Oh my goodness, last post!! Where has the time gone? It is 1 month to go until I become Mrs White so the countdown is officially on, and now I couldn’t be more excited. What a journey it has been. My dusty, 20 year-old wedding file will actually become redundant in just another 30 days time… What on earth will I do with myself? Hmmm, house interior-design file…?

But I couldn’t possibly sign off without allowing Simon to finally have his say. This is long overdue and greatly anticipated (by me, at least!) So at long last, I introduce you all to my man:

From The Groom (to be)

Simon The Groom So, my turn! Having watched Sophie blog for the last year I naively thought this would be easy. As I have come to learn with so many things about weddings…nothing is as easy as it looks.

I have developed a theory on this very topic. Man hits his peak of manliness when he (successfully!) proposes to the girl he loves; he asks the question only when he is ready…it’s the epitome of masculinity. From this point forward the balance needs to return, so wedding planning was created. Soon man will begin to marvel at the magnificence of his future wife, at the multi-tasking ability, the wealth of apparently innate wedding knowledge and the militarily precise organizational skills. From being an all-conquering ‘wife-finder’, man will un-puff his chest and realize how lucky he is.

This, of course, may be specific just to me. However, I can’t be the only groom who, as the wedding planning builds, has continued to smile smugly that the girl accepted him. Don’t get me wrong, I have been as involved as I can be in the entire process but I just can’t compete! I can’t match the eye for detail, the efficiency and don’t get me started on the listss (this is not a spelling mistake, I just concluded that one ‘s’ wasn’t sufficient plurality for the volume of listing that has taken place).

Anyway, blabbering aside, I thought I would share a few of my thoughts before the big day.

The wedding speech. I have planned my entire career around avoiding standing in public and talking…suddenly I will be up in front of an entire party providing witty and heartfelt words to be recorded and remembered for a lifetime. I fought with this for a while, refusing to accept my fate and contemplating alternatives. I seriously considered trying to create a Tim Minchin style musical serenade instead, but soon my lack of musical ability and love of wearing shoes blocked that option. Finally, I believe I have the solution. After 30 years of not drinking (long story built around stubbornness and…well actually just stubbornness) I will partake in ‘Dutch Courage’ to ensure I can deliver a speech worthy of the occasion. This actually means I will be ‘practicing’ drinking for the final few weeks of the build-up.

As the assistant wedding planner (or assistant to the wedding planner) I have come to have viewpoints on issues I didn’t know existed. For example:

I’ve never visited New York, but I now have a favourite Kleinfeld consultant.
Flower budgeting…money doesn’t grow on trees, but it apparently grows on stems.
Finally, I’ve developed an active dislike of owls as ring-bearers. Donning arm-armour as Hedwig hurtles towards me on the big day seems a romance killer.

Anyway, that’s my bit. I hope I have given you a tiny insight into the thoughts of a groom. Now, I’m off to buy some White Lightening, find a park and begin my drinking practice.

Some Thank You’s

Sophie The Bride (to be) Well I have no idea how I follow that, but I’ll do my best! I warn you in advance of the public display of affection that’s about to ensue, but as the saying goes: there are things to be said. And let’s be honest, family and friends are what all of this madness is really about when it comes down to it.

Firstly, a HUMONGOUS thanks to the other 5 Real Brides for your insight, humour, support, kindness and friendship over the past year. I can’t tell you all what an awesome bunch they are! We’ve spoken almost daily over the last year (I’m not kidding!) on everything from money-saving tips to outright blow-the-budget must haves. We’ve been there for each other through the highs and lows, and even been on the occasional shopping expedition on each other’s behalf! They have made the planning process a million times more fun than it already was. Having seen a sneak peek of how incredible Jackie’s and Stef’s weddings were (RMW, just you wait until you see them!!) I’m so excited to see Carly, Nicola and Sarah tie the knot. Girls, thanks for taking me along for the ride.

Secondly, a GINORMOUS thanks to all of our friends and family for your support over the last 18 months, particularly those of you who had to put up with my constant wedding updates every time so much as a poufy-o flower was chosen – you know who you are! I salute you all for your patience. We’re both extremely lucky to have such wonderful families. Simon’s parents and brothers have welcomed me into their family with more love and support than any girlfriend could ever wish for, and I know just how much my family adores Simon too. Our parents have contributed so much time and effort to our wedding plans – in fact mine have been supporting my plans since I was 7! Don’t worry Mum and Dad, just one more month before I finally put the wedding file down. We are so grateful for the invaluable support that they have provided in pulling this wedding together. We couldn’t have done it without them, and we can’t wait to celebrate with them all. And a little message to the best man Tom – do your worst! I fully support you!

And Of Course, My Simon

Finally, where do I even begin to thank Simon?

Friends have asked me when I knew he was ‘The One’. I can honestly say that it was the very first weekend we spent together at Lancaster University, almost 10 years ago. All it took was 1 date, and that was it for us. We’ve hardly stopped laughing since.

We’ve come a long way since our time at Lancaster…all the way to Texas! But he has been the most loyal and unwavering companion and friend throughout the whole journey, and I’m incredibly lucky to have a person in my life that makes me feel truly cherished. He is the most caring person I know and I’m so proud of who he is as a person and everything he has achieved in his life. Every single day, the thing I look forward to the most is seeing him when I walk through the door after work (and I promise that’s not just on the days that he sends me photos of the gin and tonic waiting for me when I’m still in work at midnight!) Over the last 10 years we’ve grown up together, and I’m grateful in the knowledge that for the rest of our lives I get to grow old with my best friend. And this is just the beginning! If our future looks anything like the last 10 years, it’s going to rock!

Thanks for picking him Mum, you chose a good one!

So this is me signing off lovelies. I’ll see you all on the other side. I’m off to practice my new signature…!

P.S. Please send happy good-weather-thoughts in the direction of Italy on 25th May!!!

Sophie x

We are revisiting this simple and effective DIY compact disc cover and packaging as it has proved to be one of our most popular DIY downloads of all time… But there must be so many of you newer brides to be who have not yet seen it… SO here it is…

Music is such a big part of your wedding day, and many of you are spending more and more time deciding what live music you’ll have, and also what your wedding playlist will be.

It’s common now to ask your guests for suggestions for the playlist on your Save The Dates. It’s a great idea as it makes your guests feel like part of the celebration from the word go and it helps to ensure a jam packed dance floor on the big day its self.

A nice touch for your favours would be to give guests a selection of tunes from your playlist on a home made mix cd… so why not build the whole thing into your table decor?

Today I am going to show you how to make place settings that double as a cd holder and all you need is one sheet of A4 paper for each place setting… you don’t even need a pair of scissors!

Here Is One I made Earlier…

First of all, to make life super easy for you lovely people, I have popped together a Word template for you to download (we love a free download at RMW). In the document you can see where all the text needs to be in order for it to all fold up correctly. Feel free to use my design and of course you can adapt it to suit your own colour scheme or theme.

Click the icon above to download your fully customisable word template.

Colours, fonts, images – even the paper you choose will have a huge impact on the final item. Think shiny elegant paper with a slender font for contemporary chic, or hand made papers and stamps for rustic DIY. Also, consider how you could personalise the place settings to reflect you, or even your guests – it would be immense to totally personalise the text, images and even the playlist on each place setting. How over the moon would your guests be if they each received a totally bespoke item?

How It’s Done.

Right then, I’m going to use a print-out from the free template download in order to show you how all the folding works. You will see that this place setting is for the fictitious marriage of Adam (me) and Kylie (Minogue), and of course a certain blog queen herself has been invited along to celebrate our big day.

I have used brown parcel paper – I love it and it is so cheap, especially if you buy it by the roll. I cut a sheet of A4 from the roll at an angle to get the lines of the paper running diagonally…

1. Blank side up, place the centre of the cd hole over the centre point of the shorter side of the paper.
2. Fold the top and bottom in so that the cd is fitted snugly in the centre.
3. Carefully fold the cd over toward the centre (make sure the cd doesn’t move too much!)
4. Fold the other side in so it’s snug against the exposed edge of the cd.
5. Unfold again. (dead simple this stage)
6. Fold the corners inline with the folds you did in stage 2.
7. Tuck the folded edge in between the cd and the paper.
8. Hey presto! 1 down… 124 to go (based on a wedding with 125 guests).

The Finished Article.

As you can see below, the text all lines up on the front and back to show off your wedding branding, the place setting name, and of course the playlist. If you are using our template you may have to tweak the positions of the text boxes a bit as all printers are a little different. Top tip hold down cmd on a mac or (I think) ctrl on a pc when moving text boxes around in Word – you have much more precision over your movements if you do this.

Simple As That.

So that really is all there is to it. Of course there are a million different uses for these cd covers, but If you are looking to engage your guests, if music is important to you and you are stuck on ideas for favours, I may well have just killed three birds with one stone!

Of course if you do decide to make your guests a mix cd, please make sure you pay for and clear royalties on all of the music you use!

Adam.

For anyone not familiar with the phrase “Photo-bombing” allow me to explain… It is simply the act of getting yourself involved in someone else’s special moment without permission… A photographical gatecrasher if you will.

Apart from being an amazing wedding full of fun, laughter and love. Apart from being documented by the extremely talented (man crush moment) Mister Phill… Today’s wedding that was planned in Australia and staged in Brighton features possible the most extravagant photo-bombing moment of all time… See if you can spot it

Sarah The Bride: Bernie and I got married on Friday the 31st of May 2013 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, followed by a reception at the Ginger Fox. When we started planning the wedding I think we both felt a bit overwhelmed, but in the end it really was one of the best days of my life.

Although I have lived in Australia for six years, as soon as Bernie proposed I knew I would want to get married in my home town of Brighton. It also made sense because a lot of Bernie’s family live in Germany and it was a great chance for his family in Australia to get to see the UK.

It wasn’t always easy planning from the other side of the world, but my sister Claire was amazing and helped us so much in getting everything organised. Every fine detail was sorted. No stone was left unturned.

I ordered my dress online from Phase Eight and only actually tried it on when we arrived in the UK a week before the wedding. I knew I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a dress and loved mine as soon as I saw it. The bridesmaids’ dresses were from BHS and my very talented Great Aunt from Oz made our daughter’s flower girl dress.
Bernie and his best man both had the same suits from Peter Shearer and chose their ties and shirts and other accessories individually. They took much longer to choose their outfits than us girls.

For the flowers we just wanted whatever was in season and Miss Moles Flower Emporium did a fantastic job. All the arrangements looked so rustic and fresh. They looked like the flowers that were just picked out of the fields and placed into jam jars, simple and very effective. It was exactly what we wanted. My sister found Georgia, who did all of our hair for the day and she was fabulous! All I knew was I wanted flowers in my hair, and a plait and she managed to transform my very boring, very straight hair for the day. She was great fun and we loved having her as part of our preparations in the morning. Unfortunately my grandparents were unable to travel to Brighton but as my “something old” they gave me two charms for my bouquet with a picture of each of them inside. They also lent us the dove they had on their wedding cake when they got married 65 years ago.

As St. Mary’s Church is on my parents’ street, I walked to the church with my dad, bridesmaids and our daughter. Bernie and his groomsmen did a stroll though the Laines of Brighton before catching a cab from Brighton station to the Church. They were all able to have a pint at the pub across the road before the ceremony. I think Bernie needed it to calm his nerves. As soon as I got to the church I started to get teary. As I walked into the church and saw Bernie our families and all our closest friends I felt so happy. Bernie started to cry when he saw me, which nearly set me off. The ceremony was perfect. The church was decorated by the church florist and our music was played by the organist. Fr. Oliver did a great job and we think it was his last wedding as he was retiring the following month.

After the ceremony we all ducked over to the local pub for a quick drink before being picked up by a big old red London double decker bus. This was one of the highlights of the day. Time with our fiends and families is so precious to us so we wanted to keep everyone together. All the bridal party and guests boarded the bus and we took a scenic drive through the South Downs with sparkling wine in hand and music to suit the vintage bus ride… The party had begun. We made one stop at Devils Dyke, a scenic lookout to the fields below, there were at least half a dozen para gliders flying around. The setting was perfect for more fizz and photos. Our photographer Mister Phill did a great job but more about him later. We eventually reached the Ginger Fox for the reception. The Ginger Fox is a beautiful little traditional English Pub with a thatched roof, nestled in the countryside. It was perfect for us as it had a lovely big beer garden and play equipment for the kids, and it also had an upstairs function room which we used for the sleeping toddlers. After trying the food on their menu for lunch one day, we knew the chefs here could cater for our needs. The food was to die for and Susie (from the Ginger Fox) was so well organised and helpful. The day before the wedding we just dropped everything off and Susie and her team set up the venue to perfection. I could not believe what they were able to do considering the pub was open to the public for lunch service.

On arrival we were greeted by canapés and drinks. The guests were able to mingle in the beer garden while the kids ran wild in the play ground. After the canapés we were seated for our food. We had selected a few wines from their list and also had an open bar. The food was to die for!! We were so lucky with the weather on the big day as it had been awful all week… We decided to make the most of it and did the speeches outside, which made for some amazing photos. I also think the fresh air helped calm Bernie’s nerves about giving his speech.

We ordered our wedding cake from Cloud 9 in Brighton, they did an amazing chocolate cake for us. We also had cupcakes for our favours… And I think most of the guesta ate them in their taxis on the way home!

For our first dance we had Powderfinger “Burn Your Name.” Being an Australian band half the guests had never heard the sing but the words mean so much to us. There is a line in the song that says “I want every single soul to know, that I love you for what you are, so I sound the bells that praise your precious heart.” I think that sums up how we feel about each other perfectly.

Mister Phill our photographer was amazing, he was there from start to finish capturing every moment perfectly. No one knew he was there as he just blended in with all the guests and snapped away. We highly recommend him for his skill in photography and his professionalism – you can tell he loves his job.

