I adore Jenny and Damien, they are funny, quirky and just darn right cool. So of course their engagement shoot would be too,

They met on a drunken night out, fast forward and Damien proposed as they headed back home for Christmas. They had their engagement shoot in Brighton, and i love these quirky shots. I mean why get out of bed for your enagement shoot? Brilliant :-)

Thanks so much to Ifocus Photography for sharing his images with us today.

Jenny and Damien told me; “Ours is your classic Boy meets Girl love story. Drunk girl admires even drunker boy’s Michael Jackson dance moves. Drunk girl doesn’t say hello but makes enquiries. Boy wakes up after passing out and vomiting on the living room rug to find a Facebook friend request from a very attractive girl he doesn’t know. Of course he accepts. He earns himself a date by tracking down a much needed copy of The Chronicles of Narnia (original TV version) on DVD and seals the deal with a carry out curry and impressive spatial awareness skills. The rest as they say is history.”

“Sensing Jen’s post-Christmas blues starting to kick in as she packed for their return to their little flat -signalling the inevitable end to the holiday festivities – Damien decided to try to maintain the festive cheer a wee bit longer by asking Jen to have and hold him for eternity. She said yes. Well actually the first thing she said was “I think I might be sick”. THEN she said yes.”

“J&D were a bit unsure at first about the ‘Engagement Shoot’ having never heard of one before but upon learning it was included in the photo package and therefore essentially ‘free’, Damien (Scottish) became far more enthusiastic.

With the wedding taking place where they were brought up, J&D decided to do the pre-shoot where they live down in Brighton. Phil the PhotoGeniusMan came down – bringing the sunshine with him – and under the perfect conditions the three of them enjoyed a lovely, relaxed and not-at-all awkward mooch around town.

The results from the day far exceeded any expectations and J&D were amazed that one man and his camera lens could make them look so much cooler than they actually are! A great success.”

“Jen comes from a family of doers. They identify what needs to be done and they do it. This is an alien concept to Damien but it works well with wedding planning as most things have been tied up for a while now already.

The only outstanding jobs and responsibilities are those assigned to Damien. He will start to think about considering planning them soon.”

Perfect, thanks so much for sharing guys and good luck for your wedding tomorrow, i hope you have the most wonderful day :-) XOXO Lou

Craig and Erika held their April wedding in Orkney, with a church service followed by a reception at the local community hall. It was important to them that the day was homemade and fun.

Many of their family and friends helped to create their perfect day, with a friend arranging the blooms, the cake made by granny and an aunt creating the jam favours. I adore this approach to wedding planning :-)

Erika donned an elegant lace dress by Justin Alexander while Craig opted for a traditional kilt, and they looked gorgeous.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Corinne Fudge for sharing her images with us, here is what she had to say about the day;

“What a beautiful wedding! Whilst Britain shivered in a deep blanket of snow, up here in Orkney it was ‘tshirt’ weather! When I first met Erika, I knew it was going to be a great day – we both loved the same wedding style blogs and I was quite taken that Craig had his own artisan brewing company – Cromarty Brewery! The whole day had ‘family’ stamped all over it – so much effort had been put into making it special for Erika and Craig. The ‘cog’ featured is an Orkney tradition – the bride and groom take round a wooden ‘bowl’ with handles, that contains a fiercly-alcoholic hot brew, to greet their guests who all take a sip or more ;) Another Orkney tradition is the ‘Grand March’ – the band plays whilst the couple and their guests take part in a ‘wedding walk’ whereby strides around the hall in twos, then fours, then eights and then split back down to couples again – huge fun and chaotic!”

The Proposal… It was very casual, on October 1st 2011 at my flat in Inverness. I was hanging out some of his clothes and the ring in its box fell out of a pocket. When I asked Craig what it was he said he didn’t know but that I should open it and see and then he proposed.

The Vision for the Day… I wanted something relaxed and fun. I knew from the start I wanted the service and the reception in my homeland of Orkney, that was really important to me. I wanted the reception to have an old village fete feel to it with some fun handmade rustic touches.

The Planning Process… I think one of the first things I did was contact a family friend, Catherine to ask if she would help decorate the hall, as she had done it before, and thankfully she said yes. Then it was booking the hall and church. Then I went over what I wanted and started to rope in friends and family that I knew were well skilled with various craft things and generous with their time.

The Venue… The Wedding Service was at Firth Parish Church in Orkney. A fairy modern building. The reception was at the Finstown Community Hall, a pretty standard hall but I knew it could be transformed with a little time. I also knew that it would be big enough to comfortably hold all 132 of my guests (final number).

The Dress + Accessories… My dress was form Justin Alexander, I love the shape and structure of his dresses. My shoes were a gift from my Bridesmaids and were Jenny Packham for Debenhams and my hairband was from an online store called Disgraceful Grace, they have some really beautiful and reasonably priced jewellery. My mum and dad bought me my earrings from notonthehighstreet.com, another great online store for all sorts of wedding things. My Bridesmaids also bought me a bottle of Joe Malone perfume for the day.

Finding the dress… After a few months looking in magazines and online I started the search in shops. It took over 6 months to find “The One”. The first dress shops I went to were in Glasgow and while I liked a few I didn’t have any strong preference. Then I found one Justin Alexander dress online that I set my heart on, so I met with my 2 oldest Bridesmaids in Glasgow but as soon as I tried the dress on I knew it was not for me, just when I though I was back to square one my Bridesmaids picked out the dress that immediately became “The One”. In the end I got the dress in a more local store and I still love looking at the photos of it, as does Craig!

Groom’s attire… Craig was much easier, he has had his kilt for years and knew that was what he would wear. He had wanted to get a new tweed jacket and waistcoat so myself and his mum bought these for him as a Christmas gift.

The Readings + Music… The only reading was by my little Brother. The processional was Pachelbel Canon in “D” and the recessional (after a lot of online searching) was Muse Starlight. My 2 oldest Bridesmaids partners Donald and Innes played some acoustic music while we signed the register and Craig’s friend Angus and Cousin Ben played the pipes for us. The band at the Reception was the Ronald Anderson Band, who were fantastic at keeping people on the floor all night!

Beautiful bridesmaids… There is so much to say about Eilidh, Erin, Isla and Rosie, but I won’t make this too long. I have known them all since they were born (they are my cousins). Eilidh, Erin and Isla are sisters and Rosie was my lovely little Junior Bridesmaid. Without their support and friendship I wouldn’t have had half the fun I did planning the wedding. I hope they all know how beautiful and amazing they are and how much I appreciate them all.

