Stationery Printers – Reprocopy
Cake – Marks and Spencer
Venue – The Gallivant
Videography – Gorgeous Film
Photography – Juliet McKee

Click here & view all images from this wedding

It’s always nice to see Love Lust members involved in fabulous weddings and it sounds like Georgie and James were thrilled with The Gallivant.

If you would like to see the full range of beautiful gowns from Johanna Hehir, have a look at the Designer Collections pages right here on RMW.

I’m still swooning over Georgie’s jewellery and THAT amazing bouquet which looks so stunning against her elegant gown.

Lots of love,
Fern x

I hope you are ready for elegance and sophistication this Monday morning. Carla and Ryan’s gorgeous wedding has more than a touch of class about it.

The flowers in particular are unbelievably dreamy. Carla scoured Pinterest to gather floral inspiration and chose spray roses, lisianthus, amaranthus, gypsophila, wax flowers, asters, dahlias and eucalyptus.

Combined with elegant long white candles, silver candelabras and hanging crystals; the effect is exactly what Carla wanted – romantic and cosy. I’m sure she’ll be inspiring future Brides via Pinterest herself.

There is some serious cute factor in this wedding too, with Carla and Ryan’s two little boys acting as page boys in mini Zara suits. So adorable.

Wedding Research Junkie

Carla The Bride: From the day my husband proposed to me, I brought every single wedding magazine off the shelf. I’ve always wanted to get married but I never imagined what it would be like, so I spent the next two years researching everything wedding!

When I first started looking at venues, I was looking in Dorset where we were living, and also looking in London because there was a chance we was moving back! We then decided to get married in Dorset no matter what, mainly because we grew very close to our priest who was going to marry us, so it would of made the day even more special.

I looked at loads of venues, and I was VERY fussy, something was always wrong, normally the interior design! I eventually found Chewton Glen, we fell in love with the venue, it was beautiful. The wedding coordinator Dahlia Hill there was amazing! She made sure everything was totally in place and nothing was impossible, she wanted to make sure we had the wedding of our dreams, and would go out of her way to help us. I called her the fairy godmother.

I Knew What I Wanted

I knew I wanted my hair to be up so you could see all of my dress, and my make up to be quite natural with just a little bit of colour. I got lots of inspiration from pinterest, blogs & wedding mags.

After a few trials with different people I eventually found my hairdresser via my photographers Facebook page, and my make-up artist was recommend by my wedding coordinator at Chewton Glen.

Next Step New York

I was sooooo excited about finding my dress, I went to a few local Shops in Bournemouth and found lots of lovely dresses, but not “the one”. I fell in love with the designer Enzoani so me and my mother-in-law went to the Enzoani designer day at The Wedding Shop in Essex to try on dresses from the new collection.

I had a list of 13 dresses I wanted to try on and once I got through them all I realised none of them really suited me. While I was trying on the dresses there was a gorgeous Pronovias dress called Dietrich just hanging randomly in the background on a dress rail. My mother-in-law told me to try it on and I was thinking the same thing – because it kept catching my eye.

As soon as I put it on I knew it was “the one”, it had a lovely feather detail on the front and a diamond brooch and beautiful lace! It was perfect. I didn’t have any tears, just pure relief, because I think my next step was New York! I loved telling everyone my dress had feathers on it, but wouldn’t tell anyone where, they always looked a bit worried!

Simple But Stunning Accessories

I bought a gorgeous veil the same time I bought my dress, but three weeks before the wedding I saw a bride on a blog wearing a gorgeous veil called Jackie’O from the shop Mirror Mirror. So I called the shop and brought the veil on impulse and I’m so glad I did, as it was perfect.

My shoes…..I loved my shoes!!! They are called Vita by Jimmy Choo, the heels were 5.7 inches and I didn’t take them off until the wedding was over. They were so comfortable. I didn’t want to wear to much jewellery because my dress had a lot going on with the lace, feathers and diamond brooch, I just wore some lovely diamond pear drop earrings.

A Very Stylish Wedding Party

My older bridesmaids wore gorgeous Ghost dresses calked Gabriella. Originally I bought all of the dresses from the on-line sale in the same colour, but then they called to say they only had two available. So I kept the two I had and then got two in lilac – it actually worked out great.

My two junior bridesmaids wore lovely white skater dresses from Miss Selfridge with matching lace white gloves, my little flower girl wore a lovely white dress bought from Boots.com. My two little boys (page boys) wore Zara. The Groom and Groomsmen had their Navy suits custom made from Moss Bros, and Ryan had our names and wedding date sewed to the inside of his jacket.

Romantic And Cosy

I didn’t really start out with a colour scheme but because the Lake Suite in Chewton Glen was lilac and my bridesmaids dresses ended up being lilac, it sort of ended up being my colour scheme.

The main thing for me was everything tied in – so I wanted the flowers in the reception room to match the décor of the room and I wanted my bridesmaids to compliment each other. I wanted the reception room to feel romantic and cosy, lit by candle light and a few up lighters so it felt more warm and intimate.

Flower Perfection

My bouquet was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest, it was gorgeous. The flower design consisted of hydrangea, mixed large headed and spray roses, freesia, and dahlia, as well as a hint of foliage with the lush lace handle.

The bridesmaids bouquet was white hydrangeas with a bit of lilac gypsophila. My church decoration had gypsophila tied with white tulle at the pew ends, and at the front of the church we had two large vases with a ball of gypsophila and tea lights around the bottom.

My reception flowers were wrapped around a lovely table candelabra. The flowers used were spray roses, roses, lissianthus, amaranthus as the feature flowers, then filling in around this was gypsophila, wax flowers, asters, dahlias and eucalyptus sprayed gold, and lovely crystals hanging down. My florist was amazing, she was so patient and helped me narrow down my choice, I had a very long Pinterest board for blooms but I was so happy with the choices we made.

A Family Ceremony

We had our rehearsal the day before and I think that was when it finally hit us. Up until then it was all about flowers, dresses, shoes etc, but at that moment the nerves and excitement really kicked in, and the fear I was going to mess up the vows was my new worry! On the day I was so laid back, a couple of things did go wrong – including that I was getting over a stomach bug and I got poked in the eye with the mascara wand on the morning of wedding so had a red weeping eye all day! People thought I was very emotional!

But I really didn’t care, all I could do was laugh! And all that mattered to me was marrying the love of my life, so walking down the aisle and the whole ceremony was perfect. It was even more special that our little boys got to witness us getting married and came and sat with us during the ceremony.

Sweetest Love

I found our DJ through a wedding blog, on their website they have a couple demos you could listen to and I found myself loving every song and having a little dance in my living room – so I knew I found the right DJ.

Our first dance was Sweetest Love by Robin Thicke, I used to listen to his album all the time! But my husband is more into hip hop. When we did try and pick a song together the hip hop kept coming on, so I just went with the song I liked, with his blessing of course! Halfway through our first dance we got our Mums up and both had a little dance with them to so it was really lovely.

A Proper Sunday Roast

The food was gorgeous at our wedding. All our guests enjoyed champagne and canapés on the terrace overlooking the stunning grounds. After the drinks reception we sat down to a 3 course meal and after everyone kept saying they were totally stuffed!

The first course was thai fish cakes, since we got married on a Sunday I thought I’ll keep it simple with a Sunday roast as the main, for desserts we served a trio of desserts – chocolate brownie with ice cream, strawberry pavlova & apple tarte tatin.

Later on in the evening we served bacon baps, chips, mini burgers, cheese toasties and wedding cake. LOTS of food .

Elegant Stationery

I loved our wedding invites, they were designed by Emily & Jo. The day invites were grey with silver letter press and the evening were white with grey writing. Chewton Glen provided all the stationery at the venue, including a white post box for the cards. We also had a Photobooth set up in the evening, I think it’s great to capture the fun side of a wedding.

Don’t Lose Sight

The only bit of advice I can say is don’t lose sight of what the day is really about. If things go wrong with the decoration or if the weather’s not right etc don’t let it effect you. All that matters is the the person you’re about to marry. So enjoy and celebrate your day as much as you can.

When you look back in years to come, none of the material things will matter, but your partner will.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Dress – Dietrich by Pronovias at The Wedding Shop
Shoes – Vita by Jimmy Choo
Hair – LadyB Event Hair Design
Bridesmaids – Ghost and Miss Selfridge
Flower Girl – Boots.com
Page Boys – Zara
Groom and Groomsmen – Bespoke at Moss Bros
Venue – Chewton Glen
Florist – Concept Flowers
DJ – Wedding Smashers
Stationery – Emily & Jo
Photography – Hayley Savage
Videography – Blooming Lovely Films

The flowers are stunning aren’t they?

Carla and Ryan look giddy with happiness in all of the images too.

And you’d never be able to tell that Carla had been stabbed in the eye with a mascara wand…she looks radiant.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Friday is finally here, and with it we have a visual feast of a wedding for you.

Lindsay and Daryl married at the height of summer in a beautiful 17th Century House in the Brecon Beacons – it truly does look like a magical occasion.

With Martin Ellard’s images and Lindsay’s words, the sense of building anticipation that surrounds a wedding has been captured beautifully.

So please – get yourselves comfy and indulge in this sumptuous Welsh wedding.

Spectacular But Not Fussy

Lindsay The Bride: The venue was perfect from the first time we saw it. We wanted an outdoor and relaxed wedding, nothing too formal or traditional – and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Penpont had a touch of the spectacular without the usual fuss, and just getting married on a porch was so easy and natural. The porch just happened to be that of a 17th Century House set in a 2000 acre rural estate within the Brecon Beacons.

It’s tough to find a place outdoors to get legally married, and the fact that the porch was a licensed area of the venue meant that we could stand outside and read our vows, with our guests sitting outside too. All we needed now was the good weather. You can’t guarantee good weather, but we had picked the hottest day of the year – statistically speaking – so we gave ourselves the best possible chance.

We setup a giant tipi on the front lawn, ready for dinner and the reception. We also had games and bales of straw.

The surroundings were vast and open, yet seemed so intimate. We also loved that guests could camp if they chose, it added to the relaxed feeling surrounding the wedding. When the band arrived the day before and started practicing it all started to click into place and the atmosphere began to build.

Guests that were staying, either in the courtyard wing or camping, started to arrive and the night before the wedding ended up being a magical event of it’s own – sat on straw bales with the band playing, singing around the camp fire until the morning sun arrived.

A Classic Bride

I wanted classic vintage style with finger waves and a red lip. I also wanted to continue the relaxed feel with the bridesmaids having loose curls and flowers in their hair. My daughter Skye had something slightly different as loose curls wouldn’t have lasted long when she was doing kartwheels! She had a plait at the top of her head in a shape of a heart, also with flowers.

The make up was done by Farhana Ali, she did a beautiful job, I looked like the vintage bride I hoped for, with a bright red lip and black eyeliner. She also did henna on my feet, I always wanted it done and the wedding was the perfect opportunity. She free hand drew it and it looked stunning, a lovely addition and perfect for the honeymoon.

The Last Shop

I hunted high and low for my dress, I loved dress shopping, maybe thats why it took so long to find… Ironically I found it in the last shop, the dress by Mori Lee, was ivory fishtail with lots of lace and quite a lot of sparkle. I’m never one for a lot of sparkle, so it surprised me the most that this was the perfect dress.

I loved it, especially the back and lace cup selves. The dress had quite a long trail but easily clipped up with the bridesmaids help!

