From Brides With Love

Top 10 Tips for your Engagement Shoot: Preparing for your Pre-Wedding Shoot

2022-02-18T09:02:00.000+00:00

Engagement shoots are becoming more popular with couples as a way to get to feel comfortable in front of the camera before the wedding day. It's also a great way to have some gorgeous photos to look back on of a happy time, and you can also incorporate the shots into your wedding website and stationery. One of the most comment DMs we receive is brides looking for tips on how to prepare for their pre-wedding shoot, so we've put together a list from what to wear down to preparing the little details.

1. Choose Complementary Outfits

Not matching, complementary! Neutral tones tend to work really well with engagement shoots but a bold colour can make a statement. However, it's important to also make sure you're comfortable. Wearing heels might sound like a great idea but if you're doing a lot of walking it could be a mistake.

2. Look like yourself

You might decide to get your hair and makeup done for the shoot, or to schedule it for the day of your bridal trials. This is a great idea but make sure you still look like yourself! If you rarely ever wear makeup then having a glam look with false lashes might not be a great idea. You don't want to look back at the photos and hardly recognise yourself!

3. Select a Significant Location

You might decide to have your engagement shoot at your wedding venue which is a great idea for getting to know photo opportunities, or your photographer might recommend somewhere. However, if you're struggling for ideas think of somewhere that's important to you as a couple or somewhere that you spend a lot of time together, even if that's just the city you live.

4. Decide on the style of photos you want

Now this goes hand in hand with location, but if you want whimsical nature shots then choosing the city centre isn't a good idea! Have a think about the type of shoot that you prefer, do you like the idea of looking adventurous wandering through the woods, or running along a beach or do you like the urban vibe of graffiti and the city of your backdrop? We have so much engagement shoot inspo to help you decide.

5. Think about the weather

Scheduling a January engagement shoot will probably mean you'll be wrapped up in coats and could face the rain. If you prefer the idea of wearing something light with the sun shining down on you then you need to think about having it in the summer. Equally, if you don't like the heat then keep this in mind. Your photographer should be able to advise you on availability.

6. Get your nails done and clean your ring

Your photographer is going to want to snap those ring close ups, and who doesn't love any chance to show off their engagement ring? So make sure your nails (and your ring) are looking fresh; whether that's booking your acrylics in for that week or a simple coat of your favourite polish.

7. Have a think about photographs

Have a browse through other engagement shoots and see if there are any photographs that stand out that you'd like to recreate. If you'd like golden hour sunset photos then make sure you've scheduled it for the right time of day.

8. Trust your photographer

Really! They know what they're doing. If they suggest trying something while shooting, keep an open mind and the results will be worth it.

9. Relax

Easier said than done, but most couples find that the nerves fade away quickly. Prepare your outfits and plan in advance so you're not stressing the night before!

10. Have fun!

You're creating memories to look back on forever, so don't forget to enjoy it!

Photography, concept and planning: Viola Jay Photography
Picnic graze and table styling: The Chestnut Grove
Florist: Blossom and Bloom Florist
Hair: Chloe Bradbury Hair
Location: Alderford Lake

Stylish Insta-Loving Bride Pink Styled Shoot at Peggy Porschen, London

2022-02-12T10:10:00.199+00:00

This shoot is the Galentine's weekend pop of pink and red we needed! We are obsessed with these photos at London's most instagram-worthy locations, and it's hard to believe that with the gorgeous sunshine it was shot in January. The inspiration encapsulates the modern bride, with effortlessly chic styling and modern blooms. We love that we got to supply our love hair slide and pink heart sunglasses too! The photographer Kelly Hiscox tells delves into the inspiration...

Theme

When planning this shoot, I wanted a colour palette that modern, Instagram loving brides would connect with. I decided on Blush and Red, as I loved the neutral tone paired with the pop of the red! The main location was Peggy Porschen (Belgravia) – a fairy tale setting for pink themed weddings and insta-inspired couples.

Inspiration

So many of my couples find me on Instagram, and I wanted to connect further with my ideal client and target audience. Instagram, alongside pinterest can bring invaluable inspiration during the wedding planning process. I know that my couples actively search Instagram for inspiration for wedding portraits, and when considering portrait locations in central London, there is so many locations to choose from. What I hadn’t seen, was some of London’s most beautiful streets being used as the setting for wedding portraits. Handily situated a 5-minute walk from Chelsea Old Town Hall are some of the prettiest streets in Chelsea, Bywater Street and Godfrey Street. Colourful, vibrant and cute houses line these streets, and for couples with a pink theme for their wedding, these streets are the perfect setting. I also noticed that one of the most Instagram-able pink café’s is also situated a short walk away – Peggy Porschen. When I found this café, I knew that we had to set the shoot here, as it was perfect for my vision and theme. It also made me question why this café wasn’t a wedding portrait hotspot, with its beautifully seasonally decorated exterior, it’s array of cute (and delicious) pink sweet treats, and an outside seating area at the Belgravia café to capture it all! I just had to show this cafe to couples to help them in their planning process!

Florals

The florist set out to create a romantic yet modern bouquet for this shoot. A pink and red colour combination is bold, yet if created in a softer way, in this case an ombre effect going from white to pink to red, the overall look becomes much more romantic and subtle. The colours also complemented Peggy's decor which again makes the colour combo gentler.

This modern style of bouquet is becoming super popular. No greenery, just blooms, yet lots of texture with the stems placed in an unstructured way. Seasonal ranunculus as well as roses, carnations, ginster and syringa were used to create the bouquet. This gave a good mix of structured/movement of stems as well as smooth and ruffled textures of petals. The bouquet was medium/large sized so it was easy to hold around the city but it still looked impactful and worked super well with the simplicity of the dress. The overall look is fun, romantic and perfect for a modern bride.

The Dress

Medusa London is made for the understated, modern, and conscious ones. Everything is made to be comfortable and free from constraints, sleek and luxurious, for the cool brides with a minimalist approach to fashion. Made from sustainable materials such as 100% organic silk and is handmade in London using couture techniques. Each piece is made to order to minimise waste and can be transformed after the wedding to be reused for other events M.09| Hestia : Featuring Clean lines and an open back with a bow detail, 3/4 sleeves and a Full skirt. Made of 100% organic silk which is cool in the summer and warm in the winter so it can be worn all year. It does not have a train so it’s perfect for a city wedding and to take pictures around the city, walk through the beautiful buildings of Chelsea and to dance all night. Hestia is a modern dress with some beautiful romantic details such as the back bow for those looking for an understated elegant look on the Bride.

Hair & Makeup

After hearing Kelly’s vision for the shoot, I wanted to create a modern yet timeless look that brought out Aleesha’s amazing features and gorgeous long hair. Eyeliner was used to create definition around the eye but was blended to create a soft smoky hue. Foundation with a natural coverage and finish created the perfect palette for a pop of colour on the lips and cheeks, toning in with the other punchy elements of the shoot. A soft, casual wave in her hair finished off the effortlessly glamorous look perfectly.

Accessories

From Brides with Love supplied the most perfect hair grip and cute / playful sunglasses for the shoot which perfectly met the theme! I wanted the shoot to connect with a modern and fun loving bride – these accessories were the perfect contribution!

Suppliers

This concept couldn’t have been brought together any better with the help of these incredible suppliers! For me, I want to work with suppliers who I trust, are talented in their speciality and are comfortable to share their creative vision. This team met my criteria fully. I’m always a fan of every floral design that Katie creates, so I knew she’d be the perfect person to create the bouquet. Agenese’s Hestia dress was perfect with delicate touches and the cute bow to tie in with the theme and I knew that Alyse would be able to create a soft, sleek and stunning bridal look with a pop of red lip! The stunning hair grip and heart shaped sunglasses were the details I could see this client group adoring!

Photography and concept: Kelly Hiscox Photography

HMUA: Alyse Baker

Dress: Medusa London

Bride: Aleesha Hicks

Café: Peggy Porschen

Hotel: Sloane Place

Accessories: From Brides with Love

Flowers: Unique Your Wedding

From Brides, With Love xo

Beautiful Bridal Jewellery by Carat* London

2022-02-03T16:51:00.001+00:00

As we approach the 2022 wedding season lots of brides will be looking for the final touches to their wedding look. One of the most important things to tie your look together is jewellery - once you have your dress, we recommend choosing your necklace first and then considering other smaller accessories. We love the idea of purchasing pieces for your wedding day that you can wear again and again, to celebrate anniversaries and other future milestones.

When Carat* London reached out to us and asked if we'd like to review two of their necklaces we thought this would be a great opportunity to potentially recommend a brand to fellow brides. They asked Tiffany and I (Lauren) to each choose a necklace to review.

Each necklace came in a beautiful foiled box with hand-tied ribbon. The white box is ideal for wedding morning flat lay photos and for keeping your precious necklace safe. Both necklaces are sterling silver and cubic zirconias, offering the brilliance of diamonds at a fraction of the cost. Get ready to drop those hints for Valentine's Day...

I wanted to choose something to wear for my upcoming September wedding so I chose the Tulisa Marquise necklace (£139). This necklace is perfect for pairing with a wedding dress as the slider closure means that you can wear customise the length so that it sits perfectly. I thought this would also give me more opportunity to wear it again in the future as it will pair more easily with multiple outfits.

The first thing I noticed was how sparkly the necklace is, it really catches the light from every angle. The slider glides gently to change the length but didn't move or slip down for the whole day I wore it to test it out (essential for a wedding day!). I really love the detail on the necklace too, the slider itself has more stones and so do the ends of the chain, which means it looks really pretty draped down your back for any brides wearing their hair up.

Tiffany chose the Atrias necklace (£89) - "inspired by bright starry nights, our Atrias necklace is your very own Lucky Star". if you've followed us for a while you'll know that she loves all things celestial!

The delicate star motif is so trendy and the perfect choice for the modern bride, Carat* London also have a matching necklace and ring available. This necklace has two hooks to offer a choice of length. Its simple nature would complement all types of wedding dresses.

Thank you so much to Carat London for kindly sending us these necklaces, we're in love!

From Brides, With Love xo

*This post includes paid promotion

Lauren and Luke's Soft and romantic summer barn Wedding at bunny hill

2022-01-15T11:47:00.005+00:00

Mr + Mrs Norman

Wedding Date: 10th July 2021 | Bunny Hill Weddings | Guests: 72

Instagram: @laurenkatenorman | Photos: Charlotte White Wedding

Lauren and Luke wed in a romantic summer barn wedding in Yorkshire with a soft colour palette of bridal whites and blush. The bride wore a beautiful pronovias bardot gown paired with a gorgeous pair of sparkling Jimmy Choos. Their wedding featured woodland couples portaits, a flower arch inspired by Millie Mackintosh and a zip line (yes there is a photo of the bride having a go - scroll down!). Lauren tells us all about their special day and offers some amazing advice for future brides to be.

Something Old: My garter – My mum bought and used the garter for my christening as a baby where I wore it around my head as a headband! I was a pretty bald baby so mum thought it made me look more like a girl haha!
Something New: My beautiful Pronovias Dress from Dotty Bridal & my stunning Jimmy Choos
Something Borrowed: My mums lucky 6 pence & a small angel she keeps in her purse. The angel is sentimental as she got it when my grandparents were in a car accident to help watch over them all at such a difficult time. She wanted it to bring me luck and love on our big day. I kept both of these things in my bag.
Something Blue: A small blue ribbon tied to my garter

Favourite wedding supplier: I’m not sure I can pick just one! They were all incredible! If I have to I would choose our MUA, Ellise Ferguson. She was so incredible, she had 6 girls to make up the morning of our wedding, she even did touch ups on a few other family members after we were finished. She wouldn’t stop until each of us were totally happy with our looks. I don’t often wear a lot of makeup and she understood this perfectly, she made me feel so stunning, talked me through all the products she used and tried numerous looks in trials with me. I wish she could do my makeup every day!

Wedding must-have: Live music & a fantastic photographer/videographer!

What was your favourite wedding purchase?

Apart from my beautiful dress?? Our Seating plan frame, I found an image of a frame like this on Pinterest and searched high and low for one similar. I couldn’t find one anywhere, my mum was a star and found a metal worker who agreed to create this for us and he matched it perfectly! When I first saw it I just loved it! He also made our centre piece stands and floral hoop!

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

When I put my dress on and looked at myself in the mirror for the first time holding my flowers, fully ready. I took a huge breath and teared up. I’m not an emotional person usually and don’t cry a lot but this moment really got me. It was the first moment I feel I truly realised it was my wedding day which sounds crazy after such a lead up and planning but this was the moment. Not long after when we were getting ready to walk down the aisle outside, my dad took my arm and held my hand so tight and I was trying to hold back the tears, I suddenly realized this was it, we were getting married! My dad took my arm and held my hand and told me to breath and remember to walk slowly, told me I was ok and to just keep hold of him. He talked me through what he was going to do when we got to the end of the aisle, I honestly don’t think I even responded when he said it, I think I just nodded trying not to cry and trying to breathe! I was so suddenly frozen with so many different emotions all hitting me at once, I don’t think I let myself feel nervous or emotional until this point and it just all came at once! He could obviously tell I was suddenly very nervous, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, trying to hold back tears and the nerves it was so intense. I feel like you can see this in my face in the pictures of me walking down the aisle. Not only was this one of the most emotional moments of the day it was one of my favourites, I felt like we were both so loved, everybody was there for us and wanted us to have the most amazing day, it was the most incredible feeling.

How did you choose your venue?

We found Bunny Hill on a Google search along with a few others, we visited one other venue before Bunny Hill and as soon as we visited Bunny Hill we cancelled the rest of our venue appointments! As soon as we got there I think we both knew it was the right place. The grounds are stunning, the barn is beautiful, the accommodation is perfect, it was the perfect middle ground for us. We didn’t want anything too ‘fancy’ but we also didn’t want anything too simple or rustic, this was the perfect mix for us.