Their dresses were a much more straightforward task…… I was in Glasgow with Eilidh, Erin and Isla and when I told the women in the shop the colour of dresses I was thinking on for them, they immediately brought out a fantastic midnight blue JLM Couture dress which I loved, but the girls weren’t sure on. Isla was the first to try it on, while Eilidh and Erin picked out a couple of different dresses they liked the style of, but as soon as Me, Eilidh and Erin saw Isla in the dress it was decision made. From then on every dress that they tried on was followed with the phrase “it’s not the Pippa” which is the unofficial name of the dress. Then it was just Rosie, my Junior Bridesmaid to sort. Her dress was made by another friend of my mum’s and I bought the material at Manders in Glasgow. I think the final outcome fitted fantastically with the older girls dresses and more importantly Rosie liked it.

The Flowers… My good friend Vicky made up all our flowers with help from Catherine the day before the wedding as Vicky couldn’t make it. She knew my vision and I think she made a great job of all the flowers.

The Cake… My Granny (dad’s mum) baked all 3 layers of the cake and then a friend of my mum’s iced it in a very rustic style to fit in with the theme of the day. I think one of the most commented on features were our adorable knitted cake toppers made by my Bridesmaid, Erin.

Your Photographer… From our first meeting I knew Corinne and I were on the same page, we liked the same wedding sites/blogs and styles and I knew she would do a great job (which she did). The same day she came to visit me and old school friend came past asking if I had a photographer yet because she had head great things about Corrine, I told her I had just booked her. Since the photos went online I have had a lot of complements on them and very proud to show them to anyone who wants to see them.

The Details + Decor… I think this was my favourite part, because I could put so much of my own stamp on the venue as it was completely bare.

I borrowed material from my good friend Emily who had her reception in the same hall to make the room feel like a marquee.

I asked my Granny (mum’s mum) to make up some bunting in my colour scheme which was navy blue and peach. She is a great hand at sewing and in the end knocked up 100 metres of the bunting which was draped all over the hall. She also made the tomato chutney given to the men for favours.

My Auntie Karen made our raspberry jam for the favours for the women. And my uncle Gavin made our Brides Cog (a traditional Orkney wedding drink passed around all of the guests), Gavin also filmed the day and all the lead up preparation work and created my wedding video.

My mum and I talked over the wedding stationery and decided we could do most of the work ourselves. The invites were made by a friend of mines, mother and were in the shape of jam jars. Then me and mum made the accompanying R.S.V.P’s and letters.

A few of us, including my Bridesmaids decorated old jam jars we had been saving up with buttons, string, lace and ribbon to make our candle holders.

The week before the wedding myself and my 4 Bridesmaids started work with my mum on the rest of the stationary, including making the orders of services, labelling the jam and chutney favours and giving them a little name tag and material top.

The hall was transformed into a marquee and then we all worked for the next 3 days setting out the tables with hessian runners, favours/place settings etc. I think the end result was something very special.

We also had a fireplace with photos of my mum and dad, Craig’s mum and dad, and all our grandparents on their wedding days. We had a small feature wall with pictures of me and Craig when we were young and a large framed “E&C” in the centre with a hessian back, under this was a sweetie table and a couple of olive trees.

The Honeymoon… Craig works long hours at his own business so we knew we couldn’t go abroad, instead we travelled the length of the country to Newquay and then over to London for a few nights. We both agreed that we would love to go back to Newquay and do a bit more surfing.

Memorable moments… Seeing all my Bridesmaids with their dresses on, hair and make up done for the first time. The short time me and my dad had together just the 2 of us before heading to the Church. When Craig turned round to watch me coming down the aisle (I think we would both agree with that).

Credit where credit is due…

Photography: Corinne Fudge

Oh so lovely. Thanks so much to Craig and Erika for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou

Afternoon lovelies. Following on from Oliver and Charlotte’s wedding feature this morning, i have their amazing stop motion wedding film created by their photographers, HBA Photography. Ekk!!

Oli & Charlotte’s tipi wedding in stop motion from HBA Photography on Vimeo.

Credit where credit is due…

Photography- HBA Photography www.hbaphotography.com

Tables & Chairs- The Poppy Trading Company www.unique-vintage-rentals.co.uk

The Dress- Formal Elegance www.formalelegance.co.uk

The Ceremony- Meynell Langley www.meynell-langley.co.uk

The Reception- Abbotsholme School www.abbotsholme.co.uk/Venue-Hire

The Tipis- Peak Tipis www.peaktipis.co.uk

The Make-Up- Opulence www.opulencebeauty.co.uk

The Car- Self Drive Classics www.selfdriveclassics.co.uk

Fish n Chips- KK Catering www.kkcatering.co.uk

The Pizza- Maxine’s Mobile Pizza www.maxinesmobilepizza.co.uk

Candyfloss- Sweet-a-Fayre www.sweetafayre.co.uk

Vintage Lawn Games- Something Old Something New www.somethingoldsomethingnew.org.uk

Wedding Night Bell Tent- Tinker’s Bells www.tinkersbells.co.uk

Wow wee, how amazing was that!! Super cute!! Thanks so much for sharing guys XOXO Lou

Image by Emma Lucy.

I make no apologies for the shameless Roxette lyrics in the title of this post, having as I do a giant not-so-secret love for the Swedish pop duo. I was talking about them at work the other day and one of my colleagues was too young to have even heard of them, which is all shades of wrong…

Anyway, that was supposed to be a neat introduction to my next post, having chosen to look at my search for THE ONE. I have to say, I do think brides are under massive pressure when it comes to picking what they’ll be wearing on their wedding day. The word princess gets bandied about a lot – which, as I am about as far from a princess as you can get, was not a route I wanted to go down.

And I tried the ‘proper’ bridal shop route, I really did. Which went from the sublime (a beautiful shop in Windsor where my friend Kate told the staff that “it’s not the budget that matters, it’s the dress” which led to trying on some total realms-of-fantasy Stephanie Allin couture numbers) to the ridiculous – a different shop with sample dresses so tiny that I couldn’t even squeeze into them and so they hung them round my neck on the hanger to see what I would look like – doesn’t do a lot for a girl’s confidence! It didn’t help that I was so specific from the start about what I wanted – strictly NO diamanté (which cuts out about 90% of any shop’s stock), but yes to a sweetheart neckline, ideally tea length… I quickly found that most bridal shops stock perhaps one or two shorter dresses, which didn’t leave a lot of options! So overall, it wasn’t going well – no ‘this is the one’ tears of joy moments, far from it.