A Touch Of Tweed

Daryl wanted to wear something that combined country, vintage and a sense of occasion. His initial idea to tackle this was to wear a tweed suit. But tweed suits are a little hard to come by. Tweed jackets, sure, but the whole suit – no. Not unless you had one made – An expense which we didn’t think was worth it, especially given that suits would also be needed for The Father of the Bride and Best Man.

After looking online, Daryl found a forum talking about suits in London and someone suggested Suit Supply as a good value option, with a unique range. After checking out the website and loving the style, we went to London to visit the shop. Daryl walked in looking for a tweed suit but left with something entirely different – A blue cloth Italian style suit, which although not tweed, was ‘different’ enough to tick the right boxes.

He found tweed waistcoats online that worked perfectly, and I found ties in Topman that helped the navy and brown colour scheme go together along with a white shirt and brown shoes.

Simple And Elegant Jewellery

I decided against a veil as I found it took it away from the dress. So I went with a ‘very sparkly’ diamond head brooch. Jewellery was kept quite simple as there was enough going on. I went for simple diamond studs and very thin necklace. Shoes were a similar colour to the bridesmaids dresses, a light blush colour – not that you see your shoes!

Light Blush

My Bridesmaid, my sister Rebecca and Maid of honour Kelly, wore dresses from Debenhams.

We were in there one day not looking for bridesmaids outfits and came across them, they were perfect, the light blush colour, really floaty and slight ruffles at the bottom. They matched them up with coral strapped shoes. My daughter Skye wore a dress similar to the girls but was from Monsoon UK, it had a little sparkle detail which suited her perfectly.

Groomsmen wore a blue cloth Italian style suit with tweed waistcoats and brown shoes. My son wore a tweed suit from Marks and Spencer, I paired it up with braces and it looked delightful – not that he stayed in it for long!

Vintage China

Rustic and relaxed was the theme with a splash of fine china. I didn’t really have a colour, I really liked the colour blush and the bridesmaids were that, but as for the rest I had lots of colours.

We had lots of different colour vintage china and the table decorations were created by My Vintage Flower, they were perfect for our theme, fine china and wooden trunks engraved with our initials just like our wedding invitations. The centerpieces displayed beautiful flowers with lots of green and pink set in vintage tea cups and glasses.

Organic And Relaxed

The flowers from Blush were perfect, natural, just picked out of a field look. With moss, daises, mint and ponies taking center stage. My bouquet had the same flowers loosely tied with a little lace, very organic and relaxed.

Cloudy With Sunny Spells

Remember that we picked the date because it was (statistically) most likely to be the hottest day of the year? Well, I think that might have been the day before! It was sweltering, and left a lot of our guests considering their outfit for the next day. Many men even considering wearing Tshirt and shorts to the reception!

On the day of the wedding, however, I woke to find dark clouds covering the sky. Fortunately, the clouds broke and, while not as hot or as clear as the previous day, it didn’t rain and was in fact probably the most perfect weather we could imagine – I guess they’d say cloudy with sunny spells. It was dry and comfortable – and that was gorgeous!

The weather meant that we could get married on the porch and our 40-50 guests could sit outside. With a week to go before the wedding, we decided to get a harpist to play while we waited for the bride to arrive, and of course to ‘walk down the aisle’. It was a good decision looking back, as we only had live music the whole time.

Fashionably Late

I was 30 minutes late for the ceremony, which was quite a while seeing as I had been getting ready just upstairs in the bridal suite of the house! But no one had told me I was that late and so I was unaware. Apparently Daryl had a few comments about it as everyone waited for me to arrive!!

After the ceremony we had drinks on the lawn, peach bellini’s and canapes. We disappeared for a few photos before sitting down for dinner, drinks and speeches in the tipi. Dinner was delicious and everyone’s speeches were both touching and funny, exactly what you hope for I guess.

An Explosive Party

The evening reception was also held in the tipi where we had a band, a bar and a dance floor! It had been the perfect day but I really think we saved some of the best til last – our band, Hermitage Green, were incredible and really helped top the day. Everyone joined in dancing, singing and having the time of their life.

It all started with our first dance – ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford & Sons, the perfect choice. I think it surprised everyone when we started swinging around in circles! I remember feeling dizzy and my hairpiece falling out but most of all I remember everyone smiling and singing along.

Even the generator catching on fire couldn’t ruin the day. The power cut off for a little while and the band played a song or two acoustically while Daryl’s brother in law (also a fireman) and friend (that lent us the generator) got to work putting the fire out and getting the generator back up and running! Much to the band (and caterer’s) relief.

A Dessert Tower

Prickly Pear did the food and it was delicious, we had pate for starter – Daryl’s favourite. For our main course we had Beef with sweet potato mash, greens and red wine jus. I LOVE dessert and couldn’t decide on one, so we went for them all! We had a dessert tower with lots of mini delights, it was perfect and went down a storm.

The wedding cake followed the natural theme with a vanilla and chocolate sponge covered in fruit and flowers and topped off with a little mini bunting with the words ‘Hitched’ made by My Vintage Flower.

For wedding favours we went with scratch cards, we asked everyone to wait until we finish the speeches so everyone could scratch them together. It was a great finish to all the formalities and we had a few winners, nothing big though!

We decided to do a bring-your-own with drinks and also had a free bar and two cocktail drinks dispensers with Daryl and I’s favourite cocktails. We labeled them up and we wanted to see who’s would win, but to be fair they both went by the end of the night but I was drinking his too!

Our wedding invites were designed and printed by Colourbox. They captured the feel to the wedding exactly, it set the tone for what was to come. They were hand tied with ribbon like a little parcel, stuffed with note book confetti and sealed with a seal.

Engraved Forever

My advice would be don’t buy expensive shoes as you don’t see them! Also, choose an amazing photographer as they will capture every special moment for you to relive again and again.

For me one of the special moments was just dancing on the dance floor and looking around and seeing everyone we love have an amazing time dancing and laughing – wicked! Da’s favourite moment was the first dance, because it was funny and special as we got the band to play our song.

Also the day after the wedding we engraved our initials into a tree at Penpont, just like out wedding invites and table decorations, hopefully it will be there years to come.

Everything And More

Our photographer Martin Ellard from My Big Day Photos was outstanding. He captured every single detail and special moment. He was dedicated and stayed until there was nothing else to shoot. The final photos are magical, they are everything and more we’d hoped for.

The styling from My Vintage Flower looked wonderful – from the kids fun suitcase to the vintage bunting. Such a personal touch, it represented us totally.

Each centerpiece was original and unique for us, every piece of china was sourced to suit our relaxed and organic feel. The table looked magical with our personalised rustic tree trunks and old worldly books. We were really pleased with it all.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown – Mori Lee
Bridesmaid’s Dresses – Debenhams
Flower Girl – Monsoon UK
Groom’s Suit – Suit Supply
Hair – Lyndsey Jerman at Boho Hair
Make Up – Farhana
Florist – Blush
Catering – Prickly Pear
Invitations – Colourbox
Band – Hermitage Green
Venue – Penpont
Styling – My Vintage Flower
Photography – Martin Ellard at My Big Day Photos

The images make you wish you were there don’t they?

Martin Ellard really has captured both the hazy warmth of a summers day AND the overwhelming sense of love that only a wedding can bring.

And don’t worry, it’s ok to have cake for breakfast on a Friday…

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Morwenna and Andy’s wedding is as much a celebration of the West Country and it is of their love.

Firstly, they held their reception in Morwenna’s parents back garden in the glorious county of Somerset.

Obviously, guests drank cider and hung out on hay bales. For those of you not au fait with the West Country, a LOT of this goes on there. Which is no bad thing.

Morwenna wore Petra by West Country designer Sassi Holford. All of the rustic, wild flowers were grown in Somerset and the delicious looking cake was made locally too.

My Childhood Home

Morwenna The Bride: Andy proposed to me while we were walking our dog near my childhood home in Somerset. Straight away we decided that this would be the place we would want to get married. My parents kindly offered to host our wedding, and the planning began. It was a very busy 18 months leading up to our wedding and we couldn’t have planned and organised such a lovely day without my incredible Mum who worked so hard to make it so wonderful.

Our wedding took place on 1st June 2013 at my village church, The Blessed Virgin Mary, followed by afternoon tea and cake in the garden at home. An evening marquee reception took place later on overlooking the beautiful Blackdown Hills where I grew up.

A Chance To Get Glammed Up

As a vet I don’t get the chance to get glammed up very often, so I was looking forward to having my hair and makeup done professionally. However, I didn’t want anything too formal and wanted to feel and look like myself, but on a really good day!

Gayle and Claire from Hair@22 in Taunton were brilliant. They understood exactly what my Bridesmaid’s and I were after, and I was so happy with the results. My makeup was also very natural, yet made me feel great, and stayed perfect all day – thank you so much Lucy!

Dreaming Of Sassi

As a teenager growing up near Taunton I had walked by the Sassi Holford shop many times and had always dreamed of getting my wedding dress from there one day. In fact I didn’t even look in any other shops! They were extremely professional, and I particularly liked the fact that the dresses were made locally. I loved the shape of ‘Petra’ from the So Sassi collection immediately, and they helped me personalise it. The dress felt classic and elegant, yet not out of place at a country wedding which was what I had hoped for.

Andy looked very stylish in a tailor-made Reiss suit and tie. He didn’t want the formality of wearing tails, and wanted to wear a suit he felt good in and could wear again and again.

Shimmering Pearls

I absolutely adored my Hermione Harbutt ‘Elegance’ pearl headdress and veil, and had so much fun choosing them. Hermione was so helpful and kind, and it was so difficult deciding on one headpiece from her incredible collection!

My shoes were ‘Miss Alice’ shoes from Diane Hassall. I also wore a pair of pearl earrings that Andy had given me for Christmas, along with my very wonderful pearl engagement ring.

A Tartan Tribute

My sister and my good friend from school were my Bridesmaids. They looked gorgeous in their champagne coloured dresses from The Dessy Group, with real flower combs in their hair.

We asked the Groomsmen just to wear their own grey suits, but my Father, Uncles and Brother wore waistcoats made from our family tartan in memory of my Scottish Grandfather. My brother then changed into his red Master of Ceremonies outfit at the reception, and did a fabulous job at organising everyone.

An English Country Wedding

We didn’t really have a colour scheme or theme as such. All we wanted was a happy and relaxed, locally sourced, very English country wedding with a rustic and slightly vintage feel. Following the ceremony we had yummy afternoon tea and wedding cake in the garden before the main evening reception. There was a lot of bunting, a cider tent with hay bales, and plenty of garden games including croquet and boules.

Flowers From Somerset

Our flowers were locally grown, traditional country flowers from Somerset. Jan was such a great find from JW Blooms. We didn’t choose any flowers in particular, I just asked Jan for what was in season, and growing well, at the time of our wedding.

She produced the most beautiful natural bouquets for my bridesmaid and I, as well as stunning flowers for the marquee. I can’t thank her enough. The greenery we used was mainly from our garden.

The Most Important Part

The ceremony was the most important part for me – saying my vows, in Church, to my gorgeous groom in front of all our friends and family was very special. Our readings were read by two of our close friends, and one of our hymns was an old favourite from my school days. We had a harpist playing during the signing of the register which really added to the occasion.

Our first dance was ‘Ho Hey’ by The Lumineers – a song that we loved, that really suited the feel of our reception.

Pies And Eton Mess

Jacci from Mark Country Catering supplied us with the most delicious Pieminister pies (with the choice of Moo Pie, Pietanic or Heidi Pie) and Eton mess for pudding.

Our wedding cake was a simple three tier cake with yellow roses draped over it, and tiny pearls surrounding the tiers from The Honiton Cake Gallery.

