Real Wedding: Katy & Matt

Are you getting married in a church? It's still the choice of thousands of brides and grooms each year, although it's often teamed with a new-found religious interest! It's not surprising though, church weddings are wonderfully romantic, and they give a real sense of gravitas to the ceremony. Katy and Matt chose a church wedding, followed by their reception in the seriously grand and gorgeous Peckforton Castle. Katy got seriously creative with her details and colour palette, and you can really see the effect, with a stunning four-tier cake, birdcage table decorations and cute little favour buckets. I really love the addition of seed pearls and lace to her bouquet - just goes to show how you can add your own twist to everything. My favourite spot is the cones of sheet music filled with confetti - an easy and effective DIY project - even your groom could do it! Katy's been kind enough to fill in the Before the Big Day bridal questionnaire, so do check out all her advice below. Stunning photos published with thanks to Amy Turner from iMAG1NE, don't miss the last picture, it's like something from a play!

The Before the Big Day Bridal Q&A - Katy was kind enough to fill in our questionnaire, aimed at helping other brides with their planning process. Feast your eyes on her answers for helpful hints and tips from someone on the other side of her big day!

Where and when did you get married?
Friday 7th May 2010, at St Helen’s Church in Tarporley. The reception was held at Peckforton Castle.

What was your thinking behind choosing the venue and the decoration of the reception?
We wanted a church wedding, and we picked the Castle as our reception venue as it was so romantic and grand.

Did you have a theme, colour or motif in mind?
Our theme was romantic/vintage. Our colours were dusky rose, mocha and ivory.

Who made your wedding outfit and how did you come to that decision?
My mother and maid of honour came with me to multiple bridal shops in Cheshire and Sheffield until I found the perfect dress. I was always looking for a simple and elegant gown, and when I tried on the Suzanne Neville dress I knew it was the one! We bought it from Freya Bridal in Sheffield, and my veil came from Agape in Knutsford.

What about your husband’s outfit? Where was it from?
Hired from Debenhams to match colour scheme of mocha.

And how about your bridesmaids’ outfits
Mocha dresses to match the colour theme, made by Dessy and purchased from Avec Amour in Glossop.

What type of cake did you go for, and how did you come to that decision?
Four-layered tier sponge cake with flowers matching the wedding colours between each layer. Each layer of sponge was a different flavour. The cake was inspired by a cake I had seen in a bridal magazine.

Did you have any favours? What were they? Was there any particular reason why you picked them?
The mens’ favours were miniature bottles of spirit or whisky. The ladies favours were heart shaped chocolates and a tin of lip balm. All the favours were placed in miniature rose coloured buckets with either mocha or pink ribbons tied round. We wanted to pick favours which people could use and would actually appreciate!

Who was your florist, what flowers did you choose, and how did you come to that decision?
The florist I chose was Jacklyn Bagley from Precious Things Florist in Macclesfield. She was amazing! I described the colours and theme of the wedding and she worked her magic designing the bouquet and arrangements. We had lots of flowers to decorate the venue and they were a beautiful finishing touch to the venue.

Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Researching on the internet we noticed Amy from Imag1ne had photographed many weddings at Peckforton Castle. We looked at the example photo’s on the website and loved them!! We didn’t want staged or cheesy photo’s, we just wanted to capture the day with natural photo’s and thats exactly what Amy did!

Did you enjoy planning your wedding?
I loved planning the wedding. I spent many hours making save the dates, invitations, menus, order of services, etc but it was all worth it in the end. Also my husband and I spend many hours researching Dj's, string quartets, florists etc to find the best we could for our budget. All the effort that went into planning the wedding and all the personal touches made the day really special for both us and our families and friends.

What advice do you have for brides planning their big day?
Relax and enjoy every minute! Try to be organised but don’t worry if not everything goes to plan, the main thing is that your marrying the man of your dreams!


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Real Wedding: Jordana & Mike

Another snowy day in the UK, and I'm hoping it'll last till the weekend for those Saturday weddings. Snowy weddings are so romantic! In the meantime, let's keep busy with checking out this incredible summer wedding. Photographer Stephanie Williams did her usual amazing job on capturing all the details, most of which Jordana and Mike did themselves. They collected all the vintage bottles for the table centerpieces, and created the amazing dessert display, complete with candy and cannolis and a variety of cakes. Loving the bird motif on the stationery, fans, cake topper and ring cushion, plus the rich purple and grey colour palette. I'm also a hue fan of Jordana's Monique Lhuillier lace dress and her awesome Steve Madden ruffled shoes. Plus, something you can't see from the pictures, Jordana and Mike kicked off the dancing with a choreographed salsa dance, which reminds me I need to book our own dancing classes!

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Real Wedding: Laura & Bee

This wedding is ALL about the details - you're going to love it. From the gorgeous birdcages and mason jars to the Laura's super-poofy dress, every bit was carefully pulled together. Laura is known as Bird, so the theme of the wedding was Birds and Bees, and you can see how the happy couple carried it through into the table decorations, bouquets, cake-toppers and even Laura's winged necklace. Whatsmore, every bridesmaid got a different bouquet, and a different vintage-style handkerchief to represent her style. Loving these pictures from the super-talented Punam Bean.

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Real Wedding: Emily & Matthew

If you're stressing out and worrying about organising your wedding, this stunning English affair should put your mind at rest. Fantastic couple Emily and Matthew approached their wedding with one eye on budget and the other on keeping the mood simple but chic. One way to do this is to pick a strong theme and then everything else will fall into place. Emily and Matthew chose a bird motif and carried it through into their stationery, favours and handmade cake-toppers. I'm loving the clock detailing on their Orders of Service, and their cute Nissan Figaro wedding car, plus their carefree attitude. Garden games like giant jenga kept the guests entertained, and no one noticed a few spots of rain. Don't miss Emily's answers to the Before the Big Day Bridal Questionnaire, listed below these gorgeous pictures from talented Alex Dimopoulos at My Love Story. Don't you just love his panoramic images?

The Before the Big Day Bridal Q&A - Emily was kind enough to fill in our questionnaire, aimed at helping other brides with their planning process. Feast your eyes on her answers for helpful hints and tips from someone on the other side of her big day!

Where and when did you get married?
On 1st May at Larmer Tree Gardens near Salisbury.

What was your thinking behind choosing the venue and the decoration of the reception?
We originally wanted a London wedding as we live there, but we couldn't find a suitable venue that could work on our budget and that could hold both the ceremony and reception. We then went to look at the Larmer Tree Gardens , and we didn't bother to look anywhere else as it was perfect! The venue was beautiful already, so we kept our decorations very simple with some potted daisy plants on the tables. Much of the day was outside in the gardens, and the venue provided white marquees and umbrellas, as we did have a bit of rain.

Did you have a theme, colour or motif in mind?
The general colour scheme was yellow and white, and we had a birds theme too, with the cake toppers, table decoration and invitations, wedding favours, plus chocolate mini eggs!

Who made your wedding outfit (dress, veil, shoes and accessories), and how did you come to that decision?
I really never thought I wanted a traditional big dress and had trouble finding something I even wanted to try on. BUT in the end I found a really simple dress made by Maggie Sottero. I wasn't sure about it right up until the wedding as I never wear full length dresses or skirts being 5'2'', but absolutely felt brilliant in it on the day and didn't want to take it off. I kept the shoes and accessories really simple and basic, just a hairclip and bracelet from Accessorise!

What about your husband's outfit? Where was it from?
He kept his outfit simple too, a quality shirt and black suit from Moss Bros and an expensive blue tie. The best man wore the same with a different tie.

And how about your bridesmaids' outfits?
We got these from Monsoon, and kept everything really simple and in keeping with the style of my own dress. The bridesmaids were my two little nieces and they looked really cute and beautiful in anything so we didn't need to spend a lot to make them look great. And they loved dressing up too.

What type of cake did you go for, and how did you come to that decision?
We had a three tier cake, made by my sister-in-law. We had a layer of coffee, of vanilla and of chocolate, all covered in white icing and decorated with simple tiny flowers on the edges. My husband and I made our own cake topper birds, again we kept everything simple and made what we could ourselves to keep costs down and to keep it all personal to us.

Did you have any favours? What were they? Was there any particular reason why you picked them?
A small bag of chocolate mini eggs, to go with the bird theme. We hand-filled these ourselves and handmade a thank you tag to go with them.

Who was your florist, what flowers did you choose, and how did you come to that decision?
My Mum's local florist did me a small bouquet for the day, in yellow and white, and my Mum did all the other daisy plants for the tables. I only chose the bouquet flowers the day before!

Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Alex at My Love Story did our photos, we had seen some of his other work and really wanted to use him for our own wedding.

Did you enjoy planning your wedding?
Yes and no! Of course its incredibly exciting but terribly nerve wracking too, we organised the whole thing in 3 months on top of full time jobs and studying for an MA, and moving house. We had to make decisions quickly, and were very mindful of budget, so its just about weighing up what's most important and not over-thinking the rest. Mind you, the day itself surpassed any expectations that I had and every second of worry is worth it in the end.

What advice do you have for brides planning their big day?
I think every bride is different and has different things which they are expecting. It's easy to try and micromanage everything and to spend a long time trying to get everything perfect. In a way I'm glad that we had only 3 months to stress about it all, and on the day we could enjoy ourselves and spending the day with our loved ones, keeping all the other details simple. After the event the memories you have are of the people that you spent it with, not about the perfect flower arrangements! I was running around in the mud and doing the hokey-cokey with my shoes off in my beautiful dress in the afternoon, I was so elated and having such a good time that a bit of rain really didn't matter a bit.

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