And that’s exactly what Lucy did – she’s even got the t-shirt to prove it. Today’s gorgeous wedding comes from Brighton College. I have a major soft spot for school weddings – I’m not actually sure why, they just seem so very romantic and nostalgic to me. Must be my inner nerd, I love a school hall and a Narnia-esque lamppost!
Considering Lucy didn’t decide how to style her hair until the actual morning of the wedding, it looks beautiful – the colour pop of golden yellow looks amazing against her dark hair. And her gown is from Monsoon – proving again that it doesn’t have to be designer to be THE ONE.
Where We Met
Lucy The Bride: Tom and I got married in July 2012 (the wettest July on record!) at Brighton College. I met Tom on my first day at Sussex University in 2003 and we both really wanted to get married in the place we met.
When You Start To Prance, You Know
I am very bad at shopping, and the thought of spending hours and hours trying on wedding dresses in scary designer shops didn’t appeal to me, so it was unfortunate that I had dreams of a Jenny Packham wonder-dress! After the initial excitement over designer dresses, my sensible brain kicked in and I started to have doubts about spending thousands of pounds on the dress (much to Tom’s surprise!)
I had seen the lovely range of wedding dresses on the Monsoon website and went in to try some on to see what styles suited me – relying on my mum’s better sense of style to help me. I dismissed The Dress when I saw it on the rails and tried on another one that I loved, but my mum (in her infinite wisdom) suggested I try on a few more before deciding . When I tried on The Dress I loved it even more than the last one. Obviously it was about 3 ft too long as I am so short, but I just didn’t want to take it off and pranced about in the dressing room for ages.
I bought a dress for the evening so I could have a barefoot dance without ruining the wedding dress. It was from Reiss (in the sale!) and I think it was called the Peacock dress. Wedding and work stress led to an unexpected weight loss, so on the day it hung off me a bit so I used a bit of ribbon to tie it in. Things got a bit Blue Peter on the morning of the wedding, but I was too excited to care.
Waiting For The Weather
I hadn’t actually thought what to do with my hair until the morning of the wedding – I wanted to see what the weather would be like as Brighton had been so windy all week. One of the bridesmaids curled my hair, and I wrapped a piece of goldy/yellow ribbon around a headband so I looked like I had made a bit of an effort!
Art Deco Style
I bought my shoes from notonthehighstreet.com – they were Rachel Simpson’s ‘Carmen’ in ivory and gold with a high (for me) heel. I was a bit nervous about heels as I usually live in Converse, so wanted a t-bar style so I could be strapped in to them – grace is not my middle name! I loved the deco style and the fact that they didn’t have any sparkly bits on!
Dutch Courage
My lovely bridesmaid Annabel did my hair, and I did my own makeup. My hands were quite shaky at first as the nerves were kicking in, but once I’d had some champagne I calmed down and just about made it! In hindsight I should have practised a few looks beforehand, but I think it worked out ok (I hope!)
I wanted the wedding to be as relaxed as possible and didn’t have any colour schemes really. Tom and I know nothing about flowers, but I really liked the idea of natural meadowy-type bouquets. Our florist was Go Botanica from Brighton. We just wandered up there – said we knew nothing about flowers but didn’t want a formal look, and she came up with lovely bouquets and buttonholes with lavender and chamomile (and some other things that I can’t remember).
Comfortable And Happy
I told the bridesmaids to wear whatever they wanted as long as it was a block colour with no patterns. I’m a bit of a worrier, and wanted them to be comfortable and happy with their dresses so i thought that picking their own would be better. I think the poor girls found this a bit stressful as I kept saying “I don’t mind what you wear!”, but it worked out really well and their dresses looked really good together. They all looked lovely, and did their own hair and makeup too.
The boys wore their own suits, and we used buttonholes to make sure people knew they were part of the wedding party! A lot of Tom’s friends are designers, so there was a lot of customising going on!
Floating Down The Aisle
Tom’s suit was from Reiss, and the lovely tie was Ted Baker. I helped him choose the suit, so I already knew what it would look like, but when I saw him looking all handsome and excited as I walked down the aisle, I couldn’t stop smiling and I managed to float towards him without a nervous stumble in sight! He looked amazing!
As It Happens
We found Source Images through an advert on RMW. We put them on our shortlist (which wasn’t particularly short) and ultimately decided they were the right choice based solely on their portfolio. We wanted a reportage-style for our wedding, not too many staged portraits; just capturing the day as it happens.
We had a quick chat over the phone to get to know Ines, and a few weeks later we met up for our pre wedding shoot. Ines is really bubbly, outgoing and full of initiative – something we really appreciated, as we’re both quite camera-shy. It poured with rain from start to finish on the w – day, by Ines managed to make the day look sunny and bright!
Taste The Rainbow
We designed the cake ourselves, with the help of my lovely cousin/cake genius Emma of The Rather Good Cake Company. We wanted something colourful and fun, which would be tasty for all ages! The top tier was Rice Krispie and marshmallow (for the kids), then multi-combinations of chocolate. Emma made us edible cake toppers of me and Tom high-fiving each other (very mature I know!)
Encore Encore
Music was my number one priority for the wedding (above dresses, flowers and… well maybe not food, but still). Tom and I started making a wedding playlist about a year before the wedding and just kept adding to it. We had a playlist for every part of the day. My friend Daisy DJ’d for the reception. We asked guests to make requests for songs beforehand (obviously I wasn’t going to agree to Westlife or anything, but luckily everyone we know has good taste!) Everyone danced all night, and it made the day even better to see people enjoying the music – people were screaming for an encore at the end, it was brilliant!
The Only People In The Room
Self-consciousness, music snobbery and the thought of dancing for at least three minutes in front of other people made our first dance choice a long drawn out decision! In the end we chose The Book of Love (originally by Peter Gabriel) but we chose the Magnetic Fields version as we both love the band and their songs have many happy memories for us! We were worried about looking stupid, but at the time it was amazing and it really felt like we were the only people in the room!
Flat Pack Favours
We bought little flat pack boxes and spent many evenings together filling them with sweets and hand written jokes. We bought a custom-made stamp (which was the print from our letter press invitations) and stamped the top of the boxes and then wrote the names of guests on them so the favours would double up as place names.
Bunting Galore
We are very lucky to have very creative friends, and we had hundreds of metres of beautiful bunting made for us. We wanted to keep the decor quite simple, and yet again had no idea how to explain what we wanted! We found the brilliant Jackie at Chocolat Bleu and said we wanted fairy lights, candles and wild flowers – and she delivered! I had no idea what the room would look like when everything was done, and we were both so happy with it.
Speak First, Eat Second
Tom says to do the speeches before the food if you’re a nervous public speaker! The poor boy didn’t eat anything, and the food was amazing!
People are always happy to help with the preparations so don’t try and do everything yourselves.
If you have a complicated family, spend a long time with the table plan – it really pays off!!!
Click here & view all images from this wedding
Bride’s Dress – Monsoon
Bride’s Shoes – Rachel Simpson’s Carmen
Groom’s Suit – Reiss with Ted Baker Tie
Cake – The Rather Good Cake Co.
Décor – Chocolat Bleu
Florist – Go Botanica
Venue – Brighton College
Photography – Source Images
Eating after the speeches is definitely something I’m taking away from this wedding, it just makes so much more sense!
I’ve always secretly wanted to be a DJ too…girl DJ’s are just the coolest aren’t they?!
Lots of love,
Fern x