Morning {www}ers, i have a day full of pretty today, starting with the drop dead gorgeous wedding of Kate and Mark.

Kate and Mark were married on that hot weekend in October of last year, at the beautiful Sandon Hall in Staffordshire. They wanted a simple wedding day that reflected their style and the way they live their life.

Kate looks stunning in  Stephanie Allin ‘Jacqueline’and her super cute Rachel Simpson shoes, i also have a bit of a thing about that Jenny Packham head piece… swoon. 

They kept their wedding decor simple yet stylish, but DIYing using kraft paper and typewriter font to pull everything together, I so love the filing cabinet table plan…. genius!! And i have to mention the deliscuous looking cake of cheese and those macaroons… mmmmmm.

Thanks so much to the amazing Steve Gerrard Photography for sharing his incredible images with us today, here is what he had to say about the day;

“When you plan an October wedding you accept the fact that the weather may not be warm or sunny.

Kate & Mark held their wedding at the spectacular Sandon Hall at the beginning of October and it was one of the hottest & sunniest wedding days we’ve witnessed all year!

In fact, the whole day could not have been better. Except, perhaps, for the car not turning up on time to take Kate to the church! Luckily, their favourite photographer came to the rescue ;-)

Photographer & chauffeur. I won’t make a habit of it.

The evening featured one of our fave wedding bands, Under The Covers. 2nd shooting duties were expertly covered by the lovely Anna Clarke.”

NAMES…. Kate and Mark

WEDDING DATE…. 1st October 2011

THE PROPOSAL… On a freezing cold day in Oxford in Jan 2010. We’d been together for 7 years, after meeting at university – we met during freshers week and were friends for a few years before we became a couple in our final year. After popping to Jamie’s Italian for lunch and a sneaky Proscecco, we went for a walk by the river at Christchurch College. We were sitting on a bench watching the university rowers and when I turned round, Mark had a ring in his hand and asked if I would be his wife. He said it was too cold to bend on one knee and he was right! Simple, understated and followed by a chocolate brownie – ideal.

THE VISION FOR THE DAY… We wanted something simple that reflected our style (both of us), in a place that we now call home, with our friends and family and great food, wine and music. We wanted our wedding to reflect the way we live and the things we love, not be guided by what you were ‘supposed’ to have a wedding.

THE PLANNING PROCESS…. Was actually fairly stress free as we had plenty of time to arrange things – we set the date of the wedding within a fortnight of getting engaged and had the venue, our fantastic photographer and the live band booked within 2 months. Mark was happy to leave the planning to me – I’m more organised and very decisive! We’ve lived together for so long and have fairly similar tastes so it was easy to make decisions and choose suppliers, decor and music that I knew we’d both enjoy. I used the internet and wedding blogs for inspiration (Pinterest is very handy for collecting images) – wedding fayres and the like really aren’t my thing. I also used our home as inspiration, including our love of books – we used the Penguin book design for our invitations- vintage champagne saucers that Mark collects and an old typewriter.

THE VENUE… The ceremony was held at All Saints Church, Sandon and the reception was at Sandon Hall, Staffordshire. Sandon Church was built in the 13th century and has a lovely feel inside, whilst Sandon Hall has amazing rooms, including a light filled Victorian conservatory and formal gardens. It was important to us to get married close to home and as soon as we visited Sandon, we knew it was the right place. The congregation at All Saints are really friendly and welcoming, the staff at Sandon Hall fantastic and the view from the entrance to the church over the Staffordshire countryside is beautiful.

THE DRESS + ACCESSORIES… The dress was by Stephanie Allin ‘Jacqueline’ with a matching lace bolero,  the shoes by Rachel Simpson ‘Mimi’, the veil by Jenny Packham and I hired the headpiece which is also Jenny Packham. My bracelet was a present from Mark which I think was an Etsy find.

FINDING THE DRESS… I thought finding a dress would be really difficult – not because I had something particular in mind, but the opposite, I couldn’t imagine liking any wedding dress. I’m only 5ft 2in and fairly petite – and I didn’t want anything too big, too wide, too sparkly, too lacy or too plain. I’d looked at dresses online, but couldn’t imagine any of them looking right on my figure. The only vaguely wedding type dress I’d seen that I liked was a satin evening dress worn by a woman on an old episode of Jeeves and Wooster. About 6 months after getting engaged, I decided to book an appointment at a bridal shop just to have a quick look. A friend recommended Silk Brides in Lichfield, and I popped in with Mark’s mum. The staff there are lovely and went through their collection with me and encouraged me that dresses look very different on than on the hanger! None were quite right until Catherine at Silk suggested I try Jacqueline by Stephanie Allin – as soon I did , I knew it was right. It reminded me of the 1930s style evening dress I liked from Jeeves and Wooster with the added elegance of the lace sleeves and bolero. And that was it,  I didn’t look anywhere else but ordered it a week later after showing my mum and sister.

GROOM’S ATTIRE… Mark wanted a suit he could wear afterwards so we searched Selfridges in Manchester and he decided on a fitted Ted Baker suit, with grey tie and embossed white shirt. The cufflinks and watch were a wedding present from me – the cufflinks were vintage maps showing San Francisco and Los Angeles as the start and end points of our honeymoon trip.

