Why hello there, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to kick start your week. I have a super gorgeous wedding to share from a couple that used WWW for inspiration while planing their day… YAY.

WWW readers Lucy and Chris married in March, holding their day at Eastclose Country House Hotel, Dorset. With a vision of a chic, quirky and elegant day they decided on a grey colour scheme with pops of green.

Apples were used as inspiration with polka dots running through their wedding too. The fresh green florals were arranged by Jay Archer Floral Design and there were some personal touches that Lucy and Chris crafted themselves too.

Lucy looked beautiful in Ian Stuart with the most perfect red Christian Louboutin shoes and her hair in a chic bun. Chris went for a stylish Topman grey suit, with floral shirt, bow tie and tan shoes. WOW.

Thanks so very much to the amazing Cotton Candy Photography for sharing their images with us today.

 

The Proposal… So on Christmas morning (2011) we woke up in our lovely little flat, slightly worse for wear from Christmas Eve drinks the night before, and made our way to mum and dads to open presents with them around the tree. We then returned home to open our presents to each other round our Christmas tree where I opened all the presents I already knew I had because I’d chosen them (!) and I presented Chris with his new Hugo Boss golf bag – lucky boy!

It’s only when I look back I notice how odd Chris was acting that morning. We had a spot of breakfast together and then chilled on the sofa watching a bit of TV, all the while Chris kept disappearing into our bedroom for stints pretending to do something or other.

The time came for us to start getting ready for the day ahead so I ran a bath and enjoyed a soak. I got out of the bath, hair sopping wet, last night’s make up down my face and wrapped in a towel, at which point Chris stopped me in the hallway. He coyly told me there was another present for me in the lounge, under the tree. Confused as I’d already opened all the presents I’d chosen and knew about, I edged my way round to the tree where I saw this gorgeous Art Deco inspired diamond ring sparkling away under the tree lights! Me being the big baby that I am burst into tears at the sight of it, covering my face with my hands! Chris then asked me if he should get down on one knee and I was like “Hell yeah, you only get engaged once!” I, of course, said yes!

The Vision for the Day… If I had to sum the style of our wedding up in three words it would be chic, quirky and elegant.

We had a chic grey colour scheme which was decided on the groom’s choice of suit colour with colour pops provided by the apples and fresh spring flowers.

The vision for the room we had the wedding breakfast in centred around the magnificently sparkling crystal candelabras that we had on each table as the centre pieces. The glisten of the candelabras was offset brilliantly by the colour pop of the zingy fresh apple place settings, crisp white linen and shiny silver cutlery and glasses. Simple but effective! I was really pleased with the look on the day.

You wouldn’t think, but I got the idea for the fresh apple place settings from TV programme Don’t Tell the Bride! This then led to a slight obsession with all things apple but I was careful (I hope!) not to go too over the top, as I wanted it to be a subtle theme. I began collecting glass and ceramic apples to be displayed on the various fireplaces in the hotel – who knew there were so many to be had?!

Polka dots also featured through my veil, the invites, ribbon on my bouquet, cake, the flower girls tights, the groom and best man’s pocket squares.

The Planning Process… I enjoyed every minute even the stressful parts!

The Wedding Planner for iPad app came in useful throughout the planning – it has a fantastic guest list function that helps you keep track of whose is and isn’t coming as well as the best seating plan feature ever. Check it out!

I had an Excel spreadsheet with the budget broken down and kept it up to date until three months before the wedding our laptop broke so I free styled from there! Fortunately most of the big things were out the way so I was able to figure out what we had left to get and spend which I then kept track of through the wedding app on our iPad.

The Venue… Eastclose Country House Hotel, Hinton, Christchurch on the edge of the New Forest National Park. We had exclusive use so it was just us and our friends and family and we had the run of the house for the day.

Set in 18 acres of beautiful parkland, the boutique hotel is rumoured to have been where author Lewis Carroll created his tales of a certain young Alice (in Wonderland) after hearing of her adventures in the enchanting walled garden, croquet lawn and under the giant beech tree which we think is quite a romantic and charming connection! As soon as Chris and I and my parents set foot in Eastclose on our first visit we knew it was the venue for us – for Chris and dad it was as soon as they saw the selection of draft beer available in the bar! The hotel is exquisitely decorated (think damask wallpaper and grand fireplaces) and it ticked the box of having everything in one place, where some of our guests could stay and others nearby. The bridal suite is gorgeous – we’re hoping to go back and stay for our first wedding anniversary.