Photography by Mister Phill
Gown “Evelyn” by Phase Eight | Venue The Ginger Fox | Jewelery Jon Richard, Debenhams | Shoes Debenhams | Sandals Next | Hair by Georgia Moyle | Maids BHS |Groom Suit – Kenneth Blake, Tie – Hugo Boss and shirt – Hardy Amies all from Peter Shearer | Blooms Miss Moles Flower Emporium | Stationery Ditsy Chic | Cake Cloud 9 | Transport Nicky at Pavilion Coaches

That’s right folks, it’s that time again. We will soon be on the lookout for a new set of Rock My Wedding real brides… The Class of 2014 / 2015. If you’re engaged and would like to share your plans building up to the big day on these pages then read on to find out how to enter our RMW Real Bride competition.

A Few Changes

We are always looking at evolving the way we do things at RMW, so this time around we have decided to make a few significant changes to the process. The basic principles are the same, anyone who fits the criteria can enter and our readers will vote for their favourite bride-to-be. The lucky winners will go on to share their wedding planning stories with our beautiful and supportive RMW community… Seriously we love you guys.

If you want to catch up with the Real Brides gone by then visit our RMW Real Bride home page here… Or access it via the main site menu – The Real Brides section is accessible through the Real Wedding menu option.

Time To Prepare

The RMW Real Bride 2014 / 2015 competition will open for entrees on Thursday 8th May 2014 at 2pm. Please visit Rock My Wedding at that time for details on where and how to send us your entry. This time around we are looking for 4 newly engaged couples who would like to share their story, so if you have set your date and it falls on or between the 1st day of August 2015 and the last day of December 2015 you are eligible to enter.

Before the competition opens next week there are few things you can do to prepare:

Get yourself a Pinterest account and an Instagram account if you don’t already have one, all entrants are required to have both in order to become an RMW Real Bride. As part of your entry you will need to have a pinterest board with at least 100 images on it that represents the style of wedding you are planning. We also ask for 500 words about all or some of the following topics:

• How you met your partner
• the proposal
• Why you want to be an RMW Real Bride
• Your Wedding Planning so far

That’s it folks, please tell anyone you know who might want to be a Real Bride to visit this page, and come back next week when the Rock My Wedding Real Bride competition 2014 / 2015 opens.

A recap of the entry requirements are as follows:

• You must have set a date on or between August 1st and December 31st 2015
• You must have a Pinterest account
• You must have an Instagram account
• You must have a wedding inspiration Pinterest board of at least 100 images

Good luck everyone, please visit the blog this time next week to find out where to send you applications and if you have any questions please use the comments section below and we’ll do our best to get back to each and everyone one of you.

Adam.

Anna and Gavin are awesome like minded arty people and married in a beautiful venue called “Oh Me Oh My” a building located opposite the Liver building and the former bank of West Africa. The big open spaces made for a stunning environment for this city soiree with loads of nice details and a wedding dress to die for.

Anna: We live in Liverpool and we love the city so we wanted to get married here. The ceremony took place in Liverpool Parish Church, which is near the waterfront right opposite the Liver Building. We looked at a few different reception venues and none were quite right, but a few months before the wedding we heard about Oh Me Oh My (A Secret Space) through a friend. It had just opened so we were lucky enough to get a booking despite the short notice. It was just round the corner from the church and exactly what we wanted—laid back and unusual yet comfortable for all our guests, old and young. The venue comes beautifully decorated with vintage furniture, light strings and candles, so we just hired some bunting to complete the look. For the flowers, we wanted something very relaxed and initially thought about wildflowers in jam jars. After meeting with the florist we went for large Kilner jars and wooden boxes with roses, succulent plants and thistles for a rustic feel.

I knew I wanted a ‘simple, elegant wedding dress’ and an internet search came up with Sabina Motasem, who was quite a find. She’s a young designer who allows you to have some input into the design. I went for her ‘Isadora’ dress and was able to choose the neckline, the colour (soft blush) and the Art Nouveau waistband to make my dress unique. Sabina was wonderful and I was delighted with my dress. Gavin’s clothes were from Gieves and Hawkes and the Best Man wore an identical outfit, while the groomsmen wore their own suits. Gavin wanted something more relaxed than a suit so went for separate charcoal grey trousers and a dark blue jacket, with a pink shirt and tie. The bridesmaids’ dresses were dark green and like my wedding dress fairly simple. We bought them on the high street from Coast.

During the ceremony our friends Frank and Yorick gave readings and the Assistant Priest Michelle gave a wonderful and very moving sermon centring on a painting by Marc Chagall that is special to us. After she had pronounced us husband and wife our one year old son Lorcan was bought to the front, which was a lovely moment. Following the ceremony we all walked (in terrible weather!) to the reception venue, which was luckily just a few minutes away. We went for a buffet followed by a selection of cakes delivered to each table on cake stands for dessert. Our wedding cake was made of different kinds of cheese from the Liverpool Cheese Company. The evening entertainment was provided by our friends The Camembert Quartet and Gary Sollars aka Dollman Disco – everyone hit the dance floor straight after the first dance and didn’t stop all night! We wanted the reception to be captured in the photographs and we were keen to have informal shots as well as formal groupings so after looking for the right photographer we found Craig + Kate, whose relaxed and original style suited our day perfectly.

Photography by Craig + Kate
Gown Sabina Motasem | Jewellery Pearl Earrings London Road | Headpiece Vintage Brooch made into Hair Comb, Amore Treasure on Etsy | Shoes Rachel Simpson | Florist The Flower Barn | Venue Oh Me Oh My (A Secret Space) | Décor/Styling Bunting Queen Cheese Cake Liverpool Cheese Company | Caterer Leaf | Bridesmaid Dresses Coast | Groom and Best Man Gieves and Hawkes |Shoes Loake 1880 | Stationery: Yield Ink | Entertainment: The Camembert Quartet & Dollman Disco Hair Heidi Lording | Makeup The Art of Makeup

It’s a very quick post today and it is simply to say that our 2015 Real Bride competition is now open… With a few changes… most notably the addition of the words “Or Groom” to the title!

Our real bride project began way back in the early days of RMW. Jenny was the original RMW Real Bride and from there things grew and the name RMW Real Brides stuck. We think it’s about time to redress the balance. Anyone who is getting married is eligible to enter our competition. So if you are a girl marrying a boy, a boy marrying a girl, a boy marrying a boy or a girl marrying a girl then we’d love to hear from you if you’d like to share your matrimonial journey with the lovely RMW community.

We are looking for four brand new brides or grooms at this point and if you fancy your chances we’d love you to apply. These are the rules, requirements and information you need in order to enter:

The Requirements

• You must have set a date on or between August 1st and December 31st 2015
• You must have a Pinterest account
• You must have an Instagram account
• You must have a wedding inspiration Pinterest board of at least 100 images

Get yourself a Pinterest account and an Instagram account if you don’t already have one, all entrants are required to have both in order to become an RMW Real Bride / Groom. As part of your entry you will need to have a pinterest board with at least 100 images on it that represents the style of wedding you are planning. We also ask for 500 words about all or some of the following topics:

• How you met your partner
• the proposal
• Why you want to be an RMW Real Bride / Groom
• Your Wedding Planning so far

How to Enter

Please send your entry email to adam@rockmywedding.co.uk and mark your subject matter as RMW Real Brides and Grooms 2015 and in your email you must include:

• Your favourite picture of you and your partner
• A link to your wedding inspiration pinterest board
• A link to your instagram account (which must be set to public)
• Your wedding date
• 500 words on your chosen topic (see above)

The Closing date & Shortlist

The competition is now officially open and will run for ten days. The closing deadline for email submissions is midnight on Sunday 18th May 2014. A shortlist will be compiled by team RMW and the lucky finalists will be contacted via email. We will be be announcing the shortlist on Thursday 22nd May at 2pm on these very pages and at that point you will be able to vote and choose your favourite four.

If you have any questions regarding the competition please use the comment section below. Please note that to enter you must have set a date and that date must fall on or between August 1st and December 31st 2015. No alterations or exceptions can be made.

Good luck everyone!

Lisa and Alex had a cosy post Christmas winter wedding at Cripps Barn near Cirencester. Styled by Lauren from Ladyamy event design the day was filled with rustic details incorporating Kraft paper, old coffee sacks and pine cones to create decor with a rustic-luxe feel. I love that Lisa and Alex are both foodies and so named the tables after their favourite restaurants and they treated their guests to big sharing antipasto plates and roast beef.

Lisa looked stunning in her Halfpenny London gown set against candlelit rooms twinkling with fairy lights

Lisa The Bride: We wanted somewhere away from London and the madness, a venue that we knew we could trust, with a good reputation, but was not too polished and pristine. Cripps Barn is beautiful while being charmingly rough around the edges. We also love that part of the world, it is so English and lent itself perfectly to a winter wedding.

I am very lucky to have the A-team of hair and make up in my family; my dad, Nick Foster-Brown and step mum – Charlotte Foster-Brown. They were so involved in every part of the wedding, both in planning and on the day. I could never have managed it without them. They dedicated their rare days off to helping plan the decor and also playing around with my look until we found the right one. I wanted to keep it natural and ‘me’ – just a much better version of me! Charlotte loves to use products like Chanel Lumiere Foundation and Clinique Chubby Lip Pencils. On the morning of the wedding they had a strict hair & Make-up schedule for the Bridesmaids and I which kept us well on time allowing for a cheeky glass of champagne altogether before heading off to the ceremony.

I was very lucky when it came to finding my dress. I didn’t want anything big or too traditional and was struggling to find anything I loved that was within my budget…until I went to a bridal sample sale with my Bridesmaid, Lucy. Just before Lucy arrived I had found Kate halfpenny’s boutique stall; the only stall that caught my eye at the show thanks to her vintage, elegant, unfussy styles. It just so happened that, by fantastic coincidence and unbeknown to me, Lucy and Kate had worked together on shoots before and were friends. Kate was very kind and sold me the dress within my budget plus an accessory, which she kindly also fitted to the dress for me. She also made my veil of antique French lace.

The time old tradition of ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’ sort of accidentally fell in to place. Since I had the embellishment piece on my dress I wanted to keep my accessories fairly minimal (minimal for me anyway!). The jewellery theme grew from the base of the marcasite earrings which were my late Grandma Nanan’s. I wanted to ensure I wore a piece of hers since she was so special to me and had timeless style. My Mum bought me a new matching bracelet for my birthday pre-wedding. The fur jacket was borrowed from my wonderful friend Natalie who did a reading at the ceremony, and the vintage shoes are my Grandma Valerie’s. As for the ‘blue’…. That was the colour of my bridesmaids’ outfits- who were by my side all day.

I wanted the bridesmaids to be in something a bit different to the usual chiffon bridesmaids dresses so chose navy lace peplum dresses by Adrianna Papell . Her dresses are really versatile to suit all shapes. Our friend Tim Horsley who Alex went to school with is a top bespoke tailor and very kindly made Alex’s blue 3 piece suit. They chose the fabric, style, buttons… Everything together. Tim also made the best men, Oli and Andreas’ suits. All the ushers were also all in blue suits of various shades which made for some cool photos on the day of ‘the lads’ altogether.

We wanted the atmosphere to be a natural, rustic wintery theme; really cosy, romantic & warm, so went very heavy on the candle light, roaring fireplace, rustic wooden décor and touches of deep red and green foliage. My mum and step dad collected hundreds of glass jars leading up to the wedding which they filled with sand and 10-hour slow burn candles so they would last the day which we scattered all over the venue. My Sister and Brother-in-law made tons of cream lace and hessian bunting which we used to soften the look throughout the ceremony and dinner area. My step mum made all the hessian table cloths which took a lot of blood, sweat and tears but were well worth it as they completely made the dining area our perfect setting. We were desperate not to have the really polished look of white table cloths. We also had lots of old apple crates scattered around as tables and seating areas topped with hessian pillows which my step mum also made. I could go on forever about all the extra touches that people helped to create but in general it was a massive team effort and I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family who never tired of offering their help.

We were lucky enough to find Katie Griffiths an amazingly talented florist who was able to transform my rambling descriptions of my vision on the phone into dream flowers that perfectly suited our day. I loved my bouquet so much that we are having it preserved! It was better than I could have hoped for. It consisted of Piano Frieland roses, vandella roses, spray roses, brunia berries, quicksand roses, scabiosa pods, rosemary, senecio, viburnum berries, ranunculus, anmones, wax flower and seeded eucalyptus. Considering it was winter, blooms were expensive so we had to be very creative with the table centres so as not to blow the budget. Katie immediately understood my idea and took it to a new level on the day. We had tall clear vases of twisted hazel, pine cones and red berries surrounded by moss at the base. The fireplace and hanging basket decorations were also gorgeous.

Declan Zapala, a fantastically talented guitarist played our guests into the ceremony and Jeremy Stubbings was our head DJ who controlled all the music throughout the day from the ceremony, reception, dinner playlist, first dance to last amazing set. He really kept the momentum of the day with the music. We wanted our first dance to be fun and get the dance floor going. We decided on Luther Vandross, ‘Never Too Much’ one night at Glastonbury Festival when everyone was dancing like mad to it!
Pearce Byrne, Aaron Fitzgerald and Alex’s best man Oli Boughton also played mega sets. We were so lucky to have them all there seeing as they are in hot demand in many a East London venue.

Alex and I are both big foodies so the catering was part of the reason why we chose Cripps Barn. They have a gigantic rotisserie outside and all round fab, plentiful food. We wanted the dinner to be very social to get the guests chatting so had tapas style starters to kick things off. We then had big wooden boards of rotisserie rib-eye beef which were carved at the tables. We nominated a carver at each table by putting a chefs hat on each of the carvers place settings which proved a giggle and made for some great photos. Dessert of brownies with marscapone were so yummy that many people smuggled extras home in handbags! My lovely foodie friend, Rebecca Brett, kindly offered to make the edible favours. Everyone commented on how delicious the chocolate treats were.

