Do you live in London? Are you getting married? Are you free this Thursday 6th March? If so, then you need to get yourself to Fever London’s Wedding Fair.

Fever’s wedding stylist, Alice, will be on hand for fashion advice and the event will also be attended by Cakefully Yours, who will be showcasing their new collection of beautiful wedding cakes, and wedding hair and hat Designer, Alexyi Reneece. Jazz duo, Jazz In Paris Project will also be performing throughout the day.

The event is running from 12pm – 8pm at the Fever London Store (52-53 Eastcastle Street, W1W 8ED). On display will be dresses for weddings and occasion wear, all inspired by vintage design and round-the-world travel. I’ll pass you over to the Fever Team to tell you a little more about their SS14 collection.

Fever London: Our creative director, Matt, travels the world looking for vintage inspiration. Our SS14 collection was inspired by genuine 1950s dresses and designed to tell a story of nostalgia and romance, our ‘Atrani Dress’ was inspired by a 1950s prom dress found in San Francisco and the ‘Mabel Dress’ was inspired by a 1940s blouse from Milan!

Our favourite piece from the collection, for Brides, would have to be the Dorothea gown (below in mint), you will definitely make a ‘grand entrance’ in this dress! We also think the shape of this dress is very flattering and will work well with most body shapes as it features satin halter neck ties, waistband detailing and delicate pleating along the front panel. This is the dress of choice for many of our brides to be this season!

Our favourite dress for Bridesmaids has to be the Ivy Dress, this beautiful one shoulder dress comes in an array of different colours this season including nude, duck egg blue, merlot and navy. Feminine and flattering, the Ivy Dress features a sweetheart shaped bodice in silk chiffon and a corsage that features raw edged silk and chiffon flowers. This dress will really suit all types of weddings and occasions!

To accessorise the dress we would choose minimal accessories as we think the dress speaks for itself! For Winter weddings we would add a cream mink bolero, with strappy gold sandals and a matching gold box clutch bag. For Summer, we would just add a simple drop pearl necklace and a simple pearl bracelet with cream or gold strappy sandals.

A number of dresses will be available on the day in-store, including our Evening & Occasion Wear and Dresses For Weddings. However we will be happy to order styles for customers who wish to purchase another time. For further details on the event, please contact lauren@feverdesigns.co.uk

This is a sponsored post, produced in partnership with Fever London. For enquiries regarding sponsored posts please contact fern@rockmywedding.co.uk

This morning we’re in the heart of London for Rachel and Max’s City celebrations. The cute couple are both born and bred Londoners, so naturally the big smoke was the only place they wanted to get married.

Rachel is a lawyer from a family of lawyers – so getting married at Lincoln’s Inn was particularly significant for her. Every morning on her commute to work she walks through her wedding venue and gets to reminisce. Probably THE best way to make going to work less painful…

I think it’s fair to say that the shot of Rachel and Max kissing on the dance floor is one of my all time favourite wedding photos – a moment of pure love and happiness captured by Lily & Frank Photography.

And as it’s Friday, we’ve got the wedding film from Simon Clarke Films for you too. Because we’re nice like that.

Get ready to swoon over the roses…

Rachel The Bride: We wanted to create a wedding day which was classical and elegant and which wouldn’t date in photos. We were constantly bombarded by suppliers asking us what our “theme” was and everyone seemed to tell us that we should have a vintage theme. Our response was generally “errrrrr our theme is wedding??” To pacify those that demanded it, we decided that our theme would be classic with a few touches of a London transport theme.

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I didn’t actually enjoy shopping for the wedding dress itself, I did however enjoy choosing the accessories. I spent hours trawling the internet for a bolero to match my dress and found a wonderful Etsy seller in California called I Heart Bride who made the most beautiful bolero for me. The only difficult thing was asking Max to take 15 different measurements of parts of my back and shoulders without telling him why!

Max took a long time choosing his bespoke waistcoat from Gieves & Hawkes, his morning coat from Hackett and his bespoke trousers from Tom James.

We both were born and raised in the suburbs of London and therefore a country wedding would have been beautiful but not very reflective of our personality as a couple. We wanted to avoid a cookie cutter London hotel wedding and we spent a while looking for venues which were full of history, character and which were unique and meant something to us.

The Brompton Oratory was a natural choice for our service as myself and my family have attended the church for years and it happens to be one of the most beautiful churches in London, it has infinite history and character and was the largest Catholic church in London before the opening of Westminster Cathedral in 1903. It was also used during the cold war as a meeting place for spies.

There is nothing cookie cutter about the Great Hall in Lincoln’s Inn where our reception was held, Queen Victoria opened the hall in October 1845 and we decided that if it was good enough for her it was certainly good enough for us!!!

Lincolns’ Inn Fields is the closest outdoor space to us living in Holborn and I walk through the 11 beautiful acres tucked away in central London every day on my walk to work. It is really special walking through your wedding venue every morning as the sun is rising. Every day I seem to remember another magical moment from the day. I am also a lawyer from a family of lawyers and so there were so many reasons why it was the perfect unique choice for us.

The Bridesmaids wore dusty lilac floor length strapless dresses which looked amazing in the fading light in which we took our photos after the service. The ushers wore matching waistcoats with their morning suits which were hired from Buckleigh of Lower Sloane Street with their ushers gifts of cufflinks.

It was incredibly overwhelming when my wedding car pulled up at the church and there were crowds of tourists watching me, waiting for me to get out of the car but soon regained my composure and loved every minute of walking down the huge aisle towards my future husband. I chose to give myself away to Max rather than being given away.

The confusion on his face in the ceremony when Max kept saying “I will” when he was supposed to say “I am” was one of the most endearing moments of the service, but without a doubt everyone’s favourite part of the service was the singing of the 14 person Brompton Oratory Choir. We had 4 or 5 people say that they thought that they were angels.

We spent a while thinking about our cake (neither of us like fruit cake) and nothing we found compared to our two favourite cakes – Hummingbird Bakery Red Velvet Cake and Konditor & Cook Curly Whirly Cake, so we decided to have two tiers of Red Velvet and one big bottom tier of Curly Whirly. On the day the cake didn’t exactly look like I had imagined, the bottom tier wasn’t supposed to have brown decorative swirls in order that it matched the top two tiers, in the grand scheme of things if something had to go wrong then this wasn’t so bad.

For our canapés we had Mini Yorkshire Puddings with Roast Beef, Monkfish wrapped in Pancetta and Mini Falafels with Houmous and Lemon. For our starter we had Roast Escalope of Salmon, Smoked Salmon Croque Monsieur with Dill Hollandaise. For our main course we had Confit of Duck Leg, Warm Potato, Orange, Shallot & Roquette Salad and for the pudding we had Granny Smith Brûlée Tartlet with Blackberry Sorbet. We specifically wanted to choose a venue which catered for large meals frequently and which wasn’t a hotel. Lincoln’s Inn serve a 3 course formal lunch for 350 barristers and judges (among them have included sixteen prime ministers) every day and so we knew that they would be used to serving large numbers of people at a high standard and they didn’t disappoint on our wedding day.

The choice of photographer and videographer were the most important choices for us for our wedding day. Looking at Catherine’s pictures, they were so beautiful I knew that she was the right photographer for us. Max frequently would come home to find his fiancé who had never really thought about her wedding day before, obsessively watching (and crying to) Simon’s videos. I spent longer choosing Lily And Frank and Simon Clarke than choosing anything else for the day (including my dress and venues) and found them both on Rock My Wedding.

Spend some time making something personal for the tables. Like most Brides I made the choice not to make a speech, however instead I wrote a fun description of the story of our relationship from the start to our wedding day. I kept it a secret from Max so that he had a surprise on the day and it was my way of contributing something on the day without making a formal speech.

My overall advice would be, if you want something find a way to have it. You can find a way to fit things in your budget by shuffling other things around so concentrate on the elements which are really important to you. We didn’t book our photobooth until 4 weeks before the wedding and it was one of the best decisions we made. The guests loved it.

Photography by Lily And Frank
Dress & Veil Pronovias | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Bridesmaids Coast | Hair & Make Up Slap Artists | Florist Love Blooms | Ceremony Venue Brompton Oratory | Reception Venue Lincolns Inn | Cake Hummingbird Bakery & Konditor And Cook | String Quartet Apollo Strings | Videographer Simon Clarke Films | DJ Max Mistry | Stationery Gee Brothers | Buses Routemaster Hire | Car A Vintage Occasion

Roseanne and Darren’s simple but oh-so-beautiful wedding is the perfect way to begin a week of wedding inspiration.

The colour scheme of pale pink and blue is subtle and pretty. The decor is minimal, allowing the venue, Cripps Barn, to shine – the focus is all on fresh flowers and candle light. And that’s all you really need lovelies. It’s definitely my kind of wedding.

I love that Roseanne chose to wear a veil too – I’m a sucker for tradition. Her Pronovias gown fits her perfectly and she looks every inch the blushing Bride.

Today’s images from John Hope are so full of romance and emotion. There are endless stunning couple shots. I can completely see why Roseanne is so thrilled with the photos – her and Darren’s love for each other spills out from them.

Roseanne The Bride: Our search for a wedding venue was easy! Cripps Barn was the 3rd venue that we looked at and after our first visit, all other contenders were forgotten. In the heart of the Cotswolds, Cripps is surrounded by beautiful villages, country pubs and rolling hills. Our families were traveling from South Wales and West Yorkshire so it was important that we had somewhere nice to stay for the weekend of the wedding and Bibury, with its cottages and B&B’s was perfect.

Wedding dress shopping was super fun. I had a vision of a delicate lace dress in my mind from the off and I honestly thought that is what I would get until I went on a spree with my lovely bridesmaids. I tried on plenty of lace dresses, none of which really set my world on fire. Then my Mum and I went shopping a few weeks later and found ‘the one’. I loved the Pronovias dress for its simplicity and elegance. When i tried it with the lace edged veil i was sold! I never thought I’d actually wear the ‘blusher’ walking down the aisle but when I tried it I thought ‘why not’! I’d never get to do it again and it looked wicked. 

The shoes were one of the first things i bought. I’d seen them first on RMW and I fell in love with Rachel Simpson’s style which is so vintage. My mimosa shoes reminded me of charleston dancing shoes, not too high and with a small t-bar to ensure my feet don’t slip out!

I never thought I’d find my perfect wedding jewellery whilst at the gym. Jette from Nordic Gems had just started her own business and had a small stall outside the changing rooms. I knew that I wanted pearls but hadn’t seen anything until then that was a little bit different. I adored the small micro-pearl necklace with a larger pearl pendant and matching earrings. I also bought my bridesmaids rose quartz necklaces and earrings from Jette. 

We didn’t plan on having a colour scheme but in the end I suppose it was subtly blue and pale pink. When looking for inspiration before the wedding, I found that I was pinning lots of things that had a country, romantic, rustic feel so this inspired a lot of the decor. It also fitted with my desire to keep things simple and natural. I used a lot of twine, lace and ribbon bought over the internet.  

