Real Elegant London Wedding with Apple Green Bridesmaids

The bride and groom in the gorgeous pastel green-themed wedding have completely captured my heart. They look so blissfully happy on their wedding day, and you can really tell they're having a brilliant time with all their best mates! All the wedding details are really well thought out, with the soft green colour palette holding everything together. I'm loving the bridesmaid's zingy dresses, the cheesecake wedding cake {yummy!}, and the vintage pictures of their parents' and grandparents' weddings. Lizzie's bouquet is particularly pretty, with white roses and freesias, and I love a groom in a morning suit! The wedding ceremony took place at St Winefrides in Wimbledon, and Lizzie and Andy spotted the zebra crossing outside the church as a fun photo prop. Loving the Beatles' style picture, complete with red bus! The wedding reception was at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park - a little bit of traditional countryside in the middle of the city. Huge thanks to the lovely Hannah, from Funky Photographers for these gorgeous pictures.

Introducing Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery Wedding Cakes London

The cult of the wedding cake is one of the most curious developments in recent wedding trends. Simple white tiers just don't cut it anymore - wedding cakes are now works of art. I've seen them spot-lit at wedding receptions, getting as much attention as the bride's wedding dress! To make sure your cake stands out from the crowd, consider these fabulous creations from Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery. Sweetness is run by Roma Finlinson, who has a passion for creating exquisite wedding cakes, decorated with delicate, handcrafted sugar flowers. Take a look at the beauties below to get a sense of her stunning work. Can you believe those anemones and roses are made out of sugar?! Sweetness Cakes aren't just seriously stylish - Roma is a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef, so her wedding cakes have the quality and flavour you expect from French patisserie - i.e. they taste AMAZING! Although they're so beautiful, it's almost a crime to cut into them.... Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery make bespoke tiered wedding cakes, cupcakes, iced biscuit wedding favours - everything and anything you could want for your wedding or bridal shower. Be sure to check out Roma's Facebook page for more of her work.

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Real Traditional English Wedding: Sarah & Michael's Wedding Reception

With wedding details galore, you're going to love the reception pictures from Sarah and Michael's beautiful big day. Sarah chose lace as her wedding motif, and purple and white as her colour palette, for a truly coherent wedding theme. I love the clean lines of their white wedding marquee, and the purple punctuation of the wedding flowers and table stationery. Even their wedding cake is in keeping with the theme, with super-realistic purple flowers made out of icing. The effect is one of classic elegance, all perfectly pictured by Anna Rosell. Enjoy her wedding photographs, and be sure to read all of Sarah's great wedding advice, and don't miss Part 1 and Part 2 of this wedding!

We celebrated our wedding at Longstowe Hall in Cambridge on 4th August 2012. We wanted a real English wedding, and felt the historical feel of Longstowe's Elizabethan architecture, and its beautiful English rose gardens was just perfect.

We had a purple and lace theme to the wedding, and also white roses, again keeping with the traditional English feel. We wanted to keep it simple and traditional yet classic. We also felt it was really important to use local suppliers and we managed to do just that.

My favourite chocolate is Ferrero Rocher, so I decided to give each guest a chocolate as a wedding favour. I bought organza and purple ribbon from Hobbycraft and my Nana, Mum and I had a great {and long} day wrapping each one.

Our wedding flowers were from The Flower House in Cambridge. I don't know much about flowers, and only knew that I wanted purple and white roses in the stem of the vases, so I let the florist decide on the arrangements. 

We loved planning our wedding! Being a teacher I love researching and organising, and a friend bought me a wedding planner, so I was in my element buying wedding magazines and tearing out bits that I liked for reference. The worry is whether it will all come together on the day, a few things didn’t go as planned, but that added to the day.

My advice to other brides would be, don’t get too bogged down with research, there are so many options out there and many people offering similar ideas. Choose something you like and then don’t research it anymore, there may always be something else to find, but you have draw a line, otherwise it can be never-ending. Most importantly, enjoy it all as it is over very quickly.

We spent ages designing our wedding invitations, menus and table names, keeping with the purple and lace/white theme. We found an wonderful lady called Julie, whose local stationery company is called Little Button Nose, who handmade them for us.

For our wedding cake I chose a local lady called Margaret who makes wedding cakes as a hobby. She made handmade the purple icing sugar flowers that cascaded all the way down the cake, and afterwards, as a keepsake, she put them in a little arrangement for us. We had a three tier cake, sponge, fruit and chocolate.

Our photographer was Anna Rosell. She was recommended by the venue, but I also loved her work and the gorgeous colours that she always manages to capture in her shots. I spent months in the run-up to our wedding following Anna’s blog, and looking at the other weddings that she had shot, so I was very excited, as I knew she would provide us with pictures to treasure.

