Showing posts with label Dark Blue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dark Blue. Show all posts

Monday 8 June 2020

An Achingly Cool London Wedding on a Budget

This incredible London wedding needs to come with something of a disclaimer, as it's my best friend's big day. Tamarisk has never been a cookie-cutter kind of girl, so it's no surprise her wedding to Ryan was uniquely awesome. From her glittery gold Badgley Mishka gown, to her practical attitude towards budget and theme, Tamarisk created a wedding which focused on feasting, family and celebrating love. If you're planning your big day abroad, or returning home as an expat, you'll find her attitude super-inspiring. It turns out there's no need to obsess on the details, or the stationery or the favours, when you've got an atmospheric venue, and great DJ, lots of champagne and a truly brilliant photographer in Joanna Brown.


We got married in London at The Roost on 29th Sept 2018
. We live in Canada now, but we met in London and we miss it a lot. It felt like the right place for us to get married was where we met and fell in love. We aren't formal people, and besides, the exchange rate was not in our favour! We were looking for a venue that already had a ton of personality that we wouldn't need to do a lot too. We were both clear eyed about our appetite and aptitude for a "big project" that would span time zones ie: not at all! When we found The Roost, we knew it was perfect…all we needed to do was add a few touches, we didn’t need to go overboard. 


My husband got a beautiful, completely custom suit from his suit makers Suit Supply. Our wedding date is embroidered on the inside pocket and my nickname for him is under the collar – it says Meatball.  


I went to a big fancy wedding dress shop once and found the whole thing completely awful. It was all I could do not to break down sobbing in the changing room. The grubby, dirty dresses that are all too small…so depressing. I hated it. After trying to figure out why I hated it so much, I realised I had bought into the idea that you HAVE to wear a white dress and I remembered I don’t HAVE to do anything. That’s when I started looking for something really me. 



I landed on a Badgley Mishka gold sequin dress that I got for $800 off the retail price by finding it on eBay. I splurged on a pair Christian Louboutin rainbow striped heels though! 


I didn't enjoy planning my wedding at all. I am not a planner. Then on the actual day when you're trying to enjoy it and take it all in, people still keep asking you admin questions. This style of wedding is what worked for us – we decided what the big pieces were that really mattered to us and spent our money there. We decided not to care about almost everything else. We wanted the right venue, the right photographer and delicious food and drink. Planning a wedding from overseas, when we knew we’d be flying out for out mini-moon the very next day helped us to say no to anything that would add a complication or a big expense.  


When it came to my bridesmaids' dresses, I let them decide. One of my sisters got a dress she already owned copied in the fabric of their choosing in Dubai.



I found our photographer on Instagram when I was researching venues. One of Joanna Brown's shots turned up under a tag, and that was that, she was the photographer I had to have. I am not a fan of the romantic, dreamy style of typical wedding photography. Joanna has this amazing knack of catching the quotidian moments that are filled with love and joy but are grounded and real. She "interviewed" us to see if she felt like we were a fit and I have never wanted to impress someone so such! I wish I could just put her on a retainer to come and shoot all my big life events!   


For favours, we went with Caramel chocolate bars because I have always loved the red and gold wrapping them come in

. We got Disco Shed to DJ the party and they were outstanding, great tunes! I walked down the "aisle" to the Theme Song from Top Gun. We didn't have a recessional. Our first dance was Number 1 by Goldfrapp. 




Did you have a theme in mind? Is "cheap" a theme?! For our wedding flowers, we got a recommendation for a whole-seller from our caterer and ordered a load of baby's breath super-last minute to decorate the tables. 


I bought a plain chocolate tiered cake from a supermarket as a last minute decision because our amazing and bossy caterer told me I should. I asked her to throw a couple of punnets of raspberries on top to tumble down the layers and dust it with icing sugar, I didn't eat a crumb of it though!




