WWW readers Jules and Gregg married in April 2013 at Swancar Farm Country House, Nottinghamshire. They wanted their colour fest wedding to represent them as a couple and the things they love. Therefore music, travel and fun was order of the day.

Jules wore a gorgeous Rosetta Nicolini creation with her glossy hair half up half down, while Gregg opted for a Moss Bros suit with pink accessories. The bridesmaids looked pretty in purple, while the groomsmen went for multicoloured socks for a fun colour pop.

They got crafty, creating a colourful reception room, with pom poms, kraft paper stationery, ribbons and sweets galore. Amazing.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Natalie J Weddings for sharing her photography with us today.

“I’ve known Jules for a good number of years, since I was a student studying for my photography degree at University, and we would regularly see each other during nights out at the infamous Nottingham Rock City. Though I graduated almost 6 years ago and moved to London soon after, Jules and I kept in contact through the wonder that is Facebook and I was utterly honoured when she asked if I would photograph her wedding to her long-term beau, Gregg. Of course, I said I would and we kept in regular contact for the next 8 months discussing Jules’ amazing ideas for the wedding. My definite favourite had to be her desire to have lots of red love-heart balloons for photos, though on the day itself this proved rather tricky with the gale-force winds that were present! Jules and Gregg and their entire wedding party were all wonderful and, despite the chilly weather, all braced themselves for the outside photos – hair sticking to lipstick and the veil almost taking off definitely proved for some laughter! It really was such a joy to be part of the new Mr & Mrs Stanley’s big day, thanks Jules and Gregg!”

The Proposal… Gregg and I had been together for almost 8 years after meeting whilst I was still at university. We had bought a house in January 2010 and not been on holiday for ages. We booked a last minute getaway to Jamaica during Easter 2011 and I had given up on waiting for a proposal! We had an amazing holiday and Gregg proposed midway through whilst we were watching the sunset on a boat in Montego Bay. Everyone cheered and we got slowly drunk on rum and champagne.  Gregg proposed with a 2^nd hand ring he bought from a local jewellers and told me we would exchange it at the same place when we got home. We designed my engagement ring together with the jewellers and Gregg also surprised me by letting me keep the first one (which I had grown to love) so I was a very lucky girl and now wear both rings!! I then found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks after we we got back so we decided to book the wedding for when our daughter was one. What a month!

The Vision for the day… I definitely wanted elements of the ‘princess’ wedding I had dreamed of growing up but I didn’t want it to be exactly the same as ‘everyone elses’. I didn’t want a strict theme or colour scheme but I wanted it to reflect our joint passions of fun / travelling / rock music / partying. I wanted to incorporate our friends into our wedding as much as possible – using their talents and skills. This meant a huge amount to us.

The Planning process… Finding the right venue that would fit in our budget took ages. We didn’t want it to feel like a conveyor belt wedding or same old hotel wedding. I wanted to get married and have the reception in one place. It took us months to find the right venue and I had almost given up. During a final google search I stumbled upon our venue and we booked it before it had even been built!! Risky but the owners were so lovely and it was definitely worth the risk.

Budget… We definitely exceeded our budget…!!

The Venue… Swancar Farm Country House http://www.swancarfarmcountryhouse.com/ In Trowell, Nottinghamshire about 20 minutes from where we live. Gorgeous barn conversions with enough rooms for the bridal party to stay. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

The Dress + Accessories… ‘Christine’ by Rosetta Nicolini, Shoes – Moda in Pelle, Earrings – Vivienne Westwood, Necklace – My lovely grandma ‘Mutti’s’.

Finding the dress… I am short with big boobs so it was never going to be easy! I went to 4 shops with my Mum. I never had the ‘this is the one’ feeling. The dress I bought was one I had refused to try on because it was completely different to what I thought I wanted but I definitely had the ‘wow’ feeling. I took two of my bridesmaids to few it and they convinced me! My dress was the thing I was most nervous about!

Groom’s attire… All the men wore dark tails hired from Moss Bros.

The Readings + Music… READINGS: The Lovely Other Dinosaur – Edward Monkton – read by one of our best friends Liam, On your wedding day – read by Gregg’s sister Lauren.

MUSIC: Guests entered the ceremony room to acoustic guitar played by my very good musician friend Ian and him and my friend Adam played a flute/guitar duo during the signing of the register. I have known them both since studying music at school. Ian’s cover band L.I.C.K played during our evening reception and everyone thought they were fab. Started our evening reception off with a real party atmosphere. We didn’t want traditional music to enter / exit the ceremony room so we chose meaningful (to us) songs.

I entered the room to Regina Spektor’s cover of the Beatles Song ‘Real Love’ and we left to Bob Marley – ‘Is this Love’ (we had to get a bit of Jamaica in there!)

Beautiful bridesmaids… We have quite a big family and it was important to us to include as much of our family as possible. I had 5 bridesmaids. Two ‘Chief’ Bridesmaids who are my best friends Angela and Emma and then my 3 step sisters Rachael, Claire and Hannah.  I opted for  chiffon maxi dresses in aubergine (by the brand Pretty Maids) and the girls wore glittery silver Carvela flats. I bought them a simple silver bangle with heart detail and heart earrings.

The Flowers… The reception room had such high ceilings that I felt table flowers might have not made much of a statement and would have been an expensive option so we made the decision to use candelabras as table centre pieces and just have flowers for the bridal party.

To fit with our ‘bright and colourful’ theme we used Gerberas in shades of pink, yellow and orange. For the bouquets. The groomsmen all had a different coloured gerbera for their button holes and the 3 mum’s had purple corsages.  I loved them when I saw them on the day – relaxed, funky and colourful.

The Cake… A very talented lady I work with made our cake. It was 3 tiered, the top was lemon drizzle, middle was chocolate and bottom was victoria sponge. Again we wanted something bright, relaxed but still ‘weddingy’ which I think she did perfectly. Mates rates at under £100 and it tasted amazing. One of Gregg’s best men also made us a ‘Pork Pie’ cake which came out at the evening reception which said ‘Jules and Gregg AMAZEBALLS’ on. Loved it!

Your Photographer… Natalie J Weddings. I have known Natalie ever since she studied photography up in Nottingham as a student. I have always admired her work and said I would love her to shoot our wedding. We did look at photographers more local to us but nothing compared.  Choosing Natalie was one of the best decisions we made – she made us feel so comfortable, listened closely to what we wanted and we absolutely love the photos she took.

The Details + Decor… The details and our ‘theme’ evolved over the two years we had to plan. The key underlying principle is I wanted our day to reflect who we are and the things we love; fun, partying, music, travelling. We wanted to save money so we made all the stationery ourselves. I am not sure we ended up saving much money as I wanted it all to be perfect! We used brown kraft card, typewriter fonts, luggage tags. Making the invites took ages and I hand stamped each letter for peoples table name favours. Our tables were named after our favourite bands and the actual names we made into vintage looking postcards of different places Gregg and I have been. Each table could write a message on the back of it. We made our own fancy dress photo guest book using a polaroid camera and vintage suitcase. We had a sweety buffet. To make the room bright we hung paper pom poms in yellow, orange, pink and purple, all the chair covers had different coloured sashes on them, we hung ribbons off the candelabras and used coloured napkins. I was really worried that it would be too clashy and look awful as I had never been to a wedding which was themed with more than one colour but I loved it when it was all set out.  In the evening our DJ brought some up lighters in pink and purple which transformed the room. I am a sucker for detail and we made a ‘Set List’ outlining the day and a ‘Cast List’ which gave a brief description of all our day guests. We borrowed a wedding post box for our cards. I made the seating plan but left it fairly plain. All our groomsmen wore different coloured socks which looks great on the pictures. Lots of time spent doing all these bits but totally worth it!

We had Kir Royale for our reception drinks, canapés of ‘Fish and Chip’, Yorkshire puddings and mozzarella bruschetta during the reception. Our main meal was heart shaped steak and ale pies followed by profiteroles. Our favours were personalised M&Ms.

The Honeymoon… We went to a posh all inclusive in Antigua for a week. My Mum looked after Sophie. It was absolute heaven! As we predicted, Gregg and I were absolutely exhausted. It was so lovely to sleep so much and be able to dissect the wedding together!

Memorable moments… Getting ready the morning of the wedding – all the girls had matching dressing gowns, drank a few glasses of prosecco and had a lovely time. I remember sitting on the bed watching the organised chaos in the room (make up and hair) thinking WOW this is all for me!

Dad walking me up the aisle. Drinking Kir Royale with my husband. Sitting at the top table watching all our guests thinking ‘all these people are here for us and they are our most favourite people in the world- wow’. Our daughter Sophie clapping throughout my Dad’s speech. Trampling across fields in gale force wind, wearing wellies to get some awesome photos. Wedding zumba – try a zumba work out in a wedding dress and heels! ;)

All our guests linked in a circle singing to Michael Jackson ‘Earth Song’ and Frank Sinatra ‘New York, New York’ at the end of the night.

Advice for other couples… Don’t get bogged down in the little details – we spent far too long making decisions on things that people won’t even remember. Remember, it’s the people you share your day with that make it amazing rather than all the expensive details. If your dress gets muddy, don’t melt down. It happens!

Credit where credit is due…

Make up – Laura Harrison Makeup http://www.lauraharrisonmakeup.co.uk/Welcome.html

Hair – Tris & Lauren at http://www.hairven-salon.co.uk/

Photography – Natalie J Weddings https://www.facebook.com/NatalieJWeddings

Band – L.I.C.K https://www.facebook.com/LICKSUPERGROUP?fref=ts

DJ – Wayne http://nottsdj.co.uk/

Flowers – http://www.floraldeco.co.uk/Floraldeco.co.uk/wedding_flowers_nottingham.html

So much FUN!! Thanks so much to Jules and Gregg for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today XOXO Lou

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