Tell us about the ceremony...

We had a simple ceremony with a registrar in the Garden Room at Bunny Hill. It was a beautiful setting with large bifold doors opening into the courtyard. We didn’t have any readings, we wanted to keep it short and sweet – we were both so nervous I don’t think we could have stood up there any longer!

Music

Bridal Entrance: A thousand years – Christina Perri

Ceremony Songs: We had an incredible acoustic singer from Jonny Ross Music – Michael Bird.

Bridal Exit: This will be (an everlasting love) – Natalie Cole

First Dance: Always Remember Us This Way – Lady Gaga

Best wedding splurge: The live music. We booked all our live music through Jonny Ross and had an acoustic singer at our drink’s reception, live band in the evening and a DJ with saxophone, it was amazing! I highly recommend The Rolling Keys and Michael Bird.

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

Our honeymoon was cancelled due to Covid. This was a couple of months before our wedding. We were supposed to be going to Kenya on Safari staying at the stunning Governors Camp – Il Moran and then to the Shangri-la in Mauritius. It was a holiday of a life time. We were gutted when we couldn’t go but we knew it was coming. We managed to rearrange and we now have this booked for July next year where we will celebrate our first wedding anniversary on Safari in the Massai Mara! We decided we still wanted to get away so we did manage to book a last minute ‘mini-moon’ to Antigua as this was on the green travel list. We had a lovely 10 nights away but we cannot wait to go on our proper honeymoon!

Tell us all about the dress…

My dress shop was incredible, I previously went to one other shop and I was so disappointed with my experience there, I didn’t feel like a bride in any of the dresses, I didn’t feel excited and didn’t feel how I thought I would when I tried my first wedding dress on. The second shop I visited was the amazing Dotty Bridal in Holmfirth. The girls that work here are the nicest and most genuine people you will ever meet, they make every moment feel special and will do anything to help you find that dream dress. The shop is beautiful, they have cocktails, sweet treats, stunning décor, rails and rails of stunning dresses, what more could you want! I went dress shopping during the pandemic in summer 2020, I was only allowed 3 guests with me which was a shame as I originally hoped for all of my bridesmaids to be there as well but we had the best day none the less. I was joined by my mum, sister and auntie.

The dress was nothing like I imagined. I thought I would go strapless and did like the off the shoulder look but I imagined it to be bright white and lace. I have always loved a bit of sparkle and when I saw my dress in the shop on a mannequin, I was instantly drawn to it! I tried my dress on first as Alex the store assistant knew I was drawn to this one as soon as I walked in, my eyes lit up as soon as I tried it on. I kept twirling and looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t want to take it off. Convinced I can’t possibly choose the first dress I tried on I tried on 3 or 4 others but went back to my first choice every time. It came down to 2 dresses, the one I chose and the one I always thought I would get, I realized my options were, play it safe with what I know, or go for the one I love that’s a little bit different. I am so happy I went with my heart and not my head! I would be lying if I didn’t say I doubted my decision all the way up until I saw my dress again but as soon as I put it back on I knew I made the right choice, I felt like a princess! My dress was Hopkins by Pronovias.

What was the worst wedding planning moment?

When we were still in lockdown in January 2021. It was the year of our wedding and we should be feeling excited, I was filled with dread. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen and we didn’t think we would still be in this situation by then.

What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it?

No! We found it really hard to set a budget not knowing exactly what stuff cost but we spent a lot more money than we imagined! If you ask me it was worth it, if you ask Luke we could have probably cut down somewhere! Haha!

Top money saving tip: DIY as much as you can! Call in friends and family to help!

Tell us about your wedding theme...

Blush, white, gold metals and lots of greenery and florals. I went pinterest board mad and just anything and everything blush with lots of flowers popped right out at me so I knew I wanted this. I also loved the classic all white look but knew I had to incorporate the soft blush tones into our day as well. I wanted to go very flower heavy, I kept saying ‘secret garden vibes!’ I didn’t want our day to be too ‘boho’ style but I did want it to be soft, romantic and simply stunning and it was just that.

Did you make any wedding DIYs?

Yes! So many! We made a target game based on the American game – cornhole. We made these with ply wood, sticky back vinyl and the machine I would recommend for all crafty brides – my Cricut! I also made all of our signage using vinyl stickers I made including our welcome sign, seating chart, table numbers and the name places. We really struggled with favours so we ended up making these ourselves as well, we bought small sweet jars from Home Bargains for 79p each and bulk bought our favourite pic ‘n’ mix sweets, we spent the week before our wedding filling the jars and we had so much fun doing it! This was a nice personal touch for us because we both have a sweet tooth and filling these with our favourites was a nod to that.

Tell us about the cake...

The Flamingo Bakery supplied our cake, we met Emily at a wedding fair in 2019 and we loved her cake! We were lucky to attend a few wedding fairs before Covid hit so we tried A LOT of cake but Emily’s was the best by far! We wanted a simple but beautiful design, we went for white with touches of our blush and gold colour scheme. The flavours were white chocolate & raspberry, lemon and the classic Victoria sponge. My favourite memory of the cake was seeing it for the first time when I walked into our venue before the ceremony, we were walking through the reception room to head to the ceremony and as I walked in I saw it and my exact words were ‘wow, look at our cake!’ I had never seen a cake look so perfect in a setting. We ate our wedding cake on the plane to Antigua for our mini-moon the following day!

Favourite celebrity wedding: Millie Mackintosh’s flower arch was stunning! I feel like this was the first time I decided I wanted one.

Advice for future brides…

Breathe. Let yourself feel the emotion, when you wake up feeling a bit sick and headachy don’t assume you ate something funny last night! This is nerves whether you believe it or not, I have learnt that from experience! Live in the moment for every second of your day, people told me to soak it all up because it goes so fast and they were not wrong! I couldn’t believe how quickly it all went by. We have some incredible photos from our day and I had a few requests for what these should look like but I gave our photographer free reign with what she felt would look best and I am so happy I did, I put all of my trust in her to capture our day perfectly and she did just that – your photographers and suppliers do this every week, trust them and don’t try to control every fine detail. Sneak off and have small moments with your new Husband, we were lucky to have a few of these, straight after the ceremony we went inside our reception room whilst our guests were leaving the ceremony and we had chance to speak about our mornings, how nervous we both were and just take a minute to breathe and admire our venue.

Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?

I wish I wouldn’t have worried as much about trying to make time to speak to everybody. I missed a lot of our live music doing this and looking back I wish I just got on the dance floor and enjoyed it.

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?

A zip line? That’s unusual right!? All of our guests loved it and I have a fantastic picture of me whizzing down it in my dress!

Funniest wedding photograph: That’s a tough one, it has to be my dad spilling a whole tray of drinks after so carefully carrying it down from the bar!

Tell us about your first dance...

We winged it and it probably looked awful! Neither of us are the best dancers but me trying to get Luke to move his feet after a few rums was a whole new task! The whole thing was basically us both swaying! Although I did manage to get him to spin me at one point!

Photographer: Charlotte White Wedding
Venue: Bunny Hill Weddings
Flowers: Vanessa Kemeny
Cake: Flamingo Bakery
Décor: Mount Pleasant Event Styling
MUA: Ellise Ferguson
Hair: Laura Bell
Dress: Dotty Bridal
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Bridesmaids dresses: Ted Baker
Suits: Hawes & Curtis
Wedding Rings: Berry’s Jewelers
Band: The Rolling Keys
Photobooth: Booth Revolution

From Brides, With Love xo

Forces of Nature: Adventurous and Romantic Portland Bill Elopement Shoot

2021-12-15T11:13:00.006+00:00

Eloping allows more freedom when it comes to get married in an extraordinary location and the natural surroundings in this shoot are incredible. Real life couple Vanessa and Josh modelled and looked gorgeous against their stunning backdrop. The dress is giving us adventurous Disney princess bride vibes! Lily Jones of Run Wild Elopements tells us about the inspiration and planning behind the shoot.

Theme and Inspiration

The theme is love! We want to celebrate love without all the bells on! The Jurassic Coast of Dorset is one of our absolute favourite places to elope to! With stunning coastlines of rocks and cliff formations, it is the perfect romantic place to watch the sunset with your loved one and we were so excited to create a beautiful elopement styled shoot here with Vanessa and Josh, a real-life beautiful couple who have so much love for each other!

Location

One of our exclusive venues is Portland Bill Lighthouse on the Isle of Portland which has been standing majestically for the past one hundred and eleven years, guiding ships through the English Channel. It is a simply stunning location along the Jurassic coastline and perfect for lovers of adventure.

The Couple

Vanessa and Josh are such an amazing couple, with Vanessa working as an A&E nurse through the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to give her and Josh a day of pampering and a moment away from the madness of the world to be in each other's arms, laugh together and get some once in a lifetime photos and so this shoot was born! We styled Vanessa in a stunning dusky grey gown from Together Forever Bridal and gorgeous handmade hairpieces from Ritz & Sass and Josh wore a dapper emerald green suit and had far too much fun sporting his Michael Jackson-esk fedora hat! We ended what was a fantastic day with a bottle of champagne as the set over the horizon!

Planning

Elopements aren’t anything new; but with the restrictions that 2020 brought, it is a style of wedding that more and more couples are starting to think about. At Run Wild Elopements we LOVE a good runaway wedding! They are intimate, romantic, and always beautiful because they are just about the two of you and celebrating your love. Elopements these days can be tricky; there are lots of rules in place about where and when you can get married and they sadly are not ‘runaway into the sunset’ moments anymore because of this. So, for a stress-free beautiful elopement, we would definitely recommend using an experienced elopement company such as ourselves. We know all the rules, how things will work, all the logistics and everything you will need for your day (planner, photographer, hair and makeup, videographer, celebrant) comes as a whole package!

Photography

For me it’s really important to showcase the epic couple amongst epic scenes in nature, there is literally no better backdrop. We are super keen to show that your wedding can literally be whatever you want it to be, want to climb rocks? Want to go for a sea swim, do it! It’s your wedding day and it should be about what you love doing the most! It’s also really important to me to shoot when the light is at its best, this happens to be just before sunrise/sunset and the hour after it goes, we call this blue hour and it creates such moody atmospheric lighting, I love it!

Bridalwear

It’s no surprise that this stunning silver dress from Together Forever Brides stole the show! This dress featured a structured ruffled skirt and a fitted bodice with ruching and sparkle, and showed that even elopement dresses, which are usually considered to be simple and sleek, can be a huge showstopper! The ruffles caught the wind on the cliffs perfectly and made Vanessa feel and look like a princess!

Flowers

For this shoot we wanted to capture the wild and rugged nature of the Jurassic Coast and bring out the purple and silver tones of Vanessa’s dress. Using purple and blue thistles gave this bouquet a wildness vibe and we paired it with lilac eucalyptus foliage, fern leaves and gorgeous baby pink Tintagel Leucospermum, all hand tied with cream vintage lace, for the truly adventurous bride.

Hair and Make Up

For Portland Bill, the look was striking and glam, the sun was absolutely beaming that day and so I used those warm red, gold, bronzes and browns to not only compliment Vanessa’s skin tone but absolutely glisten in that warm sunshine. Vanessa’s hair was styled in 3 different ways, firstly a beautiful soft vintage wave complimented with a stunning red hair accessory and finished with a strong red lip to bring all the colours together and showcase that stunning grey dress. On location we also swept Vanessa’s hair into a soft updo and finally as sun was setting we let her hair loose and free to flow in the windy sea air.

Accessories

For this shoot we used a gorgeous handmade red and bronze hairpiece from Ritz and Sass which complimented the red and orange tones of Vanessa’s makeup and added a bit of sparkle to her look.

Suppliers

Run Wild Elopements are unique because we are the only company that offers a full package for everything you need for your elopement. That means that our team is already together and works brilliantly together.

CONCEPT & ORGANISER | www.runwildelopments.co.uk

PHOTOGRAPHER | www.leoniemayphotography.com

PLANNER & STYLIST | www.lilyjonesevents.co.uk
HAIR & MAKE UP | www.sjbhairandmakeup.co.uk

MODELS | Vanessa & Josh
BOUQUETS | Lily among the Thorns

DRESS | www.togetherforeverbrides.co.uk

HAIRPIECES | www.ritzandsass.co.uk

From Brides, With Love xo

Jade and Will's Minimal and Modern Monochrome Wedding With Dusky Blue Hues at Brickhouse Vineyard

2021-12-14T12:29:00.002+00:00

Mr + Mrs O’Neill

Wedding Date: 24 July 2021 | Brickhouse Vineyard | Guests: 35

Instagram: @jadeelizaoneill @paperbelles | Photos: Emma Barrow Photography

Jade and Will had a sleek modern wedding theme with monochrome colours and hints of blue. The beautiful bride wore a stunning simple satin dress by Hera Couture and her groom wore a classic black tux. Despite a stressful time planning during the pandemic, their day was perfect with the sun shining and we just love the attention to detail. Jade tells us all about their wedding, including the cheese and wine tasting drinks reception and a bouncy castle...

Something Old: an Irish sixpence from my uncle

Something New: My pearl earrings and hair piece from Tilly Thomas lux in an old Hollywood style. My sister also got me a Frozen charm which was very meaningful saying ‘Sisters always find a way’ on the back.

Something Borrowed: an Irish pin for my bouquet with a silver harp and shamrock. I will hand down to our children when we have them.

Something Blue: Bridesmaid dresses, car, theme, flowers

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

Black, white, dusty blue and natural greens (in flowers). We wanted a classic elegant old Hollywood feel with black tux etc but also with modern elements. Blue is my fav colour and lucky for brides in Irish culture (my husband is Irish so it was fitting). We wanted a fun informal day that also had little meaningful touches and Irish elements to reflect me marrying into an Irish family.

How cool does Jade look with our Bride Straw? Click here to shop!

Funniest moment: The night before the wedding I was doing a pamper session with my bridesmaids and an absolutely massive spider ran across the floor sending us all into hysterics. The spider ran up the trail of my wedding dress and in our panic one of my bridesmaids (worried it was going to ruin my dress) smacked it across the room. We laughed all night about it and it definitely livened up the evening haha. The next day I was told that apparently finding a spider on your dress is supposed to be lucky and lead to a long marriage.

Bridal Entrance: After Rain – Dermot Kennedy

Bridal Exit: Tenerife Sea – Ed Sheeran

First Dance: Outnumbered – Dermot Kennedy (lyrics are so personal to us)

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

Seeing Will for the first time and walking down the aisle.

Tell us about the ceremony...

We didn’t want the traditional ceremony so we had our ‘legal ceremony’ at the registry office 2 days before. This meant we had a really personal ceremony on the day with music, our story, handfasting (incorporating Irish culture) and a ring warming ceremony – where guests hold the ring for a moment and give their blessing.

Best wedding splurge: We really wanted a neon sign as part of the décor that was something a bit different. To continue the Irish theme, we had a custom sign made with ‘Gra go deo’ which means forever love in Gaelic. Even though it was expensive, we will use it in our house to remind us forever.

Tell us all about the dress...

When starting the dress shopping experience, I thought I’d end up with something very vintage boho, straight and beaded. But I ended up with something very modern, minimal and classic. A big surprise – but it was definitely ‘the one’ so I had to change the whole wedding theme to suit – haha.

What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it?

£20,000. No haha. When people say add 10% on to your budget they are so right. Especially during pandemic times.

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?

We opted for something a bit different than the usual drinks and canapes. As we were getting married at a working vineyard so we had a mini wine and cheese tasting session instead which was really fun for our guests. We also had a bouncy castle – for the kids of course *cough cough*!

Did you have wedding favours?

We decided to opt out of wedding favours and donated to the NSPCC instead on behalf of our guests – a charity close to our hearts. We got a pin badge to give guests and I made little boxes to put them in with our personalized wax seal stamp to match our stationery.

Did you make any DIYs?

I run a wedding stationery business @paperbelles so I made all the wedding invitations and on the day stationery from menus to the table plan and favours. My husband made the copper sign stands for me too.

Advice for future brides…

Take a moment for just you and your new husband. The day is very overwhelming and busy so just take at least 10 minutes away just to reflect and enjoy your time together. It rained in the evening of our wedding and we had a red ‘harvest moon’ so we sat outside under the marquee at night and watched the rain come down over the grape vines and the beautiful moon. The Moon has always been very significant to us. Such a special moment I’ll never forget.

What was your favourite part of the day?

All of it!

Worst wedding planning moment: Planning a wedding during covid times with most of Will’s family not being able to travel from Ireland due to restrictions. Also, we were in the height of the ‘pingdemic’ so had suppliers needing to cancel with 4 days to go – very stressful but we enjoyed the day and that’s all that matters in the end. You have to keep reminding yourself that it’s all meant to be.

Tell us about your honeymoon...

We are waiting to have our honeymoon next year when travel gets a bit easier with the covid rules but we decided to have a little mini moon to celebrate and I am so glad we did. We had a few days at the lovely Boringdon Hall near Plymouth. It was so nice to have just ‘us’ time after all the whirlwind and it helped with the initial wedding blues to have something to look forward to.

Photographer: Emma Barrow Photography
Videographer: Devon Wedding Films
Venue: Brickhouse Vineyard
Stationery: Paperbelles (the bride's own business)
Flowers: Emma Hewlett Floral
Cake: Little Buttercup Cakery
Décor: DIY
MUA: Kate Devon MUA
Hair: Jessica Faye Bridal Hair
Dress: Hera Couture from Lovely Bridal Honiton
Shoes: ASOS
Bridesmaids dresses: ASOS
Flower girl dresses: Next
Suits: Moss Bros
Wedding Rings: 77 Diamonds
Celebrant: Fan – Fanfare Ceremonies
Band/DJ: Ocean Rain
Bouncy Castle: Exeter Bouncy Castles
Car: Dream American Wedding Cars
Bride getting ready venue: Exeter Castle Airbnb
Groom getting ready venue: Hotel Du Vin Exeter
Caterer: M Welsh Catering
Bridal Accessories: Tilly Thomas Lux

From Brides, With Love xo

Christmas Traditions to start as a couple

2021-12-11T09:00:00.001+00:00

Whether you're planning your wedding, or recently married, it's important to keep making special memories as a couple that you can do year after year to show your love and appreciation for one another. Even more importantly, these traditions can be done no matter what is happening in the world (even a global pandemic!)

1. Give each other a Christmas Card

This one might sound obvious, but taking the time to choose a special card for each other is a lovely thing to do every year. Take the time to write a little letter inside about why you appreciate them and some of the memories you've shared together that year! Hang onto them and they will be lovely to look back on in years to come. We have a beautiful range of Christmas cards in our shop (and you can get 15% off with code FESTIVE).

This one was designed exclusively for us by Nora Wright

2. Have a Christmas movie marathon

Nothing sounds better than snuggling down with a hot chocolate, some Christmas snacks and some festive films. Some recommendations from us...

Lauren's Favs:

Klaus
elf
Nativity

Tiffany's Favs:

The Santa Clause
Snowglobe
The Grinch

3. Try baking something festive

Don't worry if your combined skill level isn't a match for Mary Berry, there are plenty of simple Christmas bakes. There are some great recipe ideas here. Plus, if anything goes wrong you can coat it in icing sugar and call it "snow".

4. Gift each other a special bauble

On the day you put up your tree, you could gift each other a bauble that you think the other will love. Starting this tradition means that in future years when you put up your decorations you can remember the ones you got each other and the stories behind them. Here's another shameless plug for the bridal baubles we sell in our shop...

These are handmade for us exclusively by Maria Manuscript

5. Buy matching Christmas jumpers

...or pyjamas! It doesn't get more cheesy than this, but that's the best thing about Christmas traditions right?

6. Take a cosy Christmas photo together

We know how hard it can be to rope your fiancé into having his photo taken at times! But, surely at Christmas he owes you at least one cute pic? You could take it with a background of Christmas lights or a cosy background at home. You could even use it for next year's Christmas card!

7. Make a photobook of the year

This is an amazing way to look back on everything that happened that year and also to remember things in years to come. Holidays, nights out, family time, promotions - they're all worth remembering! Using a site like Snapfish allows you to also add text besides your photos so you can remember the little details. Admittedly, the 2021 edition might be a little bit thinner than other years, but that makes it an easy place to start!

8. A Christmas date night for two

Sometimes among all the Christmas chaos and parties, a date night for two can easily be missed! You could go to the same restaurant every year and book in early. However, if this isn't possible due to time (or you know a pandemic) then you could get takeaway food from their instead. You could still dress up at home, light a candle, turn off your phones and a have a date night.

9. Go for a walk to see the local lights

This one seems pretty obvious but sometimes during the busiest season of the year it's easy to forget to take a moment to pause! Starting this tradition could mean choosing one area (ideally somewhere with lots of Christmas lights) for a festive walk every year in the lead up to Christmas - you could even get a festive hot drink drink of choice on the way.

10. Food Bank Advent Calendar

This a lovely tradition to start as a couple or family. The idea of the 'reverse' advent calendar is that instead of getting something each day to countdown, you add something each day for the food bank. Then on the 24th December (or the 12th) you'll have a box full for the food bank and can take it there to hand it in.

11. Make your own Christmas Cocktails

Remember that Christmas date night we mentioned above? Why not try making some cocktails for 2! There's lots of easy recipes online. Lauren's fav is a french martini and Tiffany's is a pornstar martini. You could start simple with a bellini; prosecco and your syrup of choice.

12. 12 Dates of Christmas

Get a jar and write down 12 fun date ideas for the next year, that way you can pull one out each month for something fun to do together.

13. Have a wrapping marathon

Wrapping gifts is so much more fun with two! How about a date night at home seeing who can wrap the prettiest presents? Christmas tunes, bubbly and Hugh Grant dancing in the background is essential of course.

14. Take a Polaroid and peg it on the tree

If you've got an instax camera then this is such a cute tradition to start and something you can keep forever!

Tag us @frombrideswithlove if you decide to try out any of these traditions and let us know if you'll be doing them every year!

From Brides, With Love xo

Love is patient... but we are not! Blog Co-Founder Lauren and Matthew's Secret Edinburgh Elopement

2021-12-10T08:00:00.004+00:00

Mr + Mrs Prichard

10th September 2021 | Dunbar's Close

Instagram: @prichardwedding | Guests: 1 | Photos: Meggy Mac Photography

This introduction is not like the others as I'm writing it about my own wedding (finally!) - it was quite surreal completing the wedding questionnaire I created for our lovely brides about myself. We were due to get married on 12th September 2020 but when Covid hit we postponed until 10th September 2021. With just six months to go, we postponed again until 2022 to make sure that family and friends abroad would be able to attend restriction free. With this decision, we made another, to get married in secret on our 2021 date and have our humanist celebrant perform a blessing ceremony one year later at the big wedding. With my granny and our photographer as our witnesses, we finally became husband and wife in Edinburgh, the beautiful city we are so lucky to call home. - Lauren aka Mrs Prichard, Blog Co-Founder

How did you choose your venue?

When we started wedding planning a few years ago we originally wanted to get married in Edinburgh city centre but chose our beautiful venue in the Scottish Borders, so when we decided to elope we knew we had to get married in the centre of Edinburgh. Dunbar's Close is a gorgeous secret garden on the Royal Mile and considered to be one of the city's hidden gems and was just so peaceful. We took quite a big chance choosing an outdoor ceremony location with no shelter but after a wet morning the sun came out just as I was in the taxi on the way there. We hired a gorgeous 16th Century Airbnb cottage for our meal and wedding night - it was just beautiful.

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

We had been planning our big wedding for almost 3 years and had chosen a rich autumnal colour scheme of deep burgundy, nude and champagne gold which beautifully complements our Georgian stately home venue in the Scottish borders. For our elopement we wanted to do something completely different with neutral tones, and a boho city chic kind of vibe with lots of dried florals. I basically got to plan my 2 dream weddings!

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?

I suppose not telling your friends and family that you’re getting married is quite unusual! We tried not to tell anyone (of course Tiffany knew!) which made it more exciting and it was so lovely receiving phone calls and messages from everyone when they found out.

Tell us about the ceremony...

We had a humanist ceremony, our celebrant Andy is so wonderful and the ceremony was so emotional. We wrote our own vows and barely stopped crying throughout them, Matthew’s words were just so beautiful. My granny was our witness and chose a reading for us which was a surprise on the day. We also incorporated a traditional Celtic handfasting to symbolically “tie the knot”. When we decided to elope in secret we asked Andy if he could take a blessing ceremony at our big wedding in 2022, where we will remake our vows in front of our loved ones. We felt that having a ceremony next year was still important.

Advice for future brides…

I have 3 key pieces of advice for brides to be.

1. The first would be that if you’re considering an elopement or anything different for your wedding day but are worried that people will talk you out of it – don’t tell them. Don’t make decisions based on what others think you should do, in the end it really is all about you and your partner.

2. Always allow yourself so much more time than you think you need. Things will go wrong on the day; makeup artists will run over, taxi rides will take longer, roads may be closed… Part of the Royal Mile was closed so what should’ve been a 4 minute taxi journey turned into a 20 minute one! This all eats into your time. I also wouldn’t recommend going out to salons to get your hair and makeup done, the call out fee can be so expensive (especially if it’s just for one person) but I wish I had paid it as I ran out of time and was late.

3. My final piece of advice would be to do something fun with your nails! It’s a small detail that won’t be hugely noticeable in your wedding photos but it’s something people will notice on the day and love. I decided to have nude nails with white stars nail art and I loved them so much. It’s something small you can do something really fun with and I don’t think any bride would regret it.

Top money saving tip: Elope! But asides from that, choose a venue that is owned by the council or the National Trust. Dunbar’s Close is a public garden which meant it wasn’t expensive to get married there, and although it was open to the public no-one came anywhere near our ceremony area. Another way we saved money was getting black cabs around the city instead of hiring wedding transport, but that’s not always possible depending on venue location.

Favourite wedding supplier: I honestly couldn’t choose, they were all incredible… Maria (Maria Manuscript) made us the most beautiful items including my ribbons and jacket and styled everything to perfection, she made my dreams come to life. Meg (Meggy Mac Photography) captured everything so beautifully, we couldn’t have asked for a better photographer and we had so much fun with her on the day – it was like hanging out with an old friend. Andy McSorley, our humanist, created the loveliest ceremony for us and was so accommodating of our changing plans. Our other suppliers were all amazing too!

Tell us all about the dress…

If you’ve been following us for a while you might have read my dress shopping experience as a plus-size bride. I absolutely adore my wedding dress but after lockdown it was too small so I’ve decided to save my main dress for our big wedding. My elopement dress was an ASOS purchase (probably my biggest bargain find at £170) and I loved it – I felt like a sparkly princess! I have had so many compliments on the dress and I love the way it’s caught the light in our photos.

Did you make any wedding DIYs?

There weren’t many DIYs to be made for our elopement but I did stick one of our silver sixpences to the bottom of my boots which was so cute. I suppose our confetti was a DIY too as I just bought a bunch of reduced roses in Aldi and pulled all of the petals off, it was so inexpensive and also biodegradable.