The Dress + Accessories… The ruched Thai silk, ever so slightly embellished sweetheart neckline (not too much bling!) and oversized flower of my beautiful Seville dress was the simple but effective ‘wow’ factor I was looking to create.

Believe it or not I accidentally left my dress behind at the venue in the bridal suite the day after the wedding and had to go back for it – it was only when the venue called to tell me that we realised and returned to collect it oops! I’m now hoping to sell my dress so that it can have another story.

The fact that my dress was preloved made it all the more special – I liked the idea that it had a story of its own before me and that I would be giving it another one. It was my something old! It was nerve wracking handing over that amount of money on Paypal and awaiting its arrival from Ireland but well worth the wait when it got here. It meant I got the dress of my dreams for a great price, I’d recommend preloved gowns to other brides just be sure to ask the right questions and ensure it’s a genuine sale. I found mine on www.sellmyweddingdress.com

I met Kelly Spence at The Designer Wedding Show (such a great wedding fair, such a shame it’s no more) shortly after I got engaged. I originally thought I wanted a bouffant 1950s veil – I knew I didn’t want it to go over my face, but that I wanted to wear one as you only get to once! But when I saw her shoulder length French tulle veil with flocked polka dot and tried it on at the show I was sold, as a small polka dot theme had begun to emerge with our wedding. Once I’d chosen my dress it confirmed that it would be perfect so I got in touch with Kelly and ordered my custom made veil. She was so helpful and friendly to deal with, the perfect wedding supplier.

Instead of having two dresses I had two pairs of shoes – an indoor pair and an outdoor pair! I’ve always had my heart set on a pair of designer shoes for my wedding day but I wanted something I could wear time and time again if I was going to ‘invest’ in an expensive pair. So browsing through the Christian Louboutin website one day I came across my show stopping red suede peep toe You You shoes which were the perfect height – I didn’t want to tower over Chris as I’m just a few inches shorter than him. So I snapped up my random red shoes and a week later they arrived by courier all the way from Paris, much to my excitement! To cover all bases and in case the weather wasn’t great, I had ambitions of exploring the beautiful grounds to get some amazing photos so I borrowed some red vintage Carvela peep toes from my mum that she’d found in a charity shop so my beautiful Loubis didn’t get ruined – unfortunately hers did, sorry mum! As our photographers say, it’s all about the red shoes!

I wore a silver sixpence in my shoes, as the saying goes – I’d never heard of it before and thought it was a nice little addition.

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.

Thailand featured indirectly in our wedding quite a bit – my dress was Thai silk, we honeymooned in Thailand and my mother’s pearl earrings and necklace were all the way from Thailand, which was my something borrowed. I adore pearls and the jewellery had a ‘deco’-esque look to it, a style I’m fond of (my engagement ring is deco inspired too). Mum then had a matching bracelet custom made for me by award winning jeweller Tantrums and Tiaras who we met at a wedding fair.

I also wore a pearl and shell flower ring that I wore when I was bridesmaid for one of my best friends a few years back, which mirrored the oversize flower on my dress nicely.  I wasn’t able to have all of my girlfriends as my bridesmaids so it was nice to have a little something from them with me on the day. One of my other best friends did my hair and another did a reading that she’d personally written.

I wasn’t particularly bothered with having a garter – I certainly wasn’t going to be showing anyone it! But I needed a something blue and that was it. I thought if I’m going to have a garter I may as well do it in style so I got one from Agent Provocateur ooooooo la la! I actually misplaced it when we were wondering the grounds having our ‘just the two of us’ shots done – Chris went searching for it the following week and found it! Now that’s what you call a good husband.

Finding the Dress… I always knew I’d have an Ian Stuart dress, from looking in the magazines before dress shopping – I just love the drama of them! I was right on the money in thinking I wanted a fishtail dress too.

It was one in the first batch I tried so it was a process of elimination really. What helped I think was that I went back and tried my shortlisted dresses again on my own – the dress I had in my head as ‘the one’ before I went back quickly changed when I tried it again. So I’d say it’s important to try it on a few times to be sure.