I can’t tell you how much I love flowers. I always thought that if I had a career change, I’d be a florist. I wanted a pretty, slightly wild and interesting looking bouquet which was full of fragrance and texture. I was so happy with the result which had ivy and mint flower running through it. The boys had lovely button holes, with spray roses and mint and the barn was full of flower gorgeousness on the tables, hanging from the ceiling and on the fireplace. 

I couldn’t wait to see Darren on the day of the wedding. I had so much nervous and excited energy whilst waiting for the car, my Dad and I sang the Huddesfield Town ‘Smile Awhile’ fan song to get rid of my nerves, a moment I’ll never forget. The ceremony took my breath away. My younger brother Chris sang my entrance song (The Very Thought Of You – Billie Holiday) on acoustic guitar. It felt like i was floating down the isle and all i could concentrate on was Darren at the end. I didn’t see a single other person. Darren’s sister Rhian read ‘The Lovely Other Dinosaur’ by Edward Monkton in her soft Welsh accent. It was perfect for Darren and I and added a bit of lightness to the ceremony. My brother George read a poem called ‘The One’. We had fun with the music and chose Stevie Wonder ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ to exit to. 

I had been recommended Hussy from a friend and checked them out straight away. I loved them instantly, they were just the type of indie, pop, rock band we were looking for. They had everyone up and bouncing round the whole night, we loved it and everyone else did too. 

From an early stage I decided that I would try and make as much as I could. I really unleashed the creative side of me and completely enjoyed every second. I made invitations, order of services, menus, the table plan, place names and my masterpiece table centres. For the centrepieces, I asked Darren’s brother Matthew who is a gardener to cut some wooden disks so that I could place three decorated jam jars on them for flowers. I had everyone in the family collecting jam jars for me. The end result was so pretty and fitted in with the whole feel of the day.

I wrote an individual message on the back of each guests place card. I recalled a memory or said a special thanks. I’m so pleased that I decided to do this as it was my way of appreciating everyones love and support and saying thanks for being with us on our special day. 

Always remember – on the day, nothing else matters other that you and your hubby to be. Not the weather, nor the fact that the next door cottage is having renovations and you have noisy, hairy arsed workers outside your front door. You will look back at the small hiccups with fondness and a smile. They make good stories! 

Take trainers if you are being photographed in muddy fields, no one will ever know! (your dress can always be dry cleaned but grubby feet will make you feel grubby all day).

Special moments for me were watching the sun going down and the night sky fill with stars. Walking out to the fields with new hubs looking back at the barn, all lit up, music blaring out, people laughing and waking up as husband and wife.

John Hope was the genius behind our wedding! The one who caught all the loving glances. The one who captured the fun and the emotion. The one who made us into the coolest people on the planet and reflected the most beautiful parts of our surroundings in his pictures.

Photography by John Hope
Dress & Veil Pronovias | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Hair Keri Chimes | Make Up Make Up By Charlotte | Bridesmaids Mori Lee | Venue Cripps Barn | Groom Reiss | Groomsmen M&S | Florist Sally Gill Flowers | Band Hussy

Verity & Gavin’s wedding is refreshingly different and full of cute and quirky details. The couple married during the Winter but still wanted to bring the feeling of the great outdoors to their day.

Lots of green shrubbery, white fluffy gypsophila, feathers, and a stag graphic used through the stationery, cake topper and centre pieces definitely had the desired effect.

Chipping Village Hall was transformed into a forest themed wonderland! And with guests being greeted with mulled cider and hot chocolate, they must have felt like they’d arrived at an Alpine retreat.

Verity’s two very adorable little girls were her flower girls. One of whom now has a fascination with photography thanks Taylor Roades.

And once you’ve seen the images, I think you’ll know why…

Verity The Bride: Whilst many brides can tell you the story of the moment they found ‘the dress’, this just didn’t happen to me. I loved so many dresses, but there was always something I wasn’t quite happy with. I decided I needed a ‘Frankenstein dress’ (though I didn’t want a green one!), incorporating all of the different features that I’d liked the most. So I decided it would have to be custom made, and that’s when I approached Chic Dress. I sent them pictures of a number of different dresses and highlighted the areas that I most liked. Then I took a leap of faith and left it in their (fortunately very capable) hands!

Accessories were more simple. I bought Mother and Daughter freshwater pearl bracelets for me and my girls. My earrings were also freshwater pearls, borrowed from my Mum and my veil was borrowed as well, from my friend and bridesmaid, Michelle. I had a beautiful custom made garter and the most amazing custom made shoes which included my ‘something blue’ lining.

For the actual marriage ceremony, it had to be a church. Most of my family are Catholics and although Gavin was less active, we both definitely wanted a religious ceremony. We approached our parish priest and with a little persuasion, he agreed to marry us at a beautiful little church in Ribchester, which was closer to the reception venue than the church I normally attend.

For the reception, we both definitely wanted somewhere we could make our own. We visited a number of village halls, but actually had our heart set on the first before we’d seen any of the others! It gave us complete free rein on décor and layout, had its own bar and stage, staff if we needed them (which we did) and so much space, we didn’t know what to do with it all!

We asked all of the wedding party to let us know if they wanted to take part in the readings in church and luckily, several of them did. I was so pleased when our eldest daughter Alice said she would like to read. My Mum and Alice decided to share one of the readings which, due to the difference in height between them, concluded in Alice being far too short for the position of the microphone, and having to tiptoe beautifully, captured perfectly by our wonderful photographer, Taylor.

One of the main entertainment aspects that I really wanted to get right, was for the children. I was very conscious of how boring weddings can be, even for adults at times, with lots of standing around and waiting for things to happen. A lot of our friends have children and we really didn’t want to exclude them, so we decided to kit out one of the side rooms with as many toys, craft supplies and dressing up clothes as we could. Along with a projector, an adult to supervise and an array of films, this room went down a storm with the kids!

We knew for the adults, all we really needed was lots of good music! My cousin’s boyfriend is one of the most talented guitar players you will ever meet. As soon as we saw him play in person, we knew we wanted him to play at our wedding, and fortunately, he and his equally talented band partner agreed! So they played for us after the meal and while the evening guests arrived, and they were wonderful.

We also had some unplanned entertainment (and no I don’t mean fisticuffs in the car park!) in the form of Alice and all of her friends dancing on stage for us! Totally ad hoc and unrehearsed, it was magical. I was so proud of her.

Shortly after Gavin and I got engaged, one of my best friends took a trip to Canada & came back with our wedding photographer! Well that’s not quite accurate, but basically it is what happened. Taylor was amazing. She flew all the way from Toronto to impeccably photograph our wedding (well, she did get to go to Blackpool as well!) and I literally didn’t want her to leave. She was just fantastic the whole day, in fact, she even got involved with helping to finish off some of the craft projects in the week leading up to the wedding. She also inadvertently encouraged Alice to love photography too (they have been exchanging photographs since the wedding), so I might be sending her the bill for that new hobby!

Our videographer was a friend of a friend, and he isn’t really a videographer, he’s a teacher at a local secondary school who agreed to come and film our wedding! He was fantastic and he gave us all of the raw footage, so we could edit it exactly how we want. He even managed to get a fantastic shot from directly behind Gavin who popped a Champagne cork which flew straight across to the other side of the room and landed on another table! You couldn’t have timed it more perfectly!

Photography by Taylor Roades
Dress Chic Dress | Garter Ayten Gasson | Rings Glen James | Shoes Upper Street | Florist Bloomin’ Lovely | Venue Chipping Village Hall | Decor & Stationery Belle Amour | Caterers D Byrne Catering & Cunliffe Hog Roasts | Bridesmaids New Look | Groom & Groomsmen Next | Band Bad Cardigan

This morning’s wedding makes me very happy indeed. The pastel colour scheme is just so pretty. It draws together two venues and their natural surroundings, and Nancy’s vintage dress perfectly. The whole wedding has a nostalgic and dreamy quality to it – yet still manages to be stylish and contemporary.

I think it’s down to Nancy’s creativity and the wonderful photography from Mr Sleeve. Nancy is a make up artist (there are lots of great product recommendations for you, don’t worry). She did her own make up on the day and totally nailed the Audrey Hepburn meets Zooey Deschanel look she was going for. And Nancy has the delicate bone structure to rival both ladies.

Mr Sleeve is one of our Love Lust Members, so can always be relied upon for beautiful images.

And if you love wild flower meadow couple shots then you are in for a treat.

Nancy The Bride: We chose beautiful Tudor house, Bramall Hall, as our ceremony venue as it’s close to our home in Cheshire and somewhere Elliot knew well as a child, so it had an emotional attachment. We also wanted somewhere with beautiful grounds for our family shots.

Our reception was at Adlington Village Hall. I stumbled across this newly refurbished but ‘classic’ looking village Hall after my first few party venue plans fell through for various reasons! The village hall was perfect for us – cute, vintage and totally flexible to let us bring all our own suppliers in. We bought a marquee to extend the space and used fake grass, deck chairs, garden benches and a vintage dansette record player to create a secret garden party feel.

As a professional Make Up Artist, I wanted my makeup to look peachy and fresh with a retro feline eye – my inspiration was Audrey Hepburn meets Zooey Deschanel. Products I recommend: Illamasqua Hyrda Veil for a long lasting but hydrating primer. Mac fix fluid foundation buffed in gently for a lightweight but long lasting finish. Mac liquid last liner survived any tears and smudging!

My hair idea came from working on fashion shoots and was a style I had tried on a shoot – my long hair was expertly braided over the top of the head like a headband, the rest was plaited and pinned up at back. I kept my full fringe as it’s so me. The flower gypsophila was pinned in my hair like a halo adding a beautiful vintage feel.

I knew I wanted a vintage dress so instead of doing the rounds of bridal shops I decided to look straight on eBay to find a really unique piece. There were hundreds. After three months of searching and trawling (and a brief fling with a lace 50′s tea length dress) I found THE ONE; a 1970′s full length, vintage lace, slightly blush/cream dress by the designer Frank Usher. I instantly knew I loved it and it would fit in with both of my venues and my personal style. After a professional dry clean and some minor alterations I was over the moon at my vintage find.

I also wore a single tier vintage net veil. The creamy colour matched my dress perfectly, it was another eBay find. My shoes were from a collection at Dune, nude with a small clear block heel, simple and beautiful. I wore small pearl stud earrings from Manchester boutique Jenny Jones, my Grandmothers gold locket bracelet and my Mum’s blue sapphire star necklace. My bag was a rose gold solid clutch bag from French Connection.
 
For decoration we had loads of beautiful vintage-style cotton floral bunting zig-zagged across the village hall. Pearl effect balloons in big bunches, festoon and fairy lights decorated the hall and our party marquee. Charity shop found lace net curtains were cut to make table cloths with floral material adding some colour. White lanterns with candles were hung from the marquee ceiling to float over the tables. Vintage tea cups with stripy boiled sweets or tea lights decorated the tables.