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Real Traditional English Wedding: Sarah & Michael's Portrait Pictures

Your wedding portrait pictures will be some of the most important photographs of the day, so it's worth having a bit of a think about what you want beforehand. Consider using props to help you relax - some brides carry a parasol, or you could pose with matching bicycles or even funny hats and signs. An engagement session can also help you relax with your wedding photographer, and with posing in front of each other! In these gorgeous portrait shots from Sarah and Michael's big day, their photographer Anna Rosell took full advantage of the stunning gardens at Longstowe Hall. I love how she frames the shots with the rose arbours, and takes a mixture of informal and posed pictures. Make sure your wedding photographer knows what pictures you want, and scout out good spots at your wedding venue when you visit. Meanwhile, don't miss more gorgeous reception details from this wedding, coming soon!

We celebrated our wedding at Longstowe Hall in Cambridge on 4th August 2012. We wanted a real English wedding, and felt the historical feel of Longstowe's Elizabethan architecture, and its beautiful English rose gardens was just perfect.



Our photographer was Anna Rosell. She was recommended by the venue, but I also loved her work and the gorgeous colours that she always manages to capture in her shots. 

I spent months in the run-up to our wedding following Anna’s blog, and looking at the other weddings that she had shot, so I was very excited, as I knew she would provide us with pictures to treasure.

We had a purple and lace theme to the wedding, and also white roses, again keeping with the traditional English feel. We wanted to keep it simple and traditional yet classic. We also felt it was really important to use local suppliers and we managed to do just that.

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Real Lace-Themed English Wedding: Sarah & Michael

Much as I love quirky weddings, I'm a traditionalist at heart, and there's nothing I like more than a classic marquee wedding, set in the beautiful English countryside. Sarah and Michael chose the stunning Longstowe Hall in Cambridge for their summer big day - it's one of my favourite wedding venues because of its stunning rose gardens, and they struck lucky with a sunny August day - perfect for their portrait pictures. Sarah was keen to create a classically elegant feel to her wedding, so picked a lace theme, and a simple colour palette of rich purple and white. With this in mind, every wedding detail is perfectly matched, from the bridesmaids' dresses, to the wedding invitations and the wedding cake. Even the confetti matched, creating a brilliantly put-together feel to the whole day! You'll find tonnes of wedding inspiration in these beautiful wedding pictures by Anna Rosell - I'm a huge fan of her work, particularly her portrait shots. Don't miss the reception pictures, in the second blog post, later today.

We celebrated our wedding at Longstowe Hall in Cambridge on 4th August 2012. We wanted a real English wedding, and felt the historical feel of Longstowe's Elizabethan architecture, and its beautiful English rose gardens was just perfect.

We had a purple and lace theme to the wedding, and also white roses, again keeping with the traditional English feel. We wanted to keep it simple and traditional yet classic. We also felt it was really important to use local suppliers and we managed to do just that.

Like most brides, my original idea for how my wedding dress would look, was not what I ended up with. After visiting many shops I finally chose a beautiful Augusta Jones lace gown from Lara B in Newmarket. I wanted to be slightly more covered up, so I re-designed the top part of the dress, but I especially loved the open back and the lace edged veil.

I couldn’t find any bridesmaids dresses I liked so I ended up designing them myself, and having them made by a local seamstress, Cheryl Stratton.

Our wedding flowers were from The Flower House in Cambridge. I don't know much about flowers, and only knew that I wanted purple and white roses in the stem of the vases, so I let the florist decide on the arrangements. 



I was over the moon with her work! After the wedding I sent my flowers off to Precious Petals to be preserved, and now have my beautifully preserved bouquet framed above our bed.

We spent ages designing our wedding invitations, menus and table names, keeping with the purple and lace/white theme. We found an wonderful lady called Julie, whose local stationery company is called Little Button Nose, who handmade them for us.

Our wedding stationery was one of my favourite parts of the planning process, and I've kept a souvenir of everything that was made.

My husband's suit was from Moss Bros, teamed with a cream tie. The other men in the wedding party had purple ties, to fit in with our wedding theme.

Our photographer was Anna Rosell. She was recommended by the venue, but I also loved her work and the gorgeous colours that she always manages to capture in her shots. 

I spent months in the run-up to our wedding following Anna’s blog, and looking at the other weddings that she had shot, so I was very excited, as I knew she would provide us with pictures to treasure.