Guests were invited to contribute to our cake table and we were overwhelmed with how professional the bakery was from the likes of Roaya Garvey who made individual chocolate brownie stacks with pistachio icing & candied petals and Jemma Foster made fantastic ‘pucker up lips’ lollies. The centre piece was the wedding cake which my step mum Charlotte masterfully made. She is a true cake decoration expert! Wooden tree stumps were used instead of cake stands to make for a more rustic appearance.

We really wanted our personal touch to come through at the wedding so a lot of it was done DIY style with help from all our family and friends. Stationery was great to show our personality. Each place setting had it’s own printed menu on a brown paper bag stuffed with a favour and clipped with a wooden peg. Alex’s best man, Andreas Brooks who is a very talented graphic designer kindly designed our Order of Ceremony in a ‘tie the knot’ booklet which once opened, had brown string running through which pulled taught in a ‘knot’. Andreas and one of the ushers, James Lawson, an awesome illustrator, designed our table names together. Names were chosen from our favourite restaurants around the world. James really brought the table names to life.

A wedding goes by so quickly, in a blur. Before you know it its all over. Somehow try and step back, observe it and take stock. Like setting a time and sneaking out to a secret spot with your ‘husband’ (!) and then peaking in from where people can’t see you watching. It’s an amazing opportunity, once in a lifetime really, to have all your loved ones in one place and you want to be able to savour it, not just blink and wonder where time flew!

Ellie Gillard photographed our wedding and we were so thrilled with the result. We wanted someone who would capture ‘moments’ rather than set up shots and she did just that and she didn’t miss a thing! We also had the expert touch of stylist Lauren Magovern on the day who proved totally invaluable. As we got closer to the wedding day, I realised that we had so many different decorative elements that we needed put in place on the day that if our families and us tried to manage it all on the morning then we would never enjoy it. So we enlisted Lauren as our wedding stylist. We handed over everything to her the day before with details of how we wanted everything laid out at the venue and she totally ran with it on the day and exceeded all our expectations. I would recommend her service to everyone!

Photography by Ellie Gillard
Venue Cripps barn | Hair Nick Foster Brown | Makeup Charlotte Foster-Brown | Dress Halfpenny London | Suit Munro Tailoring | Flowers Love From Katie | Guitarist Declan Zapala | DJ Jeremey Stubbings | Chocolate favours Rebecca Brett | Graphic Designer Andreas Brooks | Illustrator James Lawson | Stylist Ladyamy event design.

Hello Bridelings, it’s my “final post”. Wah! This little part of the web has begun to feel like home over the past year; I‘ve really loved writing about all the ups, downs, ins and outs of our wedding planning experience and have relished sharing it all with you.

It goes without saying (because the Stef, Jackie and Sophie have already mentioned this…) that personally, this whole RMW real bride experience has been made all the better thanks to your comments, anecdotes and words of support. I also have five new awesome friends in Stef, Jackie, Sarah, Carly and Sophie – you girls have rocked the socks off these polka dot pages – whoop whoop!!

You will be unsurprised to hear that our wedmin accomplishments have gone OFF THE HOOK since my last post. Buckle in, my final post is intense….

Ceremony Shizzle

We decided early on that we wanted someone special to officiate our wedding ceremony for us. Yup, just like Joey in Friends! As you may or may not know, before you can legally marry in a foreign country you usually have to “reside” there for a period of time before the ceremony. Most countries require a week or so but French law requires you to be in France for forty days! This meant we would have to have a wedding of two parts: the legal marriage part A and the real wedding part B. It also meant we could have the type of wedding ceremony that we wanted – really personal, intimate and fun without having to worry that a friend would need to be officiated for it to be legal.

We knew just the person we wanted to lead the show for us. Enter Vicky T: a special someone we have lived with and who knows all our bad (and good) habits, we shared our Ozzie adventure together and she’s someone we know will be an important person in our lives until we are all ancient.

After doing a lot of online research and speaking to other friends who had done a similar thing (had the legal bit and then the real wedding bit) Jacko and I wrote out a ceremony structure and gave it to Vicky T who has independently worked on bits and bobs that we won’t hear until the day. Everyone and their dog loves Vicky T and we know she is going to ace it. Go VT!!!

Surprise, Surprise

I’ve been ‘reminding’ (read: nagging) Jacko to get his suit sorted since January but being a typical bloke he was un-phased by the 5 month lead time, we covered this a bit in a previous post called Man Stuff. One freezing NY January Saturday we went on an epic shopping trip that saw us give Hugo Boss, Prada, Reiss, Ted Baker, Burberry, J Crew and Topshop flagship stores in Soho a try. We hit up Saks, Bloomies, Barneys and Bergdorfs (the latter was purely for the fun of it, wow – what a freaking store, if Liberty’s and Bergdorf were to have a love child, I would make that place my heaven) and actually had a few personal shopper experiences in the fancy department stores that proved both fun and informative (as a side note, the personal shoppers were so un-pushy – I would defo recommend going to see one). But we left very empty handed. I think I cramped Jack’s style to be honest and I felt like I was adding pressure. He kindly told be to back off and said he would sort his outfit out himself. We made the decision back in March that I was not going to see his suit pre-wedding day, our outfits will be reciprocal surprises for each other. EEK!!

With me out of the way, he then went on multiple shopping trips with “the boys” (thanks again Alex and Martin!) and finally pulled the trigger on a Hugo Boss number. I have no idea what colour/style/fabric it is but he has had more fittings than me and I can’t wait to see him on the day looking all lush. Being a tall (and skinny) bloke, who struggles to find threads that fit like a glove, having a head to toe tailored look will be a first and I am so happy for him!!

Jack prefers a bow tie over a neck tie, the only request I had was that he chooses self-tie-bow-ties (I like the pouffiness!). He set off on another shopping expedition (he’s become a rather big fan of Etsy these days!) and found this awesome dude based in NY who makes self-tie bow ties with his fair hands in his Brooklyn studio. As much as Jacko thought the ties were pretty hot, the company is called “Knot Now”, he’s a sucker for a pun and knew this Brooklyn hipster was the guy for him. Carlos (the Knot Now tie hipster) came in to the city to meet Jack with a briefcase of fabric swatches, they had a man moment on a New York street picking fabrics – job done. Easy as that.

Jack had carte blanche on what to wear from suits to shoes to bow ties… I wanted to make sure he felt comfortable and not feel like he had been dressed up like a doll, I’ll be honest though and say it’s defo put me out of my comfort zone!!! It also feels very refreshing though. My go-to style is very matchy matchy, I am guilty of colour matching earrings / shoes / handbag etc and really wanted to avoid having a matchy matchy wedding look. I personally think it can look a bit too over styled and too formal which isn’t what we envisaged. I honestly think leaving Jack to his own devices on choosing colours etc will make the whole wedding look a million times better.

Fitness & Beauty

I promised myself that I could invest in regular posh facials, body treatments and mani/pedis when we reached the six-months-to-go mark.

I found an awesome facialist in NYC who has done the most amazing things to my skin. It is noticeably smoother, clearer and has a real brightness about it. I had been getting hydrodermabrasions sporadically in Sydney and was really impressed with the results, but they pale in comparison to the signature facials I have been getting at Elena Rubin – I have had peels, ultrasound, light therapy, extractions (ouch) and all sorts. I would recommend starting six months out, I have had 3 facials over the past 5 months and my skin is ready (fingers crossed…..)!!

If you are looking for some beauty saviors to add to your wedding prep regimen, the beauty products I swear by are:-

• Fresh Brown Sugar Body Polish – a body exfoliant that gets rid of any nasties, it smells amazing and leaves the skin feeling so nourished
• Fresh Seaberry Moisturizing Face Oil – the most hydrating moisturizer ever. For all those cynics who don’t think that an oil will work with their skin, I urge you to try one, your face will never thank you enough!!
• Elena Rubin Veritas Clarifying Bar – literally the best cleanser I have ever tried, makes the skin squeaky clean without feeling tight or uncomfortable. I have never liked the idea of using a soap bar, but I am hooked on this product. It comes with a little sponge that buffs and polishes and the stuff lasts a life time.
• SKII Facial Treatment Essence – this is expensive but oh so effective. I have been using a full SKII regimen for about two years and honestly I love everything. This product in particular has evened out my skin tone and brightened up my skin. I also like using the SKII Cellumination Essence serum at night too – if you have any pigmentation, scarring or dark freckles, invest in this – it is amazing and the next morning skin is noticeably illuminated. A bottle has lasted me a year. Cost per usage is not too expensive!!
• Crème de la Mer Face and Body Gradual Tan – Admittedly this is expensive for a self-tanner but after trying it for the first time in April, I am hooked. It’s the best gradual tanning product eve (better than St Tropez in my eyes). It really doesn’t have that gross self-tan smell, the effects are noticeable after one application (I haven’t found that many gradual tanners are noticeable that quickly), it doesn’t wear off and leave any residue/streaks/marks and it doesn’t streak on application, if anything it feels so luxurious and moisturizing when it goes on, you forget it’s a self-tanner product. It really is fool proof and I am so glad I took the plunge

I know I am guilty of expensive taste when it comes to beauty products but my mantra is fewer and better. I haven’t got cupboards over flowing of products only used twice, that actually equates to hundreds of wasted pounds. I am selective and smart when it comes to trying before I buy, there are too many expensive mistakes to be had!!!

A topic on (almost) every bride’s lips is the dreaded wedding diet…. I’ve got to be honest and say that I’ve been pretty crap when it’s come to a wedding diet/exercise overhaul. I’ve always been an active person who goes to the gym 3-4 times a week but have notoriously been a pretty bad eater (high fives for pizza and curries!) and regular alcohol drinker – 80% of results are from nutrition my trainer has always told me, so no matter how disciplined I was in the gym, I was not achieving any great physical results. I had to change my mindset if I wanted to try and achieve Jennifer Anniston-esque arms and a tight booty.

About 2 months ago a girl I had originally known in Cardiff (but who has been living in Sydney for the last 5 or so years) launched a new online training programme called the Athletic Fox Blueprint – an all-encompassing moduled programme inclusive of structured nutrition and training resources. Rachel is one of the world’s most well respected trainers and a real expert on female training – just look at her figure and you’ll see why!! She is super knowledgeable and super awesome and has really thought through what women want and need when it comes to getting a smoking hot body, that is not limited to just being for your wedding or honeymoon.

Although I’ve only been following the blueprint properly for about 5 weeks I am super impressed with the results. I love the weight programmes and although I haven’t been following the structured meal plans per se (they are there should you want them though), I’ve been adhering to the nutritional advice that Rachel has built in to the site (ie step by step nutritional guide on how to build meals, even if you are out for dinner etc). I have lost 1.5 inches off my waist, 2 inches off my hips and a total weight loss of 4.5KGs – everything feels tighter and higher – a really huge thanks to Rachel and her blueprint!!!! Let’s hope this hard work pays off in my final dress fitting on Saturday!!!

The Honeymoon Period Starts Early

When this post goes live, wedding day will be a mere 9 days away – that’s 216 hours. It’s hard to package up my emotions right now but I’m going to give it a try…. bear with me!!!

I don’t know about you but when I was a kid, about 7 or 8 years old, I still believed in Father Christmas (I believed until I was 11 – Believe people, Believe!!!) and I vividly remember the excessive excitement levels that my sister and I felt as we counted down the days until our annual summer holiday to France with our cousins. Days felt like weeks and we must have been a right pain in the backside for the rents – we were like bottles of pop, they used to say! It’s a pants reality that as we grow up get older, excitement levels for things like Christmas or summer holidays pale in comparison to those emotions we felt as naïve 8 years old. Of course we still get excited (I’m not the fun police!) but whether it’s because we live in an era of having more experiences and going to more places, more often or some other sociological reason, overall excitement levels have definitely diffused. That sucks really, doesn’t it!!

Well, I can tell you that those excess excitement levels come BACK a couple of weeks pre-wedding. Yes they do! I seem to have mountains of energy running through my bones that I don’t know what to do with it all at the moment (as I write this, I am on a plane to Vegas for the weekend – a perfect outlet for all this hype!). I can honestly say that I’ve not felt this good for a loooooong time. And what’s really amazing is that I am sharing all these crazy ass feelings with Jacko, who over the past two weeks has had something click in the man brain and is on mission wedding. It’s an amazing experience that we’re sharing together; all this anticipation and excitement and I can’t wait for all you lovely lot who are knee deep in planning and organization to feel this too.

• Sure there’s some stress involved, but it all gets masked with excitement. If I had to say the list of things I was “stressed” about right now, they would be:-
• Getting all our wedding stuff home in one piece from New York to the UK to France.
• Not forgetting anything for the wedding and/or honeymoon. I actually feel really unorganized. I haven’t got enough lists on the go and it panics me slightly!! I have been more prepared for holidays to Ibiza with lists of outfits, matching accessories, make up tools required etc
• Hoping that all of the stuff we have bought, hired and borrowed actually looks good and creates the right atmosphere, we haven’t physically seen half the stuff in real life!
• Hoping the weather is a) dry b) sunny c) warm enough to have a pool party on the Sunday d) sky sporting some pretty Simpsons-esque clouds to look lush in photos. But I will take option A thank you very much… (Please don’t rain, please don’t rain!!!)
• Hoping my outfit comes together! It’s been curated over such a long time and from different pockets of the world, I’ve not even tried the whole ensemble on together yet!
• Writing our promises and not blubbing throughout the whole day!!

On one side I’ve got all this kind of stuff churning round and around… like a hippo that has been weighing down one side of a see-saw for aaaaages but over the last few weeks, another hippo has come along and sat on the other side of the see-saw. The new hippo is full of fun and love and cheer and has slowly balanced everything out so the stressy stuff feels much less significant. Has anyone else felt like this? Am I in a false sense of security with my happy hippo coming in to my life…?!!

