Our Wedding at Colehayes Park

Ok, so i really should have written this post a long time ago, but life got in the way! I also planned to not add too many photos, but our photographer Chris Barber did such a beautiful job i find it impossible to narrow down any more than this! 

We got married in August 2014 at Colehayes Park, Devon. We had the big house for the whole weekend, so went to town decorating with lots of little touches (and the help of wonderful friends and family).

My clever dad made us these stunning six foot tall light up letters. We had planned to get married in the garden, but on the day it literally poured with rain, so these made an amazing backdrop for the ceremony!

 I spent many happy hours hand sewing this sparkly headpiece, to wear with my mums veil. I hope to pass it down as a family heirloom.

 Nerves!

 Instead of hymns, the bridesmaids led everyone in a rendition of 'We Go Together' from Grease, complete with impromptu hand jive.

 Our parents and grandparents wedding photos proudly on display, showing us how it's done!

I really enjoyed designing all the printed bits for the wedding. Instead of a guest book we gave each guest these cards on which they could share their memories of the day, draw us a picture, and give us their tips for a long and happy marriage. We got some very funny answers! 

The favours were fortune cookies in little chevron bags, with mini badges that said things like 'kiss me quick', 'team R', 'team H', and 'Hooray!'

 Some of the books on the tables contained hidden treasure....

 My mum and i made the cake in the days leading up to the wedding.

A board of local cheeses for the evening feast - look at the excitement on the guests faces!

Phew, if you made it all the way to the end, well done! And if you haven't had enough yet, here's a short video a friend of ours made of the day...

An Engagement Shoot At The Horniman Gardens

Hello! For those of you who have never booked a wedding photographer, you may not be familiar with the concept of an engagement shoot - i certainly wasn't! But it is a standard part of most photographers packages. At first i thought 'we don't need that. What a self-indulgent concept. I have a wedding budget to stick to!' But once we'd got over that, we realised it's actually a really sweet idea. A chance to have some nice relaxed photos together, in your usual clothes, in a place that means something to you when you're not busy getting married and talking to 100 guests. It's also a good way to get to know your photographer, tell them all your plans and get used to being in front of their camera.

So! A couple of weeks ago we had our engagement shoot with Chris Barber. We had lots of ideas about clever settings and props and themes, but in the end we realised that keeping it simple would be best, and would mean the most to us. We chose to go to the Horniman Museum and Gardens. It's within spitting distance of our house, so in the five years that we've lived in Forest Hill we've gone there countless times, for autumn walks, picnics with friends and snowball fights.

I think that in ten years we'll look back at these photos and they will capture this moment in our lives - our first home together, making lots of plans, and standing on the edge of our future.

Finding Cinderella's Slippers

Stella McCartney £400 / Valentino £520 / Nicholas Kirkwood £543 / Kate Spade $325


I'm trying not to write too much on this blog about our wedding plans, as we want to keep things a surprise for our guests. But it's not easy! I can tell you that the planning is going well, we now have the venue, photographer, and legal bit all booked. We have almost booked the catering and bar. The bridesmaids dresses are sorted and hanging in garment bags in my spare room, and (perhaps most importantly) i've found my dress! OF COURSE i'm not telling you a thing about it!

So now I am thinking about the rest of my outfit, veil, jewellery, and SHOES! I am spending a lot of time on the train browsing shoe shops online. Those Valentinos up there, those are the best i've found, aren't they lovely? Shame my budget probably wouldn't even cover one of the bows! I definitely want peep toes, and i love an oversize bow. I would love some glitter, and i'm most keen on gold, rose and ivory colours. A big (small?) problem is that i'm pretty tall, at 5'8, so 10cm is really the maximum heels I can have. I definitely don't want to be taller than the boy! So the Nicholas Kirkwoods are straight out, as are the (sob) Valentinos.

Have you seen any gorgeous footwear in this sort of style? Give me recommendations PLEASE!

But really, come on...

Photo via This Is Glamorous 

Recently....

The boy and i have just come back from a mini holiday in the New Forest. It was everything we needed, with good food, fresh air, long walks and endless ponies, dogs and mackerel. But more on that when i get my films developed!

Here's a little update on the million things that have been keeping me very very busy these last few weeks...

I worked with our good friend Alexander 6 and we designed the save the dates. We decided to go with postcards for now, with more formal folded cards and envelopes for the real invitation. These little beauties are just going out to our families and the close wedding party, everyone else can look forward to the proper things in nine months or so, when we have a few more details sorted!

We went to Hatton Garden to check out wedding rings, and if this were an interview in a wedding magazine my tip to all other brides and indeed people would be GO TO HATTON GARDEN! In case you've never been, it's London's jewellery quarter. There is a crossroads lined with little independent jewellery shops, selling everything from silver earrings to platinum tiaras. Since you are buying direct from the makers the prices are so good! I had my dream ring in mind, but didn't think we could afford it. Here, we went into six different shops, all offered to make it bespoke for me, all half the price of anywhere i'd seen it on the high street! We didn't order our rings yet, since we have plenty of time, but we will definitely get them in Hatton Garden.

Another thing that's been keeping me very busy is our ongoing (and at times painful) upholstery project! I know, it seems almost mythical now, but i promise it really does exist. Next weekend i have my mum coming to stay as we are going wedding dress shopping (eek!) So that's my incentive to get it finished this bank holiday weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and i'll try to keep mine out of the staple gun...