Favourite wedding planning moment: I have absolutely loved planning my wedding which became two weddings but my favourite moment has to be starting this blog with Tiffany in the first lockdown back in May 2020. We had no idea what it would grow into and the fact I’m now featuring my own wedding is so surreal! The online bridal community is very special and it was through our wedding Instagram pages that Tiffany and I met so I’m very grateful that planning my wedding gave me a best friend and a business.

Worst wedding planning moment: Covid aside (obviously) I think it was getting my hair done on the morning of the wedding! I had been the day before to have my hair pin curled but my hair wouldn’t hold a curl and I ended up with a hairstyle that was nothing like what I wanted. I was trying not to cry in the hairdresser as I could tell she was stressed too!

What was your favourite part of the day?

This is a very difficult one to answer as the whole day was truly magical! I absolutely loved going to get an ice-cream at Mary’s Milk Bar (we’d asked her to make our favourite flavour violet especially) and walking through Grassmarket. It’s a very scenic area with Edinburgh Castle as a backdrop and strangers kept shouting, cheering and saying congratulations which was just lovely! At that time our friends and family still didn't know we were married so to have strangers see and congratulate us was quite surreal.

Favourite celebrity bride: Chloe Lloyd. I’ve followed her on Instagram for years and her wedding was such a dream, she looked absolutely stunning. I loved every detail of her and Josh’s wedding and my nails were actually inspired by hers.

Funniest moment of the day: When we took our champagne pop photo Matthew accidentally sprayed it all over me and my face was dripping wet!

Wedding must-have: Comfortable shoes! I was so glad I decided to wear boots for walking around on the cobbles as walking in a wedding dress is tricky enough.

Favourite wedding photograph: This is possibly the hardest question but I think it would be the one where we are surrounded by greenery in the garden of our Airbnb. The rest of our gallery is very urban and this is like an enchanted forest. The photo was Matthew’s idea and I was sceptical which makes me love it even more as I planned every inch of our wedding day and it’s a good reminder that my husband sometimes has good ideas too (hehe…)

What was your favourite wedding purchase?

I loved everything Maria Manuscript made and styled for us. Maria made my beautiful bouquet ribbons with calligraphy, one had our first dance song and the other had my vows in Spanish which was very personal to me. She also made my leather jacket and our signs and calligraphy candles. On the day Maria styled our Airbnb cottage for us and when we returned after our photos it took my breath away! She did the most amazing job and our elopement would not have been the same without her.

Tell us about the cake...

Our wedding cake was another amazing bargain at £26 (yes, really!) as it only had to feed 2 of us. We ordered it from our favourite local bakery Cuckoos and our stylist Maria added the gorgeous flowers provided by our florist. We also had a little treat box of cake pops and cookies which we took on our minimoon with us.

What was your first dance song?

Despite it just being us two in the evening we decided to still have our first dance. We’ve had the song picked out for years: Tom Odell – Grow Old With Me. I had the lyrics written in calligraphy on my bouquet ribbons. The first dance was one of my favourite moments of the day, it was so emotional and nothing else in the whole world mattered in that moment because we were both just so happy. When the song finished Taylor Swift - You Are In Love began to play from our wedding playlist on shuffle and we both started to cry as I used to play that song all the time when we first met when we were 16.

Where did you spend your honeymoon?

With so many travel restrictions at the time we decided to have our big Lake Como honeymoon next year, I couldn’t face planning something else that could be cancelled. Instead we went to Carberry Tower for a few days for a minimoon and it was so lovely and relaxing. We had a huge suite and loved ordering room service.

What food did you have at your wedding?

Originally when we were planning our elopement we thought about going to a fancy restaurant for a meal after the ceremony, but in the end we went with something that was more “us” and ordered pizza. We contacted Civerinos in advance and asked if they could make the pizza heart shaped for us since it was our wedding and they went above and beyond! On the wedding day when they brought it they didn’t charge us for it and said it was their wedding present to us (so kind!) and they even included steak and cheese fries and hot Nutella doughnuts. It was the best meal I’ve ever eaten. The pizza pics were snapped on my phone after our photographer left.

Our wedding truly was the best day ever and we are so grateful to our wonderful suppliers who made it happen, I would personally recommend every single one of them in a heartbeat.

Photographer: Meggy Mac Photography
Videographer: SensiFilm Productions
Ceremony Location: Dunbar’s Close
Celebrant: Andy McSorley
Flowers: Fiori
Bouquet Ribbons: Maria Manuscript
Styling and Calligraphy: Maria Manuscript
Cake: Cuckoos Bakery
Cookies: Upper Crust Bakes
MUA: Eve Learmonth
Dress: ASOS
Boots: Schuh
Suit: Hugo Boss
Transport: City Cabs
Pizza: Civerinos
Nails: Well Gel Nails
Rings: Chisolm Hunter

From ~~Brides~~ Wifey, With Love xo

Will and Fran's modern elegant post lockdown summer Wedding at Iscoyd Park

2021-12-03T09:30:00.004+00:00

Mr + Mrs Garrett-Levy

19th June 2021 | Iscoyd Park

Instagram: @frangarrettlevy @willgarrettlevy | Guests: 50 | Photos: @ailsareevephotography

Despite many challenges and changing of restrictions, Will and Fran were adamant to hold onto their June 2021 wedding date and with a few changes, and some guest list cute, they made it happen. Beautiful bride Fran was a picture of elegance in a simple gown with gorgeous details - you wouldn’t believe this was an online high street purchase during lockdown!

Tell us all about finding the dress…

I had a slightly different way of finding my perfect dress shall we say! We were planning our wedding day during the height of the pandemic, and I was getting myself into a complete state about finding and shopping for a dress because at that time everything was closed and when things did get back to normal I couldn’t take anyone with me due to travel restrictions and I didn’t feel confident enough to go on my own! So, rather than wallowing I went on to the Ghost bridal website and found a really rather elegant and perfect dress. I of course ran it past my mother first, who loved it, and bought it online right there and then! All in all I didn’t have that rather special wedding dress shopping experience, but I have other incredibly special memories, plus the dress was wonderful (if I do say so myself)! It was very me as it was just very simple but classic! I have always thought of myself as rather a ‘plain Jane’ but everyone has been so complimentary about how I looked on my wedding day which has given me a bit of a boost and I truly felt like a million dollars!

Something Old: A beautiful pink handkerchief which belonged to my late Great-Grandmother! I knew she was with me and all of us every step of the way!

Something New: My wonderful and oldest friend, whom sadly couldn’t come to our wedding as she lives in Australia, bought me the most fabulous tweed garter! It was so beautiful and such a special surprise, as I had no idea! She facetimed my sister in the morning, who had organised it all with her! It was very apt also, as my mantra is ‘a man in tweed is all you need’ and I knew Will wasn’t going to wear a full tweed suit (that was my dream!) as it was so hot so my garter was perfect! I can’t be too mean about Will as he looked absolutely gorgeously handsome, plus changed his tie to a tweed bow tie in the evening which was amazing!

Something Borrowed: A beautiful gold necklace from my wonderful mummy!

Something Blue: I was also totally spoilt by my dearest friend in Australia as she also bought me a stunning ring with a blue gemstone in it! Beautiful and I still wear it every day!

Tell us about the ceremony...

We had a civil ceremony which was lovely and we had two really kind and hilarious registrars! I can still remember what one of them said when she pronounced us man and wife and said ‘Now you’ll notice that William is on Francesca’s right hand side to walk back down the aisle, because your husband should always stay on the RIGHT side of his wife!!!’ and how right she is! We also had some gorgeous readings, The House at Pooh Corner (A.A. Milne) read by one of my best friends and Apache marriage Blessing (Anon) read by Will’s godmother! Both were read beautifully and had such special words which truly meant a lot to us! Overall it was just the most perfect ceremony and we still can’t stop smiling about it!

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

I know it sounds a bit cringey, but knowing that I was going to see the man of my dreams waiting for me at the end of the aisle! After so much stress and turmoil planning for the day, it all comes down to that moment and I knew before walking down that it was all going to be worth it! It was so special also having my father walk me down the aisle, which is a walk that I will never forget!

Music

All played by our fabulous wedding string quartet @theharmonystringquartet...

Song you walked down the aisle to: Hoppipola - Sigur Ros

Ceremony Songs: For Once in my Life - Stevie Wonder and Just Like Heave - The Cure

Bridal Exit: Love Story - Taylor Swift

First Dance: Volare - Gypsy Kings

What was your favourite part of the day?

Other than marrying my now husband, it was probably seeing all of our guests so happy and actually being around one another! The night before our wedding was the first time I had seen one of my grandmothers and my mother seeing her for the first time also due to lockdown so it really was such a special occasion all being together! There isn’t one photograph with someone who isn’t smiling! Looking back at the photographs now, it just fills us with joy seeing everyone so so happy! As they say, a picture says a thousand words, so I needn’t go on!

Advice for future brides…

Stay calm and give yourself time to plan! You don’t have to do everything at once either! We tried to do a little bit every weekend, but it’s frightening how time flies by so do make sure to enjoy planning for your wedding because it’s over in a flash, but what a marvellous flash it is!

Funniest wedding photograph: Probably the one of Will dropping is trousers and showing off his rather funky boxers (although I keep calling them knickers which he hates!)! We purchased them from the fabulous @bucolic_blaze as well as different designed ones for the ushers! We wanted to have a proper photograph of all of the ushers wearing them and dropping their trousers as a joke and showing off their different funky boxers but it turned out that some hadn’t changed into them and even worse weren’t wearing any knickers at all so that would have been very unsightly! Will obviously had to do it, and our poor (but extremely talented and lovely) photographer @ailsareevephotography said that was the first time a groom had ever dropped his trousers for a photo – haha! To let you into a little secret also, I have the photograph as my screen saver as it makes me chuckle every time I look at it!

Tell us about the cake...

Our cake was AMAZING!!! I found a local bakery and cake designer near our venue, and told her our story of meeting! We met rather memorably on the Channel 4 dating show, First Dates! @cakeybitz designed the most perfect wedding cake for us which had the famous red heart and First dates theme all around it! It was also absolutely delicious too, with both vanilla and chocolate sponge layers!

What was the funniest moment of the day?

To be totally honest, all of our guests didn’t stop smiling for the whole day, but the funniest moment was when Will was doing his perfect and beautiful speech! We had arranged for four bouquets to be presented to our mothers and grandmothers to thank them for all of their amazing help and kindness, and Will was meant to hand them over to each of them during his speech! But, he really had to think on his feet, because the bouquets were nowhere to be seen and hilariously we saw our wedding planners sprinting along side of all of us to go and get them! It was brilliant and actually worked very well because it gave everyone a laugh!

Favourite wedding planning moment: It’s pretty obvious, saying ‘I DO’!!!!!!

Worst wedding planning moment: I don’t mean to be negative or speak ill of wedding planning but I am an honest person and truthfully planning our wedding was just bloomin awful! Similarly to all other couples planning their wedding during the pandemic, there were so many never ending hoops we had to jump through, plus because our venue was in North Wales, we had to follow their updates which was equally as painful because they announced their roadmap much later than England and the rules still weren’t clear! It was just as difficult for the venues as well because they were just as in the dark as we were! Quite frankly it was so stressful we almost got divorced before we got married, but all the stress, tears, arguments all paid off in the end because we both had the best day of our lives! I feel emotional just typing this now because it really was the most amazing and special day and even though we had a horrid time planning it, we got through it together! We were so lucky that we didn’t have to postpone our date, unlike so many other couples which we completely feel for, but we did have to sadly uninvite most of our wedding guests due to restrictions on number which was heart-wrenching! Despite this we knew each and every one of them were with us in spirit, and we most certainly raised a glass (or two) for them on the day!

Tell us about your wedding favours...

Our wedding favours were all gorgeously hand-made by my mother and sister! They were mini personalized hand-sanitizers which was an ideal gift for everyone! They also looked so professional, I suggested they start up a little business!

Watch Will and Fran's wedding video below...

Photographer: @ailsareevephotography
Videographer: @_rockbottomproductions
Venue: @iscoydpark
Flowers: @selinagodsal
Cake: @cakeybitz
MUA: @jessicamairstudios
Hair: @jessicamairstudios
Dress: @ghostlondonbridal
Shoes: @mandarinashoes
Bridesmaids dresses: @ghostlondonbridal @coastfashion
Flower girl dresses: @phaseeight @monsoon
Suits: @harvieandhudson
Music: @maximummusicuk_weddings

From Brides, With Love xo

Autumnal French Countryside Elopement With warm colour palette and romantic picnic

2021-11-24T08:00:00.001+00:00

The theme for this shoot was an autumnal French elopement with a muted, terracotta inspired colour palette to complement the autumn scenery. There were two main locations; the romantic woods and a beautiful beach. The photographer Katherine tells us all about each element of the shoot and how her vision came together.

Inspiration

This shoot aims to show the beautiful simplicity and intimacy of a French countryside elopement. A morning vow-sharing on the beach at historic Saint Malo, unique sand cast wedding rings, a romantic golden hour picnic with red wine and macarons in an orchard, a stylish couple in warm, autumnal tones, and stunning dried flower bouquet and buttonhole. Everything pulls together to showcase how a small, intimate elopement can be romantic and beautiful.  

The Food

For the picnic, we had the most delicious macarons and sugar cookies by the super talented Jo Harper – I’d tasted one of her macarons at another styled shoot a few weeks previously and they were soooooooooooo delicious I asked her to make some for this shoot. They didn’t disappoint! They looked beautiful and I only just managed to photograph them before temptation took over and we snaffled them up!! I borrowed the fabrics from Love by Design Weddings; I love the texture of the cheesecloth and the colours worked beautifully together and in the surrounds of the orchard. It was topped off with the terracotta place settings by Ivy Inks. My main inspiration for the shoot was a terracotta colour palette, so as soon as I saw these pop up on my Instagram I knew I had to have them!

