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.

♥ Want to see summer wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about elegant weddings? ♥

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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.

♥ Want to see quintessentially English weddings? ♥ Or how about elegant weddings? ♥

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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.

♥ Want to see quintessentially English weddings? ♥ Or how about summer weddings? ♥

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Real Glamorous Barn Wedding Video: Hilary & Trevor

How many weddings are you going to this year? I've got two this summer and I'm exceedingly excited about both. One is going to be at Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire, and after watching this emotional wedding video trailer for Hilary and Trevor's wedding, I couldn't be more thrilled. It looks like a truly fabulous wedding venue - a lovely mixture of modern and rustic, with stunning views across the countryside. Hilary and Trevor chose rich purple and soft cream for their wedding colour palette, and I love how it ties together all their wedding details. Hilary's rocking a Great Gatsby 1920's look for her wedding, with Art Deco-style earrings, and a glamorous taffeta wedding gown teamed with a stunning glittery sash - a great way to personalise any wedding dress. Other wedding-details-to-love include the rustic luggage tag place-markers, the pretty mini-bunting cake topper, and the beautiful spring wedding flower arrangements. Huge thans to White Dress Films for their fantastic wedding video trailer. It might be the new baby hormones, but I sobbed all the way through this one!

More posts like this one:

✽ Real Purple Themed Picnic Wedding

✽ Purple Romantic Wedding Inspiration

♥ Want to see wedding videos? ♥ Or how about more barn wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Lavender Barn Wedding: Alex & Paul - Reception Pictures

Before the Big Day brides are always super-creative and imaginative, when it comes to planning their weddings, so I'm thrilled to be featuring Alex and Paul's detail-filled wedding day! Alex read Before the Big Day while planning her wedding, so you'll spot lots of ideas from the blog - hello tissue pom-poms! I love how Alex planned her wedding around a central theme of lace and lavender, and a colour palette of soft grey. All the wedding details reflected the theme, creating a very put-together effect that you normally only get with a professional wedding planner. With DIY'd favours, wedding flowers, guest book thumb-print tree, candle votives wrapped with lace, confetti cones, and a blackboard table plan, Alex saved a fortune and added her own personalised touch to her big day - seriously inspirational stuff! Huge thanks to Dean Govier for his stunning wedding pictures of the day, and don't miss the video highlights from the day, in the wedding video by Family Creative. And thanks to Alex for getting in touch, and telling the story of her big day!

Paul and I actually went to university in Liverpool together, but got to know each other until we met at a party of a mutual friend in Putney nearly 7 years ago. We got engaged in Berlin in 2011, a week before my birthday; Paul had spent ages trying to find a place to propose and I thwarted every attempt,  so it was a hasty 'down-on-one-knee' on the train ride back to the airport! He'd already asked my Dad’s permission, so he didn’t want me going home 'empty-handed' so-to-speak!

Paul first gave me an Argos ring for me to wear until the real deal came along. He knew I’d want to pick my own ring as I’m very fussy! My actual engagement ring was bought a few weeks later from the oldest jeweller in Hatton Garden in London and is antique. I love that it has a story before it got to me - long may it continue!

Our photographer was Dean Govier and was beyond amazing. He was recommended to us through one of my bridesmaids who had been at a wedding he had photographed in the same area. When I saw his photos I knew he was our guy. We loved his natural style and he was such a pleasure to have around on the day and just seamlessly blended into the background. I cannot recommend him enough.

We got married on Saturday 28th July 2012 in St Mary’s Church in Whitchurch-on-Thames, which is the village I grew up in in South Oxfordshire. Our reception was nearby at Ufton Court in Berkshire. 

We looked at a few places, but it was Ufton Court which stood out. Paul was sold on Ufton straight away, but I took a little longer to come round, and to this day I’m still not sure why! The staff there were incredibly supportive and helpful. We had our reception drinks on the back terrace over-looking the walled garden and then had food, drinking and dancing in the Tithe Barn. The back terrace is my favourite part of the venue as it felt so private, and that was something we were insistent upon; we didn't want to be at a venue where other people could be wandering around having a nosey! 



The barn itself is beautiful and there are fairy lights already in situ around the beams, so all it took were some tissue pom-poms, and other bits to put our stamp on it! The giant light up letters were one of my favourite things – I loved them so much! We also added a canopy marquee onto the courtyard of the barn so that we had extra space even if it rained. Our marquee company, Magnifitents, decorated it with fairy lights and tissue pom-poms for us, and we loved it!

The general theme was centred on lavender and lace, with accents of grey. The smell of lavender reminds me of my grandmother, plus I love the colour. I also had lace on my dress and wanted to reflect that in our wedding decorations. Paul also wanted to make sure he had a 'stamp' on the day and so we incorporated his love of Tottenham FC wherever we could without it being too tacky!

For our wedding favours, we had lavender tea for the ladies, to tie in with our wedding theme, and pin badges for the boys. Paul is a HUGE Tottenham fan and wanted his personality to show throughout the day and the badges were one of them! I had the badges printed by Awesome Merchandise with the Tottenham cockerel and the words 'today I support Spurs'. Paul was amazed by how many of the guys wore them considering the rivalry between teams!



All the favours were put in pillow boxes, tied with ribbon with a tag saying either ‘brew me’ for the ladies or ‘wear me’ for the boys. All these were put together with the help of my very patient mother and my eldest niece!



We had loads of DIY projects! Tissue pom-poms {lovingly crafted by my mum!}, the favours, stationery, table plan {I painted the blackboards on our kitchen table – not advised!}, guest book thumbprint tree, candle votives wrapped with lace, confetti cones… the list is quite long! These were the parts of the planning that I equally loved, and that stressed me out! I couldn’t bear the thought of spending three times the amount on paying for someone else to do things I could do, and actually take enjoyment from doing. 



I didn't want to spend much on a wedding cake, as for me it wasn't a huge part of the day that I had imagined. So I decided to order it from M&S. However, I left it too late and had my mum frantically ringing round cake makers in the local area about two weeks before the wedding! And it actually worked out for the best as we ended up with the most amazing cake we have ever tasted! It was a rustic Victoria sponge and was just superb. Rebecca at Streatley Village Cakes did a beautiful job and set it up on the day in the barn, with fresh fruit and flowers. There were many compliments on it! One of my bridesmaids and I were shoving it in our faces at about 11pm to refuel for the dance floor!

On the whole, I loved planning my wedding, however there were elements that stressed me out! I enjoyed ensuring all the details tied together, although probably no one noticed them apart from me! All the time I spent planning, and feeling daunted, came good in the end. 

My advice for brides? The old 'take a moment to take it all in on the day' cannot be stressed enough and also to remember why you’re doing it. My favourite moment of the whole day, amongst all the little touches we had made, was actually saying my vows and meeting Paul at the altar. I would also advise brides to delegate! My sister was A-mazing throughout the whole process and on the day her and my brother-in-law were up at the venue at 7.30am making sure everything was sorted for me, and I cannot thank her enough. Also, it’s easy to say in hindsight, but try to relax in the final few weeks; I didn’t and my back went two weeks before the wedding, and I was laid up in bed for the whole week. It was my body's way of telling me enough was enough and actually helped me to let go!

We also chose to have a videographer and found a company, Family Creative, who were just starting out in the business. We were delighted with the final version, and I think I must have watched the DVD about a million times! Getting a wedding video definitely brings your day to life, and having the footage to look back on adds another dimension.




More posts like this one:

✽ Amazing Rustic Barn Wedding

✽ Luxury Barn Wedding

♥ Want to see more summer weddings? ♥ Or how about grey-themed wedding ideas? ♥

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