Well good evening my little wedding lovers! Today I’m sharing a pretty real wedding with lots of DIY lace details and accents of peach and coral tones.
Apologies you’ve had to wait for today’s blog post too – It’s been a cookin’ in my blog for at least a week or so whilst I settled down into my new day job and routine. Up at 5.30am for an 8am start. Absolute killer. But it does mean my dears that I am home around mid afternoon to crack on with all my wedding related loveliness.
So back to today’s post. What particularly excites me about today’s wedding is, not only is Alexa ‘one of my very own’. Yup. A bonafide Want That Wedding reader, but all her ideas came from the WTW blog too. Yay! I’ll now hand you over to our lovely Alexa, who talks about her wonderful wedding day. Enjoy!!
Surrey & Kent have lots of beautiful manor houses and when Ben found Northbrook it was just breath taking. The vine room (ceremony) was tall, fresh white with the elegance of gold vines surrounding it.
© 2013 Georgi Mabee Photography
I loved Augusta Jones wedding dresses and couldn’t believe my luck when I found one in a sample sale! I thought it was very elegant with the minimal detailing, and loved how it nipped in at the waist then floated down. It wasn’t until I tried it on a few times that I realised I wanted a train. I selected a different belt and an embellished bra strap which Mum stitched onto some ribbon; no one would ever know!
I searched high and low for coral bridesmaid dresses. You don’t realise how many shades of coral there are, and then when you do, you realise you don’t even like certain shades. I met up with an old uni friend who was getting married a month before I was and she said Debenhams ‘debut’ had a great range. I looked on the app just before going to bed and there they were…. in the sale!
I wanted classic ivory shoes since the dress was very elegant. I heard that Rainbow Club shoes had more padding in them to last all day, and they did! I can’t believe my feet didn’t hurt, even after all that dancing!
If I had to say our wedding had a ‘theme’ I would say our whole wedding had elements of pretty lace in the styling.
I wore my great, great grandmother’s veil, which had been worn by brides in the family for over 120 years. The lace felt beautiful on my shoulders and I was proud to be wearing the same veil as my mum and grandmother who passed away 6 months before the wedding.
I wanted my hair up and away from my face. Ben & I have an ongoing joke that his favourite part of my body is my ‘great shaped head’ so I thought I would honour an ‘up do’ just for him! I loved Jennifer Lawrence’s make up at the Oscars, something that looked like a better version of ‘me’ rather than looking totally different.
A good friend recently completed a decorating course so we went to Dutch Masters Flower Market at 5am and they chose a mix of eucalyptus, dill, astrantia, freesia, veronica, hypericum berries, brunia berries, prima dona and avalanche peach roses for the flower jar table decorations. I wanted simple elegant flowers for my actual bouquet so had calla lilies.
I cannot describe how much I love my engagement ring! The stone was a ceylone sapphire that I found at a brick n brack stall 6 years ago thinking it was a plastic ring similar to Carrie Bradshaw’s engagement ring! Little did I know it was a beautiful stone in a 20 carat gold band! Although we got it re-set, I will always wonder the history of that ring.
Ben really wanted to wear a grey suit rather than tails to keep it modern. He wore the same as the ushers but with a different tie.
Ben proposed on a beautiful evening in Rome just before our good friends got married on the Amalfi Coast. Although we had first met nearly 20 years ago as children, we didn’t really get to know each other until we met at a house party. The rest is history.
My wonderful Dad walked me down the aisle. It was lovely having a few moments together just before the ceremony, although he amused the guests soon enough by announcing he was ‘absolutely more than happy to give me away’… I’m hoping it was down to nerves?
I walked down the aisle to ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri. We listened to the Twilight soundtrack a lot when we first met so it reminded us of when we fell in love.
The ceremony was definitely one of my most memorable moments! I was so nervous about walking down the aisle and saying my vows in front of so many people but we were both surprised by how relaxed and smoothly it went. Standing in front of all your loved ones about to start the next chapter of your life was pretty memorable!
I found my wonderful wedding photographer through the Want That Wedding blog. Despite the storms rumbling and a lot of people to contend with, Georgi made us feel so at ease and captured every element.
All of wedding decorations were ideas from the WTW blog. The mirrored guest stand, the black boards and table settings etc. It was my way of relaxing after a hard day at work. Our friend’s contributions were a huge part of the day too. Mandy did all the flowers, which saved us a fortune!! It was worth going to Dutch Master Flower market at 5am, they chose flowers that blended perfectly with the coral bridesmaid dresses and grey suits. My bridesmaids had craft days decorating things from lace jars to confetti cones. A friend organised and sang in the band, her boyfriend composed our first dance, an acoustic version of Rudamental’s ‘feel the love’, which was one of many highlights! Our registrar was also a family friend who conducted a very personable ceremony. The list of helpers was endless!
The orangery was so beautiful it didn’t need decorating so we only added a few bits to add to the style of the day. My lovely cousin designed blackboard signs, we also had frames hanging for guests to pose and have some photo fun before the wedding breakfast. My bridesmaids helped decorate the flower jars with lace and twine as well as the lace confetti cones.
As the wedding had elements of lace from the veil, to the flowers jars etc we wanted the cake to be included in that theme too. I’m a massive cake eating / baking fan so a large cake was on the cards… we opted for a fake layer to help with the cost.
So many people said “don’t get carried away with all the small things” but afterwards they said the small things made our wedding special and personable… so I say, go ahead with whatever projects you want, just get friends to help!
I and most of my friends love baking so they were more than happy to bake bite sized treats for the wedding favours to go with our tea and coffee. We had a selection of brownies, lavender biscuits and my mum’s famous rice krispie cake.
Whilst dancing with Ben I remember the room being filled with so much love and happiness, I will always cherish that feeling Sonia, so thank you for fuelling so much inspiration, I loved it!
Ahh, Alexa, I am so touched that, in a small way, I was part of your wedding journey and big day. Totally makes this all worth while… Massive congratulations to you and your husband and thank you so, so much for sharing your special day with us all!
So many lovely details in this wedding right?! Anyone who names their wedding tables after bottles of vino is a superstar in my book. What do you love most about this wedding? Come on now, don’t be shy… leave some wedding love for the happy couple :)
brides dress: augusta jones via white mischief bridal | brides shoes: rainbow club | photography: georgi mabee | venue: northbrook park | grooms suit: next | wedding cake: cake oclock
What beautiful people and what beautiful pictures.
So glad you think so :))
Those bridesmaid dresses are stunning, does any one know where they are from? Thanks!
Hi Alice, the bride said they are from the ‘debut’ Debenhams range. Fingers crossed you find them. Sonia XxX