Vintage Touches

We had so much fun with plenty of DIY projects. My Mum, Aunt and Grandma, made all of the bunting, table runners, rose petal confetti and gorgeous little lavender pot favours. Our table plan was made with an old easel and chalk board, and our name places had vintage animal stamps printed on them.

Andy’s Grandma made the jam, and the lace table clothes belonged to Andy’s Great Grandmother. I made our Save the Dates, but I couldn’t resist getting our invitations and order of services from Meticulous Ink in Bath. Athena designed us the most beautiful stationery.

A Feeling I’ll Never Forget

Being surrounded by all the people we love from different walks of life, wishing us well, was a feeling I’ll never forget. Our photographer told us to take some time out, away from everyone else during the day, just to enjoy the moment and let everything sink in.

Walking through a beautiful field near my childhood home with my wonderful new husband, watching our guests enjoying our reception from a distance was a lovely moment.

Breathtakingly Beautiful

We feel so incredibly lucky to have found our amazing photographer, the lovely Brett Symes. Andy and I are not particular fans of having our photographs taken, and we certainly didn’t want any formal line ups, so finding a photographer who had a natural and relaxed approach was very important.

Brett’s photographs are breathtakingly beautiful. He captured everything and everyone perfectly. Looking back at our wedding album I am immediately transported back in time – those feelings and memories of such happiness and love that day come flooding back. Thank you Brett.

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Bride’s Gown – Petra By Sassi Holford
Headdress – Elegance by Hermione Harbutt
Shoes – Miss Alice by Diane Hassall
Bridesmaids – The Dessy Group
Hair – Hair @ 22
Make Up – Lucy Davis
Groom – Bespoke at Reiss
Florist – JW Blooms
Catering – Mark Country Catering
Cake – The Honiton Cake Gallery
Stationery – Meticulous Ink
Photography – Brett Symes

Isn’t it a pretty wedding?

The pastel coloured bunting and flowers look so summery and gorgeous in the white marquee.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Friday morning is the perfect time for some pure unadulterated escapism. And Alina and Gregoire’s wedding brings you exactly that.

Close your eyes and imagine the sun on your skin, a light breeze bringing with it the hazy smell of lavender, olives and lemons…

The sound of a Champagne bottle popping and that gentle fizz of bubbles as it’s poured into an elegant glass flute…

Ice cold polar winds?? Pas ici sur Rock My Wedding mes amis…we’re off to Provence.

In The Heart Of Provence

Alina The Bride: Some say Paris is the most romantic place in the world, but we think Provence could rival it for this title. The cutest little villages and breathtaking views, the vineyards and olive trees, delicious cuisine and wonderful wines, lavender and sunshine – you cannot help falling in love with this region.

And nested in the heart of Provence is Mas de la Rose. As soon as we entered the gates for the first time, we fell in love with the place: it just oozes charm and the design of the place is sheer perfection, every little detail is thought through so well and it flawlessly combines the essence of Provence with modern style.

Soft And Natural

I’ve spent countless hours on Pinterest looking for hairstyles and makeup, but I always came back to the soft low bun and natural make up with accent on the eyes. Axelle and Blandine did a wonderful job at creating the look I was hoping for and I had great fun working with them.

For the hands, I originally wanted to have French manicure, being so classic for a bride, but in the end went with the suggestion of the artist at Nails Inc. to have my nails painted with an off-white 3 week gel colour.

Pronovias Perfection

I have always looked at Pronovias dresses with admiration and as soon as Gregoire proposed, I knew where to go! I always dreamed of an A-line dress and was convinced that a fishtail one would not suit me. However, when Gregoire mentioned that he prefers the mermaid style, I decided to give it a try and fell in love with it.

Everyone at Pronovias were sending me off to get married like I was their family, especially Sanda who helped me find my dress and knew straight away that I was going to love it.

Gregoire wore a navy tuxedo from Armani, he knew that he didn’t want to be in a black outfit in South of France, but wasn’t sure what style to go for. But when he tried his Armani tux, it fitted him like a glove and we knew it was the one!

Comfortable But Pretty Shoes

I got my shoes at Dune as I wanted them to be pretty, comfortable and not too expensive – they turned out great, I spent the whole day in them and they even carried me through all the dancing.

For the hair, I had a hairband and a comb to give a finished look for my bun; both of them are from Pronovias. I thought at first that both of them would be too much, but in the end you couldn’t see them at the same time.

It Turned Out Perfectly

As we only had 4 months from the proposal to the D-day, we decided that bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen outfits are not something we would like to concentrate on.

However two of my best friends asked me for the colour scheme of the wedding to make sure their dresses went nicely with it and it turned out perfectly: the dresses were very different, but looked really good together.

Let Provence Do The Talking

Our venue was so beautiful, that we didn’t think we could add a lot to it. So I got a few little details that I found very cute: the personalised wedding hanger that I bought from Clouds and Currents at notonthehighstreet.com, the finger print tree and a very romantic cake topper that I bought from Confetti.

In terms of colour scheme, we wanted pastel and neutral colours that would complement the Provençal decor.

Pink Carnations

I was looking for a florist for a long time scouting through numerous blogs and finally I found Blandine at Atouts Fleurs. She did such a wonderful job and she really cares and loves what she is doing. We had all the bridal classics: the white and pink roses, the round bridal bouquet, the cute pew ends and the wreath table centerpieces with a candle in the middle.

Instead of a floral arch at the end of the aisle, we had two iron cast vases with cone shaped arrangements and for the table plan our florist created a beautiful tray made out of pink carnations, one for each name card.

I’m On Top Of The World

We spent a long time looking for music, as we wanted something quite modern, yet not cheesy, and of course the lyrics had to match the occasion. We chose Bruno Mars “Marry Me” as the signal for guests to take their seats, Des’ree “Kissing You” as it’s just so romantic and still gives me shivers; Sade “By your side” for the signing of the wedding certificate and Imagine Dragons “I am on top of the world” for the exit as it couldn’t describe better out feelings at that moment.

For the readings, we wanted to include the languages of our wedding, the Russian, English and French, so we had one reading in each one of them. The English reading from “The Irrational Season” by Madeleine L’Engle was my favourite, it so different to anything I’ve heard before and wise!

Not Lost In Translation

Key entertainment during our reception were the speeches, I think we had 9 of them. The main challenge for us was to make sure that no guest felt left out as not everyone spoke fluent English.

As a result, we have asked all the speakers to submit their texts in advance, so they could be translated into the other two languages. Then we ran all of them in English, French and Russian on a large screen while a person was speaking. What a UN conference!

La Cuisine Française

I always wanted a three tier cake that we could cut at the end, but we didn’t want a traditional iced cake as not a lot of people actually enjoy eating them. So we worked with a great patisserie Hawecker who created our beautiful praline and chocolate mousse cake topped with fresh fruits. Many guests commented on how delicious it was!

We also had a selection of petit fours that lasted through the after party and we had a lot of fun tasting all the different flavours. Haweckers also prepared our guest favours, which contained classical treats: macaroons, madeleines and calissons (a traditional almond sweet from the region).

The menu was very French as well, who doesn’t love their beautiful cuisine! The food was prepared le Potager du Mas, the restaurant at le Mas de la Rose, and it was so yummy: scallops as a starter, followed by sea bass or veal as chosen by the guests.

Childhood Memories

We bought a lot of our décor and stationery at Not On The High Street as they have such a choice of creative small business that design the cutest things. Our wedding signs, e.g. “Welcome to Our Wedding” was provided by Made With Love Designs Ltd. Our ceremony booklets, place cards and guest book were provided by Beautiful Day.

We did our table numbers ourselves, we asked our parents to send us childhood pictures and then we selected the ones where we were the same age, combined them in Photoshop together with the age as a table number, printed and put them in picture frames. As a result of this fun exercise we had many more childhood photos that we wanted to share with the guests so we made a whole photo album showing how we were growing up, I think the guests had a great deal of fun laughing at our looks throughout the years.

A Last Minute Decision

In hindsight I would have hired a wedding planner to manage the wedding day to take any stress and organisational questions off our shoulders, it would also help to avoid a number of hiccups that we experienced.

Also at the last moment, and this was already a pretty last moment wedding, we decided to enlist a videographer. I would say it is definitely worth it, it complements the wedding photos, captures emotions and moments like nothing else and gives you another chance to relive the day.

And lastly, our ceremony and cocktail were hosted in the grass, so we bought heel toppers for all our female guests, which we placed at the entrance and saved me and the ladies from sinking into the grass.

All of our suppliers really did a wonderful job and helped the day to come together.

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Bride’s Gown and Accesories – Pronovias
Bride’s Shoes – Dune
Groom’s Suit – Armani
Décor and Stationery – Confetti and Not On The High Street
Celebrant – Caroline Roux
Venue – le Mas de la Rose
Catering – Le Potager du Mas
Cakes – Hawecker
Florist – Blandine Viry at Atouts Fleurs
Make Up Artist – Blandine Fabre
Hair Stylist – Axelle
DJ – Pierre Et Musique
Photography – Jo Hastings
Videography – Blooming Lovely Films

How beautiful does Le Mas De La Rose look? Literally the ultimate in French sophistication.

Perfect for the stylish Alina and Gregoire.

I love that the thoughtful pair made sure every language was catered for too.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Welcome to Festive Holiday week on RMW!! Now, on the surface of it, Kathryn and Greg’s Liverpool wedding in an old industrial warehouse may not seem that Christmassy to you…but bare with me on this one.

Christmas is about spending time with those you love most? Well, Kathryn and Greg’s massive wedding party and family filled affair definitely ticks that box.

Christmas is about over indulging in delicious food? Wait until you read about the picnic themed menu and see the GIANT tumbling tower of chocolate brownies. Yes, that’s right. A giant tumbling tower of brownies.

At Christmas time we also like to put on our best frocks and raise the glamour stakes on the make up, yes? Well Kathryn’s cute 50s style gown and stunning make up are most definitely occasion worthy.

And finally, Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a roaring log fire. Well, ladies and gentlemen, Kathryn and Greg provide fire breathing aerial artists to keep you toasty warm.

Ready??? I’ll pass you over to Kathryn.

Freedom To Be Creative

Kathryn The Bride: Camp and Furnace on Greenland Street in Liverpool was the second venue we visited and we just loved it straight away. It’s got such a lovely feel about it, really warm and cosy when the furnace is lit. It has the most amazing space and the food is fantastic.

The style and the freedom to make unique it were big selling points and the late bar of course!

Make Up Of Make Up Artists

As a freelance make up artist myself, it was one of the first things I thought about when I got engaged. I decided not to do it myself as I wanted to feel relaxed and pampered on my wedding morning. So I treated myself and my bridesmaids to a make up application and called on two friends to do the honours.

Our dresses were all 50s style and I wanted this theme too in the make up looks. My four bridesmaids wore a classic 50s look – a black flick eyeliner and a beautiful red lip stick from MAC called Lady Danger. I focused on my eyes and went for soft warm autumnal colours with undertones of orange and red to bring out the blue of my eyes.

I had LVL lashes done by @lashhboutique. About 10 days before the wedding they looked amazing with a few coats of mascara. I added some MAC individual eyelashes to add a little thickness and they lasted for my honeymoon.

For my hair I used David Anthony hairdressers in Wimslow. Mark just created my style in one go – I told him I wanted it all up and to think vintage, I loved it straight away…he made me look like I’d got so much hair! Katie did a wonderful job of my bridesmaids giving them a oversized 50s style bun. We all had matching red nails and toes which I did on the week running up to the wedding using Bio Sculpture Gel that lasts 2-3 weeks.