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Wednesday 18 February 2015

Stunning Seaside Wedding Shoot

This incredible shoot is fresh from an amazingly talented team over on the west coast of the US, where all the best wedding trends seem to start. With a divine wedding dress by Samuelle Couture and smart nautical stationery by Feast Art and Calligraphy, plus styling by Joy Proctor of Joy de Vivre, I'd be tempted to copy every detail for my wedding! I love the combination of white calligraphy on dark blue, the vintage stamps, and the rustic hessian table cloth. I predict coloured glasses will soon become a huge trend in wedding tablescapes, and I'm pleased to see giant bouquets are still on trend. Another fun idea is a mix-your-own-cocktail trolley - as previewed by my wedding planner Kerry Bracken in her Provence wedding. Photography by the incredible Jose Villa - check out his blog for more fabulous wedding inspiration.





Thursday 17 April 2014

Real Elegant White French Wedding with Vintage Details

Every now and then I come across a wedding where I wish I'd been a guest! Loan and Andrew's French wedding near Biarritz definitely falls into that category. I'm completely in love with Loan's gorgeous elegant wedding style - her ruffled dress, wavy strapped Jimmy Choos and super-cook fish-tail French plait wedding hairstyle. Throw in the fabulousness of her bridesmaids mismatching but matching dark blue dresses, and Andrew's chic suit, and you've got the best dressed wedding party I've seen in a while. I'm also loving the white peony and berry bouquets, the lace detailed vases {buy them from Ikea}, the vintage getaway car and the ornate gold-frame table plan. Guests were encouraged to write messages on cute tea-stained tags and hang them in a wishing tree, before enjoying a delicious French meal, with multiple wedding cakes. Heavenly pictures published with thanks to Jonny & Morgane from M&J Photography.


Wednesday 25 September 2013

A Modern Navy-Blue, Pink & Purple Themed Wedding - The Reception

There's tonnes of fantastic wedding inspiration in this gorgeous spring wedding. Ruth and Mark chose an on-trend jewel colour palette of navy blue, hot pink and purple for their wedding theme, and carried it through all their wedding details. The bridesmaids' dresses, the flowers, the cake - even the DIY'd table stationery, all match perfectly. It's the wedding planner effect without a wedding planner!! DIY brides will find Ruth's efforts hugely inspiring - she even made her own FIVE tier wedding cake - and it couldn't look more professional if it tried. With favours made my Ruth's brother-in-law, marquee-style letters made by her Dad, and a ring-pillow made my her mum, this really was a family project. Enjoy the gorgeous pictures by Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan. I love the modern-style portrait shots!


We chose Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan as our wedding photographers. They stood out to us on our search. They totally “got” what we wanted from our photographs which was informal and relaxed. Also your wedding photographer is with you most of the day, so I think it is important to get on with them, and we really did!


 I came across a navy blue, pink and purple look, and I loved the contrast of the colours together. It looked very modern, and I was keen for our wedding to feel modern as well as classic.


A Modern Navy-Blue, Pink & Purple Themed Wedding

There's an ethereal element to these beautiful wedding pictures by Matt and Sarah-Jane Ethan. Every one feels like a magical moment, and I'm not sure whether my edit has done them justice. Suffice to say, Ruth and Mark's wedding was a stunning affair. Ruth chose a colour palette of navy-blue, pink and purple as her wedding theme, and picked out navy-blue for her bridesmaids, hot pink for the ushers' ties, and a mixture of all three for her wedding flowers. The carefully coordinated colours create a very put-together look, and I love the colour pop against her white wedding gown. My other loves include their incredible wedding venue of Wynyard Hall, the cute diamante initials on the back of Ruth's shoes, and Ruth's elegant Mori Lee wedding gown. Huge thanks to Sarah-Jane and Matt for their beautiful wedding photographs - don't miss the fantastic wedding reception shots later today.


We celebrated our wedding at Wynyard Hall in Cleveland on 26th May 2013.


 I came across a navy blue, pink and purple look, and I loved the contrast of the colours together. It looked very modern, and I was keen for our wedding to feel modern as well as classic.



Wednesday 24 April 2013

Real English Countryside Summer Wedding: Katy & Neil

Brides looking for stylish wedding inspiration, should look no further than this gorgeous Surrey summer wedding. I've fallen for the elegant monochrome colour palette, the bride Katy's birdcage veil and the bridemaids' super-chic wedding dresses. It's an English countryside wedding with a dash of sophistication, and from a wedding style point of view, it really works. Other food-focused details to copy include the French macaroons {my favourite are from Laudurée} and the multi-tiered strawberry Victoria sponge cake -the very essence of Englishness. Huge thanks to Patrick from Butler Madden Weddings for his gorgeous pictures.