My florist Jane was recommended by Elliot’s mum as they work together in a local garden centre, it was another example of keeping all our friends and family involved in our day. My medium sized bouquet included vintage roses in cream and peach, gypsophila to match my hair flowers and lavender to tie in with the blue of the groomsmen’s suits and give a lovey scent.

We went for an early ceremony – I’m really glad as our day felt like it lasted that bit longer. I arrived in a navy blue vintage 1970s Rolls Royce with my Mum and Dad, whilst my bridesmaids followed in a blue and white VW Campervan, both were lent to us by our friend Rob who collects classic cars. As I walked into the hall Elliot’s good friends Dan and Rob played an instrumental version of our first dance Sister Sledge’s Thinking Of You. We kept the ceremony short and sweet – but we both felt the emotion of the words and had plenty of little laughs too.

My brother Dan filmed it using a Super8 app – to capture the ceremony, it’s an amazing alternative as the real super8 film is now pretty much discontinued. Afterwards we had a champagne reception and our group and family shots in the beautiful grounds of the Hall. Steve also found a secret wild flower meadow which some of my favourite shots are from.

Our evening food was the amazing ‘Margo and Rita’ food van serving Mexican street food to our guests – a choice of spicy cactus or beef tacos, they bought more bunting and lights adding to the festival atmosphere. Our evening bar was set up by some good friends who manage a bar in Chorlton Manchester, they made us special Mr & Mrs cocktails and had loads of local ales and beers on offer.

I tried to do as much DIY as possible, and made the invites, name settings, jam jar vases and table plan. Each guests name was hand written on a cream luggage tag, I bought 75 small glass bottles and attached each tag to a bottle. In the bottle we put a raffle ticket. After the speeches we raffled off chocolate and sweets for our younger guests and a bar tab too!

Don’t be put off if you don’t want to wait around – we got married 9 months after we got engaged. If you have a vintage dress you want to get dry cleaned don’t mention the ‘W’ word – I said mine was a party dress and saved £100. Don’t settle for a package deal if it’s not you – look for quirky venues for your party, they are usually really cheap too. Buy instead of hire, we have managed to re sell things like chair covers, our marquee and decorations – all of which were expensive to hire. Ask your mates for favours, we couldn’t have had our day without our friends and family pitching in and it made it so much more special and unique.

My husband picking me up and carrying me over the threshold at the village hall – it was an entrance! After the meal I pulled out cowboy and cowgirl fancy dress outfits I’d bought for all our guests under 10yrs old. They loved it and it was really funny seeing them all dressed up together. We asked all our family members for a picture from their wedding day. As we started to eat we had them on loop on the village hall’s OHP, everyone was ooohing and ahhhhing and it gave it another personal touch. For the evening I put together a suitcase with wigs etc and got Elliot’s daughter Maisie to take pictures with an instamatic Polaroid camera – there are so many brilliant pictures, I’ve put them all in a big frame at home and it saved us loads on hiring a photo booth too.

Photography by Mr Sleeve
Dress eBay | Make Up Nancy Spencer | Venue Adlington Village Hall | Catering Kim Merrit | Bar Those Four | Food Van Margo & Rita | Band Nat Birchall | Flower Girls I Love Gorgeous | Bridesmaids Phase Eight | Groom Paul Smith

The gorgeous gardens at Narborough Hall make for such a beautiful backdrop to a wedding, and Holly and Matija’s elegant affair is no exception.

Matija is Serbian and the couple were keen to honour some Serbian wedding traditions. This included handing out bunches of rosemary and flowers tied with ribbon before the ceremony – thanking the guests for attending the wedding and as a symbol of fidelity, love and wedlock.

Don’t you think that’s a lovely gesture? Along with the stunning flowers, they must have filled the church with such a wonderful aroma.

The couple also hired The Balkanatics, a Balkan Brass Band, to serenade them as they walked from the Church to the Hall. The images of the wedding party and guests walking through the countryside with a brass band are amazing and it looks like such fun.

There are so many pretty details too, the gorgeous blooms, pastel Bridemaids gowns, stationery and Holly’s elegant Pronovias gown look beautiful in the images captured by fabulous Norfolk based wedding photographer, Katherine Ashdown.

Holly The Bride: I think I knew my dress was ‘the one’ the first time I saw it online. For me it was the perfect mix of delicate lace and illusion neckline, with a relatively slim silhouette from the front but some drama in the train! I knew I would wear a cathedral length veil, but as the dress was so detailed it needed to be simple. Mirror Mirror made one to order to the perfect length.

At the last minute, I realised I wanted to wear a veil in the evening too, so ordered a shorter one from Wedding Veils Direct. They were fantastic as I messed up the length of my order, but they replaced it at no extra cost.

Just like the dress, it was love at first sight with the venue, Narborough Hall Gardens. My Mum told us about it and we popped in on our way elsewhere. Joanne, the owner, couldn’t have been more helpful, showing us around on the spot. Obviously the gardens and grounds are beautiful, but the house itself is completely stunning – and you basically get to own it from Friday to Sunday morning! Being a teacher, it had to be the summer holidays and they had one possible Saturday free – so we took it.

Once we had the venue, the inspiration for the colours and décor fell into place. The interiors and the gardens evoked soft, pastel shades for me, particularly pinks, greens, blues and whites, a little reminiscent of the palette of Sofia Coppola’s film ‘Marie Antoinette’. We hung a couple of chandeliers that I already owned from a tree and made a backdrop of ribbons and lace to hang behind top table. My Bridesmaid Suzanne wrote out the order of the day on a mirror from a car boot that my mum painted mint green.

Instead of a seating plan, we turned Penguin book postcards into escort cards. We had a lot of fun matching guests to the titles and many managed to guess their card without looking at their name! Our navy menu design was from Vistaprint, tied with ‘To Have and To Hold’ ribbon with a sprig of lavender (to represent Norfolk) and rosemary (Serbia). We used a photo album for our guest book, to which people added instant photos and notes on pastel coloured flashcards.

RMW inspired our favours as we created CDs of all the music of the day, from the ceremony to the Serbian music to the first dance and our favourites from the disco playlist.

A local florist did the flowers for the church, using seasonal flowers in more vibrant blues, pinks and greens, such as delphinium, stocks and larkspur. Our bouquets included pink and white peonies, Esperance roses, sweet peas, green hydrangea, lavender, alchemilla mollis and nigella. The groomsmen had Esperance rose buttonholes and Mat choose a blowsy white rose.

Across the road from Narborough Hall Gardens is a beautiful little church. We didn’t have a qualifying connection, but the vicar was very welcoming and I attended when I could to become eligible. We thought a lot about the service, as it was the most important part of the day.

My entrance was to Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap, our reading was ‘A Marvellous Living Side By Side’ by Rainer Maria Rilke, the church choir sang The Irish Blessing during the signing of the register. At the end we walked out to Widor’s Toccata. Our ushers handed out little bunches of rosemary and flowers tied with ribbon – a Serbian wedding tradition to thank the guests for gracing the couple with their presence and a symbol of fidelity, love and wedlock.

My bridesmaid Helen designed our invitations and the order of service, which included the quote “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun” but we got them printed professionally to save the hassle.

We wanted to bring some Serbian flair to our traditional English wedding so Mat booked The Balkanatics to welcome us at the end of the service and serenade us as we walked with our guests to the Hall. They continued to play during the drinks reception and it created such a celebratory atmosphere that they were one of the things guests talked about most afterwards.

The only hiccup of the day was when our DJ didn’t show up, something we only realised 15 minutes before our first dance! The venue’s co-ordinator, Georgie, found a speaker and a flashing light, I grabbed my Macbook from the bridal suite and our friend took over as DJ. We had our first dance – to Rihanna We Found Love – a little later than planned, but our guests were more than happy to wander the grounds, finish the wine and enjoy the beautiful evening. By this point we were honestly too ecstatic for it to matter – and apparently most of the guests didn’t even notice!

The cake was a team effort, with my Granny and Mum making the different tiers (fruit, carrot and chocolate) and family friends icing and decorating it with pastel lace ribbon and fluffy pink peonies. It stood on a green milk glass cake stand – I loved it so much that I ended up buying it in different colours for my Bridesmaids. I love the colours of macarons, so my Mother In Law ordered these and we displayed them in antique cut glass cake stands around the cake.

We booked our photographer, Katherine, solely on the strength of her work, but she is also a lovely person and so passionate about what she does. We had great fun on the engagement shoot that she includes in her packages and she was instrumental in helping us with timings on the day and ensuring everything ran smoothly. Although we married in the July heatwave, we had a completely overcast day but she managed to bring so much light into the photos. We will treasure them forever.

We went full circle on the idea of a videographer, initially saying no way, but then having our mind slowly changed. Videoteers were completely unobtrusive, using small cameras (some guests asked why we had four photographers!) and we are delighted with our finished film.

It’s been said before but remember what’s important – getting married and having the people you most care about with you. It was touch and go whether Mat’s family would be able to make it over from Serbia, as their visa applications were initially rejected – luckily they made it, but it certainly put other wedding ‘stresses’ into perspective.

We had an amazing team of family and friends helping us set up on the Friday, not to mention all the people who played a part in so many other ways. We can’t thank them enough.

Photography by Katherine Ashdown
Dress Pronovias | Veils Mirror Mirror & Wedding Veils Direct | Hair & Make Up Sarah Swain | Venue Narborough Hall Gardens | Videographer Videoteers | Catering Narborough Hall Gardens| Bridesmaids Ghost | Groom & Groomsmen Reiss | Band The Balkanatics

Village Hall weddings seem to be all the rage at the moment, and when you can hire a venue like Rotherwick Hall, I can completely see why. Not only is it a gorgeous building, but with free reign over supplier choice, decor and exclusive hire too? It sounds like a winning combination to me.

Shelley and Steve’s village hall wedding looks like it was full of fun – the feeling of joy & warmth just radiates from the images.

Shelley was lucky enough to find the much coveted Marianne by Naomi Neoh in a sample sale, she also created all of the floral arrangements herself, including the bouquets (!) and she and Steve made the stationery – using this wonderful stamp found on Rock My Wedding.

All in all, this meant that Shelley and Steve could create a very beautiful wedding on a modest budget. And it also meant that Shelley could have a dress from Zara for the evening and some gold Rachel Simpson shoes too…well, it was her wedding day after all!

Shelley The Bride: At first, my dress was probably the one thing I was least worried about – from the start I knew I wanted to set aside a very small budget for this, as it didn’t seem like a hugely important thing about the wedding to me. I had originally found the very pretty and budget friendly Chelsea Dress by Ghost. I went to Oxford Street to try it on and was really happy with the fit.

Halfway through the wedding planning process I saw an absolutely stunning gown on a real wedding submission and I just had to have it – or at least try it on. I googled the dress and found out that it was Marianne by Naomi Neoh.