We’ve had to send a few emails out to all our guests over the last few weeks to confirm things like dietary requirement or help with final logistics. With every reply we started to feel more and more excited (I am sorry I keep using the word excited!!!) We have also started to receive out of the blue texts, emails and Facebook messages that go along the lines of “OMG – not long now!” – each one a reminder that in nine days’ time we’re spending a weekend with all our loved ones and are going to promise to love, trust, support and encourage each other for the rest of our lives. How freaking awesome is that – for me, and I hate to sound cliché, but the excitement of looking forward to that moment is eclipsing any worry about the other stuff.
We fly back to the UK today and fly out to France next Thursday… maybe there is plenty of time for the Happy Hippo to leave the building, but I hope he hangs around, I like him!!

So that’s it, my final account of what we’ve been up to on this crazy 18 month planning malarkey… Good luck with the rest of your planning bridelings and can I wish a huge CONGRATS and GOOD LUCK to my fellow Real Bride, Sophie who gets married the day after us (10 days, girl…!!! Whoop!)

Nicola xxxx

PS – you know I mentioned that we had to the legal marriage bit separately… we did it last Friday. Elvis gave us our official marriage certificate in Vegas!!! Bring on the real wedding!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr & Mrs Smith was dreamt up after co-founders James Lohan and Tamara Heber-Percy booked a romantic weekend only to find their room far less amour-inspiring than expected. Launched as a guidebook publisher 10 years ago, Smith’s now an online booking service with a curated collection of more than 900 hotels – from low-cost boutique stays, to top-of-the-range retreats, all with stand-out attention to detail – and a team of travel experts dedicated to ensuring honeymoons will never disappoint…

Claire Wilson, executive travel consultant and honeymoon expert at Mr & Mrs Smith knows a thing or two about a romantic getaway; we asked her to share her favourite long-haul destinations with us and she is live behind her computer right now to answer your honeymoon questions, so please use our comment box to ask Claire anything you like about planning a long-haul honeymoon. Over to Claire:

Thailand

Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort

Rayavadee

Claire Wilson – honeymoon expert at Mr & Mrs Smith: I was in Thailand before Christmas – it’s rich in culture, the food is fantastic and, while it’s a quintessential stop on the tourist trail, there are many lesser-travelled spots to uncover; it’s also easy to navigate and the beaches are postcard-perfect. When it comes to honeymoons, there’s a choice of newlywed-tailored trips: you could touch down in Bangkok and connect straight to Chiang Rai at the northern tip of Thailand (right on the border with views of Laos and Myanmar) to check-in at the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort. It’s as fascinating and pachyderm-packed as it sounds, with magical views and an elephant camp on the doorstep. What’s not to love?

I’d suggest spending a few nights there, then – after a two-night stop off in Bangkok – head to the Rayavadee in Krabi, a coastal stay surrounded by limestone cliffs. There are three beautiful beaches just steps from your jungle-flanked villa, and the hotel itself has so much character. My favourite spot for a sunset-watching drink is in the hotel’s grotto – a rough-hewn limestone cavern at the edge of the beach. There’s plenty for adventure-seekers too: sea kayaking, rock climbing and day trips to Thailand’s star turn, Maya Beach, made famous by a certain someone called Leo…

Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Ceylon Tea Trails

Gili Lankanfushi

If you’re planning a trip with two stops, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are my top picks. I’d choose Sri Lanka for its buzzy cosmopolitan capital and colonial-style stays in the tea-plantation-covered hills. Fly to Colombo, then stay in Kandy for a few days at The Kandy House, which only has eight romantic rooms; then, head to hill country and stay at Ceylon Tea Trails for butler-serviced rooms and visits to fragrant plantations. Arrive between February and mid April to see the annual Sami Komadu (Hindu temple) festivals. Top off your trip with five nights in the Maldives; I’d recommend a seriously luxurious stay at Gili Lankanfushi where relaxation is an art form. Since it’s your honeymoon, why not splash out and stay in their Crusoe Residences – sigh-inducing over-water villas that can only be accessed by boat, which offer serious seclusion in the ultimate romantic setting.

Bali

Como Shambhala Estate

Alila Villas Uluwatu

I love Bali, it’s an incredibly good-looking temple-dotted island, which also has a real focus on wellness and relaxation; it’s exactly what you want from a honeymoon after all the stress of juggling seating plans, dress fittings and cake orders for the wedding! Como Shambhala Estate tops my personal wish list –admittedly it’s not cheap, but if you can afford to splash out the treetop suites will enchant you. It’s in the most incredible location: surrounded by jungle and they have a world-renowned spa.

Afterwards, settle in at Alila Villas Uluwatu, a secluded designer den that you’ll never want to leave. Set on the south coast of the island, it has sweeping views of the Indian Ocean from its clifftop perch. The surrounding area is fairly quiet with hidden coves and white sand beaches to lose a few hours at. Surf enthusiasts are well catered for here, too; or you can just sit back and watch the pros ride the waves in style. The hotel’s modern and minimalist architecture incorporates local materials in inventive ways to create a striking space that’s utterly unique – our co founders Tamara and James were stunned into silence by the hotel’s beauty when they were ushered into their plunge-pool-equipped private villa last summer. So, it comes highly recommended!

Alila Villas Uluwatu

Any Questions?

How amazing do all those long-haul destinations look? For your free insider guide to planning the perfect honeymoon, sign up for your copy of Mr & Mrs Smith’s Little White Book of Honeymoons and find out how to bag exclusive VIP benefits (including free upgrades and extras at every hotel).

If you can’t wait then please use our comments box below to ask Claire any questions you can think of! She is around all morning today. Think of her as your personal honeymoon helpline.

Or give the Smith’s honeymoon experts a call on 0845 034 0700.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This last post makes me sad! Even though its been 12 months of sharing, there is still SO much to share; DIY, starting off the garter debate (you know me with fleshing out the real meanings behind these traditions, hen do’s, the first dance… but there isn’t enough time or length in your scroll bar, so I had to make a decision. While reflecting on what I have learnt while planning our wedding, the thing I am most thankful for is ‘THE ADVICE!’ So I thought today I would share what I’ve learnt, some things might even make you go “yes! Me too”. I found the helpful hints from friends and relatives so useful, so hopefully some of you will find this useful too ☺. First up, you will receive advice on every single aspect of your wedding, whether you’ve asked for it or not. Literally, EVERYONE will put their two cents in; married people, divorced people, single people and people whom never wish to be married. Its what you do with the advice that matters, good or bad.

Join A Wedding Community

I’ve been super lucky to share my wedding musings through RMW (thanks heaps team!) and you can do this too! Subscribe to the blog posts; follow on instagram/pinterest/twitter and become part of the Facebook group. Post a comment on the blog (or other SM space) and one of the team or the other brides will answer or share their thoughts. Being part of a wedding community means you can ask your questions, share your views and get some real advice to your quandaries by people going through the same process. You will be supported and be able to chitchat-paddy-whack about anything and (hopefully) not be judged! It will also help the people around you too, you’ll look like the perfect bride not jib-jabbering about your wedding plans 24/7 for 12 months to people who probably don’t care, but secretly you’re really offloading with a great bunch of people in your own little wedding world.

Destination Unknown

Just because you’re an international/destination bride does not mean you have to cut back. I initially thought I wouldn’t be able to do much crafting, but that’s a myth! I have literally made everything for our wedding. Not entirely sure how all this is going to get on the plane, but that’s by the by, but it has all been worth it. It’s all about being realistic; can it be posted, shipped or flown?! I have found vendors and shopping for goods pretty easier via Skype, email and of course Etsy. So many brides are doing this these days that vendors are prepared to be flexible. Don’t fret about hair, make-up or nails either, practice with your normal stylists and send pictures to those prepping you for your big day. The only downside I have found is the 13hour time difference making phone calls difficult! Luckily I have had awesome parents at home to help out with this. My top tips for a destination wedding is start the planning early and remember your skin hydration for plane journeys. No one needs dull skin on there wedding day! Here is a tip from RMW Real Bride Sophie though, “If you are getting married in a non-English speaking country, hire a bilingual wedding planner!

Be Bold. Be Brave. Don’t be Afraid to be Different
Don’t be afraid to be different. You may have seen from a number of my posts that I like to challenge the traditions. More and more brides are doing that these days and that’s what excites me most when I receive the wee RMW ‘new post’ email. There will be plenty of people that tell you ‘oh that’s not right for a wedding’, but who said? Do it! If I want to wear black nail varnish on my wedding nail with gold sparkles, I ruddy will! It’s your day, your way. You’ll see plenty of non-norms from my big day!

Be Our Guest

You will have heard this time and time again but when choosing your guests, be true to yourself. Don’t compromise your decisions for others. The best advice I received was to pick those people you want or see in your lives going forward. Don’t focus on the past and feel you ‘have’ to invite someone. Be strong. You may upset someone but in the long run you will have made the best decision for you and your partner. Talk openly together about what you want from your wedding and make ‘rules’ so to speak. We had a guest limit of 80 and when we first sat down our list of invitees was 130, so one of our rules was ‘no partners who we have never met’. Having someone we knew and loved present was more important than someone we didn’t know. Some people wont like your decisions but you know what – there’s that saying again “its your day, your way”. We were honest and open in our decisions so we were quite lucky, we didn’t have much push back!

Don’t Forget Your Partner

You will likely have a partner that is 100% involved in the planning (where your bridey friends look at you with awe and envy), or one that will do anything you please but needs to be asked (this one’s a good one), or one that will just want to turn up on the day to marry you (mmm, my least fav option). Embrace whichever ‘partner card’ you’re dealt, consider their trait and make it work for you both, otherwise there will be zilch enjoyment from the planning process! Now, my Callum, well, he fell into category number two, (ridonkulously laid back; awesome for everyday life, not so good with planning!) Callum was fully engaged with the big decisions but concentration slowly wained when the ‘non exciting’ stuff needed attention. I realised to get buy in as the big day approached, I would have to be tactical. He is great at getting stuff done, but it has to be in his own time. Not wanting to drive either of us insane with ‘have you done this? Have you remembered to do that? Can you do this?” I made a ‘4 month to-do chart’ and stuck it to the kitchen wall, Callum would walk past it everyday and see what was left to do and pick a task. It took a good month to get in the groove, but you know what? It ruddy worked! Although to this day I have no idea how one boy can spend so much time looking at socks for groomsmen, especially when they are only wearing black. Don’t be one of those brides that doesn’t involve her partner and makes it all about what she wants. Neither of you will enjoy that! Try and work a way around it so you can both be involved.

Don’t Over Do It

I have maked baked and shaped, well, almost everything for this wedding, check out the wee collage of my wed-craft below, yes, that really is me wearing a dust mask while making the favors; don’t ask! You can see all the wee treats up close and personal post June 28th! Was all of it necessary? Probably not. Over the last 4 months I have started to ask myself the following questions before hitting send on ETSY a) what is this really for (i.e. not just because its gold and sparkly)? b) Will it get used again? and c) do we reallllllly need it? If the answers no, I’ve been restrained in not purchasing – especially when faced with the question ‘bunting’ or a ‘margarita on the beach’, ill take the margarita please! If you can’t be restrained, make a deal with your partner, any purchases, have to be vetted together. This little scheme has saved me a few bob or two on buying yet another pack of drink stirrers ‘just in case’. Those little pennies all add up after all. If you aren’t at the month count down mark yet, take it from me, it is actually very refreshing to sit back and say ‘no’ to the little things. You have probably done enough!

Expect The Unexpected

My dad keeps saying to me, “Sarah, be prepared for things to go wrong, there are so many elements involved something has to go wrong”. Good ol’ ‘realist’ huh. My response has always been “you know what, if something goes wrong I can except that because I have done everything I can to make it special. I would however care if I had not tried and things went wrong, then id hate myself!” Therefore have a mantra. That was ours. Do the most you can to make it special, that’s all you can do!

Ask For Help

ALWAYS ask for help. I am a self confessed organiser and control freak, having a list of a list is my idea of heaven (note to self ‘must get out more’). But you can’t do everything. Don’t feel guilty if you need to ask for help, people want to help. Infact people feel honoured, as they want to do something to contribute to your big day. People love weddings and it makes them feel valued to help out. I didn’t have any need to ask for help till last month, I was in Perth for work with little time or capability to research when we had some issues with our linen provider. Time to call in the troops. One swift email to the bridesmaids, parents and even the bridesmaid’s mums and the problem was fixed. New linen within 5 hours! So despite feeling awful needing to ask for help, no one cared and the problem got solved. I wish I had asked for help sooner! Which brings me too…

…Surround Yourself with Good Friends and Share the Experiences.
Having people you can rely on isn’t just helpful, it is also special, it compounds those friendships further and makes you truly cherish those in your life. Our MC Mike has gone beyond the call of duty for us, always willing and able to help out with every single bit of our wedding. Our friends and families excitement has made the engagement period, well, AWESOME! I was hit with a bout of shingles two weeks before my hen do. I was so upset! But I should never of worried, my excellent friends pulled together, to keep the 1920’s theme alive, even if I did need to leave early. Embrace everyone in your life who wants to share the ride with you. After all you only to do it once and the prep is part of the fun!

Put Yourself First for a Change
I was pretty bad at doing this and it’s probably why I ended up with shingles! But you really have to take the time for yourself before your wedding. Whether it’s eating clean, working out or having regular facials. Just explain to people who ask ‘why are you being boring and just working out all the time?!’; and they will understand. If they don’t, screw um!

