A Mountain-View Wedding with Vintage Pink Louboutins - The Reception

Clouds of baby's breathy, bridesmaids in blush, and the prettiest lace wedding gown you've ever seen. This stunning big day is going to seriously float your boat. Xenia and Jeff live in Hong Kong, but they planned their destination wedding in Spain, at the beautiful La Garriga de Castelladral. You're going to love their sweet, romantic style - from the gorgeous miniature roses bridal bouquet, to the red velvet wedding cake - yum! Enjoy these beautiful shots by wedding photographer,  Noemi Jariod, and don't miss the Getting Ready and Ceremony pictures. For more details about Xenia's wedding decisions and suppliers, be sure to check out her brilliant blog Olivia's Choice - it's a great read!

We got married on October 6th at La Garriga de Castelladral, in inner Catalonia. Since we didn't want a religious ceremony but a civil one, it was a must for us to find a venue that offered this service in the prettiest possible way. This is the main reason we fell in love with the venue. 

La Garriga de Castelladral has breathtaking views to the Montserrat mountains. We held our civil ceremony on the terrace, and it was more we ever could have wished for. Regarding the decoration, all I knew was I wanted it to be sweet, just like I am!

My photographer was Noemi Jariod, the most talented wedding photographer I’ve ever met. I’m so lucky to have met her through La Garriga de Castelladral, I’m SO in love with my pictures!

I wanted our wedding to have a sweet, pretty theme, with white and pink being the main colours of our decoration. My dress had a pretty pink ribbon in keeping with that colour palette.

My florist was La Flor, in Manresa, the town next to La Garriga de Castelladral. I desperately wanted pink peonies for my bouquet, it’s something I’ve always known, but in October, peonies were just a no-no. Admittedly, I was sad, but my florist came up with a gorgeous pink pitimini roses bouquet that I loved.

I chose baby's breath for my bridesmaids, and for the rest of our wedding flowers. Also, the white of the little flowers was the perfect match for the pink bridesmaids dresses, while my pink rose bouquet perfectly matched my white wedding gown. We complemented each other!

I bought my dress in Guangzhou, China. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, and I knew wedding dresses were a steal in China, so I made up my mind to buy there. We spent several days looking around until we found the one. I got it at Knightly Bridal, a Chinese brand with amazing designs. 

I chose my bridesmaid’s outfits, which I got tailor-made in China as well. They were pretty pale pink long dresses, I absolutely loved them!

My husband got his outfit tailor-made in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that borders with Hong Kong. He designed the whole thing by himself and I was so impressed with the result! 

We chose a black tie theme for our wedding, so all the ushers dressed in black and white, with bow ties!

We had a couple of DIY projects. We made and set up all the pom-poms that decorated our photo booth by ourselves.

I absolutely loved our caterers, who came from a restaurant called To+. Shortly after our wedding, chef David García won the Top Chef program in Spain. He's really talented, everything was beyond delicious.

I chose for my favourite cake: Red Velvet! Of course you couldn’t see that from the outside, because it was a 4-tiered white cake with pink decoration, but Red Velvet it was! We ate it on the following day for breakfast.

I designed the wedding invitations myself with Adobe Illustrator, which was quite a challenge for me since I was just a beginner! 

We had little iced biscuits as our place-markers. The doubled up as sweet treat favours.

I loved planning our wedding! Jeff proposed in October 2012, so we had a whole year to plan our big day. I know some couples like hiring wedding planners, but for us it was a definite no-no.

My advice to brides planning their wedding? Start as soon as possible! Have ideas and things in mind even before he pops the question!

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An Elegant Mountain-View Wedding with Vintage Pink Louboutins

Wedding planners often say that once a bride has chosen her wedding venue and her wedding dress, everything else falls into place. Xenia and Jeff picked the incredible La Garriga de Castelladral in Spain, and Xenia found most exquisite Knightly Bridal gown I've ever seen, so you can guess that every other wedding detail is pretty exceptional as well. I'm going to let the lovely pictures by Noemi do the talking, but look out for Xenia's perfectly round miniature rose bouquet, her pink vintage Louboutins, and Jeff's smart black tie get-up. You'll also love their music choices - they picked a special song for every moment - so lots of great ideas for your own wedding! Huge thanks to the lovely Noemi Jariod for her fantastic pictures - look out for more of her work when I publish the reception photographs. Also - make sure you take a look at Xenia's blog - Olivia's Choice - it's packed with lots more details about her wedding planning.

We got married on October 6th at La Garriga de Castelladral, in inner Catalonia.  Since we didn't want a religious ceremony but a civil one, it was a must for us to find a venue that offered this service in the prettiest possible way. This is the main reason we fell in love with this venue. 

La Garriga de Castelladral has breathtaking views to the Montserrat mountains. We held our civil ceremony on the terrace, and it was more we ever could have wished for. Regarding the decoration, all I knew was I wanted it to be sweet, just like I am!

I've always dreamed of getting married in pink shoes, and these vintage Christian Louboutin heels couldn't have been more perfect.

I bought my dress in Guangzhou, China. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, and I knew wedding dresses were a steal in China, so I made up my mind to buy there. We spent several days looking around until we found the one. I got it at Knightly Bridal, a Chinese brand with amazing designs. 

I chose my bridesmaid’s outfits, which I got tailor-made in China as well. They were pretty pale pink long dresses, I absolutely loved them!

