Showing posts with label Glamour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glamour. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

And the Bride wore..... Sequins

Wow wow wow! Now we're talking some serious glamour. Just take a look at this di-vine wedding dress created entirely out of sequins. I'm in love! The gowns are created by Gibson Bespoke, and each one is tailored specifically for you. They're the perfect wedding dress for brides wanting to stand out from the crowd. Choose from silver, rose gold, champagne and even rich purple, plus a selection of patterns. Each one is designed with a show-stopping 20" train, and a guarantee to make you feel like a vintage a screen sirens.






{Picture Credit} First image by Catherine Farquharson, others from Gibson Bespoke

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Thursday, June 11, 2015

A Boho Humanist Wedding with a Forest Ceremony - The Reception

Take one sequinned gown and mismatch it with a farm wedding venue, and you have the perfect big day combo of boho glamour. Hanna and Paul chose Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex for their wedding day and celebrated with a three-day extravaganza. All their friends and family stayed on site, and enjoyed a BBQ on Friday night, before the humanist ceremony and barn reception on Saturday. I love the relaxed atmosphere of their big day - there weren't many decorations, but the stunning rustic venue speaks for itself. Don't miss the just-picked wedding flowers, the naked berry cake, the festoon lights, and the hilarious wedding portraits. Huge thanks to Michael from My Beautiful Bride for sending me this wedding. Don't miss the Ceremony pictures here.


We celebrated our big day on 14th June - a summer wedding. We chose Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex as our venue. It's stunning with a clearing where we hosted our marriage ceremony outdoors in the woods.


It was the second venue we visited. It was perfect because we had the farm for the whole weekend, meaning it felt more of an experience, than an in-and-out job like other weddings we've experienced.



There was glamping and chic caravans on the farm for close friends to stay, and a more robust farm house for family. This meant we could host a BBQ for friends and family staying on the farm on the Friday night before the wedding.


We knew we wanted our wedding day to feel both special and relaxed in its energy. We didn’t want to get married somewhere that felt like a conveyor belt of weddings, instead we wanted a venue we could make our own. Hawthbush Farm gave us that opportunity.


We chose Michael from My Beautiful Bride as our wedding photographer, and he was OUTSTANDING! He comes highly recommended. His photographs capture the essence of our wedding day experience. He pictured all the details of the day, as well as the overall story, while seamlessly blending in with our guests. 


He really was exceptional. His photos are the ultimate evidence, but he was also a really lovely person to have around on the day for all those intimate moments. Perfect.


We are a perfect team and our wedding was essentially a 50-50 division of labour, although there wasn't much 'planning' and we left a lot to the last minute.





We had a cappella singing group 'The Treblemakers' singing before, and during the ceremony and then at the reception. They were awesome!


For our wedding decorations we kept things really simple. We just had bunting hanging up in the bar - everything else was as it came. 


All our wedding flowers were picked the day before the wedding from a field adjacent to the farm. They wear amazing! The only instructions I gave were 'please can we have pink and yellow flowers included'. 


The flowers were delivered on the day and it  was the first time any of us lay eyes on them! We were very relaxed as you can see! They were AMAZING!


I don't like icing so we went for a 'naked' cake, made by A Slice of Nice. It had cream in between the layers of sponge and berries for decoration. It was delicious sponge, so yummy and moist, and suited the general tone for the day. 


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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

A Boho Humanist Wedding with a Forest Ceremony

When I see a truly perfect wedding, I get goosebumps, and I literally can't wait to share it with you! Michael from My Beautiful Bride sent over these wedding photographs a few days ago, and I've been champing at the bit to get it edited and published as quickly as possible. Hanna and Paul celebrated their big day with a humanist ceremony in a forest. So far so rustic, but Hanna glammed it up with a s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g vintage sequinned gown, and colour-pop bridesmaids dresses in coral pink and lemon yellow. It's a feast for the eyes! I'm in love with their rural venue choice - Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex, and their freshly-picked flowers from the next door field. They managed to stay relaxed throughout their wedding planning, and you can really see the joy shining through Michael's pictures. Enjoy these shots, and don't miss the Reception pictures, coming later today!



We celebrated our big day on 14th June - a summer wedding. We chose Hawthbush Farm in East Sussex as our venue. It's stunning with a clearing where we hosted our marriage ceremony outdoors in the woods.


It was the second venue we visited. It was perfect because we had the farm for the whole weekend, meaning it felt more of an experience, than an in-and-out job like other weddings we've experienced. 


There was glamping and chic caravans on the farm for close friends to stay, and a more robust farm house for family. This meant we could host a BBQ for friends and family staying on the farm on the Friday night before the wedding.


After a day spent in boutique wedding dress shops on a Saturday with my mum and sister, I was exhausted from the very idea of any more wedding dress shopping, though I had discovered I wanted a 20s/30s silhouette to my wedding dress. 


My sister, and Chief Bridesmaid, told me we ought to go to a Miss Vintage Affair, a vintage wedding dress sale at Battersea Arts Centre the next day. Reluctantly I agreed to go and we brought fellow bridesmaid Alexis along too. 


After milling around for a bit, something sparkly caught my eye – a beautiful dress entirely covered in sequins. I knew it was the one! At once understated and dramatic – and not many people get married head to toe in sequins!


All our wedding flowers were picked the day before the wedding from a field adjacent to the farm. They wear amazing! The only instructions I gave were 'please can we have pink and yellow flowers included'. 