Enjoy It and Don’t be Scared To ‘Wed-Melt’

If you get to a point in the planning where it isn’t fun anymore, take a break. A good friend told me “if it stops being fun its not working – have a rest” and its bloody good advice. I hit a wall after my 50th favour (not least because I was conked out by resin fumes) and really could not be bothered anymore. I stopped for 3 weeks and coming back to it was fun again. Now, that aforementioned ‘Wed-Melt’ aka, full on, body convulsing, Niagara-falls-crying meltdown. IT IS OK. You are not alone. Me and the other girls seemed to be pretty lucky and not experience this till a couple of weeks pre wedding and whilst you feel like a nutbar, it’s perfectly ok. Don’t beat yourself up for making your fiancé look at you and question ‘erm… are you alright?! Like in the head”, just because you’ve cried at the wrong napkins arriving. Having a cry is normal! You know what they say; marriage, moving house and starting a new job are three of the most stressful things in life! For all the highs, lows, tears and laughs remember it is all part of the ride. Enjoy the lows, as much as you can, they are all part of the tapestry that you will reflect on and tell your children and grandchildren about.

Always Give Thanks

This is a given right?! No need for me to tell anyone this! Thank-you to Carly, Jackie, Nicola, Sophie and Stef. They have been amazing friends the past 12 months and I am so glad RMW allowed me to meet such fantastic women. I have 5 new ‘pen-pals’ (can we call them that in our 30’s?!) who I have shared more about this wedding of ours with (basically 5 complete strangers) than I have with friends, family or even the bridal party.

A Mahoossive thank you goes to my favourite kiwi chick Barnesyrubble (aka Mrs Hannah Shaw). This girl has been a solid voice of reason and support with all things wedding, she is a fabulous friend to me and has been chief proof reader over all my posts, even when she was a week off popping out her wee sprog Jimmy (he is now 4 weeks old) ☺ She was diligent to a T with facts and figures too. Even when I wrote cellulitis not cellulite in my work-out post… they are actually different don’t you know! Love you girl!

Last but not least, my egg. This guy literally has patience that would make a saint blush. My proof reader number two has endured lots in the planning of this wedding (as you may remember the glitter in his eye and resin up his nostrils) and I cannot wait to marry him in 34 days. Finding someone to share your days with that makes a non-perfect world perfect is something to be cherished and never taken for granted. Finding someone that gets you for your quirks and your indiscretions and laughs with you everyday is something to be treasured. Finding someone who makes everything in life content so that you have confidence in everything you do apart and together is someone to be loved. Each day I am thankful for finding ‘my someone’ and for him always making me realise everything is perfect just the way it is

Over And Out… Well till For A Bit…

Keep on rocking it Adam, Charlotte, Fern, Lolly and Co. Thanks for the fun guys and gals, it’s been a blast! See you on the flip side with a ring of ‘eternal bliss’ on my pinky, a man on my arm and Wang on my butt.

Big Love, Sarah xx

Molly and Toby stumbled across their theme by accident… On the day their wedding planner remarked that the party unfolding in front of their eyes looked a bit like an old vintage circus!

Amongst the festoon lighting, animals and general industrial, rustic and home made touches, Molly & Toby celebrated a heartwarming and love filled union.

Molly The Bride: My dress was Jenny Packham and was the first dress in the first shop.  It was  more than I wanted to spend on a dress but one of those ‘I’ll spend less on something else’ moments (which sadly didn’t seem to happen either).  The dress came from Miss Bush in Ripley where I have been with lots of friends in the past and always found that it stocks a great range of dresses from lots of different designers. I went for bright red nails on the day as going pale and pink felt too boring.  I accessorised with a Jenny Packham cuff, borrowed diamond earrings and a pair of old Dune shoes as I couldn’t find any others that I loved.  The veil was borrowed from my sister-in-law which worked well for the something borrowed and I just couldn’t see the point in spending the money on something that was worn for such a small part of the day.  I was extravagant in lots of my wedding choices but where I felt I could borrow things or do without we saved.

Toby runs his own tech consultancy and therefore doesn’t often wear a suit and to me he looks strange when he does. It was important for me not to walk into church and see Toby standing there not looking as I always see him (or looking strange). We wanted the day to be a true reflection of us and our personalities which included the dress code. It was decided early on to have a very relaxed feel and also that we wanted lots of colour.  Knowing we wanted a relaxed party atmosphere we thought it would come more naturally to people when they feel comfortable and less formal.  Toby had his velvet blazer and shirt made and his entire outfit came form a local shop called Palmers on Northcote Road, London (020 7978 4588).  They were great and ended up providing the Father of the brides trousers and all the mix match colourful pocket squares which became gifts for the ushers.

Our main aim for our wedding was for people to say it was very ‘us’.  Being one of the last of our friends to get married we wanted something very true to us.  We didn’t have a family home that lent itself into having a marquee in the garden or want to have it in a wedding venue as such.  Having grown up in London it felt right for us to keep it in the Capital, we knew we wanted a raw and industrial space so warehouse research began.  We looked around a few warehouses and decided ‘Village Underground’ was perfect and a doable distance from the church (in Fulham).  The main draw was the fact it was all on one level so would keep the guests all together without loosing them on different floors but also had lots of quirks and character with the arches, exposed brickwork and super high ceilings.  We also realised and liked the fact that it needed very little to make it look awesome as the space comes alive with candles and clever lighting complimenting all the exposed brickwork.  I found a picture of the lighting I wanted and the venue were happy to recreate the look I was after.

We did have a small hiccup when the parents came to view the venue.  Both parents had ideas of us walking down a grand beautiful staircase to greet our guests or just having it in a place or venue that their friends had heard of.  We took them to visit Village Underground, they stood in silence and then had to sit down and take it in.  We left and had dinner where they asked us if we were sure we had picked the right place.  We assured them it would be fantastic and on the day it didn’t let us down and they loved it too.

The staff at the venue are great and there is an event planner called Tia on hand if you want her to step in.  I would highly recommend you do and it is well worth the small additional cost and takes the stress out.  She got what we wanted from the start, ran the day/night seamlessly and pulled it all together perfectly.

Our parents were amazing throughout the process.  They felt that their weddings were very much their parents day and didn’t actually enjoy it very much.  They said from the start that they wanted this to be our day and for us to have it exactly as we wanted.  Unbelievably they completely stuck to their word and didn’t try to change anything or pass judgement as to how we were doing things.  They embraced our decision to make it a celebration with a party atmosphere and liked the fact they didn’t know a lot about how the day would unfold. We didn’t really have a colour scheme as colourful was the dress code and ideally we wanted the guests to clash as much as possible. The guests brought the colour and we kept everything else simple and natural.  We didn’t realise it until the event planner said it reminded her of an old vintage circus but we liked the thought of it looking that way so I guess it sort of became the theme.  We had mix match chairs and benches with the paint worn away and beautiful wooden tables that we didn’t want to cover with table cloths.  Keeping all the materials on show rather than covering them complimented the venue and without realising it worked with the theme that we didn’t know we had!

We created all the name places by spraying plastic toy animals and dinosaurs gold – it took a while but worked really well on the day.  The name cards were luggage tags stamped badly by us but you can’t go wrong with the handmade touch.  We also made our own favours which were small brown medicine bottles filled with sloe gin and presented in old haberdashery crates.  I knew I would have very plain and simple flowers from the start.  The dress spoke for itself and I didn’t want to take anything away from it.  You also don’t get a lot of choice for flowers in January!  I have never been a very girly girl so something very flowery just wouldn’t have suited me.  I also liked the way that gypsophila can look so pretty on its own.  I was surprised at how many guests commented on how much they liked the simplicity of the flowers. Sadly we have some very special people in our lives who are no longer with us so we attached some small lockets to my bouquet to carry them with us and remember on the day.  We did away with lots of the traditions and etiquette that is expected at weddings and throwing the bouquet was one of them.  Instead I gave it to my Mother-in-law as I wanted her to have it and this became one of those special moments of the day for me.

The church had three larger oversizes gypsophila arrangements displayed on stands in large urns which the florist provided.  We asked the Ushers to take these onto the venue as we thought it was a waste to only use them in the church.  The mother of the groom and her best friend decorated the pews end with jam jars tied and secured with bailing twine which were simple, cheap and effective. The Church Flowers and Bride/Groom Flowers were supplied by:
Brian Kirkby 

My Mum has been making confetti since Toby and I met (I think she knew) saving any roses given to both of us from Toby and my Father and then collecting any additional ones from friends.  Drying them out and adding lavender oil to them on the day made them smell incredible and is completely free!  The flower girls carried baskets of petals down the aisle instead of bouquets and handed it out to guests as they left the church ready to throw on us!

We had all our readings read by family and spent time finding ones that summed up what we felt about each other and our future journey together.  The professor and the golf balls covered exactly what we want to remember as the important things in life… if you are not familiar with it it’s a lovely reminder about keeping your life balanced, you can read it here. 

After the ceremony we shipped all the guest from the Church to the Venue on Route Master Buses.  We had three in total and some small bites and champers to keep them ticking over and in good spirits throughout the 40 minute journey.  The buses stopped along the route so we could swap busses and chat to all the guest before arriving at the venue.  We swapped between the busses mainly because we realised we have a lot of long car journeys on our own in the future but mainly as it was a great time to say hello to all the guests so that when we arrived at the venue we could relax and party.  We also knew that after the church excitement levels would be high and we wanted to share that with everyone rather than sat on our own!

For entertainment we had Disco Shed who were brilliant.  They got the party started and didn’t let it finish.  What’s more they arrived with a shed and various choices of shed setups – it certainly raised a few eyebrows when people arrived to a shed in the venue. Guests arrived at the venue to more Champagne and canapés provided by the amazingly creative Purple Grape team.  All quirkily presented and equally delicious.  We blocked the main hall area off to guest so when they arrived and had drinks in two brick archways without windows they would question where on earth we had taken them. It also meant we could reveal the main hall just before dinner and give it the wow factor.  We didn’t have a starter and went straight for the main meal of Pie and Mash – this was again something we knew we wanted from the start.  Individual pies were placed in the centre of the table and shared between 6 guests.  The pies had a wooden spoon poking out the top stating Venison or Pork and worked perfectly as a hearty meal on a cold January day.  We deliberately had self service to make it a talking point between guest and get away from frilly wedding service that neither of us enjoyed. We then had coffee and toasted marshmallows (toasted on the candles) with a chocolate dip as a small sweet snack.  

Later we bought out stacks of Doughnuts and cut and served the stacked cheese cake with chutneys and crackers to keep the energy levels up and keep the guests well fed. Emily and her catering team at Purple Grape were amazing and provided the tables, chairs, benches, flowers and lots of creative ideas of how to get the looks we were after.

The photos speak for themselves but Chris is a genius behind the lens.  Neither of us particularly like having our photos taken but he somehow manages to hide himself and for you to forget it’s even happening!  He meets you for an engagement shoot first which helps to become familiar with the camera and him so it feels like he’s a guest rather that a scary photographer.  We didn’t want group shots or the traditional photo of the entire wedding taken from a window above and that’s exactly what he delivered.  He captured the day and personalities perfectly. We didn’t have a videographer but asked friends to take video as we felt Chris had the photos covered.  We are now making our own wedding video which is a really fun project and captures so many incredible moments.  I highly recommend it to keep the buzz of the day going that little bit longer!

The biggest advice we can offer is don’t get stressed.  A wedding isn’t rocket science and will unfold on the day just as it should do.  Know how you would like it to be and don’t be afraid to inject some of your own personality on the day or be scared to ask for things that are not the so called norm.  You don’t need to have everything you want on your big day for it to be amazing.   There were things we wanted and couldn’t afford to have and looking back it would have made no impact on day having them or not…sometimes you have to know when to stop.  Which is easier to say after the event than before!

Photography by Chris Barber Venue Village Underground | Gown Jenny Packham | Boutique Miss Bush | Jewellery Jenny Packham | Veil – Borrowed | Headpiece |Coast | Florist Brian Kirkby Flowers | Venue Decor Tia @ Village Underground | Caterer Purple Grape | Entertainment Disco Shed | Transport Ensign Bus

It’s not so unusual to feature a wedding with homemade flowers, a vintage dress and suit… But flamingo art, a polytunnel ceremony, apples, pumpkins and vegetable bouquets?.. Now that is a little more unusual!

Nat and Dunc had a very personal wedding like no other, it was pretty much out of this world… And the report today is written by them both!

Natalia The Bride: I have been a school science teacher for 6 years and I also learnt Chinese at University and taught it for two years. I love fancy dress. My past fancy dress costumes include the Michelin Man, a flea and a piranha. In my free time I like singing and dancing around our flat!! I also like to read the newspaper and keep up with current affairs by listening to the world service. I’ve been vegan for almost 20 years and I love getting outside and taking photographs of nature.

Duncan The Groom: I a visual artist based in Bristol. I work in painting and sculpture. I have been vegetarian all my life and grew up in rural Herefodshire. Nat and I met in Hereford many moons ago and had the most wonderful evening together, the story of which I told in my speech to many ooohs and ahhhs. After meeting Nat just once I said to my best friends the following day – ‘’she is the girl I am going to marry’’. And we did!

Natalia: When I told my family I was engaged, my mum said I should try on the dress she had bought from a vintage clothes shop. She intended to try and sell it on Ebay for a profit. I tried it on and it just happened to be a perfect fit! The dress was quite a sweet and simple style with a flattering cut. I thought it was a bit ‘Little House on the Prairie’ which I liked. I knew I wanted platform shoes which were more like trainers. I don’t know why really, that’s just the style I like. Quite a contrast to the style of the dress but luckily the combination kind of worked (I think!).

Duncan: I wanted a less formal vintage look and I was lucky enough to find a suit in the first vintage clothes shop I went in, in Bristol. Because Nat loves insects I found a colourful shirt with lots of insects on and my shoes were green brogues. Got the whole outfit sorted in a couple of hours.