I wanted our wedding to have a sweet, pretty theme, with white and pink being the main colours of our decoration. My dress had a pretty pink ribbon in keeping with that colour palette.

My florist was La Flor, in Manresa, the town next to La Garriga de Castelladral. I desperately wanted pink peonies for my bouquet, it’s something I’ve always known, but in October, peonies were just a no-no. Admittedly, I was sad, but my florist came up with a gorgeous pink pitimini roses bouquet that I loved.

I chose baby's breath for my bridesmaids, and for the rest of our wedding flowers. Also, the white of the little flowers was the perfect match for the pink bridesmaids dresses, while my pink rose bouquet perfectly matched my white wedding gown. We complemented each other!

My husband got his outfit tailor-made in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that borders with Hong Kong. He designed the whole thing by himself and I was so impressed with the result! 

We chose a black tie theme for our wedding, so all the ushers dressed in black and white, with bow ties!

We chose a lot of music for our wedding ceremony. Jeff walked in to Bach's Trumpet Voluntary, our bridesmaids and groomsmen arrived while an orchestral version of Only Time by Enya played.

I walked up the aisle on the arm of my father to the sound of Bach's Canon in D Major.

At the end of our ceremony, our recessional music was Handel's Water Music, Suite 1, and as we left in a flurry of rose petals and rice, 'A moment like this' by Kelly Clarkson played.

We even had music for our romantic balloon release - we chose 'I do' by Colbie Caillat.

My photographer was Noemi Jariod, the most talented wedding photographer I’ve ever met. I’m so lucky to have met her through La Garriga de Castelladral, I’m SO in love with my pictures!

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A Lily-of-the-Valley Wedding Theme

Have you heard of lily-of-the-valley? It's the most exquisite flower, with tiny little white bells, and the sweetest scent. It's one of my favourite flowers, and luckily came into bloom just in time for my London wedding in early May. My mother picked it from her garden, and DIY'd my beautiful bouquet. It's a notoriously hard plant to force into flower, so if you want it at your wedding day, you'll have to be lucky! It's even got the royal seal of approval - Kate Middleton chose it for her wedding, and Grace Kelly carried a small bouquet of lily-of-the-valley on her big day. Once you see it, you'll fall in love - take a look at these wedding ideas, and check out my Pinterest page for more.

{My bouquet made by my mother, picture by Caught the Light}

{Source 1 unknown, Peggy Porschen Lily of the Valley Cake}

{Source 1, Source 2}

{Source 1, Source 2}

{Lily of the Valley Hair Piece, £43 | Source 2}

{Lily-of-the-Valley Gold Earrings, £15}

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Real Pretty Countryside Wedding: Claire & Tom

There's nothing better than a lovely English countryside wedding, particularly one with an elegant colour palette and a giant chocolate cake. The lovely couple, Claire and Tom, clearly have fabulous taste, as every detail fits perfectly, creating a truly chic affair brimming with stealworthy ideas. My favourite spots are Claire's bouquet of long-stemmed Avalanche roses, her bridesmaids' hair accessories and the simple-but-oh-so-special orchid blooms for the table displays. Plus the extravagent train on Claire's Rosa Clara dress is to die for! Copy their style by choosing just two colours for your big day, rather than a whole selection - it makes it easier to make everything match. Gorgeous photographs as ever from Nikole Ramsay, and scroll on down for Claire's helpful hints, plus all her suppliers.

The Before the Big Day Bridal Q&A - Claire was kind enough to fill in our bridal questionnaire, aimed at helping other brides with their planning process. Feast your eyes on her answers for helpful hints and tips from someone on the other side of her big day!

Where and when did you get married?
26th June 2010 at South Lodge Hotel, Lower Beeding, West Sussex

What was your thinking behind choosing the venue and the decoration of the reception?
We chose the venue because it was beautiful, and somewhere that no one we knew had got married. Which was something I wanted.

Did you have a theme, colour or motif in mind?
All white with a touch of silver.

Who made your wedding outfit, and how did you come to that decision?
My dress was from Rosa Clara at Liberty. It was the 3rd dress I tried on and it was perfect. My shoes were Christian Loubotin. I love them! I wore a diamond braclet which Tom brought me especially for the day and my dad brought me a Tiffany key necklace, but the chain was too long so I attached the pendant to my bracelet.

What about your husband’s outfit? Where was it from?
Tom’s outfit was from Lapels Mens Hire in Maidstone Kent. Mark was very helpful in dressing the groom, 2 best men, 5 ushers, 2 fathers and 2 page boys.

What type of cake did you go for, and how did you come to that decision?
We went for a chocolate cake, from Purita Hyam. We chose it as i don’t like fruit cake or jam, and I am a chocolate lover. Purita sent us a sample and it was delicious.

Did you have any favours? What were they? Was there any particular reason why you picked them?
We had lottery tickets, unfortunately nobody won, but a couple of £10’s were.

What flowers did you choose, and how did you come to that decision?
We had white avalanche roses and orchids.

Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Nikole Ramsay. We chose her as she photographed my dad’s wedding and they were amazing pictures (as are ours). She was recommended by my auntie who is also a photographer.

Did you enjoy planning your wedding?
I loved planning my wedding, albeit a bit stressful at times. I want to do it again.

What advice do you have for brides planning their big day?
Keep calm and carry on and go with your instincts, don’t do things just to make others happy.

♥ Want more countryside weddings? ♥ Or how about more summer wedding ideas? ♥

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