A lovely sunny day in July....

So I've been away for a while- well not actually away but what with Christmas fast approaching my days and evenings have been filled with work, shopping, work and a bit more shopping... with a few nights out in between. I thought I would make my return by posting a beauty blog with a difference. My other passion is wedding planning, I have been taking a distance learning course in it, though my most valuable training and experience was planning my own, I was meticulous down to the very last detail, along with some help from some very talented people along the way. So without further ado I present my own personal masterpiece.... mine and Matthew's wedding day 30th July 2011!

Yvette Craig Photography has very kindly provided all the amazing photos for this post.

My inspiration for the colour scheme and the looks that brought the whole day together came from my amazing shoes, which were from Office. I fell in love with them on their website and rushed in to their Carnaby Street store to try them on. I wanted shoes I would wear again, had a vintage feel and had an amazing heel on them. These fitted the bill perfectly!

My dress and veil were both from David's Bridal. My dress was from the Galina Signature collection and again was just perfect for the look I was after. It was so easy to wear and had beautiful vintage beading around the waist. The veil was edged with Swarovski crystals

For my hair I didn't want a traditional bridal up do- nor did I want to leave my hair as I would normally wear it. In the end Annette Young of Annette's New Hair Care took inspiration from two photos I showed her- one of Dianna Agron at the Golden Globes (which I previously mentioned in this blog post) and the other was a look Anna Paquin wore to the SAG awards. My bridesmaids all wore their hair in the same style as although I had chosen three individual dresses for them, I wanted their hair to keep some continuity to their looks. They had fresh white freesia's on wire in their hair. However when it came to their make-up, I allowed my wonderfully talented friend and former colleague Amanda Bell to work her magic and she created looks for them all which suited them perfectly.

For my own make-up I gave Amanda a brief that I wanted to looks like I was wearing make-up and for it to be subtle and smokey without looking "overdone". I personally knew I was not a 'natural' bride as I love to wear make-up particularly experimenting with colour on my eyes and lips. My only other condition was that my skin looked fresh and glowing. For me it was perfect. I wore Chanel Vitalumiere for my foundation and Amanda used strip lashes trimmed down to suit my eyes perfectly. Everything worked together and the whole looks I felt was fresh, pretty, romantic with a touch of vintage.

Here is my gorgeous flower girl Lily. Her mum embellished a plain monsoon headband and shoes and added diamante and small flowers to fit in perfectly with the rest of my theme.  

Here is the whole bridal party together. Our flowers were by Jo Moody of Moody Blooms, who created structured hand tied but beautifully 'natural' looking bouquets. My bouquet was made up of Sweet Akito pale pink roses, pale blue Scabiosa and white Freesia, Viburnum or Alchemilla Mollis, lavender foliage, mid blue Veronica & Variegated looped China grass. The girls all had a scaled down version of my own. Lily had a silver wand with a pale pink rose to match the main flower used throughout the wedding.

For my something old, borrowed and blue I wore my mum's garter that she wore for her wedding, with a sixpence tied to my garter (rather than wearing it in my shoe). My something new was my beautiful jewellery from Blue Pearl.

We got married aboard the HMS Gannet in Chatham Dockyard and the weather was amazing, we couldn't believe our luck! It added that extra special sparkle to the day!

And not forgetting the boys! They all wore suits from Slaters Menswear, with pink Sweet Akito rose buttonholes.

Above are my four bridesmaids walking to the ship. They wore dresses from both 'Light in the Box.com' and 'Coast', and on the left is my entrance! A wonderful surprise for both myself and Matt. We later had a tour round the Dockyard with a glass of champagne. Pure glamour!

We got married on the top deck of the HMS Gannet and after the vows we were both quite relieved to have finished them without messing them up! I had two of my best friends do a reading each to personalise our ceremony. We also hired a String Quartet- Status Cymbal to play not only my entrance music but music during the signing of the register and our drinks reception on the ship. They also played back at Commissioners House during the wedding breakfast; a touch which everyone commented on how lovely it was.

 My cake was created by Helen Brown of Helen Brown Cakes. I chose a fruit top tier with a mixture of lemon and chocolate/vanilla marble cupcakes. Helen created beautiful sugar flowers based on the same flowers in my bouquet and on the table centrepieces. The cupcakes were adorned with similar but scaled down versions of these flowers. We also had our own pick and mix table , we unveiled it at the end of the meal and it caused quite a stir as it had been previously covered and it was a surprise to most people

 We had fresh foliage wreaths on the tables with a mixture of flowers in our colour scheme, with hurricane vases in the centre of each. We gave these away as gifts to people who meant a lot to us. The top table had a garland running along the entire length of the table. My good friend Sam Atlee from Artcardia made our table names, name places, table plan and our favours. I gave her a very loose brief with some colour swatches and she created beautiful and unique cards.



Check out the bride and groom placecard below! I was blown away when I saw it!

Our chair covers and swag for the tables were provided by Debbie Ridd at Ambience Venue Styling. She did a beautiful job and the combination of everything together made the room look and feel like a fairytale!

All of our wedding guests enjoying the beautiful July sunshine. In the front by me you can see our very handsome Page Boy James, kitted out in a pale pink waistcoat and tie from BHS.  We were so appreciative of everyone who came and shared in our special day. I know myself and Matt particularly appreciated all the hard work that went in to our amazing day!

Our first dance was to 'The Book of Love' by Peter Gabriel. Our fantastic DJ for the evening reception was Philip Harvey from 20-20 Sounds and we had some amazing feedback from our guests about the whole evening atmosphere which wouldn't have been possible without the music being just right. Unfortunately as many couples find the evening went far too quickly and we wished we could do it all over again!

Thankyou for reading, I appreciate any comments or feedback on this blog post or any of my others xxx