Florals

Olive and Ochre supplied a stunning dried flower bouquet and buttonhole. Not only did this mean they could travel, I love that you can then keep your wedding flowers and enjoy them for longer. She absolutely nailed the warm, earthy terracotta vision and the bouquet looked stunning paired with Maria’s calligraphy ribbons.

Rings

When I first saw Justin Duance’s sand cast wedding rings I just knew I had to have them for the shoot. Considering we were planning a vow exchange on the beach it just seemed so fitting. The rings are beyond beautiful and my favourite thing is that they can be cast with sand from a beach of your choosing (if you can supply them the sand!) making them personal and unique to you.

Details

I had such a strong vision for this shoot, the terracotta colours, the warmth and intimacy of a French elopement – just the couple and their love for each other. One of the first suppliers I contacted was Maria – I am totally in love with her calligraphy ribbons and she supplied a couple of gorgeous vow books for the shoot as well which were just perfect. Maria even went to the detail of putting the words on the ribbons and books in French.

Suppliers

The suppliers who were part of this shoot were people I had worked with before or admired from afar (or more accurately Instagram!) As the shoot was in France I arranged to take everything over myself, so huge thanks to all these wonderful creatives for trusting me to pull the vision together from across the Channel!

Bridalwear

For the bridal look, Kimberley Stone designed and created this incredible dress with a simple slip paired with a wrap-over spotted tulle topper. The long sleeves were perfect for the autumn season while still being super stylish. The look was finished with elegant boho earrings from Muted Luxe – my absolute favourite earring brand and just the perfect detail for this earthy elopement. Sash and Veil provided a beautiful and simple drop veil which created a more ethereal look for our bride. After a hunt high and low for a groom suit to match the theme, I found this terracotta stunner on ASOS. It might be a bit unusual but I think it looked great with the rest of the setting.

Suppliers

Concept and Photography: Katherine and Her Camera

Dress: Kimberley Stone

Macarons & cookies: The Jo Haper Cake Company

Rings: Justin Duance

Earrings: Muted Luxe

Vow books & ribbon calligraphy: Maria Manuscript

Ribbons: The Botanical Dyer

Flowers: Olive and Ochre

Veil: Sash and Veil

Place names: Ivy Inks

Styling fabrics: Love by Design

From Brides, With Love xo

A Simple, Intimate and Classic Glasgow Micro Wedding

2021-11-23T17:40:00.137+00:00

Mr + Mrs

23rd July 2021 | 23 Montrose Street

Instagram: @charlotte_duncaan | Guests: 10 | Photos: Jordan Summers

This gorgeous pair celebrated their legal wedding in Glasgow with 10 guests ahead of their big Mallorca wedding in 2022. They tied the knot at 23 Montrose Street registry office followed by a sunny garden party in the mother of the groom's garden. They kept everything simple, chic and timeless with all white flowers and a high street wedding dress. We can't wait to see photos from the big day next year!

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

As this was essentially our ‘legal’ pre wedding before Mallorca next year we wanted to keep things as classic as possible – white, gold tones and simplistic.

Tell us about the ceremony...

We got married in the registrar – we had to legally get married in the UK before our big wedding in Mallorca next year.

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

When my husband was unable to say his vows as he was so emotional.

Music

Bridal Entrance: This will be (an everlasting love) Natalie Cole

Ceremony Song: Secret Smile, Semisonic

Bridal Exit: L-O-V-E Nat King Cole

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?

Max and I walked down the aisle together very un-traditional but we felt like such a team!

Advice for future brides…

People are not lying when they say it is genuinely the best day of your life so try your best to enjoy every second as unfortunately you cant relive it!

Were there any surprises on the day?

I surprised my husband with a bracelet from Tiffany and Co with our wedding initials.

Tell us all about the dress...

My dress for next year in Spain is quite detailed so I wanted something totally different and simply to wear to the registrar office. Only £130 – SUCH a bargain!

Wedding must-have: Comfortable shoes!

What was your favourite part of the day?

The ceremony – as we are doing a big wedding in Mallorca this year I thought this would simply be a formality but was the most special moment of my life.

What was your favourite wedding purchase?

Amina Muaddi heels – so comfortable!

Worst wedding planning moment: Constantly not knowing how many we were allowed at out ceremony due to social distancing – very stressful!

Favourite wedding planning moment: Planning my menu with my caterers!

What food did you have?

Platter and pop provided appetizers of beef sliders, haggis bon bons, prawn tempura. Starter was charcuterie meats, burrata, olives, baked camembert. Main course was Fillet of beef with all the sides – mac and cheese, handcut chips, creamed spinach, lemon and garlic tenderstem broccoli, bearnaise and peppercorn sauce, wedding cake for desert of course!

Favourite celebrity bride: Devon Windsor – so dreamy!

Funniest wedding photograph: Max’s family dog Louis in a tuxedo.

Photographer: @jordansummers
Venue: 23 Montrose Street + my mother in law’s garden
Stationery: @herestousuk
Flowers: @prettylittlepetalsflorist
Cake: @rosewood_cakes
Caterer: @platter_and_pop
Décor: @88eventscompany
MUA: @stephaniemckinlay
Hair: @hairbysean_
Dress: @coastfashion
Shoes: @aminamuaddi
Transport: @frankschauffeurservice
Suits: Hugo Boss
Rings: Mappin and Web

From Brides, With Love xo

A Modern and Stylish Chic City Elopement

2021-11-17T11:32:00.013+00:00

This modern city elopement shoot has 2021 vibes written all over it, from the chic outfit choices to the dried bouquet - and we're obsessed! The stripped back bridal look is very contemporary with simple hair and makeup and accents of gold. Married couple Jordan & Kezia were the models and shoot organisers and were inspired by the notion that love always wins, with the photo story of the shoot focussing on their love.

Concept

Our colour palette was neutral, and filled with soft tones. We wanted the focus to remain on our couple, and use tones which complemented them as well as the neutral-toned city backdrop. The photographer's approach created a blend of eras so that the gallery felt modern, yet timeless. I wanted to create the illusion that the photos could have been taken in any era and to tell an incredible love story. I wanted to inspire couples, and show them how beautiful a city elopement can be.

Inspiration

Jordan and Kezia are passionate about seeing racial reconciliation and unity in ours and our future children’s lifetime. They use our social media platform as a place to have authentic and real conversations around love, marriage, and race, hoping that we can inspire others to pursue healthy relationships. This shoot was an opportunity for us to share the love we have and encourage others to do the same. We truly believe that love always wins, and our faith inspires us to combat all hate with love and kindness. Jordan and Kezia pursue truth and are always looking for ways to encourage others that no matter what the world may say, that you are worthy of love, acceptance, and joy.

Styling

We styled the shoot around the city. We wanted to inspire couples to elope in a city and to emphasise how beautiful it can look to have the contrast of bridal amongst buildings. We wanted the shoot to emphasise simplicity and so we didn’t do any styling as such, instead, we used the city as our canvas. We chose a beautiful sand coloured building as our backdrop that was in keeping with our neutral theme. Our approach meant that the focus was solely on the couple, and their emotions with no distractions.

Bridal Beauty

We wanted the shoot to be as natural and simple as possible, so we left the hair down naturally so that it could move easily with the wind and body movements, emphasising emotion and feeling. It was accentuated by a gold headband which balanced the natural look with bridal. The makeup artist kept the makeup neutral, adding some bronze and gold tones to the eyes to tie the bridal look together. We wanted a look which brides felt they could recreate themselves for their own elopement.

Bridalwear

The dress we opted for was Brooklyn by Sadoni Bridal. This dress was the perfect choice because it's very simple and elegant whilst having the fun addition of the winged sleeves, we added a statement gold belt to really play on this fun and modern vibe. The shoot theme was a city element with lots of movement and the sleeves of this piece are perfect for the free movement shots. This dress would work for a number of wedding settings which makes it great for couples eloping or for couples having a city ceremony followed by a larger-scale celebration afterward. We used the Arabella Mid Block heels in ivory from Harriet Wilde as we went for a statement with the accessories so wanted to keep the shoe simple and comfortable for the practicalities of a city wedding. The gold rings were handmade by Cyrilyn silver, and included some simple detailing. The rings complimented the simple style of our shoot and emphasised the gold accents seen in the headband and make up.

Flowers

A bouquet of soft and neutral tones with warmer pinks and nudes was chosen to compliment the gold accessories. The dried florals complimented the city elopement and added a rustic feel to the industrial look. We also felt that the dried florals were a special touch to the shoot as it would inspire real couples who want to keep items from their wedding that they can cherish forever.

Suppliers

The suppliers were the easiest thing to choose. The couple had worked with most of them previously and loved their style, creativity and passion for what they do. It was the first time that the couple had worked with Kelly, but we had followed her for a while and loved her style and her ability to capture authentic raw emotion. We also trusted every supplier’s ability to be creative within their area, whilst keeping within the style and vision of the shoot.

Couple and Organisers: Kezia and Jordan
Photography: Kelly Hiscox Photography
MUA: Bethan Lloyd
Headpiece: Rachel Sokhal Accessories
Rings: Cyrilyn Silver
Dress: In The Name of Love
Shoes: Harriet Wilde

From Brides, With Love xo

Jade and Adam's Modern and Romantic Wedding with fireworks at Lochside House Hotel

2021-11-15T15:28:00.003+00:00

Mr + Mrs McLellan

27th May 2021 | Lochside House Hotel

Instagram: @_jadelynn | Guests: 28 | Photos: Karol Makula Photography

We were delighted when Jade and Adam's wedding photos landed in our inbox after sharing their lovely Edinburgh engagement shoot to celebrate their original date. After postponing, they decided to go ahead in May with a more intimate guestlist and it was just perfect. They celebrated the evening with special nods to their favourite cities and an epic firework display! Jade tells us all about their day...

What was the most emotional moment of the day?
The most emotional part for both of us was the ceremony and my walk down the aisle. Our ceremony was really personal to all the songs we choose, the readings and stories. So, I think seeing each other for the first time and all the high emotions of the day just made us both emotional!
Advice for future brides…
If you can try to take 10-15mins with your other half to just take everything in. We were really lucky and our venue had set 15 mins aside and ordered us some drinks just after our guests got seated for the reception. Having that time just to reflect and take it all in was so lovely!
Song you walked down the aisle to: Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Ceremony Songs: - Married Life from Up and Sam Smith - Latch
Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple: Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Stevie Wonder
First Dance: XO – John Mayer
Wedding must-have:
Videographer 100% - most people always book a photographer but having a video of the day to watch back and see all the little moments you forget about is priceless.
Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping...
My dress was literally the dress of my dreams. The wedding shopping experience was stressful, but the end result was amazing. My designer was Essence of Australia, and all of their dresses are just gorgeous! I have never liked veils, so I was super lucky that my bridal shop designed me custom made wings – with matching lace from my dress. It was the best thing I ever done and just made my dress even more me!
Tell us all about your wedding cake...
Our cake was made by the amazing Kim Gordon Cakes. As our wedding evening theme was our favorite cities, we kept this theme with our cake and had it feature New York, where we got engaged. Kim was amazing and designed it perfectly how we wanted it. Although the design wasn’t over the top, the simplicity and feature of the New York skyline just made it perfect. For cake flavors – we couldn’t decide on one, so we had 3! (Red Velvet, White Chocolate and Lemon and Poppyseed). All three flavors were just amazing and would definitely recommend switching up your cake layers in your having a few.
How did you choose your venue?
We had only visited one other venue before going to see Lochside, but when we saw it, we just knew it was the perfect setting. We didn’t want a venue to close to home and wanted to feel like we were getting away somewhere. Adam loves the outdoors, and the views, so the setting and location of the venue just ticked every box.
Favourite wedding supplier:
It would be so hard to pick one supplier, as they were all so amazing throughout the whole process. But we would have to say having Ginny and the Tonic there to play our ceremony songs and drinks reception was so perfect – they took our songs and played them to fit the day and it was moments never to forget.
Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?
There would be nothing we would have done different on the day – but maybe in hindsight when planning our wedding at first, we would have maybe planned a smaller one and not started our plans so big. Having a smaller, more intimate wedding was so personal and we got to take in the whole day speaking to all of over guests. So, for future brides I would definitely suggest not overlooking a smaller wedding!
Were there any surprises on the day:
We had planned fireworks to end our day but hadn’t told any of our guests, so although there was a curfew due to Covid restrictions it was such a perfect end to the day. Our guests were so shocked by it, but everyone loved them!
Worst wedding planning moment:
The worst planning moment was changing the date and trying to not lose any of our suppliers. Luckily for us when we postponed from March to May, we never lost anyone, but it was definitely a stressful moment!!
What was your first dance song?
Our first dance song was John Mayer – XO. We didn’t practice and just went with winging it! Picking the first dance song was hard as we didn’t want one too slow or too fast but we love John Mayer and XO so it was the best of both.
Tell us about your Honeymoon:
As our original date was March 2021, we were supposed to be off to the Maldives in April but unfortunately due to Covid this was cancelled. We have rescheduled it for January 2022 and have all fingers crossed it will go ahead! But after our wedding we went away to St Andrews for a few days for a little staycation – which was lush!
Tell us about your wedding favours...
Our cake supplier Kim made us caramel filled chocolate hearts – we didn’t want favours that would go to waste and thought something to eat was the best way to go. She was amazing and designed them to go with our theme colours.