Short And Sweet

The search for the perfect dress took me all the way to London. I always knew I wanted a short 50s style dress because I’m only 5ft 2in. I just felt they suited me and I just love the big skirt. I dragged my friend round lots of shops and the very last dress I tried on at 7pm in the evening was the one!

I got it from Heavenly Vintage Brides. Helena works from home and her spare bedroom is bursting at the seams with the most vintage wedding dresses I have ever seen, she was amazing and made sure everything was just perfect for me. The gown I bought wasn’t vintage, it was one of her own designs so it was made to measure and it was perfect.

Home Made Accessories

I wore Rachel Simpson Eva shoes I customised them myself with some little green jewels that my Mum found attached to a hair bobble in a local shop. We removed the hair bobble and used florists wire to attach them to the shoes. I also made my own head peace using some bird cage material from Ebay and a vintage brooch that I found on a flea market in London.

A Large Wedding Party

I had four bridesmaids and two bridesmen and we had five groomsmen, two of which were best men. We dressed them all from the high street we wanted them to have things they could wear again. Greg dressed the boys, they wore suits from Topman and shirts from Urban Outfitters with grey braces.

I wanted to keep the bridesmaid dresses a similar style to my dress I found the dresses on Rock My Vintage and the shoes on ASOS. Then last but not least I dressed my bridesboys all from Topman and I found the polka dot bow ties on Ebay.

Glorious Green

One of my favourite colours is green. My engagement ring is a beautiful emerald, I wanted to use the colour green and it just all fell into place.

Ian at Camp and Furnace suggested the large balloons and we had six in green and white, they were very effective. The theme found its self with the venue having vintage caravans and olive trees inside and the picnic food we ordered for the wedding breakfast – so it became “The Great Outdoors Indoors.” Camp and Furnace added an extra touch with the beautiful bunting.

An Industrial Meadow

I asked my florist to create something very natural like the flowers had just been picked from a meadow. I had daises in my bouquet mixed with gypsy grass hand tied with brown string. The centre pieces were all placed on and around slices of wood that Pat and Shelly from The Bouquet Factory in Liverpool found, then the flowers were placed in jars all different sizes with lace and string to decorate them. We had little daisy plants down the sides of the aisle and two bay trees at the top, both in stainless steel pots to keep the industrial feel.

It Meant The World

I loved the whole ceremony! walking down the aisle and seeing all my loved ones meant so much to me. Seeing my 91 year old Nan on the front row looking up at me that meant the world. A very special friend of ours Sophie did a lovely reading called Maybe. I have read over it a few times since and the words are so true it’s a beautiful poem.

A Surprise Performance

Our entertainment was amazing I used an old school friend Laura and her college friend Claire from Meddling Pixies. I had seen Laura’s work on Facebook so I dropped her a message and asked if she would perform at my wedding I was delighted when she said yes. Laura and Claire performed a double silks act before we sat down to the wedding breakfast and then they both performed again in the evening once the evening guests had arrived they did a fabulous hoop act, then later on after the furnace had been lit they did some fire eating it worked really well we hadn’t told anyone about so it was a big surprise for everyone.

For our first dance choose Loose Yourself To Dance by Daft Punk as we wanted something upbeat and fun and this worked perfectly. I was worried about dancing in front of all those people but by then I’d had enough wine not to be worried and all I needed to do was twirl in my dress which made some fab photos. Our DJ was a friend of ours called Johnny, he was on top form and played some great tunes.

A Picnic Feast

Camp and Furnace provided all of the food and it was brilliant! We had a picnic style meal to start, with individual goat cheese tartlets severed with fresh seasonal leaves. This was then followed by “The Great Indoors Picnic” which was presented in a picnic basket placed in the centre of the table we really wanted this style of meal to get people sharing food and chatting. Included in the picnic was homemade pork fennel and orange sausage rolls, pots of apple and cheddar coleslaw, honey and Coca Cola glazed carved gammon, pots of duck egg and chive mayonnaise, pork apple and clove sausages with a maple glaze, jars of chilli relish, handmade individual quiche Lorraine, chorizo potatoes, a fresh selection of leaves, swing top bottles of homemade lemonade and warm bread.

To finish the staff sounded a horn and came through with a huge tumbling tower of Chocolate Brownies on a stretcher. They were the best brownies I have ever tasted and I’ve tasted a lot of brownies in my time!

In the evening we had pies served from a stall – cottage pie, chicken and mushroom and spiced bean I heard they were very nice but I was too busy dancing and forgot to eat one!

Our Own Logo

One of our very talented best men Alex designed our invites, he designed a logo for the back of the invite using both of our names. We used this logo on the menus and also had a large stencil made which was the chalked onto the black board behind the bar for us.

Our table plan was easy to do, we had 10 people per table and I got the place names locally and spent one Sunday afternoon writing them out. We choose table names that meant things to us both. Our top table was called James Arthur in memory of my late father and one was called Mykonos because we had our first holiday there.

There For You

Your wedding day really is the best day of your life so enjoy and cherish every single minute of it. Don’t be nervous because everyone who is there is there for you and loves you. During the wedding breakfast take a minute and sit back and have a good look around because it’s the only time you will get all the people you love in your life in one room. I just want to do it all again!

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Bride’s Gown – Heavenly Vintage Brides
Shoes – Eva by Rachel Simpson
Hair – David Anthony Wilmslow
Bridesmaid’s Gowns – Rock My Vintage
Groomsmen – Topman and Urban Outfitters
Florist – The Bouquet Factory
Entertainment – Meddling Pixies
Catering – Camp And Furnace
Venue – Camp And Furnace Liverpool
Photography – S6 Photography

I love everything about this wedding, it just looks like so much fun.

Lovely advice from Kathryn too about Big Day nerves.

Hope you are all ready for lots of RMW style festive cheer this week!

Lots of love,
Fern x

I am utterly blown away by Chloe and Dav’s big day. It is just so lovely from start to finish that I can’t wait for you all to see the gorgeous images and read Chloe’s report.

Wait until you see Chloe’s two hair looks – SUCH a great idea, far cheaper than changing your look with two dresses. And why chose between a veil and a floral crown when you can have both??

The Bridesmaids are a gorgeous bunch too and look very fresh and girly in their short pink dresses. I LOVE the ‘getting ready’ shots, they really capture the sense of girly excitement and love between best friends.

There’s a truly magical atmosphere in the marquee with candelabras and long tables adorned with hessian and white milk pails filled with wild flowers. And the reception was rounded off with a giant bonfire!

The whole day really is beautiful. And not only do we have the images from Isabel Maria, but the wedding video too.

Right, that’s it, I’m too excited for you all now…off you go and enjoy the wonderful day of Chloe and Dav…

Spacious And Naturally Beautiful

Chloe The Bride: Our reception was held at Court Farm, Standerwick. We knew that a hotel or country house wedding wasn’t for us from the outset, but we weren’t quite sure what our other options were. During my cheeky daily browse of RMW, I stumbled upon another couple’s gorgeous day and was delighted when the venue was listed in the South West. We sped our way to Court Farm and were bowled over by its relaxed, rustic, wholesome feel. It was just so spacious and naturally beautiful. The fact that they had a campsite and that all of my family and gal pals could stay in the 16 stunning rooms available for the duration of the wedding sealed the deal for me.

We attached a marquee to the back of the amazing open-faced barn. We initially found it pretty difficult to get excited about the whole white tent thing. Then we discovered Bath Marquees. These guys were an absolute dream, I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them. Nothing was too much trouble – from meeting at our local to draw pictures of tent interiors, to horizontally wiring fairy lights and tying bunting, it’s suppliers like this that really make the whole process that bit more enjoyable.

Beauty Queen

So, I completely love products. Creams, perfumes, but most of all make up! I find the whole thing quite therapeutic, and I love doing it for other people too. As it’s usually me that does everyone’s beauty bits before a night out, and also because I always in up in a total rush no matter how early I start, I had originally thought that it would be really nice to have someone else do it all on the day.

However, after lots of failed hair and make-up trials, I was getting a bit fed up throwing my pennies away for nothing. After a consultation at the Chanel counter in Belfast, I came away with lots of lovely powders and potions to help me and the maids along when it came to W-Day. Woop! I have quite an unruly barnet, but after years of taming the mane I decided to go for a relaxed up-do for the ceremony which I could wear with my veil. I let my hair down in the evening (pardon the pun) and popped a floral crown for a completely different look.

Lady Luck

I didn’t really believe in finding THE dress if I’m honest. The girls and I decided to take ourselves off to the National Wedding Show at Earl’s Court for a bit of a giggle and I tried on a few which I thought were quite pretty. Then I tried on a Vintage Wedding Dress Company number and fell in love with a Decades Collection victorian silk and lace dress. It was just so light and full of detail; the tiny shower-hail pattern and climbing ivy lace won me over. It also came with a really unique heavy, mid-length veil and a long silk sash in “blush”.

I tried it on again for my Mum in the most beautiful boutique in Northern Ireland – Petticoat Lane Bridal. The ladies in there are super and the boutique is something special. The old price tag wasn’t really in my reach though, so I put it in the “when I win the Euromillions” pile. Then I got wind of a charity bridal auction on eBay… the VWDC had donated a voucher to spend up to £3000 in store, with all the proceeds going to Oxfam. I only went and won it didn’t I?! I spent a fraction of the price, gave lots of cash to a great cause and bagged my dream dress! Hooray!

Statement Pieces

Because my veil and floral crown were such statement pieces, didn’t want to overdo it with accessories. Apart from some drop pearls, I let my wedding and engagement ring from Lunn’s Belfast do the talking! We had our wedding bands engraved with 1 John 4:19 – a really lovely Bible verse which we also had as a motif on our stationery.

A Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Party

When I told my Mum that I was going to have 6 bridesmaids, she said that it would be like something from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. Luckily for the girls, I was thinking more A Midsummer Night’s Dream. My sister Georgia, cousin Naomi, ‘home’ gals Naomi and Mairead and uni pals Jessie and Imogen stood by my side when I said “I Do”.

They looked totally beautiful in their cream and dusky-pink knee length dresses. These were an absolute steal from H&M. I paired them with ballet flats by Linea at House of Fraser and some silk ribbon in contrasting colours.

Dav didn’t have to think about his best man choice for long – Ollie is a lifelong friend of his, a great guy with a super sense of humour. He also had 5 ushers – his brother Ed, hockey mates Phil, Coops and Tom and recent housemate and top bloke, John. The guys were in different shades of grey (not fifty!) and Dav bought them ties, socks and cufflinks to bring it all together with his beautiful blue suit from Reiss UK. He teamed this with a grey waistcoat and maroon tie and pocket hanky. My little bride heart skipped a beat when I saw him at the other end of the aisle!

A Lover Of Polka Dots

I blundered into wedding planning on a bit of a wing and a prayer. I knew lots about what I didn’t want, but not much about what I did. The theme, colour scheme etc emerged quite organically – lots of sages, dusky pinks and creams to help along the relaxed, rustic feel of the day. It also turns out that I love a good polka dot – these featured very subtly in my dress, the usher ties and in the favours and stationery.

I always teach my students that life is all about the little details, and this was definitely reflected in the decor. I bought beautiful hessian and lace table runners from Hessian Chic and complimented these with vintage crockery by the fabulous Amanda Baird at The Utterly Sexy Café and hand stamped luggage tags and organic fig and ginger soap bars for favours. I wrapped these in old book pages – a mixture of poems and Great Expectations – two firm favourites, and tied them with twine and a little rosebud.

Reluctant to buy loads of decor I would never be able to use again, I was so delighted when I discovered Vintage Marquees. Caroline shares my love for all things pretty, and I loved everything she had to offer. She makes most of her decor by hand, and I was particularly taken by her bunting and mismatched cushions. I hung the bunting and fairy lights horizontally to lower the ceiling and create a more intimate, cosy atmosphere. The wild, Midsummer theme was tied in with the ivy (lots of which came all the way from Ireland!) around the perimeter of the tent. Lots of tea lights, jam jars, wicker hearts and blackboard table numbers later and we were reception ready!

A Floral Masterpiece

Besides my very gorgeous hubby, the flowers were my hands-down favourite part of the whole day. Apart from being genuinely lovely people, Jo and the team at The Walled Garden at Mells are ridiculously talented when it comes to bringing your vision to life in the form of beautiful blooms. I wanted a pretty but exuberant, wild feel and that was exactly what I got.

They did everything for us – from the gypsophila posies at church, to the bouquets of creamy roses, peonies and tiny daisies, button holes and bucket flowers (which my mum and aunties arranged in the marquee). The crowning glory was definitely my floral crown – it was so fun to wear and lasted beautifully throughout the whole evening. When Jo measured my head the month before, I had no idea I was in for such a treat!

Oh Lord You’re Beautiful

We tied the knot at our church, St Bart’s in Bath. This was a hugely important part of the day for us – we’re regulars there and it was so special to have all of our nearest and dearest in a place that we love. I’m a Northern Irish gal, and wanted a piece of home at the ceremony. Enter Pastor Norman Hobson from my church in Belfast who teamed up with our Vicar to help us tie the knot. The service was something I’ll never forget – lots of loud singing, giggles and a vintage tea reception served by lovely volunteers from church to keep hunger at bay until dinner time.

All of the musicians were good friends of ours and did the most amazing job. We walked up the aisle to “Oh Lord You’re Beautiful” by a band called Jesus Culture. This was followed by firm favourites “Be Thou My Vision”, “How Great Thou Art” and “In Christ Alone.” Although most of our friends aren’t actually church goers, everyone commented on how joyful and accessible the service was – this meant a lot. My brother read 1 Corinthians and Dav’s sister read a poem by Rob Ryan called, “All of the Thoughts”. We’ve got that one in our living room – it’s a winner. We also had my good friend Kat read “After the Lunch” by Wendy Cope. Kat has one of those voices that was made for reading. That particular poem reminds us of many dates in the Big Smoke where I lived before making the marriage move to Bath. We said many a goodbye on Waterloo Bridge!

Cheerful Perfectionism

Our guests arrived at Court Farm to bubbly prosecco, home-made lemonade, hearty canapés and the amazing sounds of The Drystones. We heard these two busking in Bath and just knew we had to have them play. They’re a lively folk duo from the South West and brought that unmistakably Celtic sound to an orchard courtyard in Frome. It’s the type of stuff that raises the hairs on your arms and gets even the most reluctant of toes tapping. Magic.

We chose Sam’s Kitchen as our caterer. He came highly recommended and we just love his deli on Walcot Street in Bath. He served up a summery banquet of hazelnut and saffron honey roast chicken with broccoli, sweet potato, wild rice and rustic bread. This was laid out along the tables for people to take and share as they pleased. Not only did this look super, but it also made for lots of “can you pass the…” – great conversation starter for guests who had never met! Sam and team were fab. I really worried that I’d find it difficult to let go of everything on the day, but their cheerful perfectionism meant that I trusted them completely. Glasses never went empty, tea lights never went out and our loved ones ate and drank well into the early hours.

For dessert, we had an incredible cake table. This held the creations of guests who opted-in to “The Great Wedding Bake-Off”. From macaroons to meringues, cupcakes to caramels, it was a sight to behold! We gave out a range of prizes to our most talented Delias and Gordons, including a signed Mary Berry cook book to “Star Baker”, Lara, who made a Barbie Bride cake complete with veil and sparkles. We complimented this with 200 cascading Krispy Kremes on the sweet table and the arrival of a Mr Whippy Ice Cream Van in the evening for that nostalgic feel. Nothing quite like a 99!

Our first dance was to “Ho-Hey” by The Lumineers. The lyrics say it all really! This was quickly followed by “We Found Love” by Rihanna. Guests helped themselves to a string of coloured “party glasses” and busted some serious moves! When the sore feet started to kick in later, we made our way to the bonfire for toasted marshmallows, sparklers and long chats on hay-bales.

A Fabulously Talented Friend

Stationery is something that is very close to my heart. I love a good card (I take a lot of abuse from friends and family for the confetti type ‘sparkles’ that often tumble from the envelope on opening!) so expectation was high! Luckily, one of my bridesmaids, Imogen, is a bit of a dark horse. Slick city lawyer by day and creative, talented artist by night, she did pretty much everything. She has that mesmerising Quentin Blake style to her stuff – full of quirks, colour and detail. This meant that we had the most beautiful personalised day and evening invitations, orders of service, menus; the works! She even drew the chalk mural in the barn and the table numbers on the little blackboard stands. It made everything that little bit more special and I’ll be forever grateful to her for it all.

You’re Having A Marriage

So. There you have it! We went and had ourselves the best day of our little lives. It was such a team effort; I’m still bowled over by people’s generosity and kindness throughout the whole thing. We really deliberated about whether or not to have a big wedding or to pootle off into the sunset and tie the knot Gretna-Green stylee. I can honestly say that the months of booking, crafting, planning, saving and spread sheets all faded into oblivion the very second I held my Dad’s arm, walked up the aisle surrounded by every single person I have ever known and loved and said a big “I Do” to the wonderful man I’m so very proud to call my husband.

I’ll leave you lovely brides-to-be with a piece of advice that I was given by a wise old owl. She said, “Remember, you’re not just having a wedding. You’re having a marriage.” That thought kept me going with a huge grin right until I hung my veil up at the end of a truly magical evening. If our marriage rocks as much as our wedding, we’re in for a treat!

Every Joy Filled Smile

Our photographer was Isabel Maria – an associate of Allister Freeman Photography. I worked with Isabel for a year (she taught photography at the same school where I teach English). When she offered to take our wedding snaps, I was over the moon! She is one of life’s little gems and it was such a treat to have this beautiful, funny, photograph-taking wonder capture the most important day of our lives. She put me at total ease the whole day. I love her reportage style – it’s so natural and caught every joy-filled smile, laugh and cheeky smooch! I would recommend her wholeheartedly to any bride to be.

We also used the talented folk at Hare Meets Tortoise Productions to create our wedding film. This was a real highlight for us. James and Macca just blended right in and were so unobtrusive and enthusiastic the whole day. It was great to have them there as well as having them make our wedvid!

Bride’s Gown – From the Decades Collection at Charlie Brear at Petticoat Lane Bridal
Bridesmaids – H&M and House of Fraser
Groom – Reiss UK
Venue – Court Farm
Marquee – Bath Marquees
Florist – The Walled Garden at Mells
Catering – Sam’s Kitchen
Band – The Drystones
Décor – Vintage Marquees, The Utterly Sexy Café and Hessian Chic
Jeweller – Lunn’s Belfast
Photography – Isabel Maria Photography
Videography – Hare Meets Tortoise Productions

Click here & view all images from this wedding

See, how amazingly lovely is the ENTIRE day??

It’s so full of positivity and love that it makes you wish you had been there.

And whatever your religious beliefs are, I think something, somewhere made sure that the lovely Chloe would have her beautiful Charlie Brear gown.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Laura and Nick’s gloriously sunshine filled wedding is a real breath of fresh air for a Monday morning.

The pair chose to hold their reception at a remote Spanish hotel in Seville, surrounded by fields of sunflowers, with just fifty guests.

Bride Laura kept cool in a divine Temperley gown and wore a bespoke sunflower headpiece as a nod to the idyllic surroundings.

They provided guests with a feast of local delicacies and kept the Jerez (sherry) flowing as a thank you for the journey made for their special day.

As the couple were living in Seville at the time, their dog Chancho was allowed to join in all the fun too. Although he does look suspiciously like a bear, not a dog to me…

Private And Simple

Laura The Bride: We were living in Sevilla in Southern Spain for a year and despite previously deciding to get married in the UK (where we’re both from), the bad weather eventually put us off. We have Spanish friends who drove us around showing us venues, but Cortijo Barranco in Arcos de la Frontera was actually the first one we saw and remained our favourite.

We really loved the simplicity of the place and it was very private. The capacity for seated guests was just 50 which suited us perfectly as we wanted a low key ceremony. The venue assured us that even if our guests didn’t fill all the rooms, they wouldn’t rent out the remainder.

A Sunflower Headpiece

I always hated the idea that brides, and the wedding party in general, don’t look like themselves at weddings, and this was something I desperately tried to avoid. I personally don’t really wear much makeup on a daily basis so I wanted to keep everything very natural looking.

My friend Sarah did a couple of trial runs with my hair and makeup, including accompanying me to an appointment at Laura Mercier, where we bought all the products. My gorgeous sunflower headpiece was made by Anna Dominoes and designed to fit with the rustic feel of the day.

A Temperley Bride

I hadn’t ever really imagined myself getting married so I wasn’t one of those girls that had everything planned out years in advance. Therefore, shopping for a wedding dress was quite a daunting process; I even considered wearing a non-wedding gown for the occasion. I made a couple of bridal appointments in London and went along with my Mum. I was mainly looking at vintage dresses as I imagined wearing something from the ’60s or ’70s.

My first appointment, however, was at Temperley London in Notting Hill. I didn’t expect to be able to afford anything there but I just wanted the experience. As it turned out, the first dress I tried on was so beautiful that I ended up buying it (it was also more affordable than I anticipated). I did try on about 10 other dresses afterwards but none matched up to the beauty of the Temperley gown. I really liked how it didn’t look too “weddingy” and I’d never seen another dress like it. The train was just beautiful. Nick wore a navy blue suit with tan brogues from Reiss UK.

Patent Blue Shoes

Like most brides-to-be, I had a Pinterest board filled with wedding ideas ahead of the day. One of the images I had was of a bride wearing blue shoes and I really liked that idea for many different reasons.

I found the perfect blue patent heels at a Rupert Sanderson sample sale. They were comfortable and I wore them for the whole day. My other accessories were minimal because I thought the dress had enough detailing but did include a gold bangle from Whistles and my sunflower headpiece.

A Select Few

We wanted to have a really small, intimate wedding with just people that we really wanted to be there and having a capacity of 50 ensured that was the case. I don’t have any sisters and I have many really good female friends so it was either no bridesmaids or everyone was a bridesmaid! Therefore, I decided to keep it simple and just have our nephews as page boys.

Like everyone else, we wanted them to be relaxed and not too hot so they just wore striped shirts, chinos and matching trainers. We advised everyone to dress however they wished as we didn’t want people to be uncomfortable or too hot. This meant that some male guests wore suit and ties, but most opted for open neck shirts. Some of the guys even wore sandals which started a lot of ‘wickershoes’ jokes.

The Middle Of Nowhere

The Cortijo Barranco is in the middle of the countryside and miles from the main road. From there, you can only see one other building and the rest is sunflower fields. We therefore decided to work with what already existed and chose yellow as one of our main colours. The groom wore a navy blue suit so that was our second colour.

Our florist decorated the venue with more sunflowers and I actually made most of the table decorations myself based on ideas I’d found on Pinterest. Everybody got really stuck in with helping out, so a friend made the serviettes, my aunts made bunting and a very creative friend helped decorate on the actual day.