They were delivered on the day and it  was the first time any of us lay eyes on them! We were very relaxed as you can see! They were AMAZING!


We knew we wanted our wedding day to feel both special and relaxed in its energy. We didn’t want to get married somewhere that felt like a conveyor belt of weddings, instead we wanted a venue we could make our own. Hawthbush Farm gave us that opportunity.


Paul wore a tailored light grey three piece suit, with a yellow tie, in fitting with our pink and yellow theme.


Our humanist ceremony took place in the woods at the edge of the farm. Hanna's mum is Algerian, so one of the readings was a love poem in Arabic read by Hanna's mum, uncle and aunt. 


We had a cappella singing group 'The Treblemakers' singing before, and during the ceremony and then at the reception. They were awesome! They also sang me down the aisle to 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen – something I had always wanted to do on my wedding day. 


We also had a very unconventional reading from the film Frieda, which started with the line "I don't believe in marriage. No, I really don't. Let me be clear about that. I think at worst it's a hostile political act, a way for small-minded men to keep women in the house and out of the way, wrapped up in the guise of tradition and conservative religious nonsense. At best, it's a happy delusion....." - 




My younger sister Roann was Chief Bridesmaid, and then I had three others - two from university and one from my Masters. They wore coral pink dresses, teamed with bright lemon pashminas.










We chose Michael from My Beautiful Bride as our wedding photographer, and he was OUTSTANDING! He comes highly recommended. His photographs capture the essence of our wedding day experience. He pictured all the details of the day, as well as the overall story, while seamlessly blending in with our guests. 


He really was exceptional. His photos are the ultimate evidence, but he was also a really lovely person to have around on the day for all those intimate moments. Perfect.




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Friday, April 3, 2015

A Pretty Pastel Blue Winter Wedding with a Tea-Party Theme

After years of not receiving many winter weddings, my inbox is suddenly full of lovely photographs! The latest bride to choose January for her big day is Natalie, and I've fallen for her stunning ice blue and gold colour palette. Natalie's Cotton and Crumbs cake was the first thing she ordered, and the inspiration for the rest of her wedding. I love its tea-cup topper, and ornate lace icing, but there's plenty of other wedding details for you - from the gorgeous Coast bridesmaid maxi-dresses, Natalie's stunning Charlie Brear gown and Glenn's specially tailored suit. Enjoy! Many thanks to the lovely Kayleigh Pope for sending over these lovely wedding pictures.



We got married in Coombe Abbey Hotel on 31st January 2015. We didn't actually view many venues because we wanted something local to make things easier for my family.





I'm not a typical bride and I wanted my wedding dress to be very simple, I choose a stunning Charlie Brear silk slip, with a beautiful handmade lace dress overlay.


I had my hair and make-up done on the day by Chloe McCall and Kelly Cooper Hairdressing.


I found it in The Wedding Club in Birmingham, they have the most amazing collection of less traditional yet stylish and elegant dresses.






My shoes were Gucci and on the border of trashy yet classy. This is what drew me to them - the bright yellow gold metallic was really appealing, and I just had to have them!


 I chose a very long veil with a lace trim by Joyce Jackson. This came from The Wedding Club as well.


Glenn's suit was from Marks and Spencer, and he had the waistcoat specially tailored into a horseshoe style to make it unique to him for our wedding day.


His tie and pocket handkerchief matched the blue of my bridesmaids' dresses, and he also had the most amazing two-toned shoes from Ted Baker.


Dressing my bridesmaids was hard - I had all the girls' outfits before I even choose mine - I was so determined to get it right. I had eleven bridesmaids including flower girls, and I wanted them all to feel beautiful in the dresses we choose.


I didn't choose typical bridesmaids dresses - they were a beautiful pastel blue maxi dress from Coast teamed with a fur scarf from Miss Selfridges. The flower girls had very simple white dresses from Monsoon.


Our wedding florist was Arcadia on the Binley Road in Coventry. The florist there, Hayley, was really good. I showed a number of pictures on Pinterest and she created her own version for our wedding day.


I had white roses and gypsophila in my bouquet, and the bridesmaids had small hand-tied bunches of gypsophila.



The men had gypsophila button holes, and Glenn had a single white rose lapel.



Kayleigh Pope was our wedding photographer and I can't recommended her highly enough. 


One of Kayleigh's first shoots was a charity football match in honour of my late brother and it felt right when we met her to discuss the wedding.




Our theme colours were white, gold, pastel pink and blue, with lace detailing.




My dear friend and bridesmaid Junie Poonie designed and created our wedding stationery. What made it extra special is that she designed the lace print with roses created especially for us. June is extraordinarily talented.


We wanted to keep it simple, we had a traditional afternoon tea with our own crockery. It was all mis-matched but that added a little fun to the occasion. 


We had candelabras on the tables so we opted for a reef of gypsophila at the base. It looked really simple and pretty.


We had bone-china trios as our wedding favours. It made everything more personal on the day, plus every time our guests have a cup of tea, they can be reminded of our wedding.


Our wedding cake was the first thing that we ordered, and everything else feel into place once the cake had been designed, with its gold and pastel blue icing, and tea-cup topper.


It was my whole wedding inspiration. Tracy from Cotton and Crumbs is so talented and made the most beautiful four tier cake. It tasted as good as it looked.


Weddings are hard work and require a lot of attention, but it was all worth it on the day! My advice to brides is to no rush into the planning. Take your time and enjoy each and every second. Often we forget about ourselves, by putting everyone else first, but try and remember whose day it is, it all goes by far to fast.


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