I did a bit of research online and found a sample of the dress at a gorgeous little boutique in Kent called Victoria Allinson Couture. Victoria was clearing her old samples, so I was able to get it at nearly half the original price! Later on in the evening when our band came on, I decided to change into a Zara dress – so I was able to dance the night away without worrying about getting anything down my Naomi Neoh!

Steve spent many days searching for the perfect suit and came across an Ermenegildo Zegna suit from Moss – he had it tailored to fit perfectly and then went about buying some shiny, smart Barker brogues from John Lewis and tailored shirt from Thomas Pink – he looked lush!

With all our family based in the South West, we wanted to find a suitable venue that was easy for everyone to travel to. The weekend we got engaged, we scoured hotels in the Hampshire area to find something we liked – although we saw many beautiful places, there was always something not quite right or meant we needed to compromise on something due to budget…

So in the end we decided to find a venue where we could literally do EVERYTHING ourselves – I had seen on many wedding blogs that some couples had hosted their day at village hall, so this prompted me to search the area for something similar.

We finally came across Rotherwick Village Hall via our caterer. All our research was done online and I found our wonderful caterer through Google – she had catered weddings at the hall before and said how beautiful it was and had all the facilities we needed.

We told everyone to meet at the Coach & Horses pub opposite and then walk over to the church, then just walk to the village hall after the ceremony – everything was in such close proximately, which was great as we didn’t have to organise any transport.

Steve is a huge rugby fan, so we incorporated this into the day by naming the tables rugby clubs and our cake topper was a Bride rugby tackling the Groom. We wanted the day to be very informal and for people to have fun and be relaxed, so we included lots of little touches such as kids toy boxes, freshen up stations in loos, flip-flops and pashminas.

The favours were particularly special for us as they were made by my parents. They run a tea and coffee merchants in Richmond called Rosie & Java – and they blended a special tea for our wedding favours and had them made into teabags. They also supplied us with rose petals, which I packed into red striped bags for guests to use as confetti.

We were quickly running out of money and I had been in touch with a few florists, which were unfortunately out of our price range. So, I took an early morning trip to New Covent Garden Market to see what the cost of flowers were – I met a really nice man called Ronny from Bloomfields, who was so helpful and after months of flower name research and You Tube tutorials, I decided to do all the flowers myself (including the bouquets) – I sent Ronny my order the week before the wedding and did another early morning trip with Steve two days before to collect all the flowers – we spent just over £200 on flowers.

We tried to create a ‘rustic, English countryside’ look with the flowers – beautiful avalanche roses, crespedia, daisies, gyp and eucalyptus – we kept it very simple and all the family collected jam jars and interesting glasses for us to display them in.

Steve’s Mum, Rosina, is part of the Basingstoke Choral Society, so we were very lucky that she arranged a group to sing at our wedding ceremony. Steve’s brother Mike had also travelled all the way from Australia for the wedding and it meant so much to us that he did a beautiful reading. Another real highlight was when the organist played the Beatles ‘All You Need is Love’ during our certificate signing.

We had recently visited Mexico and loved a Mariachi band we saw there, so we thought it would be fun to include this in the day. When everyone walked from the church to the village hall, a 3-piece mariachi band were there to greet our guests – playing a mixture of traditional music and well known tunes.

Our main band – The Cover Up Band – was I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E and we would highly recommend them to everyone. They really got the party started and even learnt a slowed down version of Bob Marley’s ‘Is This Love’ for our first dance.

I had my heart set on a cake table, so I enlisted the help of my sister Tuesday to fulfil that dream. Tuesday is an amazing cake baker and she kindly made a Victoria sponge for us with alternate layers of strawberry jam and salted caramel. She also baked lavender & earl grey and lemon curd cupcakes. I made a selection of cakes for the table – carrot cake, coffee and walnut, rocky road, brownies, flap jacks… We were both icing them on the morning of the wedding!

Our caterer Vicki May was so great and very laid back, which we loved – her canapés tasted divine and we opted for locally sourced bangers and mash for the main course, which went down a treat – my brother still goes on about how tasty the sausages were. The veggie option was spiced pumpkin strudel – this was also delish.

My friend got married a couple of years ago and she had THE best photographer ever – so we just had to steal her for our big day. Gemma at Betti Confetti did such a great job and captured every tiny detail of the day. She had such a relaxed manner and it was just so great to work with her.

There were times when we thought we had bitten off more than we could chew, but it really paid off in the end…from packing up hundreds of bags of confetti, constructing all our order of services to icing the cakes, making all the flower arrangements and setting up the venue the day before – the whole day was amazing – the best day of our lives and we would not have changed a single thing!

It was so personal to both of us and because we were so involved in every tiny detail, this really reflected in the day. We were also able to have everything we wanted within our budget, as we did a lot of it ourselves. I absolutely LOVE looking through all the pictures – Gemma captured everything beautifully and we cannot thank her enough.

Photography by Betti Confetti
Dress Marianne by Naomi Neoh | Boutique Victoria Allinson Couture | Jewellery A Box For My Treasure | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Headpiece Accessorize UK | Flowers New Covent Garden Flower Market| Venue Rotherwick Village Hall | Catering Vicki May & Streetzza | Bridesmaids Joy The Store | Groom & Groomsmen Moss & John Lewis | Favours & Confetti Rosie And Java | Invitations Wedding Tea Towels | Guest Book World Of Moose | Entertainment Mariachi El Mexicano & The Cover Up Band

Icy blue, white and silver make this morning’s wedding a very chic affair. Combine this colour scheme with bucket loads of candles and forest-green foliage and I’m literally in wedding heaven.

Fiona and Kuki married at Brympton House, a venue I hadn’t come across before, but certainly one I won’t forget in a hurry. Grand and imposing, but full of heart and soul…and it turns out it’s often used for filming fabulous period dramas and movies.

I love Fiona’s anemone bouquet and the Bridesmaids and flower girls look particularly lovely in ivory and lilac, with fur wraps to keep them warm.

Fiona also chose to customise her Annasul Y gown with sleeves, finding the most beautiful beaded French lace she could to do the job. The result is seriously swoon worthy.

Fiona The Bride: I wanted a vintage yet romantic and glamorous dress so went for a heavily beaded dress with a lot of detail and found some beautiful beaded French lace to make the sleeves. I had a very plain veil so as not to take away from the detail of scalloped beaded detail on the bottom of the dress. As I wasn’t having an up-do, I went for quite detailed earrings and hair comb and had matching pearl and crystal comb and earrings.

Jonathan wanted a bespoke tailored 3 piece suit for himself and his best men. They chose a dark blue colour and a dark red satin lining with dark red stitching on the button holes. Jonathan chose a Paul Smith tie in dark blue with embroidered stars for something a bit different than the polka dot ties of the best men, groomsmen and ushers.

We wanted a country house where we had exclusive use for the weekend and our family and Bridal party could stay together. Brympton House was perfect because it has so many different rooms for each part of the weekend. We had a dinner on the Friday night in the beautiful salon for 50 people, the ceremony was in the adjoining Castle House which was very church-like so perfect for creating a candle lit wedding atmosphere, the wedding breakfast was in the beautiful ballroom for 190 people and then we went to the Orangery for the evening event. The added bonus was that the venue opened the library bar from 2am until the wee hours for those hardcore party guests!

Ellie at Tie The Knot is the resident stylist and did an amazing job in creating the look we wanted – a candle lit sparkly vintage feel. Emily the resident florist created a romantic winter look using gypsophila in the ceremony and large hanging gypsophilia balls in the ballroom and large white amaryllis in the Great Hall. The statement flowers for the bridal party were white and blue anemone whichever were used in the bouquets and buttonholes.

Although we had a civil ceremony we wanted it to be as church like as possible and the staggered height pillared candles in the windows and long wooden paws created this feel. We wanted to create a happy relaxed and lighthearted atmosphere in the ceremony to set the mood for the day so in contrast to the grand English country house surroundings we had a steel band play before the ceremony and in the drinks reception. We also chose funny lighthearted readings from Winnie The Pooh which the guests loved.

As we had a steel band during the day we didn’t want another band in the evening so had a DJ for the whole evening. As getting everyone up on the dance floor and keeping everyone there until 2am (which we did) was very important to us, we met with our DJ Zac Peters beforehand and created a very detailed playlist to make sure we had music we both loved but also so there was something for everyone of all ages.

Coming from Irish and Sri Lankan families we wanted a fusion of South Asian and European food. We met with our caterer Jane Parker and designed the menu together. We wanted our tables to be as relaxed and sociable as possible so opted for dishes to be set in the middle of the table and shared.The menu was a spiced carrot and lentil soup with onion bhajis to start, followed a choice of Indian fish pie, tandoori lamb chops or vegetable curry, with a ginger creme brûlée for dessert.

Having amazing photographs of the day so we could remember everything and recreate the mood of the wedding was very important to us. We were thrilled to find Chris Barber whose shots are very natural yet artistically styled at the same time. The photographs capture every moment beautifully throughout the day.

Photography by Chris Barber
Dress Annasul Y & Lusan Mandongus | Jewellery Luxe Deluxe | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Bridesmaids Coast | Flowergirls Monsoon | Venue Brympton House| Florist Emily at Brympton Flowers | Decor & Styling Tie The Knot | Groom Dress 2 Kill | Catering Jane Parker

Queens College, Oxford was the venue of choice for Kiwi and English couple Emily and Nick.

Weddings that take place at University Colleges always appeal to my inner geek. I think it’s the smell of antique furniture and vintage books. The majority are extraordinarily beautiful too – definitely the case at Queens College. And more often than not, they have delightful courtyards that act as wonderful sun traps – again Queens College does us proud.

They also have the most exquisite decor – oak panels, over sized floor tiles, ornate ceilings, chandeliers…

Emily used this to her advantage and went simple on the decor. Just white flowers and candelabras were all it took to make the reception room look incredible.

The lovely couple also designed and made all of the stationery – I love their blue logo incorporating the flags of their home nations.

The photography from Mister Phill, as always, captures the heart and soul of the day. After looking through the images, I guarantee you’ll feel like you were there.

Emily The Bride: I’m from New Zealand and my husband is English, but we always knew we wanted to get married where he grew up in Oxford. Finding a venue that gave us the right space (and was available on the right dates!) was a challenge but in the end we found it close to home.

Nick’s father is a fellow at Queens College in Oxford which proved to be the perfect place for our reception. We had our ceremony around the corner in the Bodleian Library. We planned for rain but in the end the day was one of the hottest of the summer! The garden and cloisters of the college were the perfect outdoor setting to enjoy it.

My dress was Ulanova by Pronovias. After numerous attempts, the girls at the store did an amazing job of finding me something that combined all of my vague wants into one amazing dress. It wasn’t what I had been picturing, but I knew it was the one. It was the first dress that’s made me feel like I was ready for the Oscars and none other could compete.

My shoes were an indulgence, sparkly Jimmy Choos, and I also found a pair of silver glitter Converse which were much needed on the dance floor!

