One of my biggest aims at my own wedding was to treat everyone to a truly fabulous night. I had that Christmassy feeling of excitement about my big day, and I wanted all my guests to feel the same way. Emma and Nick must have had exactly the same feeling, because they indulged their guests with an amazing smorgasbord of treats, from a vintage sweet favour cart, to a chocolate fountain and cupcakes to finish - yum! I love Emma's pretty wedding style, from her elegant up-do, and 'something borrowed' tiara, to her stunning strapless wedding gown and sparkly shoes. Don't miss Emma's words of wisdom in her answers to Before the Big Day's bride's questionnaire. She bought her bridesmaids dresses for only £15 each, and even DIY'd her own wedding stationery! Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Lee Waymont Photography.
My dress and veil were from Bellissima in South Woodham, I wore my Mum's tiara and had super sparkly silver shoes hidden under my dress :o).
We got married on the Bank Holiday weekend, on Sunday, 26th August 2012 at St Mary's Church in Bocking, reception followed at Fennes. We wanted our wedding theme to be simple and understated, but elegant, so we kept to silver and pink colour theme, with butterflies as the motif of the day.
My bridesmaids' dresses were a bargains of the century! The gowns were from H&M - they were £35 maxi dresses, which we had altered by a dressmaker for £15 each to create a cute summery pretty length!
Nick treated himself to a full suit with tails from William Hunt in the sale ☺
For our flowers, we used a local florist called The Wedding Stores. Our original plan was to DIY our flowers, but after meeting the florist, Fay, she totally understood what we wanted and we couldn’t have been happier with the results. Plus it was such good value for money!!
Nick and I met on separate holidays with friends, and completely by chance discovered we lived 5 minutes from each other. Twelve months ago Nick surprised me with a weekend away {secret time booked off work, etc} to a beautiful cottage in The Cotswolds. He'd arranged a private table in the gardens, by a lake.
He told me had two surprises, one romantic and one joke. As the romantic present, he gave me a book of love, including photos of our years together and beautiful poetry. Then he asked me to close my eyes for the joke present, and I discovered him down on one knee asking me if I would do him the honour of being his wife. It was amazing.
My advice for brides to to enjoy every stage of the planning process! If something happens that begins to stress you out, just take a couple of steps back and distance yourself for a day or two. Remember its YOUR day, and while you might want to please other people, make sure there are a couple of things in there that really reflect you both as a couple. Oh, and task someone – a bridesmaid or an usher - with the job of taking the guest book from table to table – so worth it and the only thing I wish we’d done but forgot to! Most of all have fun!
I thoroughly enjoyed planning our wedding and wish I could rewind and do it all over again! I’m a pretty laid-back person anyway, but I didn't see any need to stress out! Six days before my wedding, my dressmaker even told me I was the calmest bride she'd ever seen. I am so pleased I made the most of it all, only 2 bouts of tears in the 12 months over 'wedmin' stress ha!
For our wedding photographer, we chose Lee Waymont Photography who was recommended to us by a friend whose wedding he photographed last September. We have been so so impressed by his work, and he was an absolute star on the day too.
We wanted a venue that would reflect us, sweet and not too fancy… we did lots of research, but ultimately fell in love with Fennes before we had even seen it in real life! Decoration-wise, we wanted things simple and sweet. Literally… we incorporated something we both love in the decorations and in the theme, with a vintage sweet cart, chocolate fountain, a wishing tree table plan with names of our favourite sweets, and we even named our tables after sweets.
For our wedding favours we had a vintage-style sweet cart, as well as a chocolate fountain - yum! We also gave each guest a silver butterfly stirrer with a romantic quote, and filled large martini glasses with sweets for a centrepiece on each table. One was filled with candy watches, another with mini eggs, and another with strawberry bon bons, they went down sooooo well, although we have lots of lollipops left over!
For our wedding cake we chose a cupcake tree, we had to – I love cupcakes so much and everyone knows it! I make them all the time, and eat them all the time, ha and yes Nick did put one in my face on the wedding day!!
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For our wedding photographer, we chose Lee Waymont Photography who was recommended to us by a friend whose wedding he photographed last September. We have been so so impressed by his work, and he was an absolute star on the day too.
♥ Want more church weddings? ♥ Or how about more pink-themed weddings? ♥
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