Having trawled blogs I looked at buying a 50s style dress off the peg, but still hankered after something that I could customise a little more. Enter our photographer extraordinaire Emma Lucy, who, when I told her of my woes, immediately recommended Louise at Oh My Honey. So, I will soon be in possession of my own made-to-measure dress, designed to fit all of my random ideas (I cannot say too much, but it will have POCKETS). As it is a bespoke piece, my Mama and I were invited to meet Louise at her amazing studio near Brighton a couple of weeks ago (she normally sells online and through wedding fairs), and I can safely say I have total confidence that she’ll whip me up the exact dress that was in my head for so long but absolutely didn’t exist in any shop. I CAN’T WAIT for it to arrive!

Image by Babb Photo. Dresses by Oh My Honey.

Finding clothes for the other members of the wedding party has been a breeze in comparison – Mr H and his best man Ian will be kitted out in gorgeous grey tweed, and my three lovely bridesmaids Leah, Clare and Janet, in navy. Next on the dress search list is something for the flower girl, our niece Kera, but I’m trying to leave that a bit longer as seven year olds have a nasty habit of growing…

So lovelies, how have you found the search? I’d love to hear your tales of dress shopping!

Em x

PS Certain members of the wedding party have demanded a mention in a post since the first one – you know who you are, you are awesome, and I hope seeing your names in print has made you happy ;)

What happens when the owners of WWW sponsors The Poppy Trading Company get married… let’s find out shall we?

WWW readers Oliver and Charlotte married in April at Meynell Langley in Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, followed by a tipi reception at Abbotsholme School, Staffordshire. They focused on making their wedding fun and laid back, keeping within a £10, 000 budget.

Geronimo balloons as a replacement for bouquets, braces for the boys, rustic table decor and an epic cake! Not to mention a lovely Ella dress and traditional veil for Charlotte. WOW.

Thanks so much to the brilliant HBA Photography for sharing their photographs with us today.

The Proposal… Oliver proposed whilst we were away on holiday in June 2011. We had been together for 8 years by this point and so I had all but given up on a proposal!! In fact, just a week before, we had been shopping for holiday clothes and Oli had suggested going to look in the jeweller shop window to have a peek at rings as we had done for a long time and I said “no that’s ok darling” thinking “what’s the point?”!! So when I turned around to find him down on one knee on a deserted beach in Corfu I was so completely shocked but absolutely delighted! Oli had bought me a wedding mag and a scrapbook so we could begin our planning there and then!

The Vision for the day… From day 1, we really wanted a relaxed, laid back wedding where all of our guests would have fun. Fun was always our biggest priority! We knew right away that huge floral displays, string quartets and fancy five course dinners weren’t going to be right for us. With that in mind, we wanted a quirky and unique, spring themed wedding, with lots of colour, lawn games, simple food and a relaxed party atmosphere. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play along (snow was still on the ground 2 weeks before, and not a single flower had blossomed in time!) but with a couple of tweaks, we managed to make it work. We just wanted to make it a day that everyone enjoyed and remembered, a fun day, with lots of cheekiness, and personal touches everywhere, and I really hope our guests would agree we managed it!

The Planning Process… I was a very lucky bride as the whole thing was a real joint effort, Oli and I did everything (apart from my dress) together and it was such a wonderful time for us, we were pretty much in a permanent state of excitement for the whole two years. We were pretty hot on with the planning, we got things booked with plenty of time to spare, I can be a bit of a worrier at times and Oli was very good and could tell if I was getting a bit twitchy and we’d write one of our very many to do lists and get some things ticked off pronto!

Budget… We started off with a very optimistic and perhaps a little naïve budget of £5000, it turned out in the end to be closer to £10,000! But we did bits gradually as and when we had a little money spare and luckily our parents were very generous too. Even though the budget was stretched a little we are still very proud that we had our absolute perfect dream day for less than £10,000 which in wedding world is relatively cheap!

The Venue… Our ceremony was held at Meynell Langley in Kirk Langley, Derbyshire. It was the only place we went to see and we instantly fell in love with it. It just felt so ‘us’. Everything was exactly the way we’d have things if we were ever lucky enough to live in a place like that. Helen the owner was just lovely and made the whole thing very easy and relaxed. Then we went off to Abbotsholme School, Staffordshire for our tipi reception! I found tipis early on in my search through a google search of “unique and different marquees”. And that they most definitely were! After getting some quotes from a few companies based in the South we had given up on being able to afford them due to the cost almost doubling because of delivery costs. And then out of nowhere we found Peak Tipis based very close by in Ashbourne and it seemed it was just meant to be so we booked our beautiful tipis!

The Dress + Accessories… I only went to one bridal shop- Formal Elegance in Cannock. Jane was so friendly and helpful I didn’t feel any need to go anywhere else, she had so many different styles and she made sure I tried them all on and about 20 dresses later I ended up choosing the very first one I tried on! It was an Ella dress, I loved Ella dresses from the word go, in fact I have a cut out picture of an Ella dress from the magazine Oli bought for me when he proposed at the front of my scrapbook. I just love my dress it was a lot more sparkly than I thought I would choose but I literally felt like a princess when I was in it and it was just sooooo comfortable!

Groom’s attire… Oli’s first attempt at groom’s attire was a bit of a fail! We ordered a navy suit through an online tailor website and unfortunately when it arrived it wasn’t at all what we were hoping for. After a little bit of sulking, on Oli’s birthday off we went to our nearest shopping centre where we found Oli’s lovely wool blend jacket, it looked lovely and was much more Oli than a more traditional suit. With that in mind we decided to team his new jacket with chinos (a firm fave of Olis). To finish off the look we found a lovely shirt and brown shoes. All groomsmen wore the same navy wool tie from BHS and a buttonhole handmade by Oli from dried flowers. Oli also added a tie pin, braces and a pocket watch to complete his outfit!

The Readings + Music… Music was always very important to us as it something we really enjoy together and have so many special and meaningful songs between us we wanted to include as many as possible on our special day. Your Song by Ewan McGregor is ‘our song’ and so we used that for our first dance but also used an instrumental version for when I walked down the aisle. We walked out to ‘Brighter Than The Sun’ by Colbie Callait, we wanted something fun and happy. We had our faves Frank Sinatra and Glen Miller playing over dinner which set a perfect mood in the tipis. We also did our own disco playlist which was a lot of fun, we did it over a few evenings sat as Oli’s desk with a few glasses of wine and included all of our absolute favourites, I couldn’t stop dancing on the wedding night!

