Our First ‘Real life wedding’ – PART 1:

Fleur and I thought that in the midst of our Wedding planning blog marathon, whilst full of ideas and inspiration, we should add a weekly ‘Real life wedding’ feature to really get your wedding juices flowing. Something to brighten up your Monday!  We all love a good wedding;  the dress, the venue, the shoes, the flowers, the cake and personal touches to the day... so I thought what better way to start than a bit of self-gratification. My own wedding.  I got married four years ago last week, and it feels like yesterday!

The dress...

My dress was a creation by the wonderful Martin Charles. When I got engaged I looked through a couple of Bridal magazines and realised very quickly that I wanted a very simple, classic dress. I also liked the idea of having a black waist band (especially as I wanted my bridesmaids to wear black).  So, after visiting one of the main bridal boutiques in London and being totally scared away with the HARD sell that I received my Mum recommended Martin Charles. Martin was everything that I could have wished for. His studio at the time was in his home, a beautiful house in the countryside, so extremely relaxed. There was no hard sell and he listened to exactly what I wanted and designed an absolute masterpiece. My dress and the whole experience was exactly what I had hoped and dreamed it would be.  Martin also came up with the fantastic idea to have a separate underskirt to give a really full effect to the dress for the daytime that could be removed for the evening – making the evening dress more easy to dance in and with a more ‘evening’ feel! However as I did insist on a 10 foot train on the dress it was still a little tricky – but worth it!

Spot Fleur De Force here doing her bridesmaid duties!

I also had an extreemely long veil made, extending past the train of my dress. Spot the nerves in this shot! I have never been so scared in my life... the walk down the aisle was so daunting, but once I was at the altar with my husband-to-be I was much more relaxed.  

 

 ... I do! 

Although it all looks very traditional I walked down the aisle, much to the shock of the congregation, to Mendelssohn's Wedding March accompanied by an amazing rock guitarist, who then played Metalica whilst we signed our vows!

The Venue...

My husband and I went to school together so it was really special for us to get married in the school chapel, where we first met (aged just 13!).

 

The reception was held in a marquee in my parent’s garden. The flowers for the ceremony were based on a black and white theme but I wanted to add some colour to the reception so went for vibrant, clashing reds and pinks. I also bought candelabras for alternate tables and lots of tea lights so that the marquee was a sea of candle light in the evening.

My shoes were Marc Jacobs. My top tip is to make sure you ‘wear them in’ before the big day to make sure you can dance the night away without painful feet!  

Fleur De Force was my make up artist for the day!

I borrowed a stunning antique diamond tiara from my oldest best friend’s grandma.