I wanted to nail the dress as soon as possible as I knew it could be a difficult decision. Mum and I only visited a few boutiques – my first experience was great, I liked four out of the eight I tried! But the second shop was disappointing – I whizzed in and out of seven dresses in less than half an hour, I just knew they weren’t for me. Probably didn’t help that I’d already tried the dress I went for and had it in my mind.

Groom’s Attire… Chris’ decided suit colour gave us our colour scheme! Early on, he decided on grey. We kept an eye out for tailors to visit when the time was right but in the end he went for a slim fit suit from Topman – it had to be slim fit! That was priority number one. He ordered two suits online which he tried on in the comfort of home with shirt/shoes etc and they both looked amazing but it was the three piece grey marl heritage suit that was the winner. He looked so dapper but I kept forgetting to tell him when I reached him at the end of the aisle despite his compliments to me, it was all so overwhelming and it took me a while to get with it! I finally returned the compliment though and I meant every word – I fancied the pants off him on our wedding day (more than usual!)! He had lots of compliments from guests too.

Forget me having dress wobbles, Chris had shirt wobbles! We came across his floral mono tone shirt from Marc Wallace and bought it a year before the wedding. Months and months passed and he had a confession to make – he wasn’t sure on the shirt any more! The slim fit obsessive that he is I was pretty sure that once he had it tailored to him and it was more fitted he’d love it again. Cue panic buying of a chambray polka dot shirt (also on theme) which was also very nice but threw our plans of getting the matching ties to the shirt for the best man, dads and my brother out the window. To cut a long story short, after a few trying on sessions where I stood behind him pulling everything in he came full circle and realised the Marc Wallace shirt was ‘The One’ after all – phew! Nothing a tailor in Guildford couldn’t sort, and did.

His tan brogue shoes were from Hudson. He and the best man had colour pop socks in apple green!

Chris was dead set on a bow tie for the wedding – if you can’t wear a bow tie on your wedding day when can you?! We picked up many a grey bow tie in the hope that one of them would go with his shirt and suit. The one he went for had a slight check to it – we can’t remember where it was from!

He and the best man also wore matching grey spotted Italian wool pocket squares from Tie Rack which finished the look off nicely.

We supplied the best man, dads and my brother with mono tone floral ties from Marc Wallace that matched Chris’s shirt and asked them to wear it with a white shirt and grey suit in any shade, we didn’t want everyone to look uniform and the different shades worked really well with the different shades of grey the bridesmaids and pageboys wore.

Our two pageboys wore grey waistcoat and trousers from Monsoon with a granddad collar shirt – we thought they’d appreciate not wearing a tie, they wouldn’t have lasted round their necks long! They wore classic white Converse on their feet – Chris and I are both big Converse fans – and I managed to find some apple print socks which were funky. They walked down the aisle with a ‘Here comes the bride’ sign I’d handmade from a vintage pillow case, stencil and some grey paint!

The Readings + Music… I have to say, I think we got our music spot on for the wedding.

Harpist Rebekah Webb played for us throughout the ceremony, drinks reception and wedding breakfast. Dad was keen on a harpist and we met Rebekah at a wedding fair – another supplier we met at a wedding fair! Can’t beat them. The ambience the harp created was beautiful. We stuck to classical music for the ceremony as we wanted to keep it as formal as possible for the short civil ceremony – the wedding party walked down the aisle to Canon in D by Pachelbel and I then walked down the aisle with my father to Wagner’s Bridal Chorus. Rebekah then moved onto popular music thereafter, to some songs guests recognised. The harp was magical.

We didn’t feel our venue was big enough for a band so we opted for a DJ and an acoustic singer for the evening and boy did they get the party started – between them the dance floor was packed all night! Dan Morten is a friend of mine – I know how good a DJ he is and we only had to give him a bit of a steer as to what we wanted, he knows us well.

Dave Barrett has played at my cousin’s birthday parties before so we also knew how good he was. He alternated sets with the DJ to mix it up a bit and we were so pleased with the results – everyone had a great time. Dave also sung our first dance song – Paul Weller’s You do something to me. We both love Paul Weller and it was very fitting. We can now associate some very special memories to it!

