Utterly Wed: Joe & Louise

Joe and Louise were referred to me by the very lovely Anna from Bride & Glory, and I have to admit to being a teeny little bit over-excited when their consultation form came back detailing festoon lighting, mis-matched chairs and street food vans. When I saw that they’d booked the humble, hugely generous and ridiculously talented Ed Peers to shoot the day, I may even have let out a little whoop and a fist pump, and so I am beyond thrilled to be able to share their day in full today.

Although they’d booked me months before, I didn’t meet Joe and Louise until a few weeks before the wedding to walk through the day at their chosen venue of Huntsmill Farm in Buckinghamshire. Essentially Huntsmill Farm is a set of beautiful stone cottages providing holiday accommodation, but with a marquee available to hire from the relaxed owners and 360 degree views of sprawling English countryside, it also happens to provide a glorious backdrop for a relaxed, DIY wedding. Oh, and it has the most perfect tree to have a blessing under.

See?

Their wedding day was a truly DIY affair, with this creative pair crafting all sorts of lovely pieces and getting their guests involved in a number of ways which you will read about below. There were also A LOT of suppliers coming in and out throughout the day as street food vans were a bit of a theme. We had no less than three vintage camper vans turn up providing coffee and scones before and after the ceremony, a mobile bar in the evening and wood-fired pizza for the late-night munchers. Pitt Smoked BBQ Co provided platters of pulled pork and wedges from their converted Airstream, and the photobooth was a black cab called Alfie! As such Joe and Lou made the very wise decision to hire an On The Day Coordinator (that would be me!) to manage all these arrivals, as well as completing the set-up and generally ensuring the day ran to plan. But that’s enough from me. Let’s dive in to this absolute treasure of a wedding, with a few words from the bride and groom themselves. Enjoy…

Louise: My dress was a bit of a mish mash! The base dress is ‘Vera’ by Sanyukta Shresta but then I worked with them to design a series of bespoke overlays: a tulle skirt, a one-shouldered embroidered top, and a lace top all held together by a hemp silk belt. It was a risk but thankfully it paid off! The floral crown was by Rock n’ Rose and worked really well with the bridesmaids’ DIY-ed versions.

Joe: I wanted a less traditional suit that complimented the farm vibe. I opted for a mis-matched suit with texture. My blazer was from Oliver Spencer– it was the first thing I bought and I fell in love with it immediately. My waistcoat was a vintage find from a charity shop that I had repaired and tailored to fit me. My trousers and shoes were bought from Topman after I started having doubts about my original trousers. Although not an exact match, they did go with my waistcoat quite well!

Louise: We had a few ‘must-haves’ when it came to our vision for the day: an outdoor ceremony by a tree, festoon lighting, and food trucks. We got all three! We also wanted everything to feel quite personal and centered around our guests.

Louise: During the ceremony we’d asked Joe’s sister and my neice to choose readings for us. We had no idea what they were going to do and it was such a nice surprise on the day! We love that they went with songs- Beyonce’s Dangerously In Love and Method Man’s You’re All I Need.

Louise: The decor and details… wow, where do we start? It’s probably easiest to break this down in to what we made and what we sourced… 🙂

We DIY-ed A LOT:

• Tassels (we made about 1000 in total)
• Scrabble place names (Joe collected these over a number of months)
• Vintage Ladybird books chosen for each guest (again collected by Joe)
• A giant string heart held together by nails on wood and made by my Dad and Joe. We wanted a piece of art made by our guests that we could keep forever
• The chalkboard Plan of the Day made by Joe two nights before the wedding
• Messages in a bottle for our 1-year and 10-year anniversaries (Thank you Sama for making sure this happened!)
• Invitations- tea towels designed by Louise with illustrations by a friend, and wooden Save The Date magnets
• Bridesmaid flower crowns which were DIYed, as well as the groomsmen’s boutonnieres.

We sourced:

• Festoon lighting which Joe put up the night before with groomsmen… and then rearranged at 1.30am that morning
• Flowers from a local flower farm; bouquets made by the bridesmaids
• Milk bottles which we borrowed from the sweetest lady we met at a local farmers’ market
• Mismatched chairs from The Poppy Trading Company
• Each and every supplier separately- no package deals here!

Louise: There are a few stand out moments. I loved seeing Joe waiting in the field for our first look, and also seeing our guests contribute to the giant string heart. But then our last song of the night was really memorable- Joe and I had talked about what to play as the final song for months but didn’t end up choosing one. Our friends started singing Wonderwall a capella and convinced the DJ to play it- it was overwhelming as we had chosen 99% of the day, and instead this was chosen/given to us. A very special moment.

Joe: For me I loved it when Lou finally put her arms around me at our first look. Also it was a fairly overcast day until Lou started walking down the aisle and the sun came out as she came towards me! Sitting on top of the camper van was also pretty surreal- definitely a ‘spur of the moment’ moment!

Louise: Our favourite part of the planning process was probably meeting some amazing people- we are so lucky to have found the best team/suppliers for the day. We couldn’t have pulled off the day without them. Also seeing everything come together on the day, and a few hours before – when everyone started arriving and it started to feel like “our wedding” had begun.. Sama was a massive help during this period too 🙂

Louise: Our advice for other couples would be to research, research, research… don’t go for the first quote / supplier just because it’s easy. There are hidden gems out there, you just need to find them.  Also you’ll naturally always prioritise the big things during the planning, but make time for the smaller, personalised things too. They’re the parts you’ll remember.