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Monday 17 December 2012

Real Stylish London Wedding: Caroline & Matt - Part 2

London brides are going to love this inspirational wedding, with its fun pub venue, shabby-chic wedding decorations, and pink and gold colour palette. Caroline and Matt stamped their personality on their big day with unique DIY'd wedding details - Matt designed their wedding stationery, Caroline's mum made the wedding cake and Caroline created the tankard table plan. Stunning table flowers as well - I love David Austin roses! Huge thanks to Erica from Photo Madly for capturing the wedding so perfectly, and to Caroline, for filling the Before the Big Day Brides' Questionnaire. Don't miss her fab hints and tips, and take a look at Part 1 of this wedding here.


Matt and I met at work but we didn't get together until one Christmas party when Matt was dressed as a Lego man and I was dressed as Madonna in the Material girl video. 

We were together for 3 and a half years when Matt surprised me with a weekend away to Norfolk which is where we went for our first weekend away together. He'd booked us into a romantic yurt and took me out for an amazing eight course meal, when we got back we sat next to the camp fire with our glasses of champagne and Matt got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.


We got married on 21st September in London, our ceremony was in The Old Marylebone Town Hall and held our reception in The Londesborough pub in Stoke Newington.



We looked at lots of different types of buildings for our reception but decided a pub would work well for us as we really wanted the day to be really laid back and relaxed. I was also determined that our venue should have just one room to create a really intimate atmosphere. 

The Londesborough is one of my favourite London pubs and they really ticked all the boxes for us, we had the whole pub to ourselves and they have outside space and the food was amazing! We felt bunting would work best in the pub and other than flowers we didn't need to do much else as its such a lovely space already. We really couldn't have been happier with our venues.




I didn't want a particular wedding colour theme, but instead worked to a colour palette of soft pinks, greens, white, pale gold and navy.


My florist was Elinor Walsh from Marlow, Buckinghamshire. She did such a good job, the flowers were exactly what I wanted. I really wanted pink and white peonies but in September that's not really an option so we chose pink David Austin roses mixed in with white hydrangea. I chose to have them tied with twine.

I was very keen that the table decorations should be in low vases as I wanted people to be able to chat over them easily without wanting to move them out of the way. The flowers were one of my favourite things about the day as it was so exiting seeing them in the pub, I was so happy with how they turned out.

Matt is a graphic designer so he designed our wedding invitations. I came up with the idea of using beer mats, and he created the look. We used the same design for our wedding menus, which also doubled as the table place names.


My DIY projects included our table plan. I wrote the names of our guest on glass tankards, using chalk pen, then stacked them on a set of shelves. We also made the table names by buying clipboards and sticking struts on them. We then printed out each table name to look like a pub sign, and clipped them on.

We wanted wedding favours that were fun, and we spotted the chocolate lips and moustaches in a wedding magazine. We bought them from Creightons Chocolatiers in Leighton Buzzard, and were so pleased with them. They looked great and tasted amazing, and everyone commented in how fun they were!


I saw a cake online that I fell in love with, and my mum said she would try and replicate it. I bought the cake stand online and my mum did the rest. I don't like fruit cake so we had a lemon drizzle cake. It was delicious and looked amazing, I'm so pleased my mum made it, as it meant so much more.

I loved planning my big day! There are so many different ways you can do a wedding and they're all amazing, I could do it all over again - although only if it was with Matt obviously!!

Our photographer was Erika Szostak from Photo Madly. We picked her because we loved her work, and we felt really comfortable with her straight away. Your photographer is such a big part of your day it's so important you choose someone who you like having around! We're thrilled with how our photos turned out.

My advice for future brides is to remember that on the day you can't change anything so just enjoy it! Things will go wrong but it's not important, the main thing is that you enjoy the day you've spent so long planning. Also don't stress about your decisions once they're made, I can't tell you how much I stressed about things that looking back on it just weren't important!



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