My sister Kathryn did a reading that Oli & I fell in love with as soon as we found it- (we are dog people!) “Falling in love is like owning a dog,” by Taylor Mali.

Falling in Love is like owning a dog.

First of all, it’s a big responsibility,
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you’re walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain’t no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defence?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Beautiful bridesmaids… My beautiful bridesmaids were 4 of my closest and dearest friends. 3 of which I’ve known since I was about 9 and the other 1 my best friend from University who without I certainly would not have graduated! They wore twist and wrap dresses from BHS, I loved the idea of them all choosing a style that they were comfortable with but still all matching with the same colour.

The Flowers… We decided early on (despite several attempts to change our minds by some!) that we weren’t going to use a florist and have the traditional flowers associated with a wedding. Neither me nor Oli are particularly into flowers and we just couldn’t justify spending such a lot of money on something that didn’t really mean anything to us. And so after looking for alternatives we came across giant round helium balloons and instantly just loved them! Initially I was just going to get them for bridesmaids and I would have a more traditional bouquet but as soon as we got one and tried it out I said in a totally childish way “I want a balloon!” and so I did! We bought plants and plant pots to go on our tables at the reception to add a splash of colour to the whole set up.

The Cake… Well… The cake was also something we were initially going to veto and save pennies on but then our friends (wedding superduo!) Ben & Hannah offered to make us a cake as their wedding present to us. We know that whatever these two attempt they succeed and then some so there was no doubt in our mind in accepting their generous offer. To be honest we expected it to be fab but my goodness when we saw it, it just blew us away! It was our dream cake that we could never have even contemplated buying. Just incredible!

Your Photographer… Also our ‘wedding superduo’ Ben & Hannah of HBA Photography! Ben is Oliver’s brother but more than that they are both our very close friends. They are amazing photographers. When they offered to do our photos we were worried about accepting as we really wanted to make sure they had a really fun day too, but it just wouldn’t have felt right anyone else doing our photos. I love their work and love following their blog. We may be biased but they really are brilliant, we think the photos speak for themselves! When I started thinking about our wedding I didn’t really think photography was too important to me (mainly because I hate having my photo taken!) But after getting that ‘the photos are ready’ text from Ben on our honeymoon and immediately looking at our photos and reliving our day it hit me how truly important the photos are – we will cherish them forever. So we really do advise picking your photographer really carefully and not scrimping on it, photographs of your wedding day are just too precious.

The Details + Decor… We had very little in the way of décor at Meynell Langley, except of course our giant balloons! We just loved that place just as it was and didn’t feel it needed anything adding to it. In order to kick off our relaxed and laid back atmosphere we served bottled drinks for our drinks reception, offering our guests a bottle of either Budweiser, Cider, Ginger Beer or Coca Cola! We left Meynell Langley in a classic MG TF that we hired so that Oli could drive it. It was lovely being able to have half an hour for just me and Oli.

On arrival to our reception in our tipis we served candy floss and strawberry daiquiris in jam jars with paper straws. We really wanted to set the fun and relaxed mood for the rest of the day straight away and candyfloss & cocktails worked a treat!

Oli is owner and creator of The Poppy Trading Company and so of course we used his wonderful mismatched vintage chairs and rustic trestle tables, they looked so perfect in the tipis. We decided we wanted a banqueting style of dining to create a more sociable atmosphere, 3 long tables ran off from the top table and in fact one of my favourite memories of the day is sitting down on the top table and seeing all of our guests in front of us with big happy smiles on their faces. Our tipis went up 2 days before the wedding day and so for those 2 days we were busy decorating and putting all of our crazy ideas together! We made hessian table runners for each table and had log centrepieces and each guest had a thin log placemat, all made by my brilliant Father-in-law Will. A few of our close family and friends made cakes for our centrepieces which coincided with the table names ie. ‘the fairy cakes’! Also on the tables we had potted plants, copious bottles of wine and beer, scented t-lights and wooden heart confetti. The beer was made and designed by Oli, his Dad, and his best man Ben at a local microbrewery, an incredible Part 1 of Oli’s stag do organised by Ben. It was named Oli’s Froth (as chosen by Oli’s sister-in-law Hannah!)  Our place settings were vintage cups and saucers that we had collected over the past 2 years with luggage tags attached.

There were so many other little details, highlights include: serving champagne from teapots into teacups for toasting, a suitcase of flip flops for ‘tired feet’, a suitcase of blankets to ‘snuggle up’, vintage lawn games (which did get some use despite the weather!), giant helium balloons, handmade buttonholes by Oli for the groomsmen, a yummy fish & chips wedding breakfast, pizza for supper (cooked there and then in Maxine’s Mobile Pizza Oven), an ice cream van surprise organised by my work colleagues and so much more I could go on and on and on!

The Honeymoon… The honeymoon was quite simply the best holiday of our lives. Oli’s parents have a beautiful villa in Tenerife which we had been too a few times before. We have always had a fab time there and we decided to honeymoon there so that we could save on accommodation costs and really splash out on ourselves day to day! We did everything we wanted and didn’t have to worry too much about the costs. We ate out A LOT and drank A LOT! We jet-skied and saw dolphins, we hired a jeep and went up into the mountains. Quite simply we had a perfect 10 days!

Memorable moments… Gosh there were so many! I think we’ll have to split this in two…

Char- reaching the end of the aisle and Oli grabbing my hand and squeezing it really tightly, our first dance, the speeches, candyfloss, dancing the night away on the dance floor!

Oli- picking the car up with my brother, Char coming down the aisle, driving back to Abbotsholme, sitting down to dinner, first dance, last dance with Char after everyone had left!

Advice for other couples… Unfortunately I don’t think it’s possible to plan your dream wedding without ruffling a few feathers along the way. Just don’t lose sight of what your hopes and dreams are, ultimately those who love you will see you on your day and see how truly happy you are as all your dreams are coming true and they won’t be able to not join you in that happiness. Of course all your guests are so important but Oli and I believe that a wedding is primarily about the couple, for us it was about remembering everything we’ve been through growing up together and celebrating how crazy in love we still are 10 years later!

Also DIY weddings are hard work but SO worth it! I will always remember on my last evening with Oli before our wedding, it was about 2am and I was sitting on the kitchen floor with a glass of red wine finishing off a homemade sign and Oli was beavering away on the laptop finishing our  Facebook inspired ‘he said she said’ table conversation cards. That may have been many peoples worse nightmare 2 days before their wedding but we enjoyed every second of it, even at 2am in the morning!

