WEDDING DETAILS

The Bride: First things first I must admit I was not your typical bride. James proposed to me in May and we set a date for the wedding exactly six months to the day after we were engaged. There were a few reasons for this (and no I was not pregnant!).

- Firstly my Nan. At the age of 87, my Nan is the only Grandparent we have left between us and I wanted her to see me walk down the aisle (finally!).

- Secondly cost. Venues often give discounts if you have the wedding that year as they want to make sure all the dates are used.

- Thirdly why wait? James and I have known each other since we were 13 years old. I’ve never been completely myself with anyone else and so comfortable and loved. I feel like I’m home when we’re together. Why wait 2 years to get hitched when I’ve agreed to spend my life with him when we got engaged? We had the funds so we didn’t see any reason to have a long engagement.

The Help: My maid of honour was fantastic. Jenny offered help at every step of the way and gave me such a wonderful hen night. She travelled 2 hours down to see me try on some wedding dresses the first time and calmed my nerves when I was stressing in the weeks leading up to the big day! Without her and my Mum I don’t know what I would have done! My Mother made our wedding cake – she’s incredibly talented and saved me a fortune on the cake too. I think she quite enjoyed making it alsto!

Bridal Look: I tried on all the different styles because despite the idea in my head of what I thought I wanted I knew that it may not be what looked best, and I was right! I must have tried over 60 dresses on and every one I stepped into it never felt like my dress. That was until I discovered J&J Designs Bridal and their huge collection of absolutely stunning dresses. (You can read more about my experience at their store here) I fell in love when I tried on the A-Line Allure Bridal dress that had a strapless lace bodice that tapered down into tulle to the floor. I knew straight away it was the one. I was able to have my dress altered at the store because I wanted a sweetheart necklace and the back lowering. They custom made my veil which had only a few tiny sparkles dotted along the bottom and was 1 tier and court length. I’ve always wanted a pure white dress and most of the shops I went to only had ivory in stock but I was able to try one on at J&J Designs Bridal to see whether the colour looked better on my skin tone, and it did! I was able to order my dress in white.

complimented the dress.

Beauty: I did my makeup myself on the day, having been to makeup trials and not being completely happy, I decided that I would do my makeup myself on the day. I’ll be doing a run down of my bridal makeup soon so watch this space! My hair was done by the fabulous Aleksandra Guz. She rebraided half of my hair in a loose boho style and wove in my beautiful custom made piece from Ivy and Pearl Bridal. The rest of my hair was curled and left loose for a relaxed look. Aleksandra has incredible style and made me feel so comfortable, she attended to every detail and even placed some tiny pieces of gypsophilla in my hair to match my bridesmaids.

Grooms Attire: My now Husband and his groomsmen all wore a gorgeous 3 piece suit from Debenhams. It was a charcoal suit which he wore with a white dress shirt and a dusky pink tie. His black shoes were from ASOS which were very stylish brogues.

Flowers: I changed my mind several times on colours for the flowers eventually deciding on gypsophilla for the bridesmaids and a pink and white o’hara rose (similar to David Austin roses) with a gypsophilla base for my bouquet. I wanted peonies originally however they’re not in season in October so my florist suggested the O’Hara roses which are a similar shape as she advised that they are more robust than David Austens.