My Bridesmaids very kindly put up with my getting overly excited and ordering two potential dresses for them on sale. The only choice they got was picking which of the two they liked. I like to think I’m not a control freak…!

We didn’t have a set colour scheme for the day, but it did end up drifting towards blue and white in the end. It was important to us that we made the day our own and so we did as much as we could, on our own. We designed the invitations and order of service ourselves, printing them online.

In terms of decoration, we wanted to keep things simple, and our venue was so beautiful it didn’t need much dressing up. We wanted to add something to the garden so I started what was affectionately dubbed “the bunting factory” which normally kicked off early on a Saturday morning. Our flowers were provided by Fabulous Flowers in Oxford, it was almost a shame to leave on our honeymoon the next day and not be able to enjoy them for longer!

Right from the beginning, we knew photos were important to us and something we knew we wanted to make room for in our budget (it came a close second to the dress and Jimmy Choos). We had seen Mister Phill’s work online and loved the relaxed style and the way he is able to capture the real feel of the day. Despite not being able to meet face to face ahead of the day, Phill chatted to us on Skype and really set us at ease. The photos have been a real highlight and bring back so many memories!

Food and drink was hugely important and luckily the staff at Queens put on a fantastic spread for us. Nick’s mother made our cake which was a real show stopper; again I was sad not to have been able to enjoy more of it!

The week leading up to the wedding was jam packed with last minute jobs and spending time with loved ones who had traveled halfway around the world to share the day with us. In the end, we think our day was perfect. I’m sure not everything went to plan, but if anything went wrong I didn’t notice and now can’t remember.

The big surprise to me was just how much fun we had on the day. Through all the planning I don’t think I ever really imagined how the day would actually feel. Of course I loved my dress, the flowers and the bunting but really, having all our friends and family around us to share our marriage and seeing them enjoying themselves was the really amazing part. It was so important to stop for a moment and savour that. One of our favourite moments was stealing away with some friends after dinner for a quiet drink under the trees just enjoying the evening. After all, that’s what it’s all about.

Photography by Mister Phill
Dress Pronovias | Headband The Weddie | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Veil Veiled In Beauty | Venue Bodleian Library Oxford| Florist Fabulous Flowers | Groom Cad & The Dandy | Bridesmaids House Of Fraser

Despite the glimmer of Spring we’ve seen over the last few weeks, it would seem that Winter isn’t quite ready to disappear just yet…

We’ve got a gorgeous inspiration shoot this afternoon that will actually make you sad that Winter is on it’s way out. Seriously – I’m a sun worshipper through and through, but the thought of a crackling log fire always makes me hanker after the colder half of the year.

I’m particularly loving the strong make up looks created by Jodie Hazlewood and now have a very strong urge to reach for the glitter, put on my best frock and sit in a large window looking out over my grounds…

Obviously with a sparkly headpiece from DC Bouquets in my hair.

So let’s light some candles, get snuggled up in front of the fire and make the most of the final throws of Winter.

As Midlands suppliers, we’d worked together individually before on real weddings, but not collectively, so we got together to at one of my favourite venues, Iscoyd Park, for a styled shoot.

We wanted it to reflect how glamorous Winter weddings can be and Iscoyd Park provided the perfect backdrop for this. It really is as beautiful inside as it is outside in the grounds, think pale walls, crackling open fires and beautiful beaded chandeliers.

We added textures for cosiness – lace, faux fur and textured throws/blankets in the window seat and lots of pillar candles to create the warm indoors feel. Gold highlights and blush accents were picked up in the cutlery, soft pastel ribbons hanging from the chandelier and pink champagne, to give a touch of glamour.
I made lace balloons that I’d seen on Pinterest. (Talk about a labour of love, but very pretty, cheap to make and they looked really effective!)

We wanted the dresses we used to have the style aware bride in mind, so it had to be the Charlie Brear collection. The collection is inspired by a love of the most revolutionary decades of style. Made in luxurious fabrics such as delicately beaded and appliqued lace and hand washed silk, brides can create uniquely styled looks with a collection of under and over skirts, dresses, tailored jackets, sleeves belts and silk sashes, they give Brides the option to add a different look for the evening, so we used some exciting key pieces.

We started off with a softer romantic look using Juliet cap veils, natural make up and flower crowns and then moved onto a more edgy look with glitter eyes. We used some amazing pieces, including a gorgeous soft white leather jacket and ruffled skirt along with accessories from Debbie Carlisle.

Photography by Jo Hastings
Boutique Cicily Bridal | Dresses Charlie Brear | Headpieces DC Bouquets | Flowers & Styling Ava Event Styling | Make Up Jodie Hazlewood | Venue Iscoyd Park

One of the most lovely things about looking at wedding photography on a daily basis is that it makes you incredibly happy.

Seriously, there are moments EVERYDAY where an image makes me grin from ear-to-ear, or brings tears of joy to my eyes. As soppy as that sounds, it really is true.

And that’s before I’ve even read the lovely write up from one of our Brides…

Jill and Pete’s wedding is one of THE most joyous weddings I’ve come across. It is brimming with positivity and it brings me great pleasure to share it with you lovely lot this Friday afternoon.

And if Jill’s seriously pretty hair and the wonderful multi coloured decor aren’t enough to make your heart sing…wait until you see the images of the moment her Dad serenaded the guests with an acoustic guitar. Have a lovely weekend!

Jill The Bride: We struggled to find our venue at first – we live in London, but got married at St Mary’s in Honley, where I grew up and my parents live. We wanted a barn for our reception – somewhere our lovely London friends could enjoy the Yorkshire countryside – but soon discovered most Yorkshire barns have cows in! Luckily we found Woodhead Barn – a mountain rescue centre high on the Yorkshire Moors, with a small, refurbished barn. We fell in love with it, but needed more space. It was surrounded by fields so, after umming and ahhing about budget, we hired a tipi from Papakata and we’re sooo glad we did.

The tipi created an amazing ambience with its open fire and picnic bench tables – it definitely had the wow factor and was completely suited to us. The combination of barn, tipi and field created our dream venue and the perfect setting for our relaxed, fun day.

I wanted a simple dress (nothing stiff, puffy or strapless) and found this tricky initially. Then I discovered Charlie Brear and knew I’d found the place for me. I’d always imagined wearing lace, but found when rating dresses in a magazine with Pete (recommended to find what he likes without giving the game away!) that he’s not into it.

The dress I chose didn’t look anything special on the hanger, it was so fluid and simple and felt risky as it was quite unforgiving. I wasn’t 100% sure I loved it until the day, when I knew it was perfect for me and the day we’d planned.

My shoes were my first wedding purchase! Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragons – they were so fun and it turned out the plastic was perfect for muddy fields as they wiped clean! I wore the Scarlett necklace from RMB – I was a RMW addict leading up to the wedding and when I saw the necklace I knew it would be perfect with the low back of my dress. I’m a musician and often wear long gowns for concerts so have worn it a few times since already! My Mum bought my earrings from my favourite jewellers Dower & Hall, they complemented the mint of the necklace and glowed iridescently. Pete gave me a little ballet wrap cardigan from Jigsaw as a wedding present, which kept me snug when the night drew in.

Our theme (if you can call it that) was things we love – music, birds and the sea all featured heavily. Pete spent hours making 800 origami birds, which we strung on fishing wire in the barn. We scattered tealights inside and out, and had tiny medicine bottles filled with flowers everywhere. My Mum sewed metres of bunting and we hung paper lanterns with LEDs in the tipi and barn.

We collected different coloured wineglasses for every setting so the tipi was full of colour and used biodegradable palm leaf plates by The Whole Leaf Company instead of traditional crockery. We brought décor from home – old crates and books, metal cabinets, vintage chests – and glued buttons onto 3D letters spelling LOVE, which we displayed with the cake. We also displayed old family wedding photos – we come from an inspiring line of long, happy marriages!

I love natural flowers so did them myself, with the help of my Mum and her fantastic garden. We were lucky that the awful spring weather meant my favourites – bluebells – were out for our late May wedding. We gathered cow parsley from the roadside, random flowers from the garden, and ordered astilbe, delphiniums and sweet peas from Triangle Nursery.

We also went to Covent Garden Flower Market to buy peonies at 3am the night before we drove to Yorkshire – definitely worth the effort, as they were beautiful on the day!

My bouquet was made by our amazing photographer Tarah Coonan, with daisies from my Mum’s wedding dress wrapped around the stems. Tarah was absolutely brilliant, we knew as soon as we met her she’d be perfect. She got so many beautiful, natural snaps throughout the day, and sneaked us off for a couple of portrait sessions too. Some of my favourite photos are the ones she took during the ceremony – we didn’t notice she was there but she perfectly captured the love and intimacy between us. She was definitely one of our best choices (after each other!).

The ceremony was our favourite part of the day – standing in front of the people we love most and saying our vows was incredible. My old vicar came up from Bude to do the address, and our talented friends provided the music. We had lots of Bach and our friend’s a cappella group The Lovenotes sang ‘Happy Together’ as we signed the register.

Faith taught everyone The Beatles’ ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ before the ceremony, and our guests sang us out – it was amazing walking up the aisle as husband and wife, surrounded by our friends belting out the song at the tops of their voices!

The Lovenotes sang for us throughout the day and my Dad sang Bob Dylan’s ‘Tambourine Man’ between the main course and dessert – he was absolutely brilliant and I cried A LOT, standing in the arms of my new husband watching my other favourite man in the world.

In the evening we had a ceilidh with Mason’s Apron, who were fab and joined us later in the tipi, playing an acoustic set whilst we stood around the fire toasting marshmallows – just the kind of evening that we love.

We made our own invitations and order of services, cutting out hundreds of tiny paper flags to make the bunting. My Grandad was an artist, and it meant a lot that we could use his painting of St Mary’s church in our stationery.

We loved our day because it was true to us. We saw it as an opportunity for our guests to really get to know us as a couple, so we only included things we love and/or wanted in our home anyway! Our guestbook was a surfboard which is now on our wall (I love surfing), our tables were named after birds with musical names (tying together my love for music and Pete’s love of birds) and we didn’t have a first dance because, well, we didn’t want one..

We were surrounded by the most fantastic team – our suppliers, who all went above and beyond, and our wonderful family and friends. This was very useful when our tipi blew apart the day before the wedding in 60mph winds, sleet and hail. Amazingly we had blue skies and sunshine on the day, so Papakata came first thing in the morning to secure the tent, then we went in shifts to decorate it and lay tables etc.

Our wedding was the best start to married life we could ask for and the beginning of a lifetime of adventures together. Keeping calm amidst the chaos was easy as I knew that just a few hours later I would be married to the most incredible person I’ve ever met – and that is without a doubt the most amazing feeling in the world.

Photography by Tarah Coonan
Dress Charlie Brear | Jewellery Dower & Hall | Shoes Vivienne Westwood | Bridesmaids Marks and Spencer | Venue Woodhead Barn| Tipi Hire PapaKata | Entertainment The Lovenotes | Groom Reiss | Catering Saunts

You may remember this gorgeous pair from their rather special engagement shoot. If you missed it, please go and have a read – their story is such a lovely one & Emma’s words about her love for Mark are so heartfelt and moving.