THE READINGS + MUSIC… Our mums both read in church – we looked at lots of different readings but settled on Ecclesiastes (two are better than one) and Song of Solomon (the turtle dove). The entrance music, played on the organ, was Charpentier Te Deum and we had Handel as we left –  Mark used to sing in a choir and lots of ideas on music and hymns. We had James Taylor How it Is to Be Loved by You during the signing of the register.

Music was a big part of the reception – we had a string quartet (Bella Musica) outside for our drinks reception. Our friends were particularly impressed with their version of Lionel Richie! In the evening, we had a live band Under the Covers, who were one of the highlights of the entire day. Despite the heat of the day, they had the dance floor (and outside) packed with all our friends and family dancing all evening. As well as being fantastic musicians, they are genuinely lovely people and we’d recommend them to anyone.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS… My sister Sarah was my maid of honour and I found the dress online from Monsoon – another of my snap decisions. We didn’t have a colour scheme but grey is one of my favourite colours.  Thinking it would be chilly in church in October, we found a grey cardigan with cute pearl buttons in Hobbs after hours of searching (but was almost pointless given how lucky we were with the weather!). My three nieces were flower girls, and their dresses were from the Autograph collection at Marks and Spencer and shoes from Next.

THE FLOWERS… I love having flowers around the house and in the garden, but know little about them. Our florist, Alison O’Mara, was fantastic – we explained that we wanted flowers that looked natural, with some texture and smelled good, and from that description she and her team created amazing centrepieces with candelabras, bouquets for me and my sister and the hydrangea balls for the flower girls. Sandon Hall is decorated with rich colours and high ceilings so the arrangements with the candelabras added height to the tables and the candle light created a lovely atmosphere. Alison also created arrangements for the top table using some of our jumble of silver vases and candleholders, including an old art deco teapot.

THE CAKE… This was an easy one. It could only be a cake of cheese – a love of cheese was the basis of our friendship when we first met and remains very important. The cheese was from our favourite cheese shop – Appleyards in Shrewsbury, Shropshire – and we served it with port. A last minute decision, but one that was very popular!

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER… Another easy decision. We both knew that we wanted to invest in the things that would help us to remember the day – which to us was an amazing photographer and within 6 weeks of getting engaged, we’d booked Steve Gerrard. We found Steve online and after spending a few hours looking around his website, it was obvious Steve was the right choice. His images contain so much life and really tell the story of a day, including those little moments that you don’t know how he catches. We had an engagement shoot with him in Manchester before the wedding, he really knows how to get you to relax in front of a camera and is lots of fun to be around. All of our guests commented on how fantastic Steve and Anna were on our wedding day, and even though we knew he was good, we were blown away when we saw our wedding photos for the first time.

THE DETAILS + DECOR…  We didn’t have a theme as such, but did use kraft paper and typewriter font as a way of tying different elements together. A lot of the small details were handmade – either by me or finds from Etsy. I made the invitations and had them printed by Vistaprint, and made the order of service, menu cards and place cards using kraft paper from Eco-Craft. I also made escort cards to look like library cards and placed them in a old card holder we had at home. The knitted bears were presents for the flower girls, found on Etsy. Table numbers were vintage letterpress numbers, easy to find on eBay, and the vases were from Cox and Cox. We had two love birds as a cake topper by Cotton Bird Designs – Angela will match the birds to your wedding outfits. We used lots of things we already had at home and only bought things we wanted to keep in our home afterwards!

THE HONEYMOON… Was amazing. We went on a three week road trip around California, visiting San Francisco, Napa Valley, Yosemite, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and finishing in LA.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES…. Everyone says it, but enjoy it. Things will go wrong on the day or at least not as you planned, but you won’t care. And remember that a wedding is the start, not the end – married life is lots of fun!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE….

Sandon Hall http://www.sandonhall.co.uk/

Dress and accessories from Silk Brides, Lichfield http://silkbrides.com

Flowers by Alison O’Mara http://www.alisonomarafloraldesign.co.uk/

Photographer Steve Gerrard http://stevegerrardphotography.com/

Band Under the Covers http://www.underthecoversband.co.uk/flash/

Hair by James White (he’s just won Bridal Hairdresser of the year so get in quick!) http://jameswhitehair.com/

Make up by Leona Seymour (she’s lovely) http://www.leonaseymour.com/

Vintage Fiat 500 http://www.cotswold500.com/

Cake of cheese Appleyards deli, Shrewsbury

Cake toppers http://www.cottonbird.co.uk/

Wine http://www.tanners-wines.co.uk/TannersSite/pages/home/default.asp

String quartet Bella Musica http://www.bellamusica.co.uk/

THANKS SO MUCH TO KATE AND MARK FOR SHARING THEIR UBER BEAUTIFUL DAY WITH US TODAY, I AM HOPING YOU HAVE DRAWN MUCH INSPIRATION FROM THIS BEAUTIFUL COUPLE. ARE YOU PLANNING A HANDMADE WEDDING? THE IDEA OF USING PIECES YOU HAVE AT HOME IS JUST AMAZING, ARE YOU PLANNING ON USING ANY OF YOUR HOME WARE AT YOUR WEDDING? IF SO I AM DYING TO HEAR FROM YOU IN THE COMMENT BOX BELOW :-)) XOXO LOU

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