Natalie and Becky's Festive Fairy Lights Wedding at OH ME OH MY, Liverpool

Mrs + Mrs Johnson-Haigh

7th December 2019 | OH ME OH MY, Liverpool 

Instagram: @natalie6145 @beckyjayne81702  | Photographer: Willow and Wilde

Natalie and Becky tied the knot in December last year and incorporated lots of Christmas elements! We're obsessed with the magical floor to ceiling fairy lights. They kept their colour palette soft with whites and light pinks, with romantic candelabras. Their ceremony was written and taken by a friend which made it even more personal. Natalie tells us all about their wedding day, and offers some amazing advice for other brides to be...

Tell us about your proposal...

Becky loves Christmas, so I got 23 small boxes, filled them with sweets and numbered them like an advent calendar under our small Christmas tree for her to open throughout December. Box 24 was a ‘Christmas Eve’ box that had a bottle of champagne, PJs, snacks and the ring. I proposed in our house when she opened the box. 

What was your Wedding Budget – and did you stick to it? 

£17K (not including honeymoon) and yes, we stuck to it. 

Music

• Bridal entrance: ‘This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)’ by Natalie Cole
• Bridal exit: Our close friend (and musician) Lanré Aluko sang Beyoncé’s version of ‘Ave Maria’ alongside an acoustic guitar player. 
• First dance: Fall Again by Glenn Lewis 

Were there any surprises on the day? 

We found out that the flower wall that we ordered as the backdrop for the ceremony hadn’t shown up as we were waiting to walk down the aisle!  

Tell us about the ceremony...

On the main wedding day, our close friend did the blessing at OH ME OH MY. She wrote the ceremony and did her own readings and we read our own vows (we also got to rehearse this beforehand which eased the nerves). 

Advice for future brides...

• Use Bridebook to manage your budget and guestlist.  
• Personal circumstances apply here but we both put £500 towards our (separate) hen dos as it was important to us to make sure they were affordable for our hens.  
• Make sure guests aren’t hungry.  
• Keep ceremony and speeches short enough so people don’t get bored.  
• We swapped some of our wine for beer buckets, which went down well. 
• ASOS do amazing sales if you’re on budget

Things will go wrong – just go with it!  

Did you make any wedding DIYs?

As we had a Christmas wedding, we got some flat pack miniature ‘Christmas present’ boxes, tied with a ribbon and filled them with mini Millie’s cookies.

Tell us about the hen dos...

Becky had a weekend away in the UK to an amazing converted barn with a hot tub, a chef came in to cook a meal and they did a life drawing class. For mine (branded ‘Nat’s Hen Boo’), we went for a boozy lunch, then my friends took me to a party apartment, dressed me up as a dead bride and everyone else dressed up as my dead wedding party. We went to a Halloween Disco event.  

Tell us about the cake...

It was 3 tiers!

• Top tier – Plain white iced (Almond & Raspberry) 
• Middle tier – White iced with royal icing lace detail (Chocolate Mud) 
• Bottom tier – White iced with white scrunch ruffles (Signature Vanilla with Strawberry Conserve)  

Wedding must-have: GOOD FOOD.  

Tell us about the food...

Welcome Bites: 

• Mozzarella & herb oil on artisan bread 
• Hummus & Crudites 
• Dressed white crab meat crostini 
• Pepperdew peppers filled with chive cream cheese 
• Roast chicken breast, caesar dressing & parmesan wrapped in gem lettuce 
• Smoked salmon, cucumber and dill crostini 
• Chocolate truffles  

Main (sharing menu): 

• Pre-starter - Focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar 
• Starter: (meat eaters) English Platter – Ham Hock Terrine, Pork Pie, Mature Cheddar, Fried Black Pudding, Baby Pickles, Roast Beef with Piccalilli and Honey & mustard Chipolatas. (veggie) Greek Mezze – Grilled Halloumi, Tzatziki, Hummus, Feta Salad, Pitta Bread, Olives, Falafel Balls & Feta Filo Parcels 
• Main: (meat eaters) Garlic & Herb Roast Chicken (veggie) Nut Roast. Both with sides of Roast Potatoes, Honey Roast Root Vegetables and Gravy 
• Dessert: Dark Chocolate Brownie & White Chocolate and Raspberry Crème Brulee  

Late Night Bites: 

• Fish & chips with tartar sauce 
• Goan vegetable curry & rice 

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

Our honeymoon in Bali got cancelled due to Covid-19.

Venue, Wedding Coordinator & Catering: OH ME OH MY, Liverpool 

Planning App: Bridebook 

Dresses: Evelyn Bride / Wed2b 

Suits:  ASOS / Charles Tyrwhitt / Next 

Photographer: @willowandwilde_uk 

Stationery: InkandVow (Etsy) 

MUA: @jocelynmillermakeup 

Hair: @micamadinehair 

Shoes: ASOS / Next 

Wedding Rings: Orla James 

Bridesmaids dresses:  ASOS 

Flower girl dresses: ASOS 

Décor: DIY

DJ: @weddingdjliverpool (Lee) 

Entertainment: @sophiasaxophonist and @michaelmcaleavy 

Cake:  Chrissy Cakes 

Florist: @joysflorist 

Transport: As everyone would be inside when we arrived, we used Blacklane – much cheaper than a wedding car and fancier than a taxi! 

*Warning*: Our flower wall didn’t arrive and the supplier we used (Ozzy James Events) were not professional whatsoever and didn’t offer us a refund initially because ‘even though the time was stated in the contract, it was only a rough estimate’. Their customer service was shocking – avoid at all costs! 

From Brides, With Love xo