‘We were so entwined that I knew I’d found my forever.’ I’m sure that’s a feeling which will resonate with all of you.

So it really is lovely to be able to share their wedding too…and believe me when I say Emma & Mark’s wedding is beautiful.

The flowers are out of this world. The Bridesmaids are sporting the most magnificent floral crowns I’ve ever seen and Emma’s bouquet is divine – oversized and full of beautiful roses and foliage. An excellent job done by Angel Like Flowers.

There is also some fabulous fashion to lust over – I’m loving Emma’s sequinned Malene Birger jacket for the evening and her Gillian Million headpiece is so pretty.

And as if the images from Horseshoe Photography weren’t enough, the wedding highlights film from MY FILM is a wonderful sneak peak into Emma & Mark’s big day.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin…

Emma The Bride: My dress was a San Patrick sweetheart strapless beauty, with a fitted fishtail underskirt, beaded appliqué at the waist and a sheer tulle overlay with spidery lace crawling down a cathedral length train.

Alongside some beautiful shimmering Jimmy Choos, I had a beautiful headpiece made by the talented Gillian Million – all peachy pearls clusters and encrusted jewels. For the day I also wore a simple rose gold bangle from Whistles to match my rose gold and diamond wedding band, and I wore a tulle cathedral length veil with raw edges.

I am a magpie, so for the evening I wanted to glitter. I found a beautiful second-hand golden sequinned jacket by Malene Birger, which I wore to the Wedding Breakfast and then for the evening I had a beautiful statement necklace of pearls and stones found in Jaeger.

On the morning of the wedding my Mum surprised me with a beautiful gift of a 1950’s vintage sparkly bracelet. It was a perfect match with my necklace and is now one of my most treasured pieces.

Mark kept things simple and chose a navy skinny 3 piece suit from Topman. With this he wore a crisp cotton shirt from Hugo Boss and a gorgeous knitted navy tie with white polka dots from Zara.

Andy, a Groomsmen, gave Mark a little gift on the morning of the wedding – a small swallow badge. The swallow is a symbol of loyalty – a fitting gift in so many ways.

We started the venue search pretty much straight away and discovered The Walled Garden at Cowdray – a stunning English garden in the middle of the Sussex countryside. Think wooden floors, bare brick walls with farrow & ball hues and the most beautiful garden – even in the midst of winter!

I pretty much made all aspects of the Wedding. From the programs to the menus to the table plan to the garden signs to the wrapping paper to the hand stamped name tags. I loved it.

To add a bit of detail I hired 6 table runners from Sama of Utterly Wow fame – 3 black and white striped runners and 3 golden hued sequinned numbers. They were the perfect addition!

All of my handmade elements were nothing in comparison to the sheer gorgeousness that was brought by the wonderful Kate Fletcher of Vintage Style Hire. I loved Kate’s styling and it was just a pleasure to work with her from start to finish!

Angel Skillman of Angel Like Flowers is a genius and created all floral elements after just one meeting. We chose White Piaget, Quicksand and Majolica roses, lots of Gypsophelia, astrantia and Bells of Ireland, Populus, Eucalyptus, Olive and Rosemary.

For my bouquet I wanted something a little wild with roses in the creamiest ivory and blush tones, with lashings of foliage, all hand-tied with gold and bronze ribbons. I didn’t want traditional bouquets for the Bridesmaids instead opting for oversized floral headbands and corsages for their wrists – they were dreamy.

Words are important to us and the readings we had chosen were actually love letters, written by Victor Hugo and the American artist Rockwell Kent. Considering we met via the modern day love letter it seemed a fitting tribute. Lolly’s wedding inspired me to have bells for the guests to ring as we had our first kiss as husband and wife. It was a bit magical and our guests loved this little touch!

For the garden reception we had the Leeds City Stompers providing the entertainment and as one guest put it they were “quietly brilliant”. For the evening we wanted something slightly different and so enlisted the help of Brighton DJ’s Stick It On – the idea being your guests take turns on the decks! My favourite bit was seeing my Father-in-law aka Daddy Cool spinning Metallica. Epic.

Cheryl from Passion Cuisine created a beautiful wedding feast of gorgeous canapés, anti-pasti sharing platters, chicken with pancetta and sherry sauce and delicious apple tart with blackberry sorbet and clotted cream! We served Pimms, champagne and homemade lemonade for our reception. Our cake was made by the doll that is Mary-anne from Jam & Tea.

Jo of Horseshoe Photography is responsible for these gorgeous images and she’s an absolute delight to have around. Jo really loves to see the story in people and these images have captured some of the most precious moments of my life.

Natasha of MYFILM was another find from the Rock My Wedding archives. I loved her from the moment we met and I knew she would create an epic wedding film for us. Natasha has captured so many amazing details and really caught the atmosphere of the day. Oh and the music for the edit – her choice – and it’s bloody great.

Meeting Mark has changed my life in so many ways… I’m now a wife, I have seen a little bit more of the world on our travels, I’ve made some brave decisions including starting my own business – Coco Wedding Venues, and I’m ridiculously excited about our future…

As a wedding gift Mark gave me a beautiful copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and inside he wrote, “ We’ll go through the rabbit hole together and our adventure starts today…”

Photography by Horseshoe Photography
Dress San Patrick | Boutique Isabella Grace Bridal | Hairpiece Gillian Million | Hair & Beauty Jeni Dodson | Venue The Walled Garden Cowdray| Stylist Vintage Style Hire | Florist Angel Like Flowers | Bridesmaids Emma Louise Design | Catering Passion Cuisine | Videography My Film | Cake Jam & Tea

I’ve fallen in love with this morning’s wedding. Totally, completely and whole-heartedly in love.

Erika and Nicholas seem like the sweetest couple. There’s an image of Erika dissolving into tears as she walks down the aisle which is just so lovely, and there are just endless images of them both looking outrageously loved-up.

Erika also has the best hair EVER. It just looks so glossy and immaculately styled. Exactly how you would want your hair to look on your wedding day!

Following the elegance of a ceremony and intimate lunch at The Connaught, the couple threw a massive party at swanky new Covent Garden venue, Icetank.

They got things going with a traditional Colombian ‘crazy hour’ or ‘hora loca,’ where guests drink shots of Colombian Firewater, dress up in silly hats and just basically get down.

It looked like such fun. So much so in fact, that I think all weddings should have an Hora Loca!

Erika The Bride: My style is very classic with a modern twist. I wanted to find a dress that was different from the traditional dresses where I would be able to move freely, feel comfortable and that represented my personality. I looked at so many dresses before I found the one (Derby from the Pronovias 2013 collection). I took my Mother-In-Law with me and it was her who suggested I try the dress on – I was a bit apprehensive at the beginning but when I put it on, came out and saw her in tears I knew it was the one, plus she is from Derbyshire so it was fate!

I knew from the start that I did not want traditional white wedding shoes, I wanted to have a pair I would be able to wear again and again also my shoes had to create an impact and how better to do this than a pair of Jimmy Choos! I fell in love with the Kuki sandal in bronze – it complemented the dress perfectly and they looked stunning together! They were a present from my beloved husband.

We chose D&G on the same day we were looking for my wedding shoes walking along Old Bond Street in London. We chose navy as Nicholas also wanted to be able to wear his suit over and over again. He looked so handsome!

We wanted to have a very intimate ceremony & lunch – strictly family and very close friends, followed by a celebration party in the evening for the rest of our friends. We had two themes: English during the day and Colombian during the evening. After looking at so many places and different hotels my Father-In-Law suggested The Connaught Hotel in Mayfair.

The moment I walked into the Carlos Room I was speechless – it was exactly what we were looking for: an exquisite room with an Art Deco feel to it. The Connaught took care of everything; they were amazing from beginning to end.

For the second venue my husband did some research and found a new, contemporary venue in Covent Garden: Icetank – a complete blank canvas to decorate in any way you want. We asked our florist WildAbout to create floral designs which would easily transfer to the second venue – they did brilliantly.


WildAbout did our flower arrangements, I went for roses, for my bouquet as peonies – my favourite flower were unfortunately not in season in October when we got married. We also had freesias, hydrangeas, amaranths, eucalyptus and a touch of purple to give a splash of colours with veronicas.



In the evening we hired a group of Colombian dancers to start our traditional crazy hour where fun props are given to the guests (masks, hats, necklaces) along with shots of Colombian firewater (Aguardiente). We danced to lots of different types of Latin music and the dancers made sure everyone joined in. It was a different experience for all our English guests and everyone had a great time!

Photographs are very important for me; when I started looking there were so many options that I felt lost. A friend of mine recommended a photographer but he was booked on my wedding day, I was so disappointed but he sent me details of other photographers he would recommend – amongst them was Anneli Marinovich. We chose her because her work was stunning and contemporary and she captures details in such a beautiful way so I really identified with her style though her work.

My advice for future brides would be to make sure you invest in a good photographer and to do the necessary research to choose the right one. Anneli produced exquisite photographs of our day; we are really pleased and happy to have chosen her.

Photography by Anneli Marinovich
Dress Pronovias | Shoes Jimmy Choo | Groom D&G | Ceremony Venue The Connaught | Reception Venue Icetank | Florist WildAbout | Flowergirl Nicki Macfarlane | Stationery Mount Street Printers | DJ Johnny Masa

This afternoon we’re venturing into wedding fantasy land. French wedding fantasy land to be precise. Which is definitely a wonderful place to be.

This dreamy inspiration shoot comes from the lovely Louise at B.Loved who always sends us the prettiest, most romantic inspiration features.

Think blowsy roses, lashings of sage green foliage, delicate hearted shaped macarons, tiny gold forest animals and the most beautiful, unashamedly feminine Johanna Hehir gowns.

And if you loved the photography from this mornings wedding, then you’ll be pleased to know that this shoot was captured by the same photographer. Yes, Anneli Marinovich really is a super star.

Enjoy the pretty lovely ones.

Our French Forest Fairytale shoot was inspired by the romance and whimsy of childhood dreams, and the rustic textures of the forest, in an enchanting palette of blush pink, mushroom, moss green and ivory. Shot in the grounds of a beautiful converted chapel, on the edge of the beautiful forest of Hesdin, the surrounding countryside provided the perfect backdrop.

The first of our Bridal looks picks up on two key trends, lace and low-cut back details. The slim silhouette of ‘Catherine’ by Johanna Hehir worked perfectly with a floral crown by Victoria Millésime. Natural makeup and soft curls to completed her relaxed, boho look.

Johanna Hehir’s Delilah added a touch of vintage glamour to the second look, with an elegant cowl back and fuller skirt which gently moved in the breeze. This look was finished with a side braid to keep the boho feel with flowers weaved through to keep the look modern and fresh. A stunning bouquet created by Jodie from Boutique Blooms, included romantic roses, contemporary dahlias and rustic foliage.