Sunflowers And Daisies

We tried to use local suppliers where possible and our florist really exceeded my expectations. I went to her with a lot of photos of things I’d seen and ideas I’d had and she brought them to life. She was a little surprised by how low key I wanted it to be, but in the end it worked out perfectly.

We mainly had sunflowers and daisies and then the bouquet had a few lilies in it too. There were flowers in the middle of all the tables and at the end of each row of chairs. The next day I caught several guests trying to leave with the table decorations so I guess they were a hit!

Tears Of Joy All Round

Getting married abroad is incredibly complicated, even if you live there. There are ways to make it possible, but in the end we decided it was easier to complete the paperwork in the UK ahead of time. We therefore asked a mutual friend, Matt, to lead the ceremony at the Cortijo and this gave us complete control over what we said and did.

Matt has known us both for a very long time so was able to talk at length about us individually and as a couple. He included a few readings and we also had readings from my Mom and Nick’s brother Billy. We then read out brief speeches about each other and it seemed like everybody in the building was crying.

Free Flowing Liquor

In the lead up to our own wedding, we went to several friend’s weddings and took aspects that we liked for our own celebration. We knew we had to have an open bar to make up for the fact that so many people had flown over to Spain for the occasion and to show that we appreciated the expense.

We also wanted to make sure everyone was relaxed and having a good time and alcohol always helps that! We asked two friends to DJ at the reception and they both did a great job. We divided it up in to eras so that they wouldn’t be playing the same songs and this also way meant that some of the soul/motown was early on which was good for the older guests. Our first dance was to Sam Cookes’ Wonderful World.

Local, Traditional Food

Since our guests were travelling to Spain for the wedding, we thought they’d probably like to eat local traditional food so we kept things quite simple with paella, tortilla (Spanish omelette) and salmorejo. Also, at the reception we had a ham leg and sherry (Jerez) which was from a local vineyard.

A man came from the vineyard to serve the sherry straight from the barrel – it was very popular with our guests! The cake was French style with profiterole style pastries filled with crème Catalan from a local bakery, Pasteleria Sandra. The favours were little packets of sunflower seeds.

Thoughtful Homemade Décor

I made a lot of the table decorations myself using ideas I found online. The table plan was written on a blackboard which fitted with the country theme of the venue. Each table was themed with something Spanish or something that was invented in Spain. All of the name cards had a fact inside about someone else on their table, the aim was to introduce people that didn’t necessarily know each other.

The invites were perhaps one of our bigger expenses but one that was definitely worth it. Since we were getting married abroad, we chose a plane ticket style design which I found on Etsy. It included a luggage tag which had additional venue information and details of our wedding website.

Tailor Your Day To Your Needs

I think the best advice about organising a wedding is just to consider all of your options. You don’t have to do anything in a set way and there are now so many options available that you can really tailor your day to your needs. We didn’t start the ceremony until late afternoon which gave us plenty of time to prepare and get ready. I often find that weddings that start at lunchtime end up with a lull period in the afternoon which leaves guests exhausted and hungry.

Also, little details can really help to personalise the whole event. We had our dog, Chancho, at our wedding and that was really important to us, plus he loved all the attention (although he did try and jump up on my dress). If you want ten bridesmaids, then have ten. Also, set a budget before hand and try to stick to it (at least vaguely). Spend money on things that you and your guests will remember. For example, place settings are really easy to make yourself if you have the time. Food wasn’t a big priority for us so we kept it quite simple which really reduced the cost too.

Last Minute Hero

We had a bit of drama with our original photographer and had to find a new one with just two months to go. Zoe Campbell was recommended to me and we emailed several times before we actually confirmed to discuss exactly what we wanted and to ensure she was able to come to Spain.

We really liked the photos on her website and the fact that she was happy to shoot both analogue and digitally. One of the things that I loved about having her as our wedding photographer was that she was always around but she wasn’t in your face! She has a very relaxed style and didn’t make us do any cheesy poses that we were uncomfortable with.

Zoe really fitted in with our guests both in the way she adhered to the dress code and in the way she was happy to get stuck in and chat to anybody and everybody! She wasn’t demanding at all, in fact I barely noticed her most of the time and she was just happy to mingle.

We were really happy with the venue, Cortijo Barranco, and the way they met all of our needs throughout the weekend. We had a disabled guest who stayed at the venue for the whole weekend and they really went out of their way to make his stay comfortable. All of the staff were really friendly and helpful, especially as the manager speaks perfect English. I would definitely recommend it as a wedding venue or even just somewhere to stay for a weekend.

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Bride’s Gown – Temperley
Headpiece – Anna Dominoes Millinery
Groom – Reiss UK
Florist – Floristería Arco Iris
Venue – Cortijo Barranco
Photography – Zoe Campbell

I really do love an intimate wedding, they always look so relaxed and fun.

And the combination of white washed walls, bright sunshine and yellow blooms is always a winning one.

Lots of love,
Fern x

The grandeur of Stowe House captured Bride Lyndsay’s imagination from when she was a little girl. From her very first sight of it, nothing else would ever compare.

And I can completely understand why. It is such a striking and solid building.

Walking down the steps in a gorgeous Bridal gown and gazing over the beautiful grounds would truly make you feel like a princess.

Her simple décor choices are perfect too. When your surroundings are marble and gold leaf there is really no need for lavish details. A touch of gypsophila in dusky pink vases was enough.

Disney Princess Dreams

Lyndsay The Bride: The conversation went a little like this:

Mat: “You really want to get married at Stowe don’t you?” Lyndsay: “I REALLY do!” M: “I think we’d be silly not to look at some other venues to compare prices and packages.” L: “You’re probably right”

Half an hour of Internet searching ensues…

M: “Found anything” L: “Ummmmm not really” M: “We’re getting married at Stowe aren’t we?” L: “I don’t mind searching a bit more” (I did)

M: “Come on, we both know we’re going to book Stowe so let’s just go for it!”

Without wishing to sound like something from Disney, I have wanted to get married at Stowe since I was a little girl. I used to spend every Saturday horse riding round the grounds where you get the most magnificent view of Stowe House.

So, long before boys were even in the picture, I’d found where I wanted to get married. The date was an easy decision too as our wedding day was also our ten year anniversary!

Spoilt For Choice

Luckily working in television I get to work with very talented make-up artists so I didn’t have to look too far when choosing someone for the day. And it was The Great British Bake Off’s very own Jo Penford who did my hair and make-up. If she’s good enough for Mary Berry…!

I wanted to go for a fairly relaxed look with my hair and pretty natural make up. That was the extent of my brief for Jo and I couldn’t be happier with the results, I had so many nice comments on the day with all my friends wanting to book her now.

Romantic And Glamorous

My dress came from Charlie Brear in Central London and I was lucky enough to buy it in their sample sale. I had tried the 1920’s dropped waist style on a few weeks before so it wasn’t an impulse buy in the sale, although I did pop there and make a purchase in my lunch break. I knew that I wanted a unique style to my dress and I love the romance and glamour of 1920’s fashion.

Like A Fairy With No Wings

I absolutely loved wearing a veil, without it I think I’d have been like a fairy with no wings! My dress barely had a train so I was keen to get some length from a veil and it was the lace trim on the Rainbow Club, Spellbinder that sold it to me.

My hair comb was actually a panic buy two days before the wedding, from Accessorize UK, as I felt the need to add a bit more glitz! I wore my mother’s Rolex watch as my ‘something borrowed’ as the vintage look really complimented the dress (and I was hoping she wouldn’t ask for it back – no such luck).

Small And Select

We had a fairly small wedding party, as we wanted to keep a relaxed and informal feel to the day. I had one bridesmaid – my gorgeous little cousin, Honey. Her dress came from Monsoon UK and ballet pumps from Zara.

Mat had a best man and one usher, their suits both came from Topman along with Mat’s tie. Mat’s navy suit came from The Kooples. There was no colour theme to the outfits, it was more important to us that the styles complimented each other, so slim fit for the boys and ethereal for Honey.

It’s Dusky Rose, Not Pink!

Overall there was a very unofficial colour scheme as early on in the planning Mat did say to me “I’m hearing the word pink quite a lot, not everything’s going to be pink is it?” So from that moment I started calling it dusky rose

Although to be honest Stowe House is so beautiful both inside and out that we really didn’t need to have a theme or scheme. We kept any touches of colour quite understated so that we weren’t battling with Stowe’s décor – you just can’t compete with the gold leaf of the music room. We did have ‘dusky pink’ vases and giant balloons though.

Inspired By Lovely RMW Brides

Amanda Thirlby who owns Moss of Buckingham is such a wonderful florist (Chelsea Flower Show winner!) and was brilliant at dealing with my very limited knowledge of flowers and a groom who was reluctant to have a buttonhole.

All of my initial bouquet ideas were generated from other RMW brides – thank you! We went for gyp in the (Ikea) vases, which my mother in law kindly arranged for us. My ‘something blue’ was also incorporated in the bouquet with Agapanthus. Turns out Mat loved his buttonhole too!

Keeping Things Simple

Our ceremony started with the registrar reading a brief history of Stowe House to the guests which I thought was a really nice way to set the scene and gave me a few minutes to calm down and take it all in after the overwhelming walk down the aisle. We decided against having any readings during the ceremony, we read so many and none felt quite right so we decided to keep things simple.

Slide Away

Mat and I have never had a song that we’d call ours but we both have a whole lot of love for music so deciding on a first dance was tricky. We decided on Noel Gallagher’s acoustic version of Slide Away. We saw him perform it live at the Albert Hall a few years ago and have loved it ever since. Getting cramp in my calf half way through the dance was not part of the plan though!

Fish And Chips

We decided to go off Stowe’s usual menu for our main course and chose traditional fish and chips, which went down a real treat, it’s a great meal to suit all ages. Our cake came from Konditor & Cook in London and I think everyone should experience their Curly Wurly cake once in their lifetime!

There was a slight mishap with the icing melting a little so it didn’t look it’s best come cake cutting time but it still tasted amazing, with one guest confessing to eating four slices!

A DIY Job

All of our stationery was very much a DIY effort and we absolutely loved doing it – you get a real sense of pride doing things yourself and I’m a big fan of things looking a little homemade. We made our invites on Powerpoint using a RMW top tip of importing fonts from Dafont.

We also bought mini alphabet letter stamps to address each invite and place setting. We’ve lived in London for six years too so wanted to bring a little bit of London to Stowe and we did that with our table plan and names. Mat had a lot of fun with the table plan, finding the funniest pic he could of each guest. On the day guests had to find their photo to find their place.

Didn’t Stop Smiling

ENJOY YOURSELVES! From day one we both wanted to have a fun, relaxed wedding and every decision we made was right for us. That would be my biggest piece of advice to any bride planning a wedding; do what will make you happy as a couple. Mat and I did and we did not stop smiling all day.

Photos Will Last Forever

There are wedding photographers and then there is Matt Parry… honestly he is something else! Matt’s style is so unique and if I had a pound for every time someone said to me “your wedding photos are amazing” I’d be a very rich bride right now. When budgeting your wedding do bear in mind that photos last forever and lots of the little things you can spend plenty of time and money on won’t. Photos were at the top of our priority list, we even booked Matt booked before the venue!

I must also give a shout out to our wonderful wedding co coordinator Becky Maclean at Stowe as she was fab, nothing was too much trouble and she did a great job of making the day run like a dream!

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Venue – Stowe House
Florist – Moss Of Buckingham
Hair & Make Up – Jo Penford
Bride’s Gown – Charlie Brear
Bride’s Veil – Rainbow Club
Bridesmaid Dresses – Monsoon UK
Groom’s Suit – The Kooples
Groomsmen’s Outfits – Topman
Cake – Konditor And Cook
Photography – Matt Parry

Don’t Mat and Lyndsay look like film stars?

