Mr + Mrs Rees
Saturday 26th October 2019︱Stradey Park Hotel
Instagram: @katielizbeth88︱Photographer: Oliver J Photography
Tim and Katie's wedding is giving us all the moody Autumn feels today and we are loving the burgundy, mink and gold colour palette. Bride Katie is a wedding coordinator so she knew exactly what she wanted; a relaxed vibe complete with lots of DIYs by the groom, her dad and her grandfather - including a bar and an amazing gin table plan.
How did you meet?
We met back in 2006 at our local nightclub Gwerllwyn, when we were both in our teens. We were introduced by a mutual friend, and really weren't looking for anything serious at the time. The next day Tim took me on our first date to the beach, and within two weeks we were ‘official’. I don’t think either of us really thought too far into the future at the time, we were so young. We made it through university, bought a house a year after, two years later had a beautiful daughter and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Were there any surprises on the day:?
We had agreed to no big presents on the morning of the wedding, and we treated ourselves to a helicopter flight on our honeymoon instead. But my Groom had something planned all along, and had the bestman deliver a present to me. He had bought me my first pair of black Christian Louboutin heels, and I was speechless and shaking, it was incredibly generous as I've always dreamt of them.
Tim has a love of classic cars, so I wanted to surprise him. A friend of a friend had a classic Porsche, and was so kind. The groomsmen were coming up to the venue early to have breakfast and get dressed there. The bridal party stayed the night before so there were no need for official wedding cars. So the owner of the Porsche agreed to go and pick Tim up in the morning, and drive him to the venue. Think it blew away some nerves in the morning, a fun start to the day.
Funniest wedding photograph...
My girls love a tequila, so before I put my dress on, myself, my mother and bridesmaids all had a shot of tequila together to celebrate. It will always be one of my favourite wedding photographs, it just sums up how relaxed and fun the morning was getting ready.
Tell us all about your wedding theme and colour scheme...
I work as a wedding coordinator, so you see so many weddings and themes that I already knew exactly what I wanted, and luckily Tim loved it too. We chose burgundy, mink and gold with lots of greenery. We just wanted it very relaxed, not too perfectly matched, and it suited the time of year and venue.
Music
- First dance: Jess Glynne - Real Love
- Song you walked down the aisle to: Ed Sheeran - Tenneriffe Sea
- Ceremony songs: James Bay - Wild Love + Coldplay - Something just like this
- Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple: Galantis - Tell me you love me
Favourite part of the day?
Our favorite part of the day was just seeing it all come together. We were lucky enough to have all the close family involved in different parts, so we had seen things being made over the course of the planning. Seeing it all together in the room was just incredible. The wedding décor team completely transformed the room with their back drop, chivari chairs and extra touches. We were blown away, it was the best feeling seeing all of our family and friends together in this beautiful setting.
What was the most emotional moment of the day?
The most emotional part of the day for me, had to be the speeches. Tim really doesn't like public speaking, and is not a man of many words when it comes to emotions. So to see his face as he read out the words he had written, about my family, our daughter and myself, was just the best feeling. For Tim, it was when our little girl walked down the aisle. She was so shy but she walked around the corner, took one look at him and shouted Daddy and ran up to give him a big hug. I hadn't come into the room yet, but could hear our guests reactions which was so touching.
Tell us all about the dress...
I went to many local boutiques, but my heart was always with an image I had come across on pinterest. It was a label called Grace Loves Lace, and is made in Australia. You can only purchase the dress directly from them, and most brides do so online without trying on in advance. Luckily for us, a showroom had recently opened in London, so we went for a day trip there. It was a long way from South Wales, but we had lots of prosecco, lunch in the Shard and met my cousin who took us on a tour, to make the most of the trip.
The Grace Loves Lace showroom was a dream. You're greeted with prosecco and macaroons, in the style of the boutique is incredible and the dresses to die for. My dream dress turned out to be better than I ever imagined, and my mother refused to leave the showroom without the dress purchased. You have to pay in full, and the dress arrives beautifully packaged to your home address.
What food did you have at your wedding?
We had a traditional canapes and three course meal, where we picked our favorite options each. For the evening buffet we had a rustic ploughman's style buffet, which the venue made look incredible laid out with meats, pates, salads and a cheeseboard. For dessert in the evening, we had wedding cake and a sweet table,but also Ice cream. Marios ice cream supplied an ice cream trike full of tubs of different flavors, that guests could help themselves to all night.
Advice for future brides...
Make sure you book suppliers and a venue that you connect with and trust. We had such a fun morning because the photographer, videographer, hairdresser and make up artists were all so lovely and it felt so relaxed. We were lucky enough to have my manager as our wedding coordinator, who is a true queen that I learnt everything from. I know what can go on behind the scenes, and just how much effort goes into making everything perfect for you, so I was so relaxed all day because we had an incredible team looking after us all. Knowing how brilliant she is, we didn’t worry about a single thing on the day because we knew she had it all in hand.