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Real Vintage Medical Themed Wedding: Rebecca & Ben

I've made you wait, but it's finally time for the incredible wedding reception pictures from this unique medical themed wedding. Rebecca and Ben chose The Morritt in Greta Bridge in County Durham for their wedding reception, and after many months of successful bidding on eBay, Rebecca personalised her and Ben's big day with a fabulous array of wedding details, including old medicine bottles as vases, an ancient doctor's bag for wedding gifts, and vintage first aid boxes filled with sweets. Table flowers looked just-picked, with snowberries and autumn foliage to reflect the season. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Rebecca and Ben chose their own cheeses for a tiered cheese cake, and Rebecca's parents handmade chutney as wedding favours for eating on the day. So many wonderful details, all in one wedding - it's definitely an all-time favourite for me! Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden and Vanessa Adams, her second shooter, for these gorgeous wedding pictures.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden. I found her on the internet by searching for vintage-style photographers. She is actually based in the South, but came all of the way up to photograph our big day. 

Sharron was wonderful, stayed all day and evening and felt part of the wedding! She also brought an assistant photographer, Vanessa Adams, to help who was lovely. As we set off for our honeymoon 24 hours later, she had already sent me a montage of her favourite photos which I was delighted to receive.

Ben and I got married on 8th September 2012 at St Edmunds Church, Sedgefield in County Durham, followed by a reception at The Morritt, Greta Bridge.

We wanted to have a lot of people, and provide a lot of food and drink. On our budget it made sense to pick a smaller, more personal hotel that we could fill to the brim.



I had tonnes of DIY wedding projects. I wanted a table plan, but I didn't want to spend time or money on it. I found a website called Here Comes the Bride, and they suggested using a mirror. They took the measurements, and printed out {and decorated} individual cards with adhesive on the back. My mirror had a gold rim, so my Dad and I sprayed it silver! When we put it all together, it worked really well. 



When I was planning our wedding theme, my sister suggested starting with the florist and working back from there....and she was right! I met with three florists and knew instantly when I had found the right one - Adam Prest......he was AMAZING!!! He is based in a farm outside of Sedgefield where he grows some of the flowers he uses. It was great to use someone local!



I could not describe really what I wanted....but he just knew. It was his idea for grey bridesmaids dresses!!!! I said I wanted the flowers to look like I had been out in the garden and picked the flowers. I also said I did not want them to be symmetrical or all the same length or size......the rest was down to him.

He selected a rose called Amnesia, white snowberries and a silvery foliage which I loved! He also suggested candelabras of varying heights for the tables. We were both keen that every table looked different!

Our wedding favours for the men were small jars of chutney {handmade by my Mum and Dad}. They make a lot of chutney, and because we were serving cheese at the end of the meal, it was the obvious decision! We made bibs and bow ties for each of the jars, and I made small top hats for all of the men to wear at dinner, which sat on top of the jars. 



The girls' wedding favours were different. My Mum is very arty and decorated small grey boxes (from Paperchase) with tiny flowers dried from the garden. Again each one was different, and we baked individual Rolo brownies to go in them! We also printed minute recipe cards for the brownies and put them in the box.

I really wanted a vintage feel but having been to several weddings prior to ours in 2012 it was difficult to come up with something original. So I was thrilled when I discovered vintage medicine bottles on eBay. I bid on them regularly in the run up to the wedding until I had enough for four/five per table. They were only a couple of quid each and make lovely mementos!

I was keen to have something original for our wedding cards from guests, so to continue with the medical theme, I found a vintage doctor's bag (also on eBay) for only £30.



The medical dictionary was my own, and I HAD to buy the vintage medical book 'The movement of the heart and blood', as it seemed very romantic!! 



I loved organising my wedding! It was great to put a personal stamp on the day. I tried to see it as a party, rather than a wedding, and I think we managed to create that kind of atmosphere. It did however dominate the nine months between engagement and the big day, and I am glad you only have to do it once!! 


My advice to brides planning their wedding is to start early. Book in all of the big things then have a bit of a break! Use the internet. There are so many ideas and craft websites out there. If you can’t find what you want....have a go at making it!! 

Invest in your dress.......it is definitely worth it!! Don’t make everything match. It was more fun having several subtle themes intermingled with each other, and it personalised the wedding more. Have a wedding folder.....it's geeky, but having everything in one place makes life so much easier!

When it came to our wedding cake, we both love cheese, so we had a cheese wedding cake! You can get them in set combinations on the internet, but we were keen to pick the cheeses ourselves, so we went to a small cheese shop called Cheese on the Green in Rugby {where Ben’s parents live} and tried all of them! It was very good fun!

I got a really naff cake topper online with a bride rugby tackling the groom.....my Mum hated it, but it looked really good after my florist had dressed the cake. To serve with the cheese, my Mum and Dad made chutney and fruit cake, while crackers and fruit were provided by the hotel along with our evening hog roast.

More posts like this one:

✽ Pretty Baby Blue Marquee Wedding

✽ Stunning Pink & Grey Marquee Wedding

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