There was a moment when I was putting this wedding together that I had to remind myself that this was a real wedding, not a Bridal editorial shoot!

And I really wish I was 12 again so I could wear the pink sparkly flower girl dress from Monsoon UK.

Lots of love,
Fern x

Today’s wedding is all about embracing the season.

What better for a New Years Eve wedding than a candle lit ceremony, Bridesmaids in faux fur jackets, vintage roses in metallic vases and an exclusive Dublin townhouse from which to watch the fireworks at midnight?

There was only really one gown fit for the occasion…

And that of course, was Eden by Jenny Packham. The ultimate in glamorous wedding gowns.

Probably THE dress of 2013. But rightly so – it really is eternally beautiful.

I am well and truly embracing the festivities now, have a lovely Christmas everyone!

Venues That Speak For Themselves

Emma The Bride: We wanted a local, intimate, city wedding. With no fuss. It was also important that the venues had the wow factor. This meant they spoke for themselves and required very little dressing/styling.

Our civil ceremony was in City Hall on Dame St. Once we knew it was an option there simply was no other contender. City Hall is a stunning historical building in the city centre of Dublin.

The reception was in The Cliff Town House on St. Stephens Green. The Cliff Town House is a short stroll across Grafton St. from City Hall. It overlooks Stephens Green and has fabulous views of the park. The interior is gorgeous. It was the perfect size for our wedding (86 people) and it is known for it’s top notch food and wine.

We had the whole house for the wedding, the drinks reception took place upstairs, the meal was in the restaurant on the ground floor and the party was upstairs again. The bridal party and close family stayed in the 9 bedrooms.

A Spectacular View

There was a massive New Years Eve party in the city that night and we could see the fireworks over Stephens Green from the window of the restaurant (some of the guests watched from the front door). Outside the city was alive with NY’s celebarations and we were tucked away inside eating and drinking like royalty.

Antique And Vintage

The inspiration for the look of the wedding came from my 1905 antique engagement ring which was bought in Delphi Antiques. I love old buildings, old furniture, anything antique and vintage, I find them so interesting and romantic. I wanted a wedding to match the ring and that is how we settled on the venues and outfits.

Edwina Kelly did my make up. She was very calm and professional on the day. Christian from Brown Sugar did my hair and I absolutely loved it, he did it exactly what I wanted.

Gold And Silver Embellishment

My dress, Eden by Jenny Packham, captured the New Years eve look – platinum satin covered in silver and gold embellishment. Initially I struggled to find anything I remotely liked and visited numerous shops. I held out hope for the much anticipated Jenny Packham trunk show and it did not disappoint.

The sales assistant in Sharon Hoey’s recommended I start with my least favourite and work my way up to my favourite. Eden was the first on the list. To my surprise the minute I tried it on I LOVED it and the others paled in comparison. It was the first and only dress that I got excited about. I loved how it was so glitzy and thought it would be perfect for a New Years eve/winter wedding. I also liked that it was not white or expected – though some of my friends guessed the dress before they saw it – maybe it was predictable for me.

The Perfect Silk Tulle Veil

The dress was not very wedding dressy so I wanted to wear a veil to ensure I looked like a bride. I could not find what I was looking for and so I had a dress maker make one from silk tulle, I loved how light and soft the material was and how it fell. It also worked as a train as there was not one on the dress.

I searched all over for a suitable headpiece and ended up with two. The first was sourced on Etsy and came from a designer called Doloris Petunia in California. It was made to order and the designer matched the stones and petals to the colours of the dress. The net hair band matched the netting on the dress. It worked perfect with and without the veil. I am only dying for an excuse to wear it again.

With all the looking around for headpieces I ended up finding another beautiful piece in Knightsbridge in the Powerscourt shopping centre and wore that from the first dance on.

My shoes were a gift from my very generous parents in law. My friend and I got them in Jimmy Choo on Bond Street, London. My earrings were from Loulerie, they were very simple – gold drops with a little diamond. I lost them on honeymoon and poor Alan had to buy me a new pair. Alan’s suit was from Reiss and he wore a navy blue velvet tie and white shirt.

A Very Glamorous Wedding Party

We had two bridesmaids. My sister Sarah who flew back from Australia to be there and our lifelong friend Mairead. It was tricky to find dresses to go with the wedding dress and rather than trying to match them up we contrasted the complexity of the wedding dress with simplicity.

The colours tied everything together – silver/platinum dresses, grey faux fur coats and gold and silver shoes (Buffalo) and accessories. The dresses were from Cos, they were knee length and had a low and open back. In contrast to me the girls wore their hair up with a big pale grey flower loosely pinned in.

Sophie the flower girl (my niece) wore a Jenny Packham dress which replicated the wedding dress. And Oscar the page boy (Alan’s nephew and our God child) wore a navy suit from Zara.

The two Groomsmen wore slim fit navy blue suits from Marks and Spencer , with white shirts and silver ties.

Metallic For New Years Eve

The colour palette was metallic – predominately silver with some gold – and navy blue. The metallics were inspired from the dress and the navy blue from the guys suits and the decor of the Cliff Town House. These colours were reflected in the wardrobe, invites, menus, table plans, and décor. The theme was New Years eve vintage/antique.

The two venues are so beautiful that they really needed very little added. Lighting was very important in both venues so lights were dimmed and there could never be too many candles. Inside City Hall we had a focal point at the top where there were two large candelabras and two huge urns of flowers.

Again candles and flowers were the main additions to the Cliff Town House. The three fireplaces were adorned with candles and flowers as were the tables. All flowers were the same colour scheme as the bouquets. Sparklers were placed in the menus and our guests lit them as we entered the room for the meal.

Natural And Messy Flowers

Flowers were white, purples, pale pinks – all complementary with metallics. They were natural and messy rather than perfect and structured, the girls had smaller version of mine and the flower girl had a smaller version again. The men’s button holes were particularly nice and they were all different. Noting was too matchy-matchy.

As I mentioned above, we had two massive urns of flowers in City Hall, these were then brought to the Cliff House. There were also flowers on all mantle pieces and tables. They were displayed in small metallic vases. Our florist was Mark Grehan from Powerscourt.

One Day Like This

The venue was so beautifully lit, it was getting dark and the candle light was amazing. The music was brilliant – we had a guitarist / singer and violinist – they had never worked together before but were perfect together. The music really was very moving and gave me goose bumps. The poems were read by Emer (close friend of Emma) and Adam and Zoe (Alan’s niece and nephew).

Our music choices included ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow, Katie Herzig & Matthew Perryman Jones ‘Where The Road Meets the Sun,’ an acoustic version of The Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’ and Lumineers ‘Ho Hey.’

Blazing Fires

We chose not to have a band due to the size of the venue. Instead we had a dj and it worked perfect. The rooms were amazing, the fires were blazing the champagne flowing and everyone was on the dance floor from the get go. The cocktail bar opened on to the reception room where the dance floor was so people could to and fro. Our first dance was to Katie Herzig ‘Dreams Come True’ followed by Calvin Harris ‘Feel So Close To You.’

A Special Cake

Our cake was baked by Sarah (Bridesmaid) and her boyfriend. We loved that Sarah and Eric made the cake (chocolate biscuit cake and ruby sponge cake) as it gave it significance and made it much more special. Mairead made the love heart cake topper the night before when the actual cake topper was sent to Columbia instead of Dublin!!

Our favours were sparklers – they were a bit of fun for people and added to the NY’s eve theme.

Simple And Elegant Stationery

Stationery was very important as I work in advertising. There was a common design for all and this helped tie things together. The design was simple and elegant – a large navy blue ampersand and Emma and Alan in silver. This worked across the invites, menu, ceremony booklet and thank you cards.

The table plan was written on an ornate silver mirror in silver pen by the very steady handed Mairead.

Delegate On The Day

Enjoy the day. You spend so much time planning it and sometimes people do not get around to enjoying it. We tried to relax on the day and enjoyed every single minute of it.

Delegate for the big day. Try not have any responsibilities on the day. You have done enough and it is time to enjoy! Make sure to spend plenty of time with your husband, the day is all about you two after all…

It was very important to us that the photos were relaxed and not posed. Immediately after meeting Peter at Explore Light, we knew he was our perfect photographer – he just got us. He understood what we wanted and the fact that we did not want to spend hours on photos when we had a room full of guests to entertain. Peter worked really hard to stick to a schedule and he actually had us back to the drinks reception early.

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Brides Gown – Eden by Jenny Packham at Sharon Hoey
Headpieces – Doloris Petunia & Knightsbridge
Shoes – Jimmy Choo
Make Up Artist – Edwina Kelly
Hair – Christian at Brown Sugar
Groom – Reiss
Groomsmen – Marks and Spencer
Bridesmaids Gowns – Cos
Flower Girl – Jenny Packham
Page Boy – Zara
Florist – Mark Grehan
Venue – Cliff Town House
Photography – Explore Light

I love the images where the light just catches Emma’s face – she looks like a Vintage Hollywood siren.

And how beautiful are the flowers?

I hope you too are all feeling suitably festive now!

Lots of love,
Fern x

This morning we’re heading to the gorgeous Norfolk coast line to bring you the wedding of Cate and Chris. The lovely pair set their budgeting priorities right from the beginning, deciding that they didn’t have to spend thousands of pounds for everything to be perfect. And I’m sure you’ll agree that they spent their pennies in all of the right places.

As with many RMW couples, their top priorities were an amazing photographer and a venue big enough for everyone to stay the night and enjoy a good weekend together, as they had many guests coming from abroad. The rest was either home-made or cheap and cheerful.

By choosing the last day of summer for their celebrations, Cate also managed to avoid the price tags that come with a wedding at that time of year.

As Cate has Peruvian roots, the couple made sure that they adhered to some wedding traditions from Peru. I particularly love the brightly coloured Peruvian dolls as table centre pieces.

Cate The Bride: We wanted a very intimate celebration in a place that was close to our hearts. Norfolk is where my husband’s granddad used to live and we’ve spent several glorious weekends away there with his family. As many of my family and friends were coming from Peru, we chose a Hall – Mount Amelia – that had rooms for everyone. Sitting on top of a hill and overlooking its 30 acres of land and The Wash, it was the perfect country setting for a relaxed get-together.

I kept it simple with accessories because the dress had so much detail but I insisted on wearing a large pair of vintage Givenchy rhinestone earrings that were flown in from America by my husband’s friend and given to me at the entrance of the church!

We had an airy country-fete feeling theme in mind but the most important thing was to let everyone participate and help. The whole wedding was probably 90% homemade. The triangle bunting was loaned to us and the stuffed hearts bunting was handmade by Mum. Peruvian dolls were the tables’ centrepieces.

For flowers, I went with my gut instinct and picked my favourite in-season blooms with the help of my amazing suppliers Chadwicks Flowers and paid wholesale prices for them. My Auntie lovingly made most of the arrangements, including my bouquet.

Driving to the church through the scenic Norfolk countryside in a baby blue Hillman Super Minx Convertible was priceless. For the music we used a mix of traditional hymns and classical music with a twist: played with Peruvian musical instruments. Our priest, Father Michael, was charismatic, funny, and light-hearted, and delivered a beautiful ceremony that left everyone smiling.

For the food, our guests savoured a delicious BBQ made by Manor Cottage Catering using the best local ingredients. In fact, the sausages served on the day come from Chris’ granddad’s childhood friends’ farm!

After eating, dancing and drinking we had a few games of rounders with everyone getting involved in one way or another. We finished the night off dancing to tunes we had all put together on Spotify and having a few drinks outside admiring the last of the sunset colours in the sky with candles lit all round us.

Mum surprised me with a chocolate and berries cake she had made, and she hid a silver ring under the bottom tier. She tied one ribbon to the ring and placed lots of other ribbons around with the ends coming out of the cake base. It’s a Peruvian tradition, all the single ladies pull the ribbons from the cake and the one who gets the ring gets married next!

We had my Peruvian friends bring Peruvian Pisco and we mixed it into pisco sours and chilcanos by using lemonade. Pisco is super alcoholic so it instantly had everyone in the mood for dancing – and clamouring for more Pisco!

Don’t be afraid to delegate to others. Sometimes you have an idea of what you want in your mind. The moment you let go and trust others, it becomes magical because you can truly appreciate how much people love you and how much they will do for you.

Photography by Claudia Rose Carter
Venue Mount Amelia Norfolk | Dress Jenny Packham | Boutique The Wedding Club | Band Rig A Jig Jig | Florist Chadwicks Flowers | Catering Manor Cottage Catering | Drinks The Blue Glass |

I’m thrilled to be sharing the festival inspired wedding of Rebecca and Gary with you lovely lot on this dreary Monday morning. It is full of smiles, sunshine and colourful blooms – which, I’m sure you’ll agree, we all definitely need a MASSIVE dose of.

Like the beautiful images from Dasha Caffrey, Rebecca’s wedding report has so much heart and warmth, it’ll make you wish that you were her friend AND that you could’ve attended WedFest.

Rebecca managed to pull off this gorgeous affair with a tiny baby in tow, a lack of accommodation for family and friends due to The Goodwood Festival being held on the same weekend, AND being double booked by her original photographer. Seriously? Amazingly calm and collected!

I’m in love with her choice of flowers, in shades of hot pink, sunshine yellow and coral, they really are to-die-for…but wait until you see the giant flower ball. It is truly epic.

Rebecca The Bride: As children of the sticks a rural location suited us. We wanted one that we could play a bit with, but that had some wow about it. Grittenham Barn won us over super quick, with its chilled atmosphere, resident donkeys and understated beauty.

As our wedding was festival themed, I wanted a floaty, bohemian and vintage dress. Luella’s Boudoir has them in abundance and nothing was too much trouble for Rachel and Philippa. Without a sniff of pretention, they lifted my spirits when I felt my body was more baby than bride and I love that we had a big hug on my final visit.

Wedfest was born out of the joy we get from gigs, festivals and fields and the colour scheme was based on the colours that make me smile. I’m not selfish; Gary just didn’t give two hoots about coral, hot pink and sunshine yellow!

We sourced vintage fabric and wallpaper and made pretty much everything, from signs and bunting to a photo booth wall, a giant R & G and table names named after gigs we had been to.

Alongside my massive bouquet of oversized peonies, sweet roses and craspedia (amongst others), which I didn’t let go of until the lights went out…we had flowers hanging from chairs, in kilner jars on the tables and vintage bottles on the fireplace, even woven into the donkeys head collars. But it was the whopping great flower ball that was the most amaze of balls!

“I love you, like you love mash and peas.” Not your average wedding vow granted, but it was important to us that our civil ceremony reflected and celebrated our 9.5 years of togetherness.

“I’ve done a really stupid thing. I’ve double booked you.” The words of our photographer a week before our wedding. So began a hasty search and thank the photography lord for the lovely Dasha Caffrey, who gave up her only free Saturday for us. We have her to thank for capturing every moment of joy and the smiles of every guest. She cured me of my camera phobia and messing about with her in a field in the evening light is a wonderful memory.

Our invites set the tone for our Wedfest and probably got more compliments than we did! My incredibly talented friend Nigel designed them based on a loose brief of a festival flyer and adapted the artwork for our table plan and place settings.

Everyone tells you to take a moment because it goes too quick and it does (especially on a hot day drinking sloe gin cocktails)! Our moment was in a field above the barn. We looked back at everyone enjoying our wedding. It made us grin. Another one is get it filmed. GET IT FILMED. Do not rely on your giddy teenage daughter who will only film her friends doing silly dancing.

Finally, I am now an advocate of a mini moon followed by a belated honeymoon. Prolong the magic. We are about to head off to The Seychelles four months later and be newlyweds all over again. Come on Mr Ruffell our cabin awaits.

Photography by Dasha Caffrey
Venue Grittenham Barn | Dress Charlotte Casadejus | Boutique Luella’s Boudoir | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Hair & Make up Melissa Oldrigge | Band Fake Tan | Florist Angel Like Flowers | Stationery Nigel Gledhill | Flowergirl dresses Monsoon UK | Catering Alexandra’s Kitchen

Happy Friday everyone! Today’s wedding combines many, many things that I love…the beautiful East Yorkshire countryside, an outdoor ceremony, Temperley, floral crowns, oversized candles, silver votives…seriously it’s stunning.

The grey ‘altar’ you see in images was a project undertaken by the couples family and it looks truly awesome. It’s amazing what you can create with some Pinterest inspiration, a piece of wood and a paint brush!

Also, if you’re worrying about occupying lots of little ones at your wedding, have a look at Emma and Andrew’s ideas – they filled one of the teepees with fancy dress costumes, games and DVDs and gave each child a picnic style hamper filled with treats. It’s a long day for grown ups sometimes, let alone the kids and you can see from the images how much fun they had!

I love that Emma choose to have two hairstyles as well. Any excuse to increase the amount of accessories is fine by me.

Emma totally rocks a floral crown and veil with her hair long and wavy…then pins it up for the evening and adds a very pretty headpiece.

Emma The Bride: We agreed to have the wedding in a paddock at my Dad’s home in Raywell, East Yorkshire. If we were to be married in the UK then Raywell was the only place I could imagine it.

I rarely wear my hair up but it seemed a shame that the back of my dress would go unnoticed if I wore it down all day. So just before dinner, one of my best friends quickly put it up and added the headdress which was made by By Harriet.

My Mum’s very talented friend made my veil. The fabric was silk tulle so it hung nicely and went with my vintage-inspired dress perfectly. I wore my Mum’s Tiffany diamond bracelet as my ‘something borrowed’ and the diamond ring my Grandmother left me as my ‘something old’.

We had lots of white pompoms and white lanterns hanging over the tables and we used my paternal grandmother’s cut glass carafes and filled them with wine for the table. She was the most glamorous woman I have ever known so it was another nice way of having a little piece of her on the day as well as her ring my Grandfather had given her. The amazing flowers were done by Florist Kirsty Wordingham at The Flower Outlet 07572 502035.

We wanted the day to be just as special for our children and their friends, so one of the tepees was a kids tent during the day and it turned into a chill out tent in the evening with another fire pit and chill out furniture.

Our gorgeous friend Sophia who came over from Australia, held the ceremony at the other side of the paddock to where the tepees were. She wrote a beautiful heartfelt service and we wrote our own vows.

One of the highlights of the day for me was pulling up in the car and seeing the long aisle leading from the gate all the way down to the homemade alter with all my friends, family and husband-to-be all waiting, drinking champagne! We had the radio on loud in the car and the kids were dancing in the back all excited. I had never felt more happy and excited in my life!

My friends surprised us by getting up to make a speech after the best man, but instead of a speech they had re-written the lyrics to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” They had printed the lyrics to match the rest of the stationery and stuck it under everyone’s seats so all the guests could follow it and sing along….it was hilarious!

The thing about a wedding that really stands out to me, is how much the setting up really brings families together. Your loved ones want to be involved and help you in any way they can to make your day perfect. It’s very humbling. A wedding really does fill your whole family with LOVE!

We cannot thank Dom and Liam, our photographers, enough for the beautiful photos. I was quite fussy about not wanting “cheesy and old fashioned” photos and we have had endless compliments about the photos. They really went above and beyond what we expected and I really appreciated the constant communication (you must be on your email 24/7)!! Also, the slideshow preview they did for us, made us cry within seconds!!

Photography by York Place Studios
Videography York Place Films | Teepee Hire Papakata | Dress Temperley | Headpiece By Harriet | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Make up Stacey Sanderson | Florist Kirsty Wordingham | Groom Reiss | Flowergirl I Love Gorgeous | Pageboy J Crew | Bridesmaid Mango | Bowties Asos| Water The Ice Co | Catering Saunts Parties & Events

Bride: The Wedding Show at Tatton Park has everything a real wedding should have – fantastic clothes, music and dancing, beautiful flowers…all of the elements to make a perfect day of fun and inspiration.

The show will be held at Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 6QN, on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd February from 10am to 5pm.

And the lovely people behind the show are giving away five pairs of VIP tickets to you lovely readers! This includes a complimentary glass of bubbly, a goodie bag and a guaranteed seat at the catwalk show. THE perfect day out for a newly engaged couple.

All you need to do is leave a comment below the post and the winners will be picked at random.

Brides, their partners and families will be spoilt for choice with the marquee packed with more than 150 bridal industry professionals from bridal boutiques to florists, photographers and cake-makers, all on hand to offer the advice you need to create your dream day locally.

Exhibitors include John Lewis, House of Fraser, The Wedding Shop at Alderley Edge, Red Floral Architecture and menswear from Moss Bros and Slaters.

Visitors will receive a free copy of the 2014 issue of Cheshire and Lancashire Bride magazine packed with beautiful photography, fascinating features, advice from experts and brides and inspirational real weddings from the region.

As well as a fashion show, there is a band performance area – where visitors can experience the best in wedding bands, musicians and singers in a luxuriously presented entertainment area.



There is also the Wedding Marquee where brides will be able to envisage a marquee wedding setting along with dressed tables, floral arrangements and bar area.


Here are Bride: The Wedding Show’s Top tips for making the most of a wedding show.

If you’re looking for something specific – groom’s wear, cakes etc – make a list of the must-see suppliers you want to speak to and head there first. Then enjoy the rest of the day browsing the others.

If you’re not looking for something in particular, just ideas in general, chat to as many suppliers as you can about what they’re offering and their products on display.

Don’t leave it too late – don’t think you’ll be able to whizz around in an hour and get key items sorted. You will be distracted by other suppliers and may have to wait to talk to the ones you specifically want to talk too.

Take advantage of discounts and offers available but don’t let yourself be pressurised into buying if you’re not sure.

Take a break and have something to eat/drink. This will give you time to mull over anything you might need/want to make a decision about on the day.

Don’t miss the catwalk show even if you’ve already got your gown it’s worth watching. It’s entertainment at its best – worth the ticket price on its own. You might also pick up ideas for the groom, mother-of-the-bride or bridesmaids.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions – no matter how silly they might seem to you. The suppliers are all there to help you and answer these questions.

Don’t be afraid to try things out – if you like the idea of a photo booth but want to see how it works have a go, equally sample those tasty looking cupcakes they’re offering you and, if there’s a gown you love the look of ask if you can try it on. The same goes with hair/make-up demonstrations.

See as many of the suppliers as you can. They will provide you with even more ideas for your big day.

There will be entertainers all around the show – factor in some time to watch them or the demonstrations going on. You might find the performer of your dreams, pick up some ideas or simply go away having enjoyed their performance.

To enter the competition please leave a comment in our comments box below the post, telling us who you’d take with you to the show and what you are most excited about seeing.

The competition closes at midnight on 20th January 2014. The prize is not redeemed for a cash alternative, each ticket admits one person only, on your choice of either the Sat 1st Feb 14 or Sun 2nd Feb. Only one entry per person.

This is a sponsored post. For enquiries regarding sponsored posts please contact fern@rockmywedding.co.uk