Photographer: Karol Makula
Videographer: Tall Tale Films
Venue: Lochside House Hotel
Stationery: Supernova Wedding Design
Flowers: The Flower Shop Elderslie
Cake: Kim Gordon Cakes
Décor: Ivory Tower Weddings
MUA: Rachael Hunter
Hair: Abby Murray
Dress: Eleganza Sposa
Shoes: Sophia Webster
Bridesmaids dresses: Davids Bridal
Flower girl dresses: Monsoon
Kilts: Kilts4U
Page Boy outfits: Kilts4U
Wedding Rings: John Mac Kay Jewellers
Celebrant: Janet Hamilton
DJ: Devotion DJ’s
Entertainment: Ginny and the Tonic

Aneeqa and Daniel's Bright and Traditional Wedding at The Georgian House, Edinburgh

2021-10-22T08:00:00.003+01:00

Aneeqa and Daniel

Sunday 27th June 2021 | The Georgian House, Edinburgh

Instagram: @danwmullen91 @itsaneeqa | Guests: 17 | Photos: Sage Photography

Aneeqa and Daniel's were wed in a regal wedding with 17 guests in Edinburgh's 18th Century Georgian House with a fusion of both of their heritage; Scotland and Pakistan. They kept the styling colourful and timeless, and even had some of their photos shot on retro film. From planning their wedding in just two months to choosing her bridal outfit over FaceTime - bride Aneeqa tells us all about their beautiful wedding day.

*An additional note from us: this wedding feature is extra special for us as the beautiful bride is one of FBWL co-founder and editor Lauren's closest friends and Lauren was even involved with some of the planning.

Tell us all about your wedding theme...

We didn’t really have a theme but I knew I wanted to go very traditionally Pakistani to reflect my heritage and Daniel was going to go very traditionally Scottish to reflect his. A thistle to represent Scotland and Jasmine for Pakistan. We went for bright colours like red, pink and orange.

What kind of ceremony did you have?

We had a traditional Islamic ceremony called a Nikkah. Daniel converted to Islam and has fully embraced his new faith so it was important for us to have a religious ceremony.

How did you choose your venue?

Lauren found it (as she did most of my suppliers, it was a great help having a friend who runs a wedding blog, highly recommend)! Originally we wanted a registry office wedding but they weren’t willing to accommodate an Islamic ceremony. We were struggling to find another venue in Edinburgh (where I’m from) or East Lothian (where my husband is from) that suited us and was in our budget. Lauren sent me a link to the Georgian House and after visiting, my husband and I fell in love! It suits us down to a tee as we love history and Georgian architecture and the place looks incredible in our pictures. The staff were lovely and so accommodating – shout out to Sheonagh! I’d definitely recommend checking out the National Trust venues if you’re on a budget but still want a beautiful venue.

Bridal Entrance: You Send Me by Sam Cooke

Bridal Exit: No Letting Go by Wayne Wonder

First Dance: No dancing allowed 😔

Favourite wedding supplier: A toss up between my florist and my photographer! I was blown away when I saw my bouquet and all the flowers on the day – they were perfect! And my photographer was an absolute delight to work with and completely understood the timeless look we wanted. I’m sure you’ll agree the pics are pretty special.

Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping...

Not a dress but a lehenga! I knew I wanted to go very traditionally Pakistani to reflect my heritage so it was always going to be a red lehenga. Due to the lockdown, I couldn’t go dress shopping in person and I was hesitant to buy something online. This is where my family in Pakistan came through! They traipsed round the shops in Pakistan, facetiming and sending pictures and that’s how I picked my lehenga.

What was your something old, blue, borrowed and new?

My something old (antique), something new (to me) and something blue (sapphire) would be my wedding ring. I suppose our engagement wasn't very traditional as there was no proposal or ring; we mutually came to the decision that we wanted to get married. So I went for an engagement style ring for my wedding ring over a simple band as I love my jewellery (if you can't tell from the pictures..). And to that point, my something borrowed was also jewellery! My mum lent me these beautiful gold bangles to wear although I was so enamoured I haven't taken them off since.. so maybe not borrowed but gifted - thanks Mama!

Did you have anything unusual at your wedding?

Our wedding was a COVID wedding that was planned within 2 months during lockdown so I guess it was unusual because of this! We had a really limited number of guests to comply with the guidelines at the time. Guests wore face masks, there was social distancing in place and the ubiquitous zoom livestream as well as no dancing but despite all this, it was still perfect.

Aneeqa and Daniel with co-founder Lauren and her mum Andrea

Tell us about your wedding favours...

We had empire biscuits with a loveheart sweet in the middle that said ‘just married'.

Tell us about the cake...

I wanted something simple decorated with fresh flowers to reflect our colour scheme. The flavour was strawberries and cream and had fresh strawberries in it.

Worst wedding planning moment: When we went to pick up our marriage notice and was told there was a clerical error which might not be able to be remedied in time (less than a week before our wedding). Luckily it all worked out in the end but a lot of tears were shed!

Tell us about your Honeymoon: No honeymoon! Due to the pandemic but we did get a wee staycation in London a little while after. Hopefully we can go abroad and have a proper honeymoon in 2022.

Favourite celebrity bride: Gwen Stefani! That pink dipped dress 😍

Photographer: Sage Photo
Venue: Georgian House
Stationery: Papier
Flowers: Fruit Salad Flowers
Cake: 101 Bakery
Hair and Makeup: Saleema Ali
Nails: Buff
Jewellery: India Trend
Suits: Eight Yards
Wedding Rings: May Veda + Ellie Belle

From Brides, With Love xo

Engagement Shoot: Future Mr and Mrs Yule

2021-10-17T09:00:00.005+01:00

Amy and Danial

26th October 2020 | RSPB Leighton Moss

Instagram: @yule_do_wedding | Photos: Olivia Whittaker

Amy and Danial had their engagement shoot back in October 2020, in what would have been their wedding month. After a postponement, they are now due to be married next weekend on 23/10/21! The couple decided for their engagement shoot they would go for a woodland backdrop for the photos, as opposed to the city style they will be having on their wedding day. They chose the ideal location and time of year to capture the beautiful autumnal Leighton Moss woodland. The very soon to be Mrs Yule tells us all about their shoot, the proposal and their wedding plans.

Why did you decide to have a pre-wedding shoot?

We decided to have a pre-wedding photoshoot mainly for Dan. He’s only ever had professional photos done twice, and both times were by a friend of his so we were concerned he would be nervous on the wedding day. My sister is a photographer and I was often used for her Uni work or to test out new poses so I felt like I would be comfortable. We also wanted to get to know our photographer. We were lucky that it was included in our package, and I would highly advise everyone take the opportunity to have one if they can. Olivia truly went above and beyond for us. We asked her very last minute due to not knowing if we were going into another lockdown, she drove quite a distance to meet us, and stayed with us for around 2 hours – and I know this isn’t normal practice for most photographers. She took us to different spots of the reserve to get different scenery, and then she even allowed me to find an additional spot because I wanted a bit more of a woodland look for a few photos.

How did you meet and how long have you been together?

Dan and I met in a nightclub in Liverpool city centre. I always say it was fate. It was September 21st 2013 and I should have been going on a work night out in St. Helens, but due to issues between myself and a work colleague (ex partner), I was told I was ‘uninvited’. So I messaged my friend and said we needed a ‘girls night’- I never do last minute change of plans, I’d usually just cancel all together, but something told me to go out and let my hair down. One rule: No boys. We’d had a good night, it was coming to around 3am and I had work the next day (oh to be young again!) so I said we should leave. We were in a club called The Krazyhouse, also known as the K and has now changed its name to Electrik Warehouse. Scousers and Uni students of Liverpool will know it well! On our way out, my friend was grabbed by a lad, naturally I rolled my eyes and told her we should go – giving her evils in the process- this lad pulled this other guys top up. No idea why, but I didn’t complain. The lad – Elliott – carried my friend away- literally. So I was stuck with the other guy. He was friendly enough, quite funny and cute, turned out they were step-brothers. Elliott was studying in John Moores University and the one I was talking to was on his first ever night out in Liverpool – they were from North Wales. After some persuasion from me – what? He was cute - He took my number and we went our separate ways. He said he’d call the next day, but I never expected he would. He called. We talked. Two weeks later we met up again, and as they say the rest is history. We celebrated our 7 year anniversary last October (Ps. My friend and Dans step-brother Elliott dated for a year, but sadly split. He’s now happily engaged to someone else and I’m happy for them both and can’t wait for their wedding this Summer!)

Tell us your proposal story:

To tell you our proposal story there is a little backstory you should know first; Dan and I went away together after being together for 6 months and I honestly thought he was going to propose on that trip, so as you can imagine every single trip or special occasion following that I would convince myself he was going to propose and always be left a little disappointed. So onto the actual proposal: The night before I had been on a night out with Uni friends and was feeling a little tired, I had the day off, but Dan was working and we were leaving later in the evening once he’d finished work. We had a long drive to the outskirts of Scotland before heading to Aberdeen the following day to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. Before we left, we had decided to go to our favourite little café; Brasco Lounge. We used to hang out there when we first met after I finished work, we enjoyed the fact that it was open till 11pm but was never as crowded or as loud as a city centre bar, so we could actually talk. There is a sofa and table that’s been there since back then and that was where we both said ‘I love you’ for the first time – on separate occasions. So it’s definitely sentimental. I used to order a cup of tea and Dan would have a hot chocolate, but this time we decided to eat there. Just before we left, we were running late because I wasn’t organised – I have zero excuses for this! I remember being in a bit of a mood waiting downstairs because he told me he was ready, but then went back up to the bedroom to ‘get his bag’. He seemed to be taking forever, so I went up and when I swung the door open, he was climbing in the wardrobe and because of the shock of me swinging the door open, he ended up slipping and breaking the shelf. Little did I know at the time, he had hid the ring on the top shelf and needed to stand on the lower shelf to reach it – the reason he was so startled was because he thought I was going to catch him in the act. Due to the long drive I decided to wear a Disneyland Paris jumper to be comfortable and no makeup, and Dan was wearing a blazer and a shirt – but that wasn’t unusual. We got to the café and sat in the middle of the room to eat, and once we had finished our mains Dan said we should go sit in our usual spot and asked if I wanted a cup of tea ‘like the old times’. I said no.

The poor guy was trying to be romantic and I insisted on a Sundae instead. When we sat down, Dan kept pushing the table away, complaining it was to close to his knees. What on earth is he talking about? He’s never complained before. He would push the table (and my sundae) away, and in a huff I would pull it back. This went back and forth a couple of times before he gave up. Once I had finished my sundae, I pushed the table and was like “There!” Why did he suddenly want all this damn leg space? How I didn’t realise what was happening, I will never know. He started talking about our future and our relationship, and I remember excusing myself to the bathroom probably mid-sentence as if I wasn’t about to be asked the most important question! I didn’t realise he was trying to be romantic. When I returned, he continued saying things about having a life together and having kids etc. My first thought was ‘It’s happening. It’s finally happening!’, but then I thought surely he wouldn’t do it here when I’m not even dressed up? Plus, I didn’t want to be left disappointed again so I tried to push the thoughts out. The next thing you know he was down on one knee with the most beautiful ring from Boodles. I’m not usually an emotional person, but my goodness the floodgates opened! I had to encourage him to put the ring on my finger – I don’t think he realised he was supposed to do that bit! Then I just sat squeezing his face while he was still on one knee. I just couldn’t believe it was happening. There were other diners in the café, but no one saw until a couple of Uni students came in and could clearly see the happy tears, so came over and congratulated us. I called my immediate family instantly. Because we were literally driving that evening to Scotland, I didn’t have time to celebrate with anyone, so I used any opportunity to flash my ring. I spent most of the car journey to Scotland waving at people – mostly late night truckers and service station staff – with the back of my hand.

Why did you choose the shoot location:

I really wanted a different style of photos compared to our city wedding photos, so when we made the decision to go to the Lake District to celebrate our original wedding date/original minimoon/anniversary, I reached out to Olivia to see if she was free. I told her our accommodation address and that I wanted ‘woodland-y’ photos, and she did the rest! Leighton Moss was beautiful and I am so glad she chose it.

Did you find the shoot helpful for helping you feel more prepared for the wedding day?

Most definitely! I already felt relatively relaxed (as mentioned above), but having the experience with a new photographer meant we could get to know her style as well. It means that when our day (finally) comes we’ll be able to know what to expect. I also think it’ll be less awkward on the actual day itself – actually knowing the person who is going to be shooting all those intimate moments of getting into the dress and seeing Dan for the first time.

Did you feel nervous behind the camera?

I didn’t, but Dan did at first at least. After a couple of minutes he kind of just fell into it and forgot Olivia was there – he sort of just started giving me little kisses to ease his nerves and that seemed to work!

Would you recommend that other couples have an engagement shoot or do you feel it is not necessary?

I definitely recommend it if it’s part of your package! I know some photographers charge extra for this, and I appreciate it’s not in everyones budget, but if possible definitely do it. I think most photographers are crazy if they don’t offer this in at least one of their packages; it’s a great way for the photographer to get to know the couple too!

Did your photographer give you any tips before the shoot?

She has a blog on her website which answers loads of questions, so I read that first. She mostly suggested we wear something comfortable and that feels like us, and to be ourselves. I had also done a lot of research – watched a lot of youtube videos and read these blogs!

What advice would you give to other couples who do plan to have a pre-wedding shoot?

Take a change of outfit – I don’t mean a full on Beyonce style change – but something like a coat, or a hat or change of top (if you’re in a suitable place to change). We literally both put on our fancy coats and it made a huge difference in the look of our photos. I love cosy clothing and woodland looks, but Dan aspires to be James Bond (he once literally wore a suit to McDonalds!) and likes the fancier things in life. So we went casual for the first half, and then spruced it up with nice coats to look more glam. The other tip I would give is to pick somewhere completely different to your wedding location. It’s not often you get to do this, so I think having a variety of photos will be nice to look back on.

What is your favourite photo from the shoot?

This is a hard choice! I love them all. But the one I’ve posted all over social media, and is the wallpaper on my phone is the one where Dan is kissing my forehead and we’re both wearing our fancy coats. I love that he has his arm around me, and I just love the genuine smile on my face.

Were there any stand out moments in the shoot?

Not a standout moment as such, but definitely a funny moment. There was a point where ducks started to follow us. We didn’t have food on us or anything and there were other people around, but they followed us from one side of the reserve to the other and wouldn’t leave us alone. There is a photo where you can see them gathering by our feet. We also had an older couple congratulate us and make cute comments.

Tell us about your wedding plans:

Our wedding ceremony is taking place in the beautiful St. Georges Hall, in the Concert room. St. Georges hall is actually where Liverpool registry office weddings are held, and not many people know this, but they also allow you to get married in the grand halls – including the concert room, though you still have to pay a venue fee as opposed to registry office fee. It’s stunning. I first saw it as a bridesmaid at my sisters wedding, Dan and I had only been engaged about two weeks, but I knew there and then that that was where I wanted to get married. I’ve always fantasised about the beautiful church wedding growing up, but neither of us are religious, so the Concert Hall is the next best thing in my opinion! We are then having our reception in the stunning 30 James Street. The funny thing is we could have had our full day at St. Georges or our full day at 30 James Street which would have saved us a couple of thousand, but we decided to split it. The catering options weren’t to our taste in St. Georges Hall, and I didn’t want to compromise on that beautiful room to have our full day at 30 James Street. We’re hoping for a wedding of 70 guests, no children, sit down meal and a party into the night when an additional 30 guests arrive. I’ve been told our theme is elegant, though I’ve always struggled to pin down a theme. We have burgundy bridesmaid dresses, grey suits, and pastel roses. Though we are getting married close to Halloween, and it’s one of my favourite times of year, there won’t be a pumpkin in sight! I will be wearing a hand painted leather jacket by Jade @bespokechalkandprint following the wedding. And then I will be channelling my inner Hilary Duff in A Cinderella Story vibes by changing into converse for the evening. Of course, desserts are a big part of our lives, and so we’re having a dessert table featuring desserts from Savanna @savannafeicouturecakes amongst our own additions. To show a little nod to my Norwegian hertiage, we’re having Norwegian Kransekake which is a Celebration cake, and of course a chocolate Yule log to celebrate our new surname!

I am not taking Dans surname, and he isn’t taking mine. Dans full name is Danial James-Yule Wright. My current surname is from my fathers family and is Norwegian and quite unique, and it’s difficult to let go of a unique surname to become a ‘Wright’ (there is nothing wrong with that surname, but to go from being one of only 7 people in England with my surname, to a surname that is so common was difficult for me!). Dan also didn’t want to take my surname. Dans parents never married and have since split and have married other partners, which is why Dans middle name is double barrel – Yule is his mothers maiden name. His late Gramps had no brothers, and then only had one son who never married, so the name essentially ends with his Uncle. So after a few discussions, we decided to go with Yule. I absolutely love Christmas, and I really, really love Chocolate Yule logs. I also love a good pun (see my instagram handle!) And honestly, I’ve never met a Yule before. Out of respect we asked his Dad if he was okay with it before announcing it to his Mum and Nan; who were both absolutely delighted and honoured.

Do you plan to incorporate any of the photos into your wedding? If yes, how?

We’re hoping to use our pre-wedding photos in our invitations; we will also add a photo or two on the ‘welcome’ table where our guest book will sit.

What are you most looking forward to about the wedding date?

Finally getting married following our postponement. And also being able to celebrate with all our family we’ve been unable to see for the last year. Family is huge to Dan and I, and we wouldn’t have our day without them. Fingers crossed we get the wedding we’ve planned this October!

What has been your favourite part of wedding planning so far?

This is a difficult one! Multiple things. I loved trying on my dress the day I finally said yes to it. I loved asking my bridesmaids to be part of our day. We both absolutely loved cake tasting for our desserts. And of course our pre-wedding shoot! I love that we got to do this as a little nod to our original wedding date. And I am so glad we found our photographer!

Did you make any changes to your wedding plans after postponing?

When planning our wedding I was studying to become a Further Education Teacher (14+) teaching Beauty/Holistic therapy. I then landed myself a job unexpectedly in a Childrens Care Home teaching from age 11 up, and teaching Maths, English, Geography, Science, PE, D.T. – Basically, I was way out of my comfort zone! It was stressful. I hadn’t booked a photographer yet and that was next on my to-do list. I didn’t really know what I wanted in a photographer. I knew I didn’t want to follow the previous trend of dark and dusky photos, but didn’t quite know how to describe what I wanted (I am not bright, vibrant or colourful either). But juggling this new job and finding a photographer when I didn’t know what I wanted became extremely difficult and very overwhelming. I contacted so many people and the ones I really liked were already booked for our date. I was panicking. What I wish I had done was take a step back and come back to it at a later date, however, what I ended up doing is booking a photographer that wasn’t our vibe at all, and was also out of our budget so I clearly wasn’t in the right headspace. She was a lovely person, and a fantastic photographer, but just not clicking with me. After postponing, and a year after booking with her, I realised I had made a huge mistake and took the plunge to cancel the contract (unfortunately but understandably losing our deposit). The minute I found Olivia, I just knew she was right. We’ve actually joked that we are basically the same person. And our lives have strangely crossed. She’s amazing at what she does and I am so glad I have finally found a photographer that works for us, the evidence is in these photos! So, for all those future couples stressing over a supplier and trying to rush into it because you’re worried about not being able to secure somebody before everyone gets booked up; take a step back. Breathe. Put all the information on the suppliers away and don’t look at it for a while. Because it may cost you if you rush into it and make the same mistake I did.

A Modern romantic wedding styled Shoot with pops of spring colours

2021-10-16T08:30:00.002+01:00

This shoot is nothing short of a dream; from the warm earthy colour palette and gorgeous tablescapes to the fact that all of the suppliers are talented women in the industry. The shoot signifies the symbolism of Spring - leaving the winter behind with the knowledge that brighter days are ahead. The ladies at Bloom and Gather, the minds behind the shoot, tell us all about the concept, styling and suppliers...

CONCEPT

As a UK based wedding design business we know that our services are something quite new on the scene. With life being turned on its head this past year, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce some new and exciting wedding features that we love, but aren't often featured in British wedding design. As wedding designers we always feel a pull to delve right into love stories when designing. We often spend multiple sessions talking to our couples about how they met, significant dates and moments in their relationship, and what they love to do together.

THE INSPIRATION

For this shoot we honed in on the fact that many couples were facing an interruption in their love story yet were still holding on to so much hope. Even for us, this past year has been full of uncertainty and rearrangements and this shoot was no different. Because of this we tried to create something that was smaller and more intimate but didn’t compromise on thoughtful design. When designing, we took inspiration from things such as the mix of darkness and light and the contrast of the joy of engagement amidst the sadness looming around the world. This led us to think about the season of spring and how it’s the middle point of leaving the gloom of winter behind, in preparation for summer and brighter days ahead.

THE THEME

We went with a bright spring inspired near-analogous palette of pinks, oranges, and yellows. Fresh fruit inspired stationery and large fresh floral arrangements contrasted with the darker rustic vibe of the Willow Grange Barn to create a wedding look that was brimming with life even in the darkest of times. We decided to go for a modern romantic wedding look; from the bridal party outfits to the menu designs and escort wall, we wanted everything to feel beautiful and contemporary.

THE DECOR

Some less seen decor features we included were the bespoke escort wall and lounge area. The escort wall was created by our team and featured named envelopes that when lifted revealed an escort card for each guest. We loved creating something a little different to the typical seating charts and we hope it inspires couples when it comes to their own wedding design. We also featured a lounge area; we thought the vintage sofa and more modern armchairs encapsulated perfectly the modern romantic look we were going for. Lastly, our plan for the tablescape was for it to be both bright and lively. We used a mixture of textures and bright colours, such as the natural linen of the cloths and napkins, mixed with the himalayan salt candle holders, fresh fruit and lemon inspired menu cards.

SUPPLIERS

We joined with a brilliant bunch of women for this shoot. We especially loved how our main photographer captured the life and brightness of the colour palette in contrast with her distinct dark and moody shooting style. Working with our florist was an absolute dream. We went back and forth to get the perfect floral colour palette and she even used fresh stems from the farm on the day to enlarge and elevate the ceremony and lounge area arrangements. The stationery was all custom designed, we loved how the more subtle menus worked with the tablescape design and how the signage in the lounge area helped bring some colour to the drinks station.

BRIDAL STYLING

Our HMUA really worked her magic on our lovely models and she created a look that was so subtle yet stunning, we were completely blown away. All our models, including the bride, were clothed in dresses from ASOS (can you believe it?) and all wearing beautifully delicate hair pieces and earrings that really completed the look!

Planning, Design & Coordination: Bloom and Gather

Venue: Willow Grange Farm

Photography: Annati Creates

Second Shooter: Phoebe Sarah Photo

Florals: Untamed Florals

Cake & Dessert: Thea Bakes

Stationery: Dear Penny

HMUA: Alice Nell Bridal

Accessories: Garter and Veil

Furniture Hire: Array Wedding and Event Hire

Linen Hire: North Fields Linen

Models: @tomi.kehinde @abbiegrace9 @_sophiepartner

Sophia and Aaron's Intimate Romantic summer Wedding at Hinwick House

2021-10-15T12:07:00.004+01:00

Mr + Mrs Routledge

1st August 2020 | Hinwick House, Wellingborough

Instagram: @sophiaroutledge97 @_aaron_routledge_ | Guests: 30 | Photos: Lase Photography

After meeting in Scotland, Sophia and Aaron knew they wanted their London wedding to have some Scottish elements (like their fudge favours - yum!). Their colour scheme was inspired by Sophia's gorgeous emerald engagement ring, and they wanted the day to feel romantic and timeless. The now Mrs Routledge tells us all about their special day, choosing the dress and their dreamy Italian honeymoon...

Tell us all about your wedding theme and colour scheme...

The engagement ring drove our decision to go for green. It features a diamond encircled with emeralds. We both love the image of nature that green evokes. We didn’t particularly have a theme in mind but we knew we wanted elements of the Scottish culture, as that is where we met. We also wanted it to have a relaxed feel.

What kind of ceremony did you have and did you have any readings?

We had a Christian ceremony that our pastor took. We had two readings which were, 1 Corinthians 13 & John 15:9-17

What was your favourite part of the day?

It had to be seeing my husband’s reaction when I appeared at the of the alter and of course, choosing to say yes to the man of my dreams!

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

Definitely the Father Daughter First look, I will never forget how my dad reacted! His expression was so joyful and there were definitely a few tears shed!

Advice for future brides…

The morning after the wedding make lots of notes on your phone about the funny/best moments of the day, so you don’t forget them!

Song you walked down the aisle to: Here I Bow (Instrumental) by Bethel Music

Ceremony Songs: Amazing Grace by John Newton, When I Survey by Tim Hughes, Jesus Paid It All by Kim Walker & So Will I by Hillsong Worship

Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple: You & Me Song by The Wannadies

First Dance: Feels Like This by Maisie Peters

Did you make any Wedding DIYs?

Yes, my husband and his brother in law made our wedding arch from repurposed timber, my husband also made the table name holders – he was super proud of these! My husband’s sister and her husband made all of the order of services, signs and the table plan. They are the best!

Tell us all about the dress…

I tried on a lot of different styles as I never really had an exact dress or style in mind. I went to about 4 different bridal shops and I decided to book into Midnight Elegance in Inverurie, Scotland as my friend recommended them. From the moment I arrived, Kathy and her team were super accommodating; they listened to me and asked what styles I liked so far. In fact, they were so good that the first dress I tried on in their boutique was THE ONE that I ended up going for! I remember getting goose bumps when I first tried it on and I had not had this with any other dresses!

Tell us all about your wedding cake...

THIS IS FUNNY! So…the cake had to be transported on the wedding day and it was very hot…The top tier ended up collapsing into the bottom tier creating a little bit of a mess. My mother in law managed to save it a little bit and spread some of the icing over the cracks. My husband chose not to tell me until later in the day, after we were married, he’s a smart man and by this point I was having a blast anyway!

What food did you have at your wedding?

Due to the pandemic our caterer fell through last minute so we organised with a local Turkish Restaurant for them to deliver food, which our guests helped themselves to. It wasn’t what we had planned but boy was it good food and there was plenty to go round!

How did you choose your venue?

Due to the pandemic our first wedding venue was cancelled, we had 2 months to find a venue that would hold 30 people. We had an idea to find a place big enough that friends and family could stay at for a few days and have a wedding at. So we searched for Castles and Estates and we found this absolute gem of an AirBnb, to be honest we thought it was a hoax and too good to be true until we viewed it. It had everything we needed, enough rooms for guests to stay. A gym. Tennis courts, lots of acres of land, a pond with an open pit BBQ, access to golf buggies and to top it all off it had small deer enclosure. It was beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined!

Best wedding splurge:

Because we had to cut our guests from 200 eating to 30 we had all that money to spend on contributing to our friends and families rooms at the venue.

Anything you wish you'd done differently:

We would have booked another day at Hinwick House because the weekend went so quick!

Any surprises on the day?

My husband surprised me with some beautiful jewellery from a company called Lily & Roo which worked so well with my dress.

Funniest moment of the day: I fell up the stairs during the Bride & Groom exit for all to see, I promise it wasn’t the homemade cocktails.

Funniest wedding photograph:

When my husband Aaron randomly grabbed a plant and started to use it as a microphone, we were ready for the wedding breakfast by this point!

Favourite wedding planning moment:

When we visited Hinwick House for the first time (note: we hadn’t actually booked in for a viewing at this point) we wanted to check it out to get a feel for it and my husband actually ended up trespassing! To cut a long story short he bumped into the grounds man who then took us on tour in the golf buddy and it was super fun!

Worst wedding planning moment: When we found out that we were going to have to change things up due to Covid-19.

What was your first dance song?

We chose the song because we really loved the lyrics and the artist has incredible vocals. We definitely winged the dancing during our first dance, let’s just say dancing isn’t our forte. However, we both felt really relaxed and enjoyed the moment together.

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

We went to Italy for our honeymoon, for our first week we stayed at an Airbnb in a small village called Sant’Elia on the North Coast of Sicily and then we visited Rome. It was absolutely wonderful, the weather was perfect and the food was incredible! We had never visited Italy before so it was great to be able to explore a new country and different culture together.

Tell us about your wedding favours:...

My Mum made our wedding favours. Everyone was given some traditional Scottish fudge in a small hessian style bag with some Scottish tartan to finish the look. The Fudge was such a nice touch after dinner and gave everyone the sugar fix they needed before the dancing took place.

What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it?

Our budget was £15,000 but we actually ended up spending between £13,500-£14,000.

Top money saving tip: Open up a savings account and put all your wedding savings into the same account. It helped us to manage our outgoings much better. We also made a spreadsheet which included costs and to keep on top of the logistical side of things.

Watch Sophia and Arran's wedding video below:

Photographer: Lase Photography
Videographer: JD Wisker
Venue: Hinwick House
Flowers: Your London Florist
Cake: Premiere Cakes
MUA: Selay Pro MUA / Molly Wing
Hair: Lauren Hall
Dress: Midnight Elegance Bridal
Shoes: ASOS
Bridesmaids dresses: JJs House
Suits: Hammond & Co
Wedding Rings: Durham Rose / Ribs and Dust

Adele and Jak's timeless and romantic black tie wedding at Midleton Lodge Estate

2021-10-11T12:29:00.000+01:00

Mr + Mrs Blanthorn

20th May 2021 | Middleton Lodge Estate

Instagram: @adele_blanthorn | Guests: 30 | Photos: Josey Grace / Charlotte Nelson

Adele and Jak married in the Spring with a black tie monochrome theme that was modern and timeless. The bride wore a beautiful satin Stella York gown with an elegant updo and stunning cathedral veil. The now Mrs Blanthorn tells us all about their day, wedding planning during a pandemic and their favourite moments (and there's even an appearance from their adorable dog)...

Tell us all about your wedding theme and colour scheme...

Black, white and greenery. We chose this theme because black is my FAVOURITE colour ever and I always really wanted the bridal party in black, I even tried on a black wedding dress! So that was that really and Jak had no choice in the matter ha.. No, seriously; we agreed that black and white is timeless and looks classy so we’d never regret that decision. We also thought it would work really well with the venue we chose, particularly the fig house at Middleton lodge.

Something Old: I didn’t have anything really old that I was using for the wedding, so just classed my engagement ring as my something old. It’s almost 18 months old so that counts, right?

Something New: Jak bought me a diamond tennis bracelet the morning of the wedding so I used this as my something new. Aside from this I was just going to go with my dress as my something new.

Something Borrowed: I borrowed a charm off Jaks mum that she used to wear on a bracelet every day, I attached this to the waist band on inside of my dress.

Something Blue: I had the traditional (and tragic) garter with a blue bow on. This irritated me so much though that I actually removed it as soon as the ceremony was over.

What was the most emotional moment of the day?

For me, probably greeting my Dad at the stairs, and him walking me down the isle. Oh, and his speech, that got me. (Not that you’d know because I didn’t cry. I’m not really a crier).. For Jak I would say his speech. He said he really struggled not to choke up in parts of it. It was beautiful to be fair, it was definitely one of my highlights of the day.

What kind of ceremony did you have? 

We had a registrar marry us. He was lovely too which made it even more special.

What was your favourite part of the day?

It is really hard to pick a certain part of the day as it was just magical from start to finish.. As cliche as it sounds but it’s so true. That moment when they pronounce you husband and wife is such a good feeling though, I’d say this was my favourite part of the day. I just know that even if the whole day was different, that would have always been my favourite moment. Plus, it’s the most important part of the day, it’s essentially what you are there for.

Song you walked down the aisle to: Stand by me – Florence and the Machine

Ceremony Songs: We had some of the Vitamin String Quartet covers playing whilst we signed

Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple:  This will be – Natalie Cole

First Dance: The One – Kodaline

Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?

Honestly? Nope. We are so happy we decided to bite the bullet and have a small wedding. It was perfect for us.

Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping…

I went dress shopping with my Grandma, mother in law, sister and best friend. I booked it quite last minute and it was only for a look and to get an idea to be totally honest. But I found THE dress after trying on about 6/7 dresses. The boutique I went too were amazing and very patient with me. I didn’t really know what I wanted, but I knew exactly what I didn’t want. Which actually made it harder, and if I’m being honest, I hated every dress I put on at first. Anyway, I tried on a black dress and I LOVED it, but I didn’t really want to get married in black. So, Brett (the owner of the store) brought me a dress he thought I’d like as it was a similar cut etc to the black one and VOILA! That was my dress. Now I won’t lie, there was no tears. But I did feel like this dress was made for me, it covered all the parts of myself that I am uncomfortable with and it was so comfortable on the day, I did feel the best I’ve ever felt in anything. I’m so happy I went with my gut and said yes to that dress at The Ivory Dressing Room.

Any advice for future brides…

I’d say don’t stress the small stuff too much. On the day of your wedding you really aren’t even bothered about all those little things you think are important whilst you are planning. I’m a sucker for the finer details and I honestly didn’t even have time to consider half of the things I thought about whilst planning. It will be the best day of your life even if not everything goes to plan, so just don’t worry too much about the timings and the details of the day. That’s what your venue staff and planners are for! Oh, and on the day try and take a moment to sit back and enjoy it. Take it all in, because it really does pass you by so quickly.

Favourite wedding supplier:  I simply can’t answer this question. We were so lucky with our suppliers. They were amazing throughout all the planning and changes of dates due to Covid. I’d say Glen for me was a huge implementing factor of the day, he kept the music going with the momentum of the day. He knew exactly when to pick up the pace and everybody was in total awe of how great he is at his job. Plus he made our first dance really unique and even more special which I loved.

That being said, our florist was amazing, her work was simply stunning. Our photographers and videographer worked so hard all day, they genuinely barely even stopped to eat, they were just constantly looking for the best photo opportunities. Our hair and make up was all perfect. In fact, my hairdresser really helped me out on the morning of the wedding, I think at one point I was close to losing my head because we were so far behind and she really helped me out. She even helped me put my dress on.. I can’t pick a single favourite, I just know they all helped make our day perfect and for that we can’t thank them enough.

Favourite wedding planning moment: I think booking the venue is a mega exciting moment in planning. When you start booking all your suppliers and finally start seeing everything coming together is lovely too. Its all just super special and should be cherished as you only do it once! (hopefully)

Worst wedding planning moment: When my make up artist cancelled on me 2 weeks prior to the date. However, I suppose everything happens for a reason and I’d never have found Hannah without that happening.

What food did you have at your wedding?  

We had fresh breads and tiger prawns to start. Followed by fillet steak, chunky chips, grilled tomato, garden salad and bearnaise sauce for our main. We tried the original wedding menu dishes and as lovely as they were, they weren’t really very “us”.. So, we decided to change/upgrade to fillet steak and we are so glad we did! It was delicious and every guest commented on how good the food was, and how different it was to other weddings they’d been too. Which is always lovely to hear. We had an Eton Mess style dessert, which Middleton Lodge put their own twist on, it was all just perfect. Exactly what we wanted for our wedding breakfast.

Top money saving tip: We don’t have a money saving tip. I think Covid and lock down helped us save massively... I would just say, find a manageable, realistic amount that you can save per month and stick to it. It adds up before you know it.

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

No honeymoon booked as of yet. For obvious reasons due to Covid. We did however mini moon in York and it was perfect to soak up the wedding and just lap up being in that wedding bubble for a few days before going back to reality.

Did you make any Wedding DIYs?

We made our favours. We really struggled for ideas for favours but wanted something on the tables for our guests, so we just did little white and gold boxes with truffles inside. Finished them off with some black ribbon, the same wax stamps we put on our invites and a little thank you label.

Wedding must-have:  I personally think that good music/entertainment is a must. I’m really big on music anyway but I really think it sets the atmosphere for the whole day. We couldn’t have wished for anything better than the singer and the band we chose. They had such a fab energy and it really rubs off on your guests.

What was your first dance song?

It was “The One” by Kodaline. Our singer Glen did his own version of this for us and it was beautiful. We chose this because the words really ring true for us. More so after the past 12 months for personal reasons, this really special to us and every time I hear it it makes me smile. We totally winged the first dance; we were having such anxiety it would all go horrendously leading up to the day, but it was absolutely fine!

You can watch Adele and Jak's wedding video below...

Photographer:  Josey Grace / Eduard Perez / Charlotte Nelson
Videographer:  Eduard Perez
Venue:  Middleton Lodge Estate
Flowers:   Sprig and Thistle
Cake:   Lytham Cake company
MUA:  Hannah Carson
Hair:  Wedlocks (Mairead Meechan)
Dress: Stella York / The Ivory Dressing Room
Shoes:  Badgley Mischka
Bridesmaids dresses:  Jarlo
Suits: Moss Bros
Musical Artist: Glen Roughead Music
Band: City Sounds / Kudos Functions

Engagement Shoot: Mr + Mrs Brown

2021-10-10T09:00:00.001+01:00

Katie and Callum

12th July 2020 | Wood Dalling

Instagram: @katieeclarkyy | Photos: Nathan Pilkington

Katie and Callum had their engagement shoot in Wood Dalling, on their family farm. They are in the process of planning their rustic pastels wedding, and their wedding reception will be held on the family farm too, so it was a great opportunity to find their favourite photo locations and backdrops. The couple were engaged back in 2018, and it was a super romantic Christmas proposal with the whole family there to witness the moment; how special!

Why did you decide to have a pre-wedding shoot?

We decided to go ahead with a pre-wedding shoot mainly because I wanted an excuse for cute couple photos but also to give us all a chance to get to know each other and give us a feel of what it’s like to be photographed and ease some of the awkwardness as we have never had “official” photos together before (Callum hates photos being taken of him!).

How did you meet and how long have you been together?

Callum and I met back in 2013 through athletics. Callum was and is still a Hammer Thrower and I was a 400m Hurdler, so we met through training and competitions. We started seeing each other back in 2013 on and off but have been together officially since June 2015 so it will have been 6 years by our wedding day.

Tell us all about the proposal...

Callum proposed to me on Christmas day back in 2018. We spent Christmas round my parents house, which is actually where we are having our wedding reception in June which is so exciting! The whole family was round; Grandparents, God parents, Aunts and Uncles you name it! We had just finished tidying up from present opening in the afternoon when Callum brought through another present for me that he had “forgotten”. So everyone sat around watching me open the present. As I opened it a poem fell out which I was instructed to read (I had no idea what was going on, I just thought he was being soppy and of course was crying my eyes out). I couldn’t read the poem as I was crying so much so it was passed to my sister who then burst out crying too so eventually my god mother read it out. I then began to open the present still blissfully unaware of what was going on! I opened the box and it was a Disney Traditions ornament of Mickey proposing to Minnie, I looked up to say thank you and Callum was on one knee holding out a ring!!!!! The rest of the moment is a blur but after the initial shock I did say yes obviously!

Why did you choose the shoot location?

We had the shoot around Wood Dalling on the farm, to give us an idea of different photo locations for the wedding day.

Did you find the shoot helpful for helping you feel more prepared for the wedding day?

Yes, Callum and I definitely feel more prepared for the wedding day. Firstly, meeting Nathan and having photos allowed us all to get to know each other in this knew environment/situation and allowed us to get comfortable being photographed. Having the shoot also allowed us to find photo location ideas for the wedding day, and for Nathan to get to know the area and what sorts of photos we can take on the day. We were also able to see the sorts of photos Nathan takes and get a feel of his editing which reassured us that we had made the right decision by choosing him!

Did you feel nervous behind the camera?

Callum HATES being behind the camera and I think this lead me to feel awkward for him as I was very aware how he must have been feeling. However, I really enjoyed every minute of it and I know after the first few locations Callum began to feel so much more comfortable too.

Would you recommend that other couples have an engagement shoot?

I think that it is not necessary although if it is offered I would definitely recommend taking it up as it gives you a chance to get comfortable with the photographer as well as get a feel for the types of photos they take and most importantly gives you some cute couple photos and who doesn’t love cute couple photos!

Did your photographer give you any tips before the shoot?

Just to relax and be ourselves and try and forget that he is there.

What advice would you give to other couples who do plan to have a pre-wedding shoot?

Just go in relaxed and be open for anything.

What is your favourite photo from the shoot?

OMG they are all so amazing, but probably the ones in my Grandparents water garden and the fields.

Were there any stand out moments in the shoot?

I loved shooting the photos in the fields.

Tell us all about your wedding plans...

We are getting married in our village church and then the reception is in my parents converted barn on the family farm. We are having a rustic/DIY themed affair, with pastel colours (lots of blush pink). The wedding itself is 50ish close family and friends followed by a BIG reception (PARTY) and lots of dancing!!!

Do you plan to incorporate any of the photos into your wedding?

YES! We are going to have a memory wall in the reception area filled with photos of us over the years and obviously pride of place will be our engagement shoot photos.

What are you most looking forward to about the wedding date?

I cannot wait to walk down the aisle and see Callum’s face when he sees me in my dress for the first time!

What has been your favourite part of wedding planning so far?

I have enjoyed planning so much!! I would say Wedding Fairs were my favourite part (when COVID wasn’t a thing) and I found them so helpful for finding suppliers and getting ideas for the day. I also have really enjoyed recently seeing everything coming together and the visions we had come to life.

From Brides, With Love xo