Natalia: Shipley gardens is my grandparent’s home which I love. It is a place which tries as much as possible to let nature take its own course. It was built in the 60s and the décor and the buildings haven’t changed since then and so the whole place has a very retro feel. There is a building in the garden made of glass and wood. On the inside of the glass is grape vines and a swimming pool is inside the building. Along one side of the swimming pool is an indoor flower bed and the swimming pool has been allowed to become a green pond, home to frogs, newts and lily pads. The whole property is very rustic, exotic and vibrant. There is also a polytunnel which we decided to use for the ceremony. It wasn’t in use, it just was full of bric a brac and had brambles and ferns growing on the inside which we really liked. We left all the bric a brac and foliage turning it all into features and Duncan made wooden flamingo sculptures which lined the aisle. Guests sat on hay bails. After the ceremony, guests made there way over to an apple orchard and we had a blessing under a pear arch, while a musical duo named ‘The Buskers’ entertained the guests from above in a nearby treehouse.

Lyde Court is my parent’s home that they run as a wedding venue. They used to use the barn for storing furniture for my dad’s antiques business, but it has now been tweaked, spruced up and turned into a beautiful wedding barn. Reception drinks were served from an eccentrically decorated room at the front of the house and then we had the meal in the barn. The top table was unusually adorned. Hung from the front of it were oversized acorns and oak leaves cut out of assorted old fabric. Prominantly positioned in front of the top table on the stage was a large gold painted iguana sat next to a giant gold cracked open egg!

The flowers were all taken from our own garden and quite a few different people helped with the arranging, particularly the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom. The mother of the bride had the idea for the quirky striking vegetable bouquets. One was a bunch of (smelly) kale, another an ornamental cabbage, some very random fallic shaped chinese cucumbers and finally a bunch of carrots. The mother of the groom and sister of the groom took charge of decorating the polytunnel with flowers.

What was most important for me was that the bridesmaids felt comfortable in what they were wearing, so although I had chosen that all their dresses be green, I left it totally up to them which shade of green and what cut and length of dress. What was really nice is they all ended up choosing different shades and together the combination looked really great!

The ceremony went really well. I played a CD track of the song Natalie Merchant ‘Thank you’ as part of my vows, as the lyrics said what I wanted to say. It was luckily I had this bit of the vows organised because as I got into the wedding car to go to the ceremony I remembered I had forgotten to write my vows and so I made up what I was going to say on the spot during the ceremony. It was a risk, but it went well, and I told the guests the situation so they understood why it sounded unprepared, and we did a little impromptu dance whilst the congregation clapped along. We had two congregation songs in the ceremony which were ‘Lavenders Blue Dilly Dilly’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’ which matched the kind of rural, quaint feel the wedding had. The celebrant Peter Murphy did a fantastic job and made us feel very comfortable and like we could do the ceremony in what ever way we wanted but also gave us lots of creative ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. After the ceremony we had a blessing in the apple orchard. Duncan and I chose and picked an apple together, cut it in two and I ate one half and Duncan ate the other half, we then signed a scroll (with a feather) designed by my grandparents who then witnessed.

I really liked having my time in the limelight at the wedding (haha) and so in the evening I ended up singing 4 songs on the stage, accompanied by my friend Katya on the guitar. Two of the songs I sung were Lana del Rey – video games and Natalie merchant’s version of Space Oddity (Ground Control To Major Tom). I wanted to choose songs that sounded quite ethereal and that in my head kind of went with the surreal image of a bride singing in a wedding dress. The band, who are friends of Duncan’s, are called Big Red Ass. They are a nine piece ska band from Hampshire who have really high energy performances often with fancy dress. The flute player amused everyone by being dressed as an egg!

We wanted the food to be all vegan and gluten free. David Bennett who is the main caterer for my parent’s wedding business did a superb job. For the starter we had pumpkin soup served out of pumpkins. For the main course we had a lasagne covered with edible flowers, with mango chutney coated potatoes alongside. I liked the idea of having a ‘kid’s party’ style pudding, so we had pineapple upside down cake and red jelly and icecream, which went down very well.

The wonderful Camilla Rosa was our photographer, who shared my vision for the wedding totally from the start. She was a dream to work with throughout and the end package was perfect!! The smiley and charming Costa Sisters put me at their ease right from the moment we met! We were over the moon with the film they created for us! Our rings were designed and made by Duncan’s father, John Mckellar. They were made using rubies that belonged to Duncan’s grandfather. Duncan’s was shaped as a lobster, which is his favourite animal. They are a symbol of virility and longevity, and they mate for life. The lobster bonfire was inspired by one of our favourite scary movies, the Wicker Man! We love the style and vibe of the film and tried to incorporate elements into our wedding. The bonfire was a enormous imposing structure. It was a lobster constructed out of pieces of wood. It was a remarkable (and slightly eerie!) sight when it finally was set alight.

Suppliers Lists:

Photographer Camilla Rosa Photography
Brides Gown – Antique clothes shop in Leominster | Brides Veil and head piece – Hand made by Karen Waring (Nat’s mum) | Brides Shoes – Kadianmei | Grooms Suit – Vintage clothes shop, Gloucester Road, Bristol | Grooms Shirt/Shoes – House of Fraser | Venue – Lyde Court Herefordshire | Florist: Karen from Lyde Court (Nat’s mum) | Celebrant – Peter Murphy, from Lewes in Brighton | Caterer – Dave Bennett | Cake Maker – Alicia Macadie (Nat’s aunty) | Entertainment – The Buskers and Big Red Ass | Rings – John Mckellar Designer Jewellery, Hereford | Videographer – Costa Sister Productions

Well girls & boys here it is, the time has come….. my final blog before the big day, with only five weeks to go I truly don’t know where the time has gone. I have loved every minute of my RMW journey and feel a tad sad that it’s nearly the end. I have made five new friends and don’t know how I would have got through all my wedding ups and downs without their advice to get me through. Nicola, Sarah, Sophie, Stef & Jackie, thank you so much for being there. The RMW team did good!!! I can safely say I am going to miss all of the planning and blogging and have no idea what I am going to do with myself after Friday 4th July 2014….any advice is welcome!

I genuinely don’t know where these past few weeks have gone, I am thrilled to announce my list is practically non-existent now. We have been very busy bees and have completed most of the crafting thanks to my amazing family. I don’t know where I would be without them. I received an e-mail from Coralie Beatrix to inform me the bridesmaid dresses have been dispatched which I am sooooooo excited about and we have completed our order of service. Jobs which on paper seem minuscule but in fact are extremely intricate and detailed.

As you will all be aware by now, right from the start we wanted our friends and family involved throughout and that hasn’t changed. However last week if you remember Sarah talked about not forgetting you…the bride and groom and how the day is yours. This got me and Mikey talking!!! We spoke about how even though we want to try and please everyone this will most likely be impossible and that we need to put what we want first and everything else will fall into place. I feel so much more relaxed now and know everything really will be perfect.

About 12 months ago I was talking at work about how I need to get fit…Blah, blah, blah and how I need to detox, sign up to the gym and get my facials booked in. I got some great advice off a colleague who told me not to peak too soon or I will burn out. I can honestly say I took this on board and am so thrilled, a few weeks ago though I thought I’d up my game and enrolled both Mikey and I up in an eight week bootcamp course with some of the family.

Omg!!!! What was I thinking, ha ha!!! So far I’ve experienced swollen shoulder blades after carrying tyres and Mikey has had a log dropped on his toe; all I can say at this point is that I had better look good in my dress. My mum has warned me that if there are any more injuries there will be trouble. My course of microdermabrasion starts next week which I am very excited about and I’m hoping that my skin will be ‘glowing’ after I have completed my this. I was worried I left it too late to do anything to improve my skin but the skin clinic I’m going to has assured me it is never too late, fingers crossed.

I’ve also booked my hair, make-up and nail trial in for the next couple of weeks which is all rather new to me as I usually carry out these jobs myself due to training as a make-up artist. I have never had anyone really do my make-up but my thoughts are I want my bridal party to be pampered on the morning of the wedding and have no one stressing about things going wrong. I am actually really looking forward to seeing the results of the trials.

Over the past few months my sisters have been busy planning my surprise hen do along with the help of my bestest and chief bridesmaid Lorna. All I knew about it were the dates I needed to keep free. When both Gem and Luc got married the hen do was planned in secret so the tradition continued with me. Last weekend I celebrated my hen do and I can honestly say it was a complete surprise and one of the best weekends I have ever had.

Two weeks ago I was told that we were staying over somewhere so needed to pack a case. On Friday morning we met up at my mums, still non the wiser other than knowing the odd friend who was meeting up with us on Saturday. My mum asked Mikey to drop me, Gem and Luc off and told me that her, my auntie and her best friend would join us later. We got dropped off at the Place Hotel in Manchester which is gorgeous, we walked in and Lorna was sat waiting for us.

When we went up to our apartment Gem and Luc had decorated it. It looked absolutely gorgeous. They had made up bags for all of us which included p.j sets, badges, and a few little presents. After a few glasses of champers we went to one of my favourite restraunts for dinner -Sapporo tapenyaki, we then went to Australasia’s Grand Pacific for cocktails.

Later in the evening we went back to the apartment where we all got into our jammie’s and opened a few pressies. The girls had made me a DVD of my life in photos, it was amazing and I cried all the way through. It is totally amazing and something I will treasure forever.

The following morning we got up and went out for breakfast and had a day of shopping and champagne. I had another lovely surprise when two of my friends turned up for lunch; the day was getting better and better.

When we got back to the apartment three more friends were waiting for us. Gem and Luc instructed me to be ready for 7.15pm but still wouldn’t tell me where we were going. Me, Lorna, Kala, Karen & Jen then got a mini bus where I was guided into a room full of all my favourite girls. We were at Allstar bowling, it was amazing and somewhere I would truly recommend. The girls had hired out a private room for a night of cocktails, bowling, karaoke and canapés. I truly did have the most fantastic time and didn’t have a a clue about any of it. I really do have the most amazing sisters, Mum, family and friends and want to thank them all for making my weekend so special.

While I was celebrating my hen do, two of my RMW Real Bride friends were getting hitched in Italy and France. Nicola and Sophie I hope you both had an amazing day and are having a truly wonderful time celebrating with your nearest and dearest.

Signing out for the last time as Miss Carly Ann Savery I want to take this opportunity to thank the RMW team for letting me share my wedding planning and all my ups and downs along the way and also all you guys for your support. Happy planning my lovelies, remember to have lots of fun along the way, here’s to married life.

Love lots,

Carly.
X

I know, I know… We are all still waiting for Summer to arrive and here we are bringing you a Christmas wedding… But lots of you will be planning a winter celebration and there is much to be learnt from Carly and Andy’s festive union.. namely mulled wine and Gingerbread Daiquiris.

Grab a mince pie and a hot mug of eggnog, draw the curtains for that authentic winter vibe and settle down for a cosy heart warmer…

Carly The Bride: I knew that I wanted a fairly traditional lace wedding dress and because of the time of year I was keen to have a long sleeves. Luckily for me and with the help of my mum, mother-in-law and the ladies at Cheadle Bride, I found my dress on the very first shopping trip. The sleeveless, lace sample dress in the store was almost perfect and when I was told that my own dress could be made with a delicate lace sleeve, I couldn’t believe my luck.

Because of the intricate lace detail of the dress, I opted for simple pearl earrings and borrowed a beautiful pair from my best friend. For an added bit of sparkle, I chose a pearl and diamanté hair slide which matched the clasp on the belt of my dress.

We were both keen for Andy and his groomsmen to wear three piece suits on the wedding day and thought that a dark navy would go nicely with the champagne bridesmaid dresses, and I knew it would go perfectly with the ivory colour of my dress! Finding Andy’s suit was as painless as finding my dress – first attempt, job done! Andy’s outfit was finished off with a gold pocket watch that I gave to him the evening before as a wedding gift.
Andy’s parents have been keen visitors of Arley Hall and Gardens for years and as soon as Andy showed me the photographs, we were completely in love with the idea of having our winter wedding there. The huge open fireplaces, beautiful rooms and majestic staircase of Arley Hall were perfect for the cosy Christmas wedding we had in mind and the converted barn ‘Olympia’ was ideal for the evening shenanigans. There’s a theme here…Arley was first and only venue that we visited.

We were fortunate enough to have an 18ft Christmas tree as the centre piece in the dining hall and we wanted to keep the decorations classically festive. Everyone thought we were mad when Mum and I set about (on Christmas Eve) making 22metres of garlands using ivy, pine cones and holly with red berries from various relative’s gardens and lots of foliage from the woods near my Mum and Dad’s house. They smelt and looked beautiful, particularly over the fireplaces and on the bannister of the staircase and to compliment the greenery, our friend Ruth used ivy and snow-like gypsophila for the table centre pieces. Ruth also used ivy and gypsophila for the bridesmaid bouquets and groomsmen’s button holes and my bouquet had ivory roses added as did Andy’s button hole.

The champagne colour of the bridemaid’s dresses looked wonderful against the greenery of the decorations and the sequins on the bodice of the dress and the towering gold sparkly shoes worked so well at our special Christmas party! The chaps looked super dapper in their navy three piece suits and after a bit of a panic, we finally managed to find ties and pocket squares which matched the ladies dresses. The flower girls had sparkly gold shoes, headbands and handbags to make sure their older counter parts didn’t out sparkle them!

The ceremony was our favourite part of the day as it was so relaxed. We had rehearsed the bridal party’s entrance for a good hour the day before the wedding so that the girls and I had plenty of practice walking down the staircase in heels! It’s a good job we did as Sophie, one of my bridesmaids, heel snapped 5 minutes before the ceremony started and she had to walk without putting weight on one foot! After we had conquered the staircase, everyone took their seats and I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of the eighties hit ‘Higher Love’, which our extremely talented friend played on the grand piano and sang pitch perfect.

Andy and I said our vows in front of the fire place. A best friend of ours did a slightly unconventional reading as his only brief was to write something constructed from song lyrics. He delivered this to perfection and even threw in a couple of interpretive dance moves to our delight and the delight of our friends and family.