A table styled by Louise at B.Loved was full of creative details. A hanging chandelier of elegant blush and ivory flowers created a focal point over the table, dripping with sparkling crystals fit for a princess, with garlands of ivy adding to the forest feel. A moss runner created a backdrop for a fairy-tale inspired setting with mushrooms, flowers and animals springing from the table!

Votives and antique silver details added romance and glamour. Vintage china was used for the place settings, with moss-filled teacups, and lace details add a pretty touch to the garden chairs. Luxurious letterpressed stationery by Artcadia featured a cute forest animal motif on every element.

A floral arch provided the perfect backdrop for a wonderfully whimsical dessert table. A dripping gold naked cake, decorated with dainty sugar-paste mushrooms designed by Andi Freeman Cakes, was the perfect centrepiece, with pink-iced mounds and pink and gold cake pops, and the prettiest heart-shaped macarons and posh pops from Anges de Sucres adding a French twist.

Photography by Anneli Marinovich
Styling B.Loved Wedding Design | Florist Boutique Blooms | Stationery Artcadia | Hair & Make Up Makeup By Katy | Venue Le Verger| Dresses & Veil Johanna Hehir | Accessories Victoria Millésime | Macarons Anges de Sucres | Votives The Wedding Of My Dreams | Cake Andi Freeman Cakes

We’re rounding off the week with a rustic DIY wedding that I just know you’re going to love.

Lisa chose to have dried flowers, as opposed to fresh ones. I must admit I wasn’t sure about this until I saw these beautiful images…

But now, I’m sold on dried flowers. Lisa’s flower headpiece is so pretty and looks very country maid-esque in her long blonde tousled hair. Add to that the delicate bouquet and urn full of dried flowers and there you have it. I’m a dried flower convert.

It’s probably because they look so delicate, but wild and bohemian at the same time. And not only that, but they make an amazing, long lasting keepsake from your day.

I should also probably tell you that I really struggled, and I mean really struggled, to chose the final images for todays post. Jake Morley has captured the day in such a way that every image makes you smile.

Lisa The Bride: I wore a dress designed by Sophia Tolli, chosen for its unique and distinct lace finish. My flowers and headpiece were handmade by The Artisan Dried Flower Co. in keeping with our chosen colour scheme and rustic DIY wedding style. I particularly chose dried flowers so that they would remain as a keepsake after our special day.

Craig The Groom: I wanted to break all the rules when it came the traditional Groom style. I chose slim fitting trousers and a rustic tweed waistcoat without a jacket. I insisted that sleeves were rolled up to ensure my tattoos were caught on camera. I wanted to look back on our wedding day and see me, relaxed and myself rather than uptight as though I was wearing someone else’s clothes.

Lisa The Bride: The venue was a tough one, we had a vision of the right location but just could not find it anywhere, until we came about Newton House Weddings, a new venue at the time of booking. The beautiful gardens and barn won us over as well as the amazing hospitality of Greg & Jacqui.

We wanted to keep everything with a summer feel, seeing as though we were risking an outdoor wedding. Therefore we chose to use pastel colours such as yellows, browns, creams blues and pinks.

Our theme throughout was rustic/DIY garden wedding, so everything was pretty much geared this way. Craig handmade the lemonade stand with friend Mark Wilde of Wildes Wood Joinery. He also handmade the various tables we used for the guest book and top tables.

All our decoration was handmade by friends and family over the months prior, which made it extra special when we saw it come together. I guess it made everything feel part of the day that little bit more.

We had the centre pieces and various flower arrangements as mentioned above by The Artisan Dried Flower Co, but of course, our creative side wanted to try this too, so I made various flower arrangements myself such as the ceremony cross, milk churns and cake toppers.

Craig handmade all of the various signs around the venue whilst I did the typography with a chalk pen. Our photobooth was a large handmade Polaroid frame hanging from a tree. People just used it freely throughout the day/evening.

We decided to go with a rustic ceremony too, therefore our guests had the delightful chance to sit on straw bales during the service. Another reason why we chose to have our wedding at Newton House – so that we could have the service and reception at the same location.

Phil Jankovskis sang an stripped down acoustic version of Lead Me by Sanctus Real. This is a beautiful song about marriage. Gemma Johnson, sister of the groom read a beautiful poem by an unknown author called Wish. Jon Hollingsworth prayed blessing over the marriage, Pastor Dave Owen lead our ceremony. The vows were taken from the film ‘The Vow’ and slightly edited to make that little more personal to ourselves.

Jake Morley, our photographer, was incredible, so many people, and obviously ourselves love the moments he captured so beautifully. Guests commented on how hardworking he was compared to many other wedding photographers, yet he was never obtrusive.

Mark W Brown is an industry known name for vintage 8mm, and we loved him! The video rocks and so many people compliment us on this. It’s something we will view time and time again in the future.

Rustic means you can usually get away with making anything yourself to pretty much any standard! It’s great! Be yourself, you will enjoy and remember your day soooo much more.

On the day, drink more and talk less.

Dried flowers takes a huge worry about last minute collections or delivery of flowers. Also, you can buy flowers and dry them yourself before the day just to have extra flowers around the place. Pick up reduced roses etc from the supermarket and gather foliage on walks in the countryside.

Use Pinterest to build wedding boards of ideas months before you start to bring everything together.

A massive thank you to all our friends and family who helped make the tasty cakes, we love you.

Photography by Jake Morley
Dress & Veil Sophia Tolli | Boutique Bridal Couture By Josephine | Jewellery Pandora | Bridesmaids BHS | Headpiece & Flowers The Artisan Dried Flower Co. | Venue Newton House | Cake A Piece Of Cake | Groom Topman | Videography Mark W Brown

This afternoon we’re introducing you to Wedding Photography Select.

If you’re looking for a wedding photographer (and if you’re here on RMW, then you’re also clearly looking for a GREAT photographer) then you’ve probably already come across Wedding Photography Select.

The WPS team present Excellence Awards six times a year to Wedding Photographers. These images all come from the most recent winners. They are a beautiful selection of fun, emotive and unusual Wedding images. The lovely image above comes from Lucas Lerman. How happy does the Bride look? I’m sure that’s an image she’ll treasure forever.

I’ll pass you over to the WPS team to tell you more about what they do and the Excellence Awards.

Images above come from Excellence Award Winners Subinoy Das, Anton Kuzmeokov & Steven Rooney.

Wedding Photography Select (WPS) is a directory of over 4000 photographers in the UK & International, catering for all budgets and locations.

Finding your perfect wedding photographer is now made even easier.

Images above come from Joe Short, Jamie Bott & Christelle Rall.

At WPS some of the best wedding photographers in the world showcase their work in a variety of ways. One of the main areas on WPS is the Excellence Awards competition. Every other month photographers from all over the world submit their images to be judged by a panel of photographers. Only the best images are selected and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners receive a cash prize which totals £900.

Images above come from Livio Lacurre and Andrea Cittadini.

The Excellence Awards takes wedding photography to a new level, showcasing some of the most amazing and interesting images in the industry. These images help inspire brides, grooms and other wedding photographers and these awards are recognised around the world. You will fall in love with the images and the photographers who are part of the site.

Images above come from Frank Ullmer and Matt & Tara Theilen.

Not only can you find a photographer in the Excellence Awards, but you can peruse more amazing photography in the Photography Technique section. A section where more amazing images are showcased and a little story of how and why the image was captured for each. This gives a little emotion to each story for the bride and technical details for the photographer.

If you’re looking to see a full wedding or engagement shoot you can also visit the Real Wedding section. Another section showcasing wedding photographers and wedding traditions from all over the world.

No matter what your budget or where you’re getting married, WPS caters for everyone. If you see something you like you can contact the photographer directly through the site or get photographers in your area to get in touch with you.

Image above come from Rino Cordella and Sergio Muricy.

If you are getting married, Wedding Photography Select should be the 1st place you look when looking for a wedding photographer whether for a photographer for your big day or for some pure inspiration.

This is a sponsored post, please contact fern@rockmywedding.co.uk for further details

As a true girly girl at heart – I adore this morning’s wedding. The colour palette of blush pink with dusky green and golden hues is beautiful. Bride Jules out did herself in achieving the soft and romantic look she was aiming for.

Just wait until you see the dreamy dessert table piled high with macarons, the elegant floral centre pieces and the wedding party in their pretty pastel coloured dresses.

Jules’ gown is stunning too, a strapless number with ruffled layers of lace. This Bride was lucky enough to find ‘the one’ and I can completely understand why this dress made her cry.

Today’s images come from the lovely Razia N Jukes, who has captured Jules and Tim’s day beautifully. For each image, the tone is just right. Anticipation, fun, laughter, love and joy are all clear to see.

Personally, I think it’s probably the best way to start to the week…and I really hope you’ll agree.

Jules The Bride: My dress was one of the first dresses I tried on when I was shopping in my hometown, Cape Town, South Africa. I instantly fell in love with it and had the “tear moment” that Brides-To-Be talk about. I managed to track the dress down at All That Glitters in Wimbledon and they were absolutely brilliant in getting the dress from Essence Of Australia along with additional matching lace which they used to make my veil.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on my shoes considering that there was no way anyone would be able to see them under my dress! So I wore a pair of the most comfortable shoes ever from New Look and dressed them up with gorgeous shoe clips I found on Etsy.

My Bridesmaids (my twin sister Tammy, sister-in-law Georgie and best friend Lauren) were in dresses by J Crew. I really wanted something ethereal and soft and most importantly something that fitted in with the blush pink and pale green colour theme. These dresses were absolutely perfect!

Our flower girls were just too cute in their little dresses from Next. Our florist Libby, did a amazing job making their gypsophila crowns which they adored. Our little page boy, Alfred, looked so smart in his suit from Next and his bow tie I found on Etsy, Although in most of the photos he is clinging to his boutonnière as he was so worried it would fall off!

It was very important to us that the venue had a special meaning. We were so incredibly blessed to be allowed to use Kirby Cane Hall in South Norfolk for the occasion. Tim grew up on a farm in the village so it really fit the bill. I addition, the quaint little All Saints church is right next door so it eliminated the need to travel between the two venues.

We had the reception in a marquee in the gardens of the Hall. We absolutely loved the manicured hedges and the ancient exposed brick walls with rambling creepers where the perfect backdrop for our photographs which were taken by the amazing Razia N Jukes (I cannot thank her enough for her brilliant work and just being so wonderful and easy to work with on the day).

Our colour scheme was blush pink, dusky green and gold. I loved this combination as it was really soft and romantic. Our florist, Libby Ferris, did such an amazing job, I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful my bouquet was and I adored the gypsophila boutonnières she made for the boys.

Tim and I love macarons so we decided that we would have them instead of cake. The brilliant Reshmi of Anges de Sucre made them for us. We did need to have something to cut though so Kelly from Eventiss made a scrumptious vanilla bean and raspberry cake.