We had two readings – a shortened version of The Art of Marriage by Wilferd Arlan Peterson as we liked the lines about not going to bed on an argument (something we try to stick to!) and ‘being the right partner’ – we asked Chris’ two sisters to read this for us. One of my girlfriends then wrote a poem especially for us called ‘The One’ which was beautiful and bought a tear to my eye the first time I read it. Very privileged to have had her write something for our special day about us.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… Jen’s (chief bridesmaid) dress was from Girls of Elegance which I came across in a wedding magazine and looked up online. They have a showroom in Poole nearby to where Jen lives so I visited it to have a look at the dress and they’re fantastic quality for the price – just as good as most other bridesmaid dress suppliers, I highly recommend them. Jen visited the showroom one day to try it for size and fit and I ordered it online and Jen got her alterations done by a local seamstress. Easy! The one shoulder Grecian style was really flattering and the colour great for what we were after.

I thought the younger bridesmaid Charlotte and flower girls would look super cute in tutu style outfits so when I came across Angels Face and subsequently visited its stand at The Designer Wedding Show its fru fru tops and pettiskirts in silver cloud (light grey) were perfect. I liked the idea of them having skirts and tops that looked like dresses so that they could wear them as separates after – the fru fru tops with jeans and the pettiskirts with a cool t-shirt and Converse. They didn’t want to take them off. In fact Lillian strolled into her mum and dad at 5am the other morning with her outfit on! They looked gorgeous and many guests commented on how unique the outfits were.

Chief bridesmaid Jen is only diddy so it was ivory satin peep toe platforms for her from Debut in Debenhams. Look out for their sale events they have throughout the year – very handy for some wedding savings!

Our younger bridesmaid Charlotte wore some cute silver glitter pumps from Marks & Spencer which looked great with her outfit and set her apart from the younger flower girls.

Flower girls Lillian and Belle wore ivory satin ballet pumps which we got from a local ballet shop. 

The Flowers… I met Jay Archer Floral Design at a wedding fair – me and mum were drawn to a magnificent fireplace arrangement she had on show and she also used apples in some of her designs so it was fate. She wasn’t local to us or our venue but chatting to her it was obvious we were on the same page. After a consultation at her home, we booked her up and didn’t look back. Not knowing a huge amount about flowers until this wedding lark, my brief to Jay was seasonal spring flowers in fresh greens, crisp white and grey. The herb rosemary was a must for fragrance and because it’s mums name. My bouquet consisted of stocks, sweetpea, ranunculous, guilder rose, carnation, honeymoon tulips (my favourite!) and brunia berries and I’m still in love with it to this day. I loved how substantial it was. My only regret is not having kept hold of it for longer – somebody asked if I wanted them to take it after the ceremony and not thinking I said yes, it was then used for the top table décor along with the bridesmaids bouquets in fish bowls which made sure it got some use! We also had a fireplace arrangement inspired by the one that attracted us to Jay at the wedding fair. And she also decorated the apple pyramid I constructed on a vintage cut glass cake stand I got from eBay, which prettied up the library. The button holes were also great and not your average button holes, which is what we wanted. It helped that Jay herself was lovely too!

The Cake… My aunty offered to make our wedding cake and so she did. We were indifferent when it came to wedding cakes so wanted something simple – white icing, three tiers. We don’t like fruit cake so went for madeira sponge with chocolate buttercream in one and toffee in the others. A friend of another aunty of mine knitted us some apple cake toppers which really finished it off! It also had a slight polka dot theme.

Your Photographer… Our friends’ wedding photos by Cotton Candy were so amazing we booked them for our wedding too! From the first meeting right up to the wedding day and all throughout the planning, Gem and Phil were first class and really put us at ease. We had no doubts whatsoever that they would deliver us equally fantastic wedding photos and they sure as hell did not disappoint! In fact, every time we look at them (which we like to do often!) they make us beam from ear to ear. A smile so big just spreads uncontrollably across our faces! The love and laughter they have captured is infectious and we cannot thank them enough for the amazing job they did on our special day. They were with us from 10am in the morning to 9pm in the evening, so it was a long day for them but they didn’t flag once! They were very professional and guests commented on how unobtrusive the lovely Cotton Candy ladies were. Us and our guests highly recommend the Candy Booth too! Now to decide which to frame, there are so many great ones to choose from…

The Details + Decor… There’s so many! There were Converse wearing pageboys, colour pop socks, a handmade ‘Here comes the bride’ sign made from a vintage pillow case, stencil, bamboo stick, ribbon and some paint, a magical and enchanting harpist, a bow tie wearing groom, my random red shoes (Christian Louboutin!), signature cocktail (Appily Ever After: runny honey, apple vodka and pressed apple juice), tutu wearing flower girls, French macaron favours homemade by mum, pretty paper pom poms, stripy straws, shiny crystal candelabras, fresh spring flowers, a basket full of freshen up goodies in the ladies loos, flip flops for tired dancing feet, a DIY sweetie table, a vintage red postbox for  cards, photos of our parents on their wedding days. The apples were my ultimate favourite though!

I love French macarons – so chic! So mum homebaked some pistachio macarons for each guest, which we popped in a cute little box at each place setting. They were thoroughly enjoyed!

I also created a sweetie table with some chalk painted shelves I got on eBay. Me, mum and my aunty collected cut glass dishes in all shapes and sizes from charity shops in the months before, which displayed a selection of our favourite sweets which we got from the cash and carry. My sister in law also baked some apple and heart shaped cookies using my favourite recipe. The adults enjoyed this as much as the kids!

I made the canvas activity bags for the kids which I handprinted with apples and green and grey paint which I personalised with their names. They loved them and they kept them entertained!

DIY really helped make our day memorable for us and added lots of personal touches. I designed and handcrafted our save the dates, stationery and table plan (love doilies!), various signs, here comes the bride sign, canvas activity bags for the kids, guest book and more! I loved it all – if something didn’t work out then it wasn’t meant to be.

I’m not a big fan of table names – I think it’s hard to find something personal to both of you. So we went for plain and simple numbers in cute little mirror photo frames, which I also made myself.

The Honeymoon… Thailand for two weeks, staying in a cliff top resort that did daily shuttles to the most gorgeous private beach aptly named Paradise Beach. So relaxing and just what we needed! We booked through Kuoni through Travelzoo who were both great. We also booked an executive lounge at the airport to kick our honeymoon off in style. www.diamondcliff.com www.no1traveller.com

We also went on a little mini moon for two days after the wedding at an amazing country house hotel in Brockenhurst (also New Forest) called The Pig. Was so nice to unwind and do nothing following the madness of the wedding, and spend a bit of time together just us.

Memorable Moments… Our ceremony felt really personal and that was down to our registrar who was fantastic. He put us at ease as well as injecting some humour into proceedings, we really enjoyed it and got lost in the moment. Chris and I were clutching each others hands all throughout, there was a real feeling of support and togetherness.

When we had our photos just the two of us, it was really nice spending that time together before we rejoined everyone. Even if our photographers were there capturing every moment, in felt like just the two of us!

The love and laughter in the room while we all had dinner together provided some memories to cherish. The best man’s speech was hilarious – you can see from the photos how much we were all laughing, they’re some of my favourite photos. Unfortunately for Chris, the joke was on him – he revealed that the sealed envelopes he’d secretly planted on each table contained pictures of a scantily clad Chris on his stag celebrations which then circulated among the guests. The whole room was in stitches as were we!

I’ll never forget looking around and seeing so many different faces all on the dance floor together. Priceless!

Advice for Other Couples… Don’t sweat the small stuff! Chris’ granddad sadly passed away two days before the wedding which really put things into perspective. Remember there’s only so much you can do and there comes a time to relax and what will be will be. Despite everything pretty much being done the day before the wedding, I struggled to relax until the evening when I had my nails done and a glass or two of bubbly. But a nice bath and an early night and I woke up super calm and serene as planned, and what really helped was having a few moments to myself, to collect my thoughts and soak it all up.

And finally, work with great suppliers to make the wedding of your dreams. I truly believe that we worked with some of the best in the business which helped pull off our fabulous big day. Trust is key!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Photography: Cotton Candy Weddings

Venue:  Eastclose Country House Hotel

Dress: Ian Stuart

Veil: Kelly Spence

Shoes: Christian Louboutin

Jewellery: Tantrums and Tiaras

Gater: Agent Provocateur 

Suit: Topman

Shirt: Marc Wallace

Shoes: Hudson Shoes

Pocket Squares:  Tie Rack

Pageboys Outfits: Monsoon

Harpist: Rebekah Webb

DJ: Dan Morten

Acoustic Singer: Dave Barrett

Bridesmaid Dress: Girls of Elegance

Flowergirls: Angels Face

Flowers: Jay Archer Floral Design

 

What a wonderful wonderful wedding. Thanks so much to Lucy and Chris for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou