It’s my favourite thing ever for a bride to contact me directly; excited to share her wedding with me, which bride Louise did a few weeks back.

WWW readers Louise and Elliott married in July with a church service followed by a reception at The Barrandov Opera, Suffolk. They wanted their wedding to be relaxed and fun whilst using local suppliers. Their friends and family used their creative skills to help with the cake, flowers and entertainment.

There were pretty rose bouquets, log table number holders, a blackboard seating plan and one very happy couple.

Thanks so much to the fantastic Photos by Jessica for sharing her photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… It was the first night of our holiday in Cornwall staying in a very cute little cottage. Returning from the local pub we decided to walk the dog up the side of a nearby cliff, at the top we sat down on a bench, I was looking out at the water and when I turned back Elliott got down on one knee with a beautiful ring, I said yes and cried a lot of happy tears! He said proposing on a cliff top was a good plan as if I had said no he would have pushed me off!

The Vision for the Day… We wanted the day to be relaxed, rustic and fun with a summery feel using local Suffolk companies.

The Planning Process… We had a year to plan and it wasn’t really very stressful as we have very similar tastes, we decided on the big things early on and once we had the venue and caterers picked it all fell into place. I made a scrapbook from images I found online (lots from WWW!) Pinterest and in magazines and enjoyed planning all the little details as we got closer to the day.

Budget… We were very lucky that both our parents helped us out enormously, we could never have afforded the special day we had without them.

The Venue… We were married by my family vicar at St John the Baptist Church in Needham Market which is just round the corner from our house. The venue was The Barrandov Opera which is also only a few minutes from our house but you would never know it’s there – it feels like its own world. We didn’t look anywhere else, as soon as we saw it we knew it was for us. The barn inside is simply stunning and we liked that there is enough room for everyone to relax in even if it rains. Luckily it didn’t as the outside space is truly amazing, the roses were out in full bloom, there is a pond with chickens, ducks, doves and peacocks roaming around and so much space. It was great to see everyone relaxing and enjoying the sunny weather between the meal and evening reception spread out around the venue.

The Dress + Accessories… Summer by Sylvia Rose (Jean Fox an Australian designer). No jewellery as I don’t normally wear it – just my shiny new wedding ring and engagement ring. Elliott hates veils so that was a no-no, I went for a pretty headband tiara from Ivory and Co. My shoes were Mimi by Rachel Simpson – they were both beautiful and comfortable and something that I can definitely wear again.

Finding the Dress… I had some lovely shopping trips with my Mum and sisters getting a feel for what suited me, I settled quite quickly on a mermaid shape but couldn’t decide between modern or traditional lace styles. I ended up finding my dress on my own on a quick pop-in visit to Grace and Lace. It wasn’t quite the style that I had imagined and I nearly didn’t try it on – but as soon as it was on I knew it was the one for me, it bought together everything I liked from the two styles and had that extra special feeling – decision made.

Groom’s Attire… The guys hired suits from Moss Bros, they looked so smart and the sage cravats tied in amazingly with the bridesmaids dresses. We hadn’t put the two together until the day and I remember sitting in the Church and feeling very pleased at how well they matched. The day was very hot so the suit jackets came off very quickly following the family photographs!

The Readings + Music… I walked in to Pachelbel’s Canon in D which I love, although I was so excited that I can’t even remember hearing the music, and we exited down the aisle with our little dog to Handel’s March from Scipio. My Mum read our only reading Song of Solomon 2. 10-13; 8.6,7 I picked it as I love the elements of nature in it which really suits us.

We had the fabulous doo-wop group The TestostaTones singing during our welcome drinks, I had booked them as a surprise for Elliott – he absolutely loved them and they were so much fun and made a great atmosphere for everyone arriving.

In the evening we were lucky enough to have a live band The Kings of Leon Smith play with another band Angry Beaver also getting up and playing a few songs too. We are great friends with both and they were simply amazing! There was a lot of dancing, jumping and rocking out going on and many hot and sweaty dancers by the end of the night!

Beautiful Bridesmaids… My sisters Jen and Susan and my friend Hazel. They looked amazing in their sage dresses from Monsoon. I looked around all of the local wedding dress shops but they had a very limited range of short dresses and I knew I didn’t want floor length ones, so I ordered a range of dresses online and we had a trying on session at my house and found the one. They sourced their ivory boleros and shoes from Next which really bought the outfits together.

My normal hairdressers styled our hair and it was so much fun being at the hairdressers that morning drinking bucks fizz in a buzz of excitement. I decided to go for a similar style to what I normally wear and loved how pretty it looked professionally styled and with the headband in. I had a rough idea what my bridesmaids would have but my lovely hairdresser Jess styled them in a way that I couldn’t have ever envisaged. They all have very different hair naturally and she managed to make them look great altogether but with individual differences to suit them.

The Flowers… We had Sunflowers in the Church, Elliott has always bought me Sunflowers and they are such happy flowers. At the venue we had birdcages filled with wild flowers, and our bouquets and buttonholes were creamy yellow roses to tie in with the summery feel. A family friend arranged the flowers for us, we are very lucky to have someone we know with such talent as they were all gorgeous.

The Cake… My sister Jen made the cake. The amount of chocolate was extreme – we knew from the start that we wanted a chocolate cake as neither of us like fruit cake. She did a fantastic job – and it was delicious. We were a bit worried about it melting as it was such a hot day but it survived perfectly! The cake topper was made by Carla’s Personalised Wedding Toppers. We were so pleased when it arrived – it looked just like us and our little dog was the star attraction!

Your Photographer… Jessica Roberts – Photos by Jessica. As soon as we saw her work we knew it was our sort of style, very natural and relaxed. We had a pre-wedding shoot which really helped us to feel comfortable in front of the camera and less scared of it! On the day she was simply lovely and managed to capture genuine moments of laughter, love and emotion without being invasive. She is very creative and quirky and made everyone feel relaxed and at ease. We are so pleased with our photographs, they will be treasured!

The Details + Decor… It was a true summer wedding – we had a BBQ for our wedding breakfast, we figured that everyone loves a BBQ so that was a really easy decision. For dessert we had a vintage ice cream van (a converted Suffolk ambulance) called Audrey from Alder Tree. The company are based just down the road from us and make all of the ice cream themselves – it is delicious and lots of our guests ended up going back for another one or two or three….

Elliott is a tree surgeon so using his skills was important to us to create a rustic feel. He made our enormous cake stand, rings for the birdcage centrepieces to sit on, our chalkboard table plan and the arrow sign for outside. Elliott’s Mum made all of the bunting for us which decorated the barn beautifully and I made a sweetie table which was very popular with young and old all day long.

Instead of a guest book we had a fingerprint tree, which (apart from a few rogue green splodges) turned out great and we have put in a pretty wooden frame. It is lovely to have a memory of the day up on a wall in our house instead of boxed away.

Our favours were Seedboms – basically the ‘boms’ are full of seeds and you just wet it and throw it onto derelict land to brighten up the area or you can also plant them in a pot in your garden. We had a mixture of different types including Sunflowers, Thyme and Cornflowers. Hopefully we will see them brightening up Suffolk soon!

The Honeymoon… We asked guests for contributions to our honeymoon and went to Croatia. We split the honeymoon in two, the first part was in a little town called Omis where our balcony looked across a huge canyon where we went white water rafting and climbing. The second part was relaxing and sight-seeing in Dubrovnik. I would definitely recommend Croatia it’s a beautiful country and everyone was so friendly, we had a brilliant time!

Memorable Moments… Walking back down the aisle with our little dog was very special – having her there was really important to us as she is such a big part of our life and I think we were both relieved after all the planning to actually walk out of the Church as man and wife!

Advice for Other Couples… Use the skills of your friends and family! Ours are a talented bunch – the cake, flowers, bunting, wedding car driver and music bands were all from our friends and family and that made it extra special for them to be a part of our day.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Photographer:  www.photosbyjessica.co.uk

Venue:  www.barrandov.co.uk

Caterer: www.splintersoutsidecaterers.co.uk

Ice Cream Van: http://www.alder-tree.co.uk

Wedding Dress: www.graceandlace.co.uk

Music: http://testostatones.co.uk

Cake Topper: www.carlasweddingtoppers.co.uk

Favours: http://kabloomshop.co.uk

Tiara: www.ivoryandcotiaras.co.uk

Shoes: http://rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk

 

How utterly lovely, and how beautiful did Louise look? Thanks so much to Louise and Elliott for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou