Mr + Mrs Chivers
15th June 2019 | St John’s Cathedral + Southwood Hall, Norfolk
Instagram: @lucie.chivers + @tomchivers90 | Photos: Katherine Ashdown Photography
Lucie and Tom wanted their wedding to have a timeless feel, so opted for white florals, blush bridesmaids dresses and navy suits. The bride wore a beatiful Suzanne Neville gown with a beautiful cathredral veil. Lucie tells us all about their special day, the DIYs they made and the ups and downs of wedding planning...
How did you meet each other?
We met on New Year’s Eve 2014! I went out straight from work and as you can imagine the pubs were heaving. I spotted someone I worked with who had a table and chairs and made a beeline! Tom was one of the people on that table and we’ve been together ever since.
Tell us about the proposal...
The proposal was perfect, Tom planned a picnic at Holkham Beach with snacks and prosecco and just before we packed up he got on one knee and asked me to marry him – whilst I was mid mouthful of sausage roll. It was the absolute best and I’d just had my nails done that morning too!
What was your…
- Something old – a sixpence my grandad gave me
- Something new – my dress
- Something borrowed – the sixpence from my Grandad (although admittedly I kept it as a keepsake in the end)
- Something blue – my necklace Tom gave to me on our first Christmas together
Tell us all about your wedding colour scheme...
We didn’t really have a set colour scheme – we had an idea about flowers and what felt personal to us and the rest all slotted into place. We just wanted something timeless and classic and I loved the white and greens in the flowers against the navy suites and blush bridesmaids dresses.
Advice for future brides...
Don’t worry about anything on the day – everything you could have done is done, and if it’s not it’s not getting done! So relax, enjoy your day and focus on having the best time. If you had fun and you’re married at the end of it, it’s been a success!
What was the most emotional moment of the day?
Walking down the aisle. It was so wonderful to see all our friends and family together for the first time, I had to catch my breath a little and then seeing Tom at the end of the aisle was just the most amazing feeling – it was so lovely to see him.
I honestly couldn’t pick one, they were all incredible and offered so much advice and help with the day. A real life dream team!
What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it?
We had a budget of around £30k with parents and family kindly helping out and we spent £35K in the end.
Top money saving tip: Spreadsheets! I kept a spreadsheet of all the finances for the wedding so we knew where we were with everything. It will also help show how much and for how long we needed to save. We also asked for a donation towards our honeymoon as our wedding gift and were able to open a Honeymoon ‘Gift List’ with Kuoni – it really helped a lot.
Did you make any wedding DIYs?
We made all our invites (thank you Etsy) and wedding favours ourselves, my Father-In- Law made our table numbers and place names himself which was so lovely and personal. He also made us an amazing cake hoop which we adored but other than that we just collected fancy gin bottles and used them as vases/lanterns to add for decorations. One of my bridesmaids made me a last minute bouquet out of the gin bottle flowers so I could throw it as I was worried mine would knock someone out!
Tell us about your wedding favours...
They were handmade candles – looked super cute but took so much time! My poor bridesmaids were still tying the bows the day before the wedding.
Tell us about your Honeymoon...
We booked our Honeymoon with Kuoni and chose to travel to Singapore and then Bali. Two complete opposite places but both incredible. We split our time in Bali between Ubud and Seminyak which was fantastic because it allowed us to experience two sides of it. The flight was a long one though so if you’re thinking of going be prepared!
Tell us all about the dress...
Finding a dress took me a long, long time! I must have looked in every shop in Norfolk and Suffolk. I didn’t know what I was looking for but the dresses I tried on were not it. I ended up going to House of Snow Bridal and found a Suzanne Neville dress there which was the closest thing to what I’d been looking for but still not quite right. So I hopped on a train a went to the Suzanne Neville flagship in Knightsbridge and it was incredible, the staff were so understanding and told me to take my time and come back if I wanted to as the new season was just about to be released. The second time I went I found my dress and the whole experience was something I’ll always treasure.
What was the worst wedding planning moment?
The guestlist was fairly stressful! But other than that the only thing I can pin point was that I got my nails done 2 days before the wedding and for some reason I decided to have gold gems added to my wedding finger. I have never had anything like this before and couldn’t tell you why I chose that moment to go rogue! Needless to say I got home and hated them and bit the gems off leaving little craters in the gel. Luckily one of my bridesmaids does her own gel nails and saved the day the night before the wedding by fixing them! My advice is test run your wedding nails before the week of the wedding!
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Tell us about the food...
Food was a massive part of our Wedding Day. Southwood Hall were incredible and everything was made on site. We had a selection of canapes on arrival, and then we had local beef braised in woodefordes, creamed potatoes with a cheddar croute and glazed carrots for our main, there was a puy lentil, caramelized onion wellington with a red wine reduction vegan option and for dessert there was the choice of artisan chocolate & salted caramel tart served with salted caramel ice-cream, or fresh local strawberries and cream. For the evening guests we had pizza fresh from the wood oven at Southwood Hall and fresh donuts.
Tell us about the cake...
I think this was one of the things Tom was looking forward to most! We chose a 4 tier iced cake with fresh flowers from our florist. We chose vanilla + passion fruit, cherry + almond, chocolate and white chocolate, and the top tier was a gluten free lemon and elderflower as we had quite a few guests who were gluten free and didn’t want them to miss out. My father-in-law made us a beautiful cake hoop and I added the flowers myself.
What was your first dance song?
We chose an acoustic cover of John Legend - All Of Me covered by Boyd Avenue – Tom actually chose it which I really loved. We tried to practice but we couldn’t seriously slow dance in our living room without loosing it so we decided to just see what happens on the day! I think we both had enough prosecco by the time the first dance came around to make it go pretty smoothly!
Did you have a videographer?
Yes, it was one of the most worth while things we did for the wedding, I adore the film and it’s such a wonderful keepsake to look back on.
The bride also also asked us to add a little note from her and husband Tom about how much both their families, bridesmaids and groomsmen helped with the wedding and how much they appreciated them! "My Mum trekked endlessly around wedding dress shops with me and we really appreciated how much effort everyone put into helping us make our wedding day perfect."
Watch Lucie + Tom's gorgeous wedding video below.
Venue: St Johns Cathedral (Ceremony) and Southwood Hall Norfolk (Reception)Photographer: Katherine Ashdown PhotographyVideographer: Browns FilmsStationery: EtsyFlorist: Floral SistasCake: Dust With CocoaDécor: DIY & The Little Lending CompanyMUA: LoveMoi MakeupHair: Hair by Tracey WardDress: Suzanne NevilleShoes: ConverseBridesmaids dresses: ASOSSuits: NextRings: Winsor BishopPhotobooth: Mr EventsEntertainment: Alfie Ace Hawes Magician
From Brides With Love xo
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