A Christmas Wedding + A Caroline Castigliano Dress {2}

04.03.2011

Are you ready for part 2 of this morning’s gorgeous wedding. The couple head off for their portrait shots and their beautiful wedding reception. What a romantic Christmassy day, with some special finishing touches to represent their love of the beach and surfing <3

Thanks again to their amazing wedding photographer photoTOM for sharing her work today…

Beautiful bridesmaids…..

I had two “big” and two “little” bridesmaids. The “big” ones were Heather and Siân. Siân is my best friend – we met at University, 16 years ago. Heather and I have been close friends since we were toddlers, thirty years ago!! Tim’s nieces, Katie and Molly were our little bridesmaids – they were absolute angels and stole the show!

Heather and Siân wore strapless teal gowns by Alfred Angelo, which were accessorised with ivory faux fur tippets and long, ivory satin gloves. They each wore a pearl pendant and earrings and their hair was held with fresh ivory roses. Katie and Molly wore ivory ballet-style dresses by Tiger Lily, which I embellished with tiny teal beads, to tie-in with Heather and Siân. They also wore pearls, ivory fur tippets and ivory Alice bands.

The Flowers…

The flowers were created by Heather’s Mother-in-Law, Liz, and she did a wonderful job, especially considering her suppliers only reopened after Christmas a couple of days before the wedding! This was one of the reasons I went for ivory roses – they were fairly easy to get hold of even if supplies were delayed. I also wanted to have a fairly clean and classic look, and the roses really achieved this, with their colour being suitably “wintry” at the same time.

The “grown-ups” bouquets also included thistle, berries, eucalyptus and blue spruce adding a lovely coolness and scent. The stems were wrapped in ivory ribbon and tiny pearls. Katie and Molly carried baskets that mirrored our bouquets but had teal ribbons wrapped around the handles.

The Venue…

We got married at St. Illtud’s church, near to where I grew up, and then had our reception at The Bear Hotel in Cowbridge. We wanted to pick somewhere that had lots of accommodation, some history, and somewhere that wasn’t too off-the-beaten track in case it snowed! The Bear ticked all of the boxes and as it was in the beautiful town of Cowbridge, had a little extra to offer. I couldn’t recommend The Bear highly enough – the staff bent over backwards for us, both on the day itself and during the year leading up to the wedding. Even on the day before the wedding they were calming me during my little crises!

We had a wonderful Beauford and a Daimler to take us and the rest of the wedding party from the church to Cowbridge. It was so exciting, taking our first trip as husband and wife, with a glass of champagne in hand!

We had our photographs taken across the road from the hotel, in the Cowbridge Physic Gardens, which were lovely, despite the winter weather!

Advice for other couples…

The biggest piece of advice I have is not to get too hung-up on the details and remember what the day is all about: getting married to the one you love! I got into a bit of state about all of the arrangements and organising but when it came down to it, I couldn’t even tell you what the weather was like on the day – we were totally immersed in the atmosphere and didn’t think about any of the business-type stuff. For both of us, the very best part was the ceremony itself and despite enjoying every second of the rest of the day, the details I was worrying about drifted into insignificance next to becoming husband and wife!

The other thing I would say is to try and find a photographer that will do a pre-wedding shoot with you. We already knew that we were going to get along with Aga, our photographer, but being able to do an engagement shoot made it so easy to relax on the wedding day. We knew exactly what to expect and weren’t at all self-conscious.

The Cake…

My mother used to make cakes professionally so there was no question about who was going to do this bit! We decided on a three-tiered “fun” cake with two fruit cake tiers and one carrot cake (Tim’s favourite). The bottom tier was covered in sheep, a nod to the coastal village where we live that often has a flock wandering around, looking for nice things to eat! The second tier was surrounded by surfboards and waves, and above them were little stacks of books – I’m a librarian and Tim and I met in the library at the university where we both work. The top tier had sugarpaste models of Tim dressed in a wetsuit, me in a bridal gown, and the family dog. I helped my Mum to make the figures and it was lovely to be able to be involved.

The Details + Decor….

We had two favours for our guest. The first were in keeping with our beach theme and were personalised sticks of rock. Going through the middle of the rock were our names and a heart, and the label had a picture of the two of us and a greeting to our guests. The second favour was because of my Dad’s support of the NSPCC. We used the NSPCC’s “Celebrate and Give” wedding favours which included a “Full Stop” pin badge for each guest, along with a card personalised with our wedding details.

The table displays, like the bouquets, were mainly roses, eucalyptus, thistle and spruce but were held in cute silver buckets that added wonderfully to our beach theme! Finally, each table was named after one of Tim’s favourite surfing beaches. Some were local and some were from Southern California, where he lived for a few years, so there was a bit of variety! There was a picture of the beach as well as a number on each table, to add a touch of sunshine.

Aga, our photographer brought along our favourite picture from the engagement photo shoot we did with her, for everyone to sign – we had a guestbook too but it’s lovely to be able to display everyone’s greetings as well as to look back at the more detailed ones inside the book.

Liz, the lady who created our flowers, lent us a wonderful wooden post box that we decorated with shells, pebbles, buckets and fishing nets, for guests to put our cards into.

Memorable moments…

The speeches were wonderful! I know I’m biased but lots of people have said to me how much they enjoyed them. Tim’s speech was beautiful and apparently there were a few tears shed during it. My Dad’s speech was very funny and touching and he even had a prop – a gavel he had carved for us, informing Tim that if we were to argue, I could bang the gavel to demand a kiss! Giles (Tim’s Best Man) had written a “This is Your Life” style speech, complete with leather-bound book and slide show. It had everyone roaring with laughter and (unfortunately for those who hadn’t already seen the spectacle and were therefore prepared) it ended with a stag weekend shot of Tim surfing in a dayglo mankini!

The Honeymoon….

We didn’t have much time for a full honeymoon after the wedding so we drove down to St.Ives in Cornwall (one of our favourite places to visit!) for a few nights. It was wonderfully relaxing and the food and drink was fantastic, as always. We stayed in a beautiful guest house overlooking the sea and Tim got to surf every day while I walked, read and drank hot chocolate. We borrowed my parents’ camper van so that I could relax while Tim surfed and so that Tim could get changed in the warm!

We’re hoping to travel to Southern California in the summer as another honeymoon. We have lots of friends from when Tim was living there and we’d like to see them as they weren’t able to come to the wedding.