Credit where credit is due…

Photography- HBA Photography www.hbaphotography.com

Tables & Chairs- The Poppy Trading Company www.unique-vintage-rentals.co.uk

The Dress- Formal Elegance www.formalelegance.co.uk

The Ceremony- Meynell Langley www.meynell-langley.co.uk

The Reception- Abbotsholme School www.abbotsholme.co.uk/Venue-Hire

The Tipis- Peak Tipis www.peaktipis.co.uk

The Make-Up- Opulence www.opulencebeauty.co.uk

The Car- Self Drive Classics www.selfdriveclassics.co.uk

Fish n Chips- KK Catering www.kkcatering.co.uk

The Pizza- Maxine’s Mobile Pizza www.maxinesmobilepizza.co.uk

Candyfloss- Sweet-a-Fayre www.sweetafayre.co.uk

Vintage Lawn Games- Something Old Something New www.somethingoldsomethingnew.org.uk

Wedding Night Bell Tent- Tinker’s Bells www.tinkersbells.co.uk

Ahh so wonderful!! I adore this wedding and all the fun personalised elements, that facebook guest book = genius! And just you wait for their stop motion wedding film later… ekk!!

Thanks so much to Oliver and Charlotte for sharing their wedding with us today XOXO Lou

Image by Miki Photography, full wedding here.

Happy wedding Wednesday you guys :-)

Are you having a nice week so far? G was away at the weekend, so it’s lovely to get back to normal and we had a cheeky lunch date yesterday… yum!

I am excited to announce the winner of the competition to win £100 to spend on the Kaviar Gauche’s stunning new designer occasion wear at Zalando.co.uk ekk!!

And the winner is:

Adddy who said: “Aphrodite – The Goddess of Love! I’m marrying my Canadian beau next year and have found my wedding dress for my ceremony & reception in Sydney, but would love to glow like a goddess in the Aphrodite dress for my dinner reception in Toronto if I won! x“

Congratulations Adddy, keep an eye out for an email really soon.

And now it’s time for a bumper edition of beautiful wedding inspiration, the web sure is getting busy with all of those Spring weddings, woohoo!

WWW’s Wedding of the Week:

St. Louis Circus Wedding… colourful & super fun!

Image by Lakshal Perera, full wedding here.

Whimsical Irish Wedding Ideas

Modern Pretoria Wedding

Country Chic Smog Shoppe Wedding

‘Eclectic Day of Love’ Handmade Wedding

An Intimate, Family, 1960s Inspired Electric Cinema Wedding

Minnesota Wedding

Santa Margarita Ranch Wedding

Creative Philadelphia Wedding

Image by Samantha Jane Photography, full wedding here.

Ralph Lauren meets Downton Abbey Vow Renewal

Vintage Texas wedding

DIY Vegan Wedding

DIY vintage inspired wedding

New Zealand Bay Wedding

Real Wedding: Big Sur

Secret Garden Wedding

Laid Back & Vintage-Inspired Cripps Barn Wedding

Romantic Outdoor Wedding

Wishing you all a super lovely week XOXO Lou

Emma and Stu had the most romantic of days, with Emma elegant in lace with the most gorgeous floral headdress. While her pretty maids wore Phase Eight dresses in a fun floral print. Super stylish.

Emma and Stu held their day at Dodmoor House, Northamptonshire, with it’s beautiful surroundings it was the perfect choice. They wanted to make their wedding personal and so took on many of the details themselves, with homemade cake stands, pom poms and confetti to name a few.

Thanks so much to the fantastic Liam Smith Photography for sharing his images with us today.

The Vision for the Day… I had a very clear vision of what I wanted everything to look like and I think My Husband, Family and friends thought I was going a bit mad at times, but they all had to admit they loved it when they saw it. We collected all our own vintage china over the course of 9 months, everyone got involved and we loved looking out for all the pretty china! Our dads helped to drill all the pretty plates so we could make our own cake stands to serve little finger sandwiches, cakes and scones. I collect vintage books for centre pieces with vases and tea pots filled with flowers. We decorated jam jars and filled them with candles which along with the fresh flowers made the room smell lovely! I decorated vintage suitcases and dried my own rose petal which we scattered up the aisle and around the venue. I made bunting out of white doilies and rustic string and pompoms out of white tissue paper (they are so easy to make I advise all brides to have a go before buying online!) we tied white balloons to every guests chair and during the meal handed out Wish tickets which everyone tied to balloons and we all released them in the courtyard.

The Venue… We got Married at Dodmoor House (www.dodmoorhouse.co.uk) in Weedon.

The Dress + Accessories… With only 9 months from getting engaged to the wedding I was worried about finding the perfect dress… Luckily I loved the 3rd one I tried on in the first shop I went to (Bride & Joy, www.bride-and-joy.co.uk) it was by Blue by Enzoani, however it was strapless and I was a bit worried as I wanted sleeves for a bit of extra warmth in October! So I had it customised by local seamstress Louise McLaren, we ordered some additional lace from the dress and she created sleeves with a key hole back, she did an amazing job and it was nice to know my dress was a little bit original.

My engagement ring was customised by Phelan Jewellers (www.phelansjewellers.com), years previous I had spotted a Peach Sapphire in a shop window and fell in love, they helped to source the stone as they are quite rare and set it with diamonds either side, they were so helpful we went back there for our wedding bands too. On the day I moved my engagement ring to my right hand and wore it with a wedding ring my now sister in law had inherited from a couple that were married 60 years …it was the perfect ‘Something Borrowed’

After seeing Brooch bouquets in magazines I decided this was definitely something I wanted, I asked all my friends and family for donations and made it myself, it was so lovely that guests could see their contributions on the day, and I was also able to include pieces from older generations that had passed away.

Groom’s attire… My husband loved Paul Smith (in fact his only request for the wedding was a Paul Smith Suit and a Hog Roast) so we got it in Notting Hill and had it tailored so it fitted perfectly. The store even gave us some of their ribbon so we could get it incorporated into their button holes.

Beautiful bridesmaids… The bridesmaids wore pretty floral dresses from Phase Eight, one of my bridesmaids was leaving to travel South America 3 weeks after we got engaged and wouldn’t be back until the wedding so we were amazed we found something so quickly.

The Flowers… We used Manic Botanic (www.manic-botanic.com) for my circlet and the button holes. They did a fantastic job, I was so nervous about the circlet and I didn’t get to see it until the morning of the wedding, but it was gorgeous. It was my favourite thing about my outfit; I loved it so much I was still wearing it when we all met at the local pub the next day!
All the flowers we used to decorate the venue I did myself, I wanted quite a rustic feel and wanted to fill tea pots and vintage vases with lots of pretty white and cream flowers. We went to New Spitalfields Market in London early one morning a 2 days before the wedding and picked them all out ourselves, my mum used the same flowers to make the bridesmaid bouquets.

The Cake… We wanted our cake to tie in with our afternoon tea, so we went for a Victoria sponge with lots of jam, strawberries and cream! Our Caterer (Impressions Catering www.impressionscaters.co.uk) made it for us, it looked great, and I topped it with 2 little figures that I made myself, they looked really cute.

We also had a cheese cake that we served late in the evening for anyone that was feel peckish, we actually got all the cheese from our local Morrison’s, the lady on deli was so helpful, she ordered all the cheese in fresh and my husband collected it the day before the wedding…the whole thing came to just under £80 and we decorated with flowers and grapes. Brides shouldn’t be afraid to do things themselves, it often works out a lot cheaper and looks just as good.

Your Photographer…We actually met Liam at a local wedding fare before we were even engaged and loved his pictures, we knew we didn’t want anything that was too staged or formal and his pictures were exactly what we wanted. Luckily we still had his contact details when we later got engaged and he was available. He did an amazing job and fitted in with all our guests, you wouldn’t have even noticed him snapping away. (www.liamsmithphotography.com)

The Details + Decor… We had mini pots of jam decorated with doilies and customised tea bags as favours. We also gave out hangover bags at the end of the night with the perfect cure…eye mask, pain killers, mini can of Coca cola, Salt and vinegar crisps and a toothbrush and tooth paste (it’s never failed me!)

Advice for other couples… The best way to make it unique is to do as much you can yourself, and make sure it includes all the things you love or enjoy. I wanted my guests to feel like they were at mine and Stu’s wedding, and luckily having a venue that gave you the freedom to add your personality was great.

I also wanted to make sure that there was something interesting or exciting going on at every point of the day as the bride and groom are always busy…but all your guests aren’t! So I made sure that there was never longer than half an hour before some kind of food was available, having a venue with no corkage in the day meant we could keep the drink flowing (we went to France to buy all the wine and champagne) and also have interesting cocktails and drinks that complimented the theme, we had candy floss shots and a candy floss machine and self-serve cocktails in large glass jars with little Coca cola bottles that we collected. We had live music playing in the gap between the meal and evening guests arriving which some of the older guests enjoyed while sitting around chatting and had a photo booth set up that we made ourselves for younger guests to enjoy.  Guests also appreciated a few personal touches for them, we had a couple of birthdays the same week so I left a card on their table and got the caterer to make them a personalised mini scone with a candle and got everyone to sing happy birthday at the end of the meal.

Credit where credit is due…

Venue: Dodmoor House (www.dodmoorhouse.co.uk)
Photographer: liam smith photography (www.liamsmithphotography.com)
Caterers: Impressions Catering www.impressionscaters.co.uk)
Florist: Manic Botanic (www.manic-botanic.com)
Jewellers: Phelan Jewellers (www.phelansjewellers.com)
Dress: Bride & Joy (www.bride-and-joy.co.uk)

Oh so romantic, and i love the balloon release idea, so meaningful. Thanks so much to Emma and Stu for sharing their wedding with us today XOXO Lou

I think having your wedding filmed is such a wonderful way of capturing memories forever. It also offers a different perspective of your day while you are in the whirlwind of getting married and having fun.

If you are considering hiring someone to film your wedding day, then please do read on. As today i have the utter pleasure of talking to and sharing the work of Cinematic Wedding Films…

Hi Gary, could you firstly tell WWW readers a little bit about you?

I’m Gary and I run a wedding film company in Brighton called Cinematic Wedding Films. I’m married with two young daughters. For the last ten years I’ve been making films for clients all over the world and I eat way too many biscuits!

Gavin & Louise from Film House on Vimeo.

What do you love/dislike about your job?

I love capturing really intimate moments on film and then putting the edit together. I also love the reaction from couple’s watching it for the first time, it makes all the effort so rewarding. It’s such a humbling experience to be let in to a couple’s lives for that one day, meet the family and put their personalities into a movie.

I dislike being a perfectionist! But that has got me to where I am today…

How did you get into film and into the wedding industry?

Cinematic Wedding Films started in 2010 after I started making short wedding films for friends. The response was amazing and before I knew it, I had referrals and friends of friends asking me to do their wedding! I now have a team of camera operators including myself and they all have experience in television, commercials and music videos so my standards are very high indeed.

Laura & Wesley from Film House on Vimeo.

What do you aim to achieve for your clients?

Emotion, great memories, encapsulate ‘the good ol’ days’ in beautiful HD that will never ever perish with time. I want their great-grand children to watch these movies. I want each project I work on to be completely different from the last. If I couldn’t find something different and interesting with each couple I met, I wouldn’t see the point in doing this work anymore. Everyone has a story to tell, trust me…

What style is your work?

My style is reportage, documentary and observational. I’d sometimes chip in with the photographer to get you to do things. I’m more like a camera ninja, grabbing those sneaky kisses and in-jokes when you least expect it.

Catherine & Tom from Film House on Vimeo.

Could you tell us some information about your packages/prices?

Our wedding packages start at £950 and our engagement films are £400.

Do you have any tips for couples in selecting a videographer?

Although price is key, it’s important you enjoy the work they produce. If you can connect with it immediately then they are the supplier for you.

Seb & Emily from Film House on Vimeo.

How can we get in touch with you?

Website – www.cineweddingfilms.co.uk

Email – info@cineweddingfilms.co.uk

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/cineweddingfilms

Our contact number is 07813 035660

We have a stand at Belles Events at the Dome in Worthing on 2nd June. Please come along and say hello!

http://www.bellesevents.co.uk/the-dome-worthing-vintage-wedding-fair/

Thanks so much Gary for sharing your beautiful work with us today. Do go and see the Cinematic Wedding Films site for even more information XOXO Lou

*This is a sponsored post.

Pinwheel. Image by On Love and Photography, full wedding here.

Wedding favours are a really fun wedding detail. Long gone are the days of traditional sugared almonds, the possibilities are endless.

So i have rounded up some of my favourite wedding favours featured on WWW from real weddings. From the edible, to the pretty. There are DIY options and children’s favour ideas too. When selecting your favours think about the things that you love and enjoy as a couple, and gift a little something you would love to receive. Or if you don’t want to do wedding favours, then don’t worry about it, there really are no rules.

Handkerchief. Image by Emma Case, full wedding here.

Seeds. Image by Kristy Field, full wedding here.

Sweet dispenser.

Goodie bags. Images by Helen Russell Photography, full wedding here.

Fridge magnet. Image by Marshal Gray, full wedding here.

Fortune cookies. Image by Helen Cawte Photography, full wedding here.

Wooden heart. Image by Sally T Photography, full wedding here.

Tea cake. Image by Mack Photography, full wedding here.

Drink token. Image by Jo Hastings, full wedding here.

Watering can & mini eggs. Image by Ellie Gillard, full wedding here.

Jam. Image by Julia & You, full wedding here.

Love potion. Image by Gideon Photography, full wedding here.

Paper flowers. Image by Philippa James Photography, full wedding here.

Lavender. Image by Rebecca Wedding Photography, full wedding here.

Books. Image by The Photo Boutique, full wedding here.

Gin. Image by Amy Lewin Photography, full wedding here.

Socks. Image by Viva Photography, full wedding here.

Badges. Image by Emma Lucy, full wedding here.

Sweets. Image by Martins Kikulis, full wedding here.

Marshmallow toasting. Image by Hannah Millard Photography, full wedding here.

Records. Image by Liam Smith Photography, full wedding here.

Masks. Image by Vivid Impact Photography, full wedding here.

Moustache. Image by Richard Jones Photography, full wedding here.

Tea towel. Image by Tino & Pip Photography, full wedding here.

Cracker. Image by S6 Photography, full wedding here.

Wood placemat. Image by Cassie Craner Photography, full wedding here.

Potted plant. Image by Michelle Waspe Photography, full wedding here.

Chocolate. Image by Jake Thomas Photography, full wedding here.

Biscuit. Image by Fuller Photography, full feature here.

Who’s who. Image by Clair Estelle Photography, full wedding here.

Cutlery. Image by Photos by Zoe, full wedding here.

Succulents. Image by Chris Giles Photography, full wedding here.

Pebbles. Image by Brighton Photo, full wedding here.

Tea cups. Image by Babb Photo, full wedding here.

Brown paper packages. Image by Jesse Holland Photography, full shoot here.

Rubber duck. Image by David J Perkins, full wedding here.

Lollypop. Image by Chris Fishleigh Photography, full wedding here.

Paper aeroplane. Image by Devlin Photos, full wedding here.

Camera. Image by Sophie Booth Photography, full wedding here.

Travel theme. Image by Dottie Photography, full wedding here.

Lemonade. Image by Marianne Taylor Photography, full feature here.

Cake. Image by Gideon Photography, full wedding here.

Button hearts. Image by Danielle Benbow Photography, full wedding here.

Spoons. Image by Anna Clarke Photography, full shoot here & DIY here.

Teddies.

Pom poms. Images by Steve Gerrard Photography, full wedding here.

Rubik cube. Image by Chris Barber Photography, full wedding here.

Stick of rock. Image by Jamie Bott Wedding Photography, full wedding here.

Origami. Image by Eleanor Jane Photography, full wedding here.

Felt heart. Image by Marshal Gray, full feature here.

Egg cup. DIY Egg Cup Wedding Favours Tutorial

I hope these lovely favours have helped to inspire you :-) What are you planning for your wedding favours? Or if you are already married what did you have for favours? XOXO Lou

Hey everyone, good morning to you :-) I have the super lovely Spring wedding of Lindsey and Ian to share with you today.

Lindsey and Ian had a church service followed by a reception at Clock Barn in Whitchurch. They wanted their wedding to have an English country garden travel feel to it.

One of my favourite aspects of their wedding just has to be the beautiful Spring flowers, with pieris and grape hyacinths in the gorgeous bouquets. Not to mention the beautiful homemade details at the barn.

Lindsey wore the most amazing lace dress, while the bridesmaids looked pretty in floaty Grecian style dresses. And of course not forgetting Ian who looked dapper in a custom made grey suit. Perfect.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Holly Deacon for sharing her photography with us today.

The Proposal… We met at Sainsburys in Fareham where we both worked in about 2000 – I was a student working part time and Ian was managing one of the departments – we got together 10 years ago where Ian finally asked me out after a Sainsburys work party! Ian proposed in November 2011 on our holiday in Vietnam – we were on a boat cruise around Halong Bay and he proposed on our private balcony during sunset.

The Vision for the day… The main inspiration for the day was for the look to be very natural with a slight English Country vintage travel feel!  Our original invites were created as four travel postcards of destinations that Ian and I had been to and we used this as our inspiration for all our stationery following this.

Budget… About £20K (we only wend over a bit!!!)

The Venue… We got married in All Saints Compton Church as we had lived locally previously and then had the reception at Clock Barn in Whitchurch.  The venues were a perfect location half way between where we currently live and our parents meaning it was easily accessible for everyone.

The barn was just the location I wanted the Wedding to be in  – it was a good size and had area for the drinks reception indoors just encase the weather was bad (which we ended up using on the day as it was freezing!) It was also great that the barn was a blank space that I could decorate how I wanted and even design all the catering and drinks to our preferences.

The Dress + Accessories… I loved the dress from the second I saw it, I loved the scallop edge of the dress and the lace overlay on the whole dress. It felt so perfect as soon as I tried it on, the dress seemed to fit my personality in that it felt relaxed and fun

The Rings were from Krystal Jewellers in Hatton Gardens. The rings were bought from the same shop that Ian purchased my engagement ring – he choose this jeweller originally as it was run by a mother and son and he liked that it was family run and the service was more personalised.

Veil: Also purchased at Creatiques http://www.creatiques.co.uk/. Shoes: Debut by Debenhams. Birdcage Veil for the evening borrowed from a friend. Hair Clips from Accessorize. Earrings from Accessorize. Necklace from John Lewis (present from my mum). Bracelet created from my Grandmas rings. Anklelet – a present from all my friends from School.

Finding the dress… I went to quite a few dress shops but didn’t find anything that I particularly liked until I went to Creatiques, the shop made me feel at home from the start and I spotted this dress straight away…I still managed to try the dress on five times before I put down the deposit and even went to a different supplier of the dress in London on my own just to double and triple check it was what I wanted!

Groom’s attire… Three Piece suit made to measure by Cad and The Dandy http://www.cadandthedandy.co.uk. Shoes – Loake, Watch – Vintage Omega, Cufflinks – Vintage six pence – for good luck!

The Readings + Music… Corinthians 13: Read by Lindsey’s Aunty, Thomas A Kempis – On Love: Read by Ian’s youngest brother. Ian and I choose the Thomas A Kempis reading as when we saw it we both loved all the words and felt it was an appropriate reading to go in our church service.

Paradise by Coldplay was our first song…..  we both love this song and when we first met Ian gave me a Coldplay CD – so they have also been a band that we have both loved together.

Beautiful bridesmaids… Bridesmaids Dresses: Lela Rose by Dessy http://www.dessy.com/bridesmaid-dresses/lelarose/ (I had these shipped from a company in the USA). Bridesmaids Shoes: Each bought their own. Bridesmaids Hair Accessories: From H&M. Katie, Linda and Jo’s Necklace: (http://www.johnlewis.com/estella-bartlett-silver-feather-necklace-silver/p231582585) and Malisa’s Bracelet: (http://www.johnlewis.com/estella-bartlett-star-so-bright-navy-bracelet/p231845338) were presents from Ian and I from Estella Bartlett at John Lewis. All other jewellery was their own. Page boy/young male assistants outfits: From Charles Gale in Gosport http://www.charlesgale.co.uk/.

The Flowers… Reception flowers and bouquets by Green and Gorgeous http://www.greenandgorgeousflowers.co.uk/
I picked Green and Gorgeous as I loved that the flowers were grown in England on their flower farms and that I could go there the week before and pick flowers that I liked for the bouquets etc. In terms of colour this was loosely based on purple and white  - but as there was no main colour feature at the wedding this was very loose.Church Flowers by Kelly Earle – local florist in Compton.

The Cake…  Cake from Kooks in Richmond http://www.kooksunlimited.com/We just wanted a simple classical three tiered white cake. Cake topper from Not on the High Street http://www.kooksunlimited.com/ Cake knife set from the Love Knot range from Vera Wang.

Your Photographer… Holly Deacon. We found Holly through the church for the wedding and I loved the look and style of Hollys’ photos straight away from her website they were a perfect fit for Ian and I. We met up with Holly before the Wedding twice and got along really well , and especially shared a love of bags! She understood exactly what we wanted for the day without much guidance and it was great having time to get to know her so it felt like another friend at the wedding rather than a supplier.

On the Day Holly and her assistant were great, they were always looking for the shots but without being “in the way”  and I am so happy with my photos after the Wedding – they capture my Wedding day and the fun we had on the day perfectly along with capturing all the small details that Ian and I spent so long on creating  and making for the day

The Details + Decor… We used blue mason jars (bought from Ebay and shipped from the USA) as the main centre piece jars for the flowers along with Vintage Victorian apothecary bottles and ink wells to add a bit of colour and a range of sizes and heights to the tables.I hand tied bunches on dried lavender and tied these with twine and added a button on top of all the menus. All the buttons used for this and on the jars and tags were from mine and my mum’s spare button boxes and so all were from old clothes etc!!We purchased a large trunk and re lined this with the floral material to create the table plan and added in pictures of our parents and grandparents on both sides weddings.

I also relined my father’s old naval suitcase to use as a shoe box for guests – this was for all my friends who love to dance who I knew would all be in need of a flat pair of shoes after  wearing killer heels all day and there was not a pair left by the end of the night!

The second matching suitcase was purchased on ebay and also relined and used as the card box for the evening.For our guest book I bought a load of postcards and created a book with blank envelopes stuck in so guests could each write on a postcard and the “post” it into the book!The Table plan tags, order of service, table numbers and menus were created by Charlie Rowe (who is also one of the Ushers!)

We worked with Charlie over a few glasses of red wine to design all the stationery and get the look we required. The table number pictures are from previous holiday destinations that Ian and I have been on
http://www.behance.net/CreativeRowe The place names I created and stamped each one and decorated the girls tags with either lace (to match the suit cases or a button to match in with the vases)We also included a bit of fun for the evening in that the DJ organised for us “The Shoe Game” this was a take on Mr and Mrs – to which we both implanted questions into as a surprise to each other – that maybe we knew that our guests would not!

It created a great moment where everyone at the Wedding surrounded us for a good laugh after the Speeches and then set us up for the First Dance – this is one of my friends favourite moments from the Wedding with us all in hysterics whilst Ian and I decide  ”who is the most romantic” and “who sulks the most!”

The Honeymoon… Ian booked this as a surprise and only told me where we were off to at Breakfast on the Monday after the Wedding in Heathrow Airport waiting to check in!! We spent just over two weeks away and went to Kuala Lumpa, Langkawi, Saigon and Siem Riep, every destination was amazing and we both loved every moment

Memorable moments… My favourite part of the wedding was the moment I stepped into the church and saw Ian waiting for me and all our friends and family there – I knew then it was going to be an amazing day.

Advice for other couples… My advice would be to not worry about anything on the day and appreciate every moment – all my friends and family laughed at me as I had a lever arch folder called the “Wedding Bible” which had all details of the wedding and suppliers in it for the day and I gave a three page PDF to ushers and mums and dads with numbers for everyone on and timetable for the day on but when we had changes and questions on the morning of the wedding it was easy for me and my bridesmaids to sort this out and not to stress!

Credit where credit is due…

Photography: Holly Deacon www.hollydeacondesign.com

Catering Company: Perks Catering http://www.perkscatering.co.uk/

Entertainment: DJ – Chris Burford http://www.djchrisburford.co.uk/  

Cars/Transport: Wedding Car – Silverlady Hire http://www.silverladyhire.co.uk/

Stationery: Table plan tags, order of service, table numbers and menus were created by Charlie Rowe (who is also one of the Ushers!)  http://www.behance.net/CreativeRowe.

Wedding Favours: Boys Wedding favours – Bottle of Ale/ All bottles from Nelson Wines in Wimbledon. All the bottles were different and Ian sat and matched the personality of the guest to the bottle of beer – eg Engine Oil for my Dad, who worked in the navy as an engineer or Pitchfork for Sam who is a sheep farmer in  Derby!)

Girls Wedding Favours – Lavender Macaroons http://www.angesdesucre.com/ Due to my love of Macaroons.

Ah so pretty. Thanks so much to Lindsey and Ian for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou