Chloe + Jake
27th October 2018 | Pendrell Hall | Guests: 150
Instagram: @chlo__allen @mynameisatlas | Photos: French Connection Photography
Tell us all about your wedding theme...
As soon as we started planning the wedding I knew I wanted it in the autumn as close to Halloween as possible. It's my favourite time of year and I love everything about it. I knew I wanted autumnal colours and dark shades accompanied with some tasteful references to Halloween. We had fresh pumpkins all over the venue and vintage looking Halloween decorations that we'd collected over the years. We also chose to decorate with a lot of greenery rather than flowers. The flowers we did use were all dark shades of purples and burgundy. We also had some forest themed elements such as antlers on the top table.
Tell us all about the dress...
My dress was by a designer called Melisa Sweet. I knew I wanted something long sleeved given the time of year and I wanted something that had a bit of a vintage feel. It was the second dress I tried on. I walked away from it to carry on looking but I knew it was the one so I went back and ordered it 18 months before the wedding because I loved it so much. It was a long sleeved lace gown with a v neck.
Music
- Song you walked down the aisle to: Berlin Song by Ludovico Einaudi. Our close friend played the piano as I walked in.
- First Dance: Baby Blue Eyes by Rocket to the Moon. Jake chose it because it reminds him of me. It's a lovely song and is quite unknown which made it special.
- Father + Daughter Dance: My mum and my sisters all danced together with my dad to "My Girl"
Tell us about the ceremony...
We had a registrar at the venue. We used the vows from the Tim Burton film "Corpse Bride". We are huge fans of Burtons films and felt that the vows were fitting. They're also beautiful words and it was quite special as only the two of us knew the reference. We had some shocked faces when we told guests afterwards they were from a film about an undead bride!
Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?
I wish we'd had a videographer to capture our day so we could look back on it. It went by in such a blur it'd be lovely to have it to watch again.
Advice for future brides…
Enjoy the planning! It can be stressful but enjoy every minute. Do what makes you both happy and try not to worry about politics. Try and take ten minutes with your new spouse after your ceremony to just be together and take in what a wonderful day you're having. Have fun and soak it all up. The day goes by so quickly!
What was the best wedding planning moment?
I think the day we secured the venue date. It was always my dream to have an autumn wedding so when we got the date we wanted at the venue we loved we were really thrilled. Having an excuse to buy an abundance of Halloween themed stuff was also fantastic!
What was the worst wedding planning moment?
Trying to figure out the guest list because we had limited numbers.
How did you choose your venue?
We wanted something quite traditional looking given the time of year. We looked at castles and found some awesome ones but we had a tight guest count. When we found Pendrell Hall we knew instantly it was the venue for us. It's open fire places and dark wood were exactly what we had in mind for photos and the grounds are beautiful, especially during autumn!
What was your favourite wedding purchase?
Has to be the dress!
What food did you have?
We kept it traditional and had what we thought was quite comforting food. Our vegetarian and vegan guests had cottage pie and everyone else had a chicken dish. We had blackberry crumble for pudding which was delicious!
Did you make any Wedding DIYs?
I made some of the signs we had dotted around the venue and I also made our seating plan. We had all our tables named after our many pets!
What was the most emotional moment of the day?
I'd say it was the moment I walked into the ceremony room with my dad and got to see all of our loved ones waiting for us. Saying our vows and making everything official. The speeches were also wonderful. My dear dad quoted the lyrics to "Suddenly" by Billy Ocean, we called it our song because it was the first song he heard when I was born. Hearing Jake's speech was amazing, he said the most beautiful words and had a few of the guests in tears!
What was your favourite part of the day?
So much! Looking back I really treasure the little moments the most. The time I had with my dad before he walked me down the aisle was wonderful at the time but I treasure that even more so now as he passed away a few months ago and we were incredibly close. We have some of the best pictures together from our walk down the aisle! We also loved our first hour at the reception. We had the DJ play all of our favourite music and we had an absolute blast dancing to our favourite bands. Sitting in bed eating wedding cake after the day was over is also a good memory. Reflecting on what an amazing day it was and the feeling of contentment was awesome.
Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?
We had a "trick or treat" table for the kids. We had some joke toys on one bowl and sweets in the other which proved to be a hit with our younger guests.
Tell us about the cake...
We had a black and gold wedding cake decorated with green ivy icing. It had a lace print in the icing and we had a Nightmare Before Christmas cake topper with our initials on it. Another nod to Tim Burton! We had lemon sponge, Victoria sponge and chocolate sponge in each of its three tiers. It was delicious!
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Tell us about your wedding favours...
We made a donation to Mind Charity and gifted everyone an enamel pin badge. Mental health is a subject close to my heart and I wanted to help an awesome charity. The kids all had small glass pumpkins filled with crayons and sweets. We had a few baby guests too, who all got a little plush pumpkin to take home.
Were there any surprises on the day?
It snowed! Luckily it didn't last and everyone made it to the venue on time.
Tell us about your first dance...
Baby Blue Eyes by Rocket to the Moon. Jake chose it as it reminds him of me. We didn't practice it at all and we are both quite awkward so we just sort of swayed! It's a beautiful song though. We also invited everyone to join the dance half way through which was lovely.
Tell us about your Honeymoon...
We went on a Caribbean cruise followed by a few days in Florida.
Venue: Pendrell Hall, Codsall Wood
Photographer: Ian France at French Connection Photography
Stationery: Vista Print
Flowers: Flowers by Briege
Décor: Flowers by Briege and myself
MUA: Myself
Hair: Royston Blythe
Dress: Melissa Sweet
Shoes: Irregular Choice
Bridesmaids dresses: Quiz
Suits: Duncan James, Walsall
Page Boys: Duncan James, Walsall
From Brides, With Love xo
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