Tim and I were both really surprised at how much we enjoyed the ceremony. When you plan a wedding so much focus goes into the reception that we didn’t really think too much about the ceremony. We both came away saying that it was our favourite part and we’d do it again in a heartbeat! If we were to give any advice to Brides and Grooms-To-Be is remember that the most important part of the day is the ceremony and to not to overlook it in your wedding prep!

Photography by Razia N Jukes
Dress & Veil Essense Of Australia | Boutique All That Glitters | Jewellery Classic Designs | Bridesmaids J Crew | Florist Libby Ferris Flowers | Venue Kirby Cane Hall | Cake A Piece Of Cake | Marquee Hire CrackerJack Marquee Company | Groom & Groomsmen Moss Bros | Cake Eventiss | Macarons Anges de Sucre | Catering The Crown At Woodbridge | Entertainment Wandering Hands & The Top Hat Band

I love bonfires. I also love farms. And I also really, really love Cornwall. So when I opened the file of images for today’s wedding – I was one happy girl.

Daisy and Sally married at Sally’s parents farm, Roselidden, where they had free reign to do whatever they wanted. This resulted in a hog roast, a giant bonfire, festoon lighting and some really cool wellies.

The lovely pair met at Art College in Falmouth and their creative backgrounds are definitely reflected in their wedding day. I love the continued use of the ampersand symbol – the enormous ampersand circus lamp made by Daisy’s Dad is particularly striking.

The day was rounded off with a massive bonfire, lots of West Country cider and round-after-round of marshmallow toasting. Which sounds pretty perfect to me. There is something very spiritual and ritualistic about a fire.

Daisy and Sally’s day looks like a magical occasion that was filled with love. It’s a beautiful wedding lovelies and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Daisy The Bride: It was always going to be a hands-on creative fest; we met 8 years ago in art school, we fell in love with each other and Falmouth and have been here ever since. Being a gay wedding, one of the most liberating but also daunting things is that there are no traditions to follow, it could be exactly how we wanted to be.

We both instinctively wanted an Autumn wedding here in Cornwall, which quickly lead to much excitement of hog roasts, bonfires, festoon lighting and cool wellies! We already had the venue; Sally’s parents’ farm conversion, the perfect blank canvas with enough space outside for a huge bonfire. It really was a blank canvas, with the floor being laid only two weeks before the wedding, and we had to source everything from scratch!

We had a year to put together the look we wanted. All the stationery was designed my myself; the invites, signage, thank yous etc. We branded the whole event with the ampersand, based on part of the letter press I use at home which we both love. We commissioned an enormous ampersand circus lamp, made by my Dad; ‘The L’ampersand’. Made by hand, with laminated ply and Italian turbo lamps, it became the focal point for the barn. We both still remember the moment we opened the bespoke carry case Dad had built for it, and turned it on for the first time!!!

We quickly came up against a problem; how do you seat nearly 100 people in a barn that should really only comfortably sit 60?! The solution: scaffolding planks! It was an early obsession of Sally’s to have enamel plates and scaffolding tables, an idea scoffed at by many, but look who had the last laugh! The long lengths of scaffold meant we could squeeze in the extra seats, with the added flexibility of pushing them to the sides, stacking them, and even making one into a skittle alley after lunch. The beautiful vintage folding chairs from Virginia’s Vintage Hire instantly added to the sea of colour with the L’ampersand, table runners, flowers and lanterns.

What we chose to wear was a bit tricky as we’re not dress wearing types! And neither are we terribly smart ladies either, most used to kicking about in jeans. We wanted to feel like ourselves but a bit spruced up, we never intended to wear such similar clothes but that’s just how it turned out! Our shoes we had handmade in Totnes, Devon at Conker Shoes. We could have any colour, leather or design. They are beautiful objects as well as gorgeous shoes. The shirts are handmade from a company called Folk. They’re organic cotton, and purchased from Liberty’s, London. Sally’s jackets was made for her by a local tailor and friend of the family. Our rings were also commissioned, totally bespoke to us. The rest were high street finds, like my bright yellow Joules wellies!

We split it over two days with two ceremonies, the legal ceremony being a small family affair, and the main celebration the next day. Jo at the local Registration Office, was fantastic. A wonderfully warm and reassuring professional, who put us at ease instantly, it was far more moving than we expected.

We decided to exchange the rings in the second ceremony with Sally’s sister Rosie as our celebrant in a beautiful 32ft yurt from Hooe’s Yurts. The yurt was simply decorated with flowers in Campari Soda bottles we had collected, with long benches for everyone to sit on. Later in the day the yurt became host to skittles, pick and mix and just outside our Punch & Judy Photobooth that Sally and her Dad made together from some old doors, and Peter’s horseshoe tossing game!

With the food, we made a decision to self-cater for lunch and then a local hog roast company in the evening. We know some amazing local produce suppliers here in Cornwall, in fact Sally works for one of them! The coffee, cakes, artisan breads and ale were all Cornish. As were a lot of the other tasty bits. Our wedding cake was made by a friend of ours, as was the lunch itself. We hired in a great Somerset company CiderPig to supply the booze, their incredible french fire truck (complete with chandelier in the front cab) looked stunning and brought everything together.

The effort we put in to bringing together so many details was something our photographer, the immensely talented and super lovely Helen Lisk, truly appreciated and captured. Helen was great throughout the whole day, she made us feel comfortable in a situation that was quite alien to us, both being camera shy, it was a real joy to have her around, and we are so glad we found her. And the images speak for themselves.

There are so many elements that we could talk about, and it really was a labour of love. We loved every moment of the planning, and the final 2 weeks were so exhausting for all involved, we were glad when it was over! From what was a daunting leap into the unknown and exposure as a same-sex couple, we found huge support and acceptance along the way, which has been wonderfully affirming. It was always going to be a hands-on experience, but we really couldn’t have done it without all of the help from all of our friends and families, and for that we will be forever grateful. It was the best day of our lives, it was exactly what we wanted it to be.

Photography by Helen Lisk
Venue Roselidden Farm | Catering Stone Bakery, Cornish Hog Roasts & The Cheese Shed | Bar Cider Pig | Yurts Hooe’s Yurts | Chair & Bench Hire Virginia’s Vintage Hire | Vintage Tea Sets Vintage By You

This afternoon we’ve got a lovely engagement shoot for you all to swoon over. Justin and Camilla’s gorgeous Autumnal engagement shoot took place in the New Forest, which really is a lovely part of the UK. Wild ponies, babbling brooks, sunlit dappled glades – there really is nothing more beautiful than a forest for a natural backdrop.

Camilla and Justin are both photographers, so when chosing a photographer for their engagement shoot & wedding, I can imagine there were advantages and disadvantages. Lots of amazing contacts, but having to relinquish control??

Well luckily these two could call on Helen Cawte and Hayley Savage. As well as working individually, Camilla and Helen also form duo Millie & Belle and so the whole shoot basically became a collaborative creative effort.

The ladies all contributed different elements to the setting, everything other than the flowers was made by them or bought from their homes. Much more than just pretty faces these girls aren’t they?! That cake looks delicious…

The photos below are a mixture of film and digital as they wanted to see how the two dealt with the colours and faded light in the forest. The film images were then used afterwards as a base for our post processing of the digital files, to replicate the look. I think the overall look is gorgeous – very soft and romantic. Camilla and Justin look like they should be in the pages of a glossy magazine.

The beautiful sculptural bouquets, table settings and head piece were made by florists Little Lillies and add the perfect touch of colour and style to proceedings.

Camilla The Bride: Both being photographers we met at work and clicked (excuse the pun!) straight away.

We got engaged in Justin’s homeland of Wales, he took me for a beautiful walk in the Brecon Beacons, we stopped off for a dip in a river then sat on an old bridge for a picnic when he popped the question. I was absolutely bowled over and was even more stunned by the incredible opal engagement ring he presented me with.

Being a wedding photographer myself (Camilla Arnhold Photography) and one half of Millie & Belle Photography choosing our wedding photographer was a no brainer. My business partner Helen Cawte and the wonderful Hayley Savage are going to be photographing our wedding and we know they will do the most amazing job.

We are planning a very personal, festival style wedding with lots of live music, beautiful details and an unconventional wedding dress. We just want all of our friends and family to have the most fun ever and share the most important day of our lives.

We all contributed to the engagement shoot, everything apart from the flowers were made by us or brought from our own homes.

The amazing Owen from Little Lillies Florists contributed the beautiful sculptural bouquets, table decorations and the leafy head piece.

Photography by Mille & Belle
Florist Little Lillies | Photography Hayley Savage | Photography Helen Cawte

Despite the glimmer of Spring we’ve seen over the last few weeks, it would seem that Winter isn’t quite ready to disappear just yet…

We’ve got a gorgeous inspiration shoot this afternoon that will actually make you sad that Winter is on it’s way out. Seriously – I’m a sun worshipper through and through, but the thought of a crackling log fire always makes me hanker after the colder half of the year.

I’m particularly loving the strong make up looks created by Jodie Hazlewood and now have a very strong urge to reach for the glitter, put on my best frock and sit in a large window looking out over my grounds…

Obviously with a sparkly headpiece from Debbie Carlisle in my hair.

So let’s light some candles, get snuggled up in front of the fire and make the most of the final throws of Winter.

As Midlands suppliers, we’d worked together individually before on real weddings, but not collectively, so we got together to at one of my favourite venues, Iscoyd Park, for a styled shoot.

We wanted it to reflect how glamorous Winter weddings can be and Iscoyd Park provided the perfect backdrop for this. It really is as beautiful inside as it is outside in the grounds, think pale walls, crackling open fires and beautiful beaded chandeliers.

We added textures for cosiness – lace, faux fur and textured throws/blankets in the window seat and lots of pillar candles to create the warm indoors feel. Gold highlights and blush accents were picked up in the cutlery, soft pastel ribbons hanging from the chandelier and pink champagne, to give a touch of glamour.
I made lace balloons that I’d seen on Pinterest. (Talk about a labour of love, but very pretty, cheap to make and they looked really effective!)

We wanted the dresses we used to have the style aware bride in mind, so it had to be the Charlie Brear collection. The collection is inspired by a love of the most revolutionary decades of style. Made in luxurious fabrics such as delicately beaded and appliqued lace and hand washed silk, brides can create uniquely styled looks with a collection of under and over skirts, dresses, tailored jackets, sleeves belts and silk sashes, they give Brides the option to add a different look for the evening, so we used some exciting key pieces.

We started off with a softer romantic look using Juliet cap veils, natural make up and flower crowns and then moved onto a more edgy look with glitter eyes. We used some amazing pieces, including a gorgeous soft white leather jacket and ruffled skirt along with accessories from Debbie Carlisle.

Photography by Jo Hastings
Boutique Cicily Bridal | Dresses Charlie Brear | Headpieces Debbie Carlisle | Flowers & Styling Ava Event Styling | Make Up Jodie Hazlewood | Venue Iscoyd Park