After a disco-tastic 2013, we asked our friend to DJ for the first hour of the evening reception and he started things off with the Sister-Sledge hit ‘Thinking of You’ as our first dance. The evening entertainment was put together by our friends Matt Nickson and Sid Simon and the band they assembled were unbelievably talented session musicians who kept everyone on their feet for the duration of the evening. Even when there was a temporary power cut they took to the bongos and we all had a sing-along whilst limbo-dancing under a line of fairy lights. Fun times and sore feet for everyone!

When Rob Owen Brown, a friend and one of the Northwest’s best chefs agreed to do the catering for our wedding we were delighted. Rob, a true advocate of northern cuisine, was really excited to cook at Arley as Mrs Elizabeth Raffald, the lady who invented the Eccles cake was the housekeeper at the hall in 1769. With this and the time of year in mind, the brief was ‘Christmas surprise and local to the northwest’. The result was a Christmas bauble starter – a sparkly white chocolate bauble which we had to crack open to reveal a goats cheese and honey beetroot salad; pheasant with a lime and orange jus for main and for desert an assiette of Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire, crème brulee and an Eccles cake. The wedding breakfast was a huge hit as was ‘Andy & Carly’s Manchester Kebab Shop’ that Rob and his team built from hay bales, from which they served gourmet kebabs later in the evening.

To complement the food, we had a brilliant bar team who looked after our guests, serving mulled wine on arrival at Arley Hall and Ginger Bread Daiquiris at the beginning of the evening reception.

I know John from the years when I lived as a student in Leeds and have been admiring his stunning wedding photography for a number of years. When John said he was available on our wedding date we were made up and we met a couple of times to look through his work and decide on the style of wedding photographs we liked. The whole process was so easy and considering we aren’t big ‘photo people’ John made us feel relaxed and captured the essence of the day perfectly. We were incredibly lucky with the weather – a perfect winter’s day in the middle of the horrendous storms of last year. We couldn’t be happier with our photographs, they are beautiful.

As an added something for the evening, we had a photobooth and Christmas themed props, much to the delight of our friends and family. The photographs are hilarious and perfect bribery material should we ever need it!

Our mums had a fudge-off and went head to head in creating the best Christmas fudge which we wrapped up as Christmas presents and used as favours. Carly’s Nanna made the wedding cake as she had done before at her Sisters, Mum and Dads and Aunty and Uncles weddings. We turned jam jars into festive lanterns wrapped in ribbon, ivy and holly berries. Our guests carried these from the hall to the evening reception and hung them on the trees for decoration.
One of our extremely thoughtful family members filmed the day without telling us. We now have a candid wedding video which captured the day and is one of our most treasured possessions.

Top Tips:

• Always check that your wedding invitations have the correct amount of postage or go through the nightmare of your wedding guests having to pay to collect it from the post office!
• Everything takes longer than you think it will when you do it yourself! Get lots of people involved and leave yourself lots of time.
• Your mum is always in charge!
• Enjoy every single moment, it really is the best day of your life.

Photography by John Hope

Brides Gown – Augusta Jones at Cheadle Bride | Jewellery – borrowed from best friend | Shoes – Monsoon | Headpiece – John Lewis | Florist – Ruth McIntyre – our very talented friend | Venue – Arley Hall | Decor & styling – our own fair hands | Cake maker – Carly’s very special Nanna | Caterer – Robert Owen Brown (chef) Escapade (bar service) | Bridesmaids dresses – Monsoon | Groom – New & Lingwood | Groomsmen – Marks & Spencer | Wedding planner & Stationery – Andy & Carly | Entertainment – Matt Nickson & Sid Simon | Transport – Belle-Vue

No sooner than we are waving goodbye to our latest class of Rock My Wedding Real Brides than we are welcoming a brand new bunch of brides to be into the RMW fold…

Thank you so much to all of you that entered this years competition, we were totally overwhelmed with all of the entries we received… Every single one of you who entered is going to have a beautiful and unique big day and we are truly sorry if you didn’t make it to the finals. It was an absolute pleasure to read each and every one of the entries and it took us a little bit longer than we anticipated to narrow the choice to just 10 finalists.

So… If you can see your face up there in our headline image then CONGRATULATIONS, you have made the final 10. Now we need the help of the RMW community. There are only going to be 4 Real Brides this year and the voting is now open. Click here to meet our 10 finalists and vote for your favourite.

A Recap On The Rules

We have a brand new voting system this year. On our voting page you can vote for your favourite finalist, based on their story and a selection of images from their wedding inspiration Pinterest boards. Feel free to vote for more than one finalist but of course you can only vote for each finalist once!

The voting is open and runs until midnight on Wednesday 11th June… So you have just 7 days to register your vote.

You can drum up support for your favourite finalist by sharing their story and inspiration board on Facebook & Twitter… Just click the relevant icon on the voting page.

You can leave comments of support on the voting page but please be aware that leaving a comment does not count as a vote. The only way to vote is to click on the vote button by the finalist or finalists of your choice.

The four winners will be announced this time next week on Rock My Wedding.

A Note About Networks

Please note that we do have a sophisticated voting system that is designed to minimise the chances of anyone voting multiple times for the same finalist! This may have an impact on IT networks such as office or educational intranets. If you are trying to vote from work and the system is saying that you have already voted it might be because one of your colleagues has voted from a different computer on the same network. Unfortunately the only solution for this is to vote from your home computer or mobile device that is not connected to your network. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but it is the fairest way to run a competition of this nature.

Good luck everyone!

Team RMW

Kate and Toby had a relaxed and stylish wedding at Buxted Park. Kate looks effortless glamorous in her fishtail Benjamin Roberts and Toby rocked the Reiss in style. With friends and family arriving to celebrate from all over the UK, Buxted Park offered the perfect solution for the ceremony, reception and accommodation, not to mention beautiful interiors and views.

Kate The Bride: I knew I wanted a lace dress with some sort of fishtail. The theme of the wedding was based around my choice of dress…..a mix of vintage and rustic romance! I only went to two shops, both of which stocked the Benjamin Roberts dress and I just knew it was “the one” as soon as I tried it on. As the back of the dress was so beautiful and so detailed, I felt it would be a shame to hide it with a veil, so I opted for a diamante and pearl head-piece, that sat on a headband.

Again, shoes I wanted plain as the dress was so beautiful, so I chose a pair of plain ivory peep toe, from Rainbow Club. We both knew we wanted a fairly relaxed yet smart look for the men, so tails for us wasn’t an option. Toby (the groom) opted for a French navy three piece suit from Reiss. He wore this with a white shirt from T.M Lewin, tan brogues from Jasper Conran and a cream silk tie. We wanted a similar look for the groomsmen, but also wanted the groom to look slightly different. We opted for Navy blue, super skinny suits for the men, also with white shirts and tan brogues. The groomsmen wore pewter colour ties to match the bridesmaids.

We chose Buxted Park as our wedding venue. We spent a long time looking at venues and struggled to find somewhere that ticked all the boxes. As well as a beautiful location, for us it was important to have somewhere where we could hold the ceremony, have the wedding breakfast and stay over. We needed a venue whereby all our friends and family to do this also, as we had guests coming from different parts of the UK.

We opted for Buxted as it gave us all of the above, plus the hotel and its grounds and breathtaking. The staff at the venue are amazing – so helpful and really do go above and beyond. The colour scheme and decor was based loosely around the theme. Pinterest was my best friend at this time! I would just trawl through Pinterest making boards of what I liked. I still look at them now….not sure how it all came together! I took ideas from various magazines and also got helpful suggestions from Alice Bradley at Blossom Flowers.

Alice Bardley at Blossom Flowers, did all of our flowers – bridal bouquet, bridesmaid bouquet, centrepieces etc. Alice and I discussed the theme and chose a selection of flowers with a pastel Palette, which complemented the colour of the bridesmaid dresses. The bridesmaids bouquets were a smaller version of the brides. On the tables, we had single rose flowers in mini fishbowls, again in pastel shades (these were also applied to the cake). These sat in beautifully amongst the hurricane vases full of pearls and church candle, as well as the antique silver tea lights. I wanted to keep the vintage/romantic feel going with the flowers and I think we achieved this. They also smelt divine!

We really struggled with the bridesmaid dresses and spent a long time trying to find the right ones! The colour we wanted wasn’t too easy to find. I also knew I didn’t want a traditional bridesmaid dress – I wanted something that was lace and could draw similarities from mine. The dresses we chose I felt fitted into the theme of the wedding beautifully – they were glamorous and elegant and the girls looked beautiful. The flower girls wore traditional long ivory dresses from John Lewis. I wanted to the flowers girls to look like little flower girls and keep them looking different from the older bridesmaids. We chose a civil ceremony, which was held in the Coat of Arms room at Buxted. The registrar put us both at ease and the ceremony was relaxed and actually fun! Just what we had hoped for. Our little girl Lola was one of our flower girls, she walked down the aisle with the brides sister, which was a lovely touch and special to us.

The band, Saviours of Soul, are a ten piece band, who we had heard before at another wedding and also at music festivals in our home town of Horsham, West Sussex. They were AMAZING and kept the dance floor full all night long. I went to school with a few of the band members and it was lovely to have familiar faces play at our big day.

Once I had chosen my theme for the wedding, I knew I wanted a “naked” cake. I wanted cake that people would enjoy and most people like a Victoria sponge! It was a layered Victoria sponge, filled with jam and butter cream, topped with two love birds and fresh flowers (roses that matched my bouquet). I met and spoke with Rosie who is a family friend and discussed what I had in mind. I had seen the lovebirds on another cake – and loved them, so we incorporated that. Rosie also made handmade biscuits for all the children.

We had met a few photographers before we met Annamarie, but I wanted something a little different….I wanted someone whose photography style reflected and understood the theme I was aiming for…… I also wanted relaxed photo’s that captured the fun and showed the emotion. I didn’t want my guests to have to pose for lots of photo’s either. As soon as I saw Annamarie’s website, I knew I had to meet her. She gave us exactly what we wanted and more. It’s like she read my mind! And I can treasure those beautiful images forever. She was amazing and great company on the day too!

Photography by AnnaMarie Stepney
Bridal Gown Benjamin Roberts | boutique Blessings Bridal in Brighton | Shoes – Rainbow Club | Headband – Blessings Bridal | Florist Alice Bradley at Blossom Flowers | Venue Buxted Park Hotel | Illuminated LOVE signs Vowed & Amazed | Caterer Buxted Park Hotel | Bridesmaid Dresses | Ariella | Flowergirl Dresses – John Lewis | Groom Reiss | Groomsmen Marks & Spencer Wedding Planner – Amy Diaper at Buxted Park Hotel | Stationery – Alice Bradley at Blossom Flowers | Entertainment Saviours of Soul

This afternoon team RMW is pleased as punch to be able to introduce you to four brand new Rock My Wedding Real Bride & Grooms! Voting for this years competition closed last night and the results are in. Thank you to all of our readers, you voted in your masses and I’m beginning to wonder if our latest real brides and grooms should consider running for parliament.

So without any further dallying let’s meet the Rock My Wedding Real Brides, class of 2015…

Thank you to all of our Real Bride & Groom finalists. All of your stories and plans are amazing and you are destined to have the most spectacular wedding days and you must stay in contact with us. We hope you’ll enjoy following the stories of our winners and please do ask your photographers to submit your weddings to RMW – you may still appear on these pages yet!

We think you are going to love our real bride & grooms 2015, please give them all a big hello in the comments box below

Adam.

Prepare for a fashion frenzy… The names that make today’s wedding so perfect are RMW fashion pack member Suzanne Neville along side David Fielden, Christian Louboutin, Jenny Packham… And of course our bride and groom Natalie and Jamie who married at Charlton House in Somerset.

This is a wedding of global proportions with guests travelling from as far and wide as Australia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore… The journey was totally worth it though…

Words can’t describe the feeling of how we felt when we got engaged, but the thought of trying on a dress made come out in hot flushes and made me feel quite nauseous (perhaps a little exaggerated, but you get the gist!) It wasn’t the thought of getting married, but all the dresses I saw in magazines or in shop windows looked like big white meringues. I didn’t see anything I liked and couldn’t image any dress on me.

A friend who’d got married the year before had said; make sure you know the style and designers you prefer before trying any dresses on, or at least have an idea. Don’t go in blind as it can be like walking into a minefield. So with that in mind, I had a look online. I found the ‘Claire Pettibone – Versailles’ dress. So after searching for a stockist for Claire Pettibone near Bristol, I came across ‘Carina Baverstock Couture’ based in Bradford-on-Avon. I probably tried on about 15 dresses in the boutique until lastly trying on ‘The One’ it was called Baroque and was custom made by Suzanne Neville. It was completely different to what I initially wanted, but it made me feel amazing. Carina also found a David Fielden dress for me to wear for the night before the wedding and my mother found some dresses in their mother of the bride shop, which is located over the road. My mum wore a stunning ‘Doris Day’ – Claire Mischevani dress and jacket for the wedding, wearing grey Christian Louboutin heels and then later slipped into a David Fieldon feather dress to dance the night away in. After finding the dress, I was told that Carina and her business partner, Lucy had been selected into the Wedding Industry Awards 2013, they later won Best bridal retailer and The National Best Boutique. I formed a great relationship with the girls and even invited them to the wedding!

I’m not a traditionalist so I wasn’t keen on wearing a veil initially. The turning point was when my mum saw the dress matched with the veil that I knew I had to wear the veil for mum. I wanted something in my hair but nothing too sparkly. We wanted to create a relaxed, festival chic vibe, as J and I bumped into each other at Secret Garden Party (4 years after we first met in Bristol) and then later got together at Big Chill. So Carina matched the dress with a ‘Wonderland’ – Jenny Packham headdress, a pearl and crystal embellished design belt by Claire Mischevani. I also wore a long, single tier, champagne colour lace trim bespoke veil made for Carina Baverstock Couture by Nieve Couture. I loved the headdress and it’ll certainly be worn again! I also picked up a Jenny Packham Santorini Ostrich feather wrap; in case it got a bit cold at night but we were so lucky with the weather I didn’t end up wearing it over the dress. I did however wear it later in the night when I changed into comfy trousers and slippers so I could dance around easier! I chose a mid-heal Christian Louboutin yellow peep toe. I don’t wear white or silk shoes normally, so it wasn’t something I wanted to do on the day. I also wanted to add a pop of colour and to be able to wear the shoes again.

I had booked a MAC make-up artist from Bristol who went freelance. Everything was paid and sorted, but on the day when she was supposed to turn up, there was no make-up artist. I hadn’t received a call to say otherwise and the number she gave wasn’t working anymore. Panic set in, but luckily the Spa/make-up girls at Charlton House saved the day! We had already arranged for Charlton house to do the make-up for my best ladies and mum so I knew the girls anyway.
I later found out that the original person booked had sent me an email on the morning of the wedding to say that she was sick – We’re still waiting for our refund!

Claire Nicholson from ‘The Wilde Bunch’ did an amazing job; she’s such a talented and creative lady and certainly knows her stuff! We were keen to use local suppliers for the wedding and we found Claire at the vintage wedding fair at Bristol Zoo in 2012.

We aren’t normally fans of wedding fairs (although we’d never actually been to one – we could only imagine!) but the vintage ones in Bristol were great and have something a bit different to offer and provide your quirky touches.

We loved the birdcages that Claire had displayed and knew we wanted to incorporate those somewhere. As we love the outdoors, Jamie was keen to use wild flowers, so Claire designed the right combination for us. The wedding planning was an equal affair in terms of what we both wanted and J was totally involved with the process and even surprised himself how he wanted the flowers to be!

We started off with a budget in mind, but after talking to Claire we realised there was so many things you could do to create what we wanted, so the budget went out the window! we were super excited, as it was clear Claire was passionate and excited about helping us to create that secret garden feel.
We had candelabras for the centre pieces, 4 hanging birdcages in the marquee, a crate stack in the orangery hall way, suitcase stack next to the cake in the marquee and a flower and bottle arrangement in the orangery for the ceremony. The flowers used were nigella, eucalyptus, everfew daisies, Queen Anne’s Lace, little purple allium & lime green Guelder rose, we also used ‘Eden Romantica’ & ‘Upper Secret’ roses ,plus some darkest red paeonies and loads of dusky reddy/pinky/green hydrangea and a little bit of gypsophilla… The best ladies bouquets all had the same flowers in and were similar to mine. The groom, best men, my brother and dad all had the same buttonholes, then we arranged for buttonholes for the family and again, these were slightly different. It was a flower explosion!

One of the most important things for the wedding was that everyone felt comfortable with what they wore. I knew straight away that I didn’t want to ask the girls to wear the same dress, equally for the best men and their suits. We couldn’t do it as they are all so individual that for us, it wouldn’t have been right. I gave the ladies a colour palate to work from and asked them to pick their own dresses, shoes and accessories. As I had 6 best ladies (one of the girls couldn’t make it as her mum was sick) we couldn’t afford to pay for everything, so instead, we paid for one night at the hotel and paid for the girls to have their makeup done professionally. For the best men, lord of the ring (my brother) and father of the bride, we asked if they could all wear white shirts and we paid for their custom-made ‘Morrison’ tartan tie to match J’s kilt. They already owned their suits and it just happened that they all chose to wear a blue suit with brown shoes, including my younger brother Tom. My dad wore a brown Boss suit with tan Russell Bromley shoes which worked well against my dress.

Before Al, (J’s dad) passed away last April, he wanted to kit his boys (Ben and J) up with the traditional Morrison tartan kilt like he had had himself, so he flew the boys up to Scotland to get their kilts made. It was an easy decision for J to wear his kilt for the wedding. It was tough not having Al there on the day, but the kilt was a way of having him involved in spirit. For the ceremony J wore the traditional Ghullie Brogues, but then later wore Nike daps for dancing.

A friend at work talked about this amazing photographer and said we needed to see his work. As soon as we saw the way his photos naturally captured the emotion in people and told the story through the lens, there really was only one person to ask… Sam Gibson.

Although we had seen Sam’s work, meeting him cemented it. Sam is such a great guy to work with, friendly, very professional, non-imposing and managed to keep our lively families under control during the family portraits on the wedding day, which for anyone is no mean feat! From beginning to end, the quality in Sam’s work and service is worth every penny and it was important to us that our photos weren’t too structured. Sam also set up a ‘photo booth’ later in the day for everyone to use and get involved with, he provided the props and fancy dress which went down a treat. In particular, the bone! After the wedding we received a slideshow of our day, along with 850 photos to view online. On top of that we received a beautiful natural box with a selection of printed photos wrapped in straw, a memory stick and DVD of the photos. Such a lovely touch. I’ve never seen a photo album so creative and beautiful with each photo embedded into the pages, enclosed in a leather bound case. We also used Alex Haynes, ‘Wedding Memories’ for our videographer. We hardly noticed him during the day! We can’t wait to wait the watch the footage and see what everyone else got up to.

We used Bristol based – ‘Chocolate Delores’ for our cake who we found at Bristol vintage wedding fair. Lizzing Melling handmakes all her cakes. We chose a vintage inspired white chocolate cake with a dark chocolate sponge inside. ‘The Chocolate Cake is made with a 70% dark chocolate. Once baked the cake is soaked in port then layered with Madagascan buttercream and their own homemade organic plum jam. The cake is finally covered in white chocolate and decorated with handmade white chocolate shards and scrolls’ J is a chocolate fan, but I’m not usually keen on chocolate cake as I’ve either tried them too dry, too rich or too bitter. J insisted I tried it – it was a disco in my mouth! We also couldn’t resist Lizzies handmade truffles, which were bought for the buffet the night before the wedding. Totally divine!

Music is such a big part of our lives. After getting together at a music festival and with J playing records for a living, It was super important to have a musical adventure on the day. After taking my mum to Bristol vintage wedding fair 2013, we listened to the sweet tunes of ‘Til There was Uke’ while drinking tea. Mum thought they were great so she booked them there and then for the night before the wedding. We had our friends and family staying at the hotel with us, (some whom had travelled from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore to share the special day) so we wanted to put on a buffet and entertainment for everyone. TTWU added a touch of fun, originality and vintage style to their songs. With my mother’s side of the family originating from Barbados, it was also important to include a hint of the Caribbean, so my mum had organised a surprise steel pan band ‘The Rainbow Band’ to play during the daytime for the guests, which went down well with the rum and gin cocktails in the sun! Even my Nana who needs to use a wheelchair for long days was up and dancing!

For the evening we booked the Bristol based, ‘Ten Pound Suit Band’ and DJ, Gus Pirelli. Ten Pound Suit absolutely nailed it. Gus kept everyone up and moving till the wee hours and at one point everyone got involved with an impromptu electric slide to Cameo – Candy.

Our first dance was to Fleetwood Mac ‘Big Love’. It’s a record that we’ve put on at home and danced around to loads. It just felt right. We had ‘Thinking of you’ by Sister Sledge for the ‘walking down the aisle’ song. For favours we had wild flower seeds, which my J’s Mam put into individual hessian bags for all the guests – another surprise for us. We also wanted to create some special favours for family and friends staying at the hotel, so we put together bags with pocket sized tissues, lip balm for the ladies, cigars for the men, old fashioned sweets, bath bombs and aspirin for the hangovers. These were put in each room for check-in on the Sunday.

Throughout the year of planning, J’s mam picked rose petals and lavender from her garden that she dried out and was used for our confetti. We had ‘up lights’ in the trees for the evening, handmade bunting loaned from our neighbour and (our favourite) photo bunting – which we hung throughout the venue.
We wanted our guests to feel a part of the wedding, so we printed out over 100 old and new photos of everyone attending and family friends that were no longer with us. We hung these up with small pegs on string throughout the hotel.

Doing something amazing surrounded by everyone we love was pretty awesome and to make it personal we tailored a lot of the proceedings to suit us: wrote our own vows, chose round tables (and no top table) and took our shoes off for the rest of the day!

Photography by Sam Gibson
Dress Suzanne Neville | Boutique Carina Baverstock | Shoes Louboutin | Flowers The Wilde Bunch | Videographer Wedding Memories | Cake Chocolate Delores | Entertainment Ten Pound Suit Band & Til There was Uke.

Hello friends, how excited I am to be here writing for Rock my Wedding thanks to all of your lovely votes! I’m not going to lie, it’s also a little surreal, and a little scary to be sharing our wedding story with so many people, but I cannot wait to get talking with you all, and hopefully save my friends from constant wedding chat.

I don’t even know how that happened – I’ve never really been a girl to dream of her wedding day, but I can 100% confirm that since Scott & I got engaged 8 months ago, it has been my number one favourite topic of conversation (we’re not including my French Bulldog Vinnie, because anyone that knows me, knows that he is actually the only thing I talk about)!
 
So here’s a recap if you want reminding of Scott & I’s love story click here. I also would like to point out that we did not meet at a musical festival as I said in that original post, but in fact just a general music festival. When I realised my error I got quite frightened thinking of the concept of a ‘musical’ festival. Bamboozle did have its fair share of cheesy pop punk, but it’s also full of shouty men with beards, so musical festival is definitely a misrepresentation of the weekend (soz Bamboozle, I’m singlehandedly trying to ruin your street cred in the UK).
 
Today I thought I’d share the story of our engagement, because it means I get to talk about my favourite city in the world: Paris!

 
Living in London, Scott & I have visited the French capital many times. It is the most beautiful, historic, wonderful city that has this surreal quality of being fast paced but laid back all at the same time. We always pick an area outside of the normal touristy strong holds and just walk everywhere. We eat cheese and baguettes for breakfast (one year we visited with my parents and their best friends, and they introduced some cheeky red wine at 9am…wild!), we climb up tall buildings to look out over the amazing rooftops, we stalk French dogs (there are so many!!!), we eat picnics and drink beers in parks (but only some of them, many don’t let you sit on the grass!), we watch the Eiffel tower twinkle on the hour (okay, that bit is tourist-tastic, but along with climbing the actual tower, it’s one of the touristy things you should not miss in Paris!), we cycle along the Seine and we just have a really lovely, red wine and cheese filled time.

Pretty much on a weekly basis I think to myself how I wish I was living in Paris in some Amelie-inspired adventure. Shame I can’t speak French, I think that’s probably the only thing which is stopping me from moving there tomorrow.
 
Anyway, the last time we headed to Paris was back in November. We stayed in a beautiful little Airbnb apartment near Goncourt metro. Such a fun neighbourhood with lots of local bars and restaurants, and only a short stroll to Canal St Martin, which is one of my favourite areas in Paris (especially when the sun is shining – so many bars give you booze in to-go cups and everyone sits by the canal enjoying the warmth). Our favourite park in Paris is a place called Parc des Buttes-Chaumont,  in the 19th arrondissement of the city. We have spent so many days there, it’s the loveliest place. It’s a super historic park which was designed by the dude who made all the parks for Napoleon III (I did History as a minor at uni, bet you can’t tell based on that little description!) IT IS BEAUTIFUL! Seriously one of the prettiest places you could ever hope to visit. It is hilly, which affords it the most perfect view over the city. It has miles of grass which you can sit on (again, unusual for Paris!), and it’s all fairy tale grottos and waterfalls. Seriously, it is unlike any park I have ever been to, and I’m spoilt for choice for amazing ones living in London.
 
The most famous place in the park is the ‘temple on the hill’, as I know it, although it does have a proper name. It’s a miniature version of the famous ancient Roman Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. The original temple in Italy has been the subject of heaps of romantic paintings from the 17th to 19th century, but Scott & I just really like it because it is the best place to climb to see beautiful Paris laid out in front of you.

When we visited in November, Scott told me he wanted to go for a Friday morning walk in the park because the weather forecast was clear and we’d be able to drink in the views of the city before walking all over it (as standard). Looking out the window at a grey dreary, cloud covered day, I thought that Scott’s weather app was maybe a little optimistic, but I love that place so I wasn’t going to argue!
 
Mainly when we’ve visited it in the past it has been a weekend, or during a hot spell, so it’s always been extremely busy and buzzing with Parisians going about their sunny day activities. This Friday in November we had the park to ourselves and we enjoyed strolling towards the temple on the hill. When we got up there we found the one other person in the park: an old man playing an accordion (you couldn’t make it up!!!!) Scott told me to turn around and look out over the city…which I did, and I couldn’t see anything because it was cloudy (of course! Scott is a terrible liar…I have no idea how I believed him!). The next thing I know there was a tug on my  jacket and I turned around to see him down on one knee holding out the most beautiful diamond ring, asking me if I would make him the happiest person in the world by marrying him. Of course the answer was yes. I’ve known since I met him that we were going to marry one day, and I’ve been excited ever since for this next great adventure of ours. 
 
Since then, we’ve made great strides in our wedding planning. I couldn’t be more excited to share with you our ideas and plans and get inspiration and advice from you all. Two of my best friends married each other last weekend in the most beautiful ceremony so right now I feel absolutely giddy on wedding fever and love. Our first major decision for us when we got engaged was where to hold the wedding. A Scottish girl, living in London, with a Surrey boyfriend, should the wedding be a Scottish one? A London one? A Surrey country affair? A destination wedding? We chose London, but let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy decision. What would you do? Is home the only place you’ve ever considered getting married? Or is where you’ve made home the place for you?
 
I’m going to leave you with a picture of the two loves of my life, mainly so I can introduce Vinnie, our constant sidekick, shadow and piglet-dog. You’ll be seeing a lot of him over the next year!

 
Much love,
 
Danielle xxx