Tell us about your wedding cake...
We decided on three separate cakes, two two tier and one single tier. My Stepfather made us square wooden cake stands, for the cakes to sit on. We had chocolate fudge, red velvet, carrot cake, white chocolate and raspberry and the single tier was cherry bakewell, for us to take home.
Best wedding splurge?
My groom and parents wanted to offer wine with the meal which is traditionally done, whereas I wanted to change it up a bit. So we decided to offer formal wine, but also create a help yourself gin bar for the reception meal, filled with gin, mixers and fruit. My Stepfather made a beautiful wooden bar to fit in with our theme, and it really went down a treat.
Tell us about your wedding favours...
We always wanted something edible that could be used on the day, so we chose little gift bags with three bags of sweets - ‘His favourite’ ‘Her favourite’ and ‘Hollies favourite’ (our daughter) to make it personal. We also collected photos of all of the guests which were from their childhood, a funny moment or of their families. These were a polaroid style photo on with their name on, which were attached to the bags to act as their place card and to be able to keep.
We also kept this theme going with the arrival drinks after the ceremony. I chose pornstar martinis for the ladies, Tim chose his favourite larger that you could pour your own pint or have a bottle of for the men, and Hollie chose J20s for the children and non alcoholics.
Did you make any Wedding DIYs?
My stepfather and grandfather made so many things from wood for us, to coordinate with the theme. One of our favourites was our table plan, which was a wooden frame with bottles of gin filled with lights hanging down, with the lists of names attached.
A lot of our guests decided to stay at our venue the night before, and the night of the wedding. So we decided to make gift bags for each of the rooms. We put in a yankee wedding day candle, customized box of matches, a box of Welsh cakes made by the Mother of the Groom and each had a handwritten note, just to say how much we appreciated them sharing our day.
Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?
We wanted to do a few things differently, not too crazy, just a little different to weddings we had already seen. We wanted the day to be special for our daughter too, so we hired a lace wedding teepee tent for her and her cousins. Prim and Pamper custom decorated it so that all of the décor matched our wedding theme, came and set it up beautifully. It looked like a pinterest dream.
Tim is very conscious speaking in front of a large group, so we decided he would speech before food, like a welcome toast. For this, the Father of the Groom made sloe gin, so everyone had a personal miniature bottle full to toast the groom's speech. Prosecco was saved for the rest of the speeches after food. Our wedding team had placed prosecco shimmer and cocktail stirrers I had made in the glasses in advance, so once the prosecco was poured, it turned a shimmery gold to match our theme.
What was your favourite wedding purhcase?
One of our favourite purchases was a photobooth for the day. We opted for a full length mirror photobooth for the day, for our guests to have full length family shots. Then we had the fun booth with accessories for the evening, for the funny, drunken photos which have been so much fun to look back on.
Also the entertainment. We hired a female singer for the drinks reception and a funky Saxaphone player for when evening guests were arriving, which really created a fun and relaxed vibe. The saxaphone player stayed until we did our first dance, and was in the middle of the dance floor with us with confetti cannons, sparks going off and all our friends and family around us.
Tell us about your Honeymoon...
We have a 7 year old daughter, so we didn’t want to leave her for too long, although she was more than happy to spend time being spoilt by her grandparents! We’ve always wanted to travel America, so we chose San Fransisco (mainly for Alcatraz) and Las Vegas. We booked it all through Virgin and they were incredible, they really do look after honeymooners. From the service from their staff, room upgrades to a special gift from the air hostesses on our travels on the plane.
Photobooth reel...
Wedding Day Post...
My Father has his own graphics design company, so we got to have a lot of fun with that! Instead of a traditional order of the day, we had a ‘Wedding day post’. This had a short story of how we met, the proposal, (appropriate!) pictures of the hen and stag dos for the guests to have a giggle over.
Watch Katie and Tim's beautiful wedding video here.
Venue: Stradey Park Hotel, Llanelli
Photographer: Oliver J Photography
Videographer: John Mark Films
Stationery: Revolver Design
Florist: Sheilas Flowers
Cake: Carys Cakes
Décor: Simply Elegant Weddings and Events
MUA: Jenna Kelly (bride). Nicola Anderson (bridal party)
Hair: Stacey Lewis from Creations
Dress: Grace Loves Lace
Shoes: Carvella for Kurt Geiger
Bridesmaids dresses: ASOS
Flower girl dresses: Handmade by my Godmother
Suits: Dyfed Menswear
Wedding Rings: Ernest Jones
Band: Brohemian
DJ: NU Skool entertainment
Photobooth: Ultrabooth
Singer: Jemma Krysa
Sax Plater: Ollie Jenks
Ice-Cream: Mario's Ice-Cream Trike
Children's Tipi: Prim and Pamper
From Brides, With Love xo
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