That last image is increds. If it were me I’d supersize it and hang it above the bed.

See? I told you it was a goodun’. Thank you so much to Joe and Louise, not only for allowing me to share their day on The Utter Blog, but for hiring me as their coordinator. I was a busy, busy bee that day, but thrilled to see it play out just as Joe and Louise had hoped- and I still am in awe of their creativity and general coolness!

A massive thank you to Ed Peers as well who I would work with again in a heartbeat. I get as much pleasure from looking through this set of photographs as I do my own.

So gang, what’s your favourite aspect of this epic day? And who can spot me making a Where’s Wally appearance in one of the shots?!

Sama xx

Credits

Venue: Huntsmill Farm

Photography: Ed Peers

Coordination: Utterly Wow

Coffee Van: Monkshood Coffee

BBQ Van: Pitt Smoked BBQ Co

Mobile Bar Van: CamperVin

Pizza Vab: Pizza of Dreams

Black Cab Booth: Alfie The Black Cab Photobooth

Dress: Sunyukta Shrestha

 

Our Wedding Part 2: I Dos and Festoons

Good morning one and all! Right, I’m diving straight in to Part 2 of Our Wedding Story. Apologies for the two-week break- I think I got a bit sick of looking at my own face, and following the launch of the Utterly Wow website, the feature on Rock My Wedding, new enquiries and an upcoming client wedding this weekend I’ve been a bit of a busy bee! But I can’t leave you hanging with only Part 1 of a three-part story (plus I do love talking about it really) so I’m pressing on. Shall we?

A Blank Canvas

The Great Barn is a wonderful blank canvas venue. Obviously you have to like wood (there’s quite a lot of it) but it’s high ceilings, original beams and wonky bits lent itself to some really quite simple décor for the ceremony. I was going to town with colour and life for the reception, but for the part where we made our lifelong promises I wanted something a little more… raw. Regular readers will know of the many backdrop ideas I’d toyed with, but in the end (and largely because I was running out of time and money) I decided on a simple backdrop of festoon lighting. I hoped it would be romantic with a touch of theatricality, and, well, just look at that picture. It makes me want to jump in and say my vows all over again!

I chose antique-black stained chiavari chairs for a touch of old-school glamour, and lined the aisle chairs with a pop of flower power. (That pink feathery flower is called Astilbe- I LOVE it.)

As before, all images are by the wondrous Dominique Bader.

A Twinkly Blur

The ceremony itself was a twinkly, magical, laughter-filled blur. I walked in to the 80’s pop classic, ‘Only You’ (you know, the one that is being played in the final episode of The Office when Dawn returns to the party and kisses a heartbroken Tim). The version I chose was by a Canadian a capella group called Straight No Chaser, and despite weeks of struggling to choose and edit the damn song, my bridesmaids took off way before their cue and before I knew it I was down the aisle myself, having beamed at anyone and everyone along the way.

I remember reaching Paul and saying quite loudly, “Well, this is fun!” which wasn’t planned but made everyone laugh. And then Paul leant over, whispered he liked my dress and the ceremony began.

Looking back now, the whole experience is indescribable really. There were moments of sobriety and seriousness, and moments of pure joy and laughter. At times I was very aware that there were 97 people watching on, and at other times it felt like Paul and I were the only people in the room. We were in contact with each other the whole way, whether we were shoulder to shoulder, or holding hands, or arms around each other. Paul had been so anxious he’d get emotional but we both held it together thanks to lots of hand squeezes, eye contact and encouraging grins. Plus in the words of Darius, there was a lot of love in the room.

Meaningful Words

We only had one reading- a version of The Vow by Wendy Cope which I’d adapted for two voices so that my step-sisters could read it. You can read the original version here, but this is what my step-sisters said, taking a line each:

She cannot promise never to be angry.

He cannot promise always to be kind.

They know what they are taking on, our sweethearts; it’s only at the start that love is blind.

And yet she’s still the one he wants to be with

And he’s the one for her, of that she’s sure

She is his closest friend, his favourite person

He is her lover and the home she’s waited for

He cannot promise that he will deserve her from this day on. He hopes to pass that test.

She loves him and she wants to make him happy

They promise they will do their very best.

An emotional pair, they sobbed their way through (although their attempts to man up caused much amusement- I love the photo of the registrar in hysterics) and then we were asked to take centre-stage again to say our vows; an amalgamation of personal promises I’d found from across the internet, and which I felt had meaning to us without being too cheesy. They were:

“I, xxx, take you, xxx, to be my lawfully wedded husband/wife ~ In doing so, I promise to be your loving wife/husband ~ to cherish your love, intellect, and uniqueness ~ to support and inspire you ~ to delight in your happiness and comfort you in sorrow ~ to create with you a home which celebrates kindness, joy, good food and laughter ~ and I do all this unconditionally and without hesitation.”

The exchange of rings was quick and faultless, and before we knew it we were declared husband and wife. Cue a rather pregnant pause where the registrar didn’t invite us to kiss. I love the photos during this moment with me, arms outstretched saying, “Well kiss me then!”, Paul checking with the registrar that it was ok to kiss me, and finally… the kiss itself. Which was fab.

Married (and relieved) we sat down to sign the register whilst our brilliant and talented friends, Alice and Jeff, sang ‘You and I’ by Ingrid Michaelson (with an audience sing-a-long, I’ll have you know), and then we were announced back down the aisle to whoops and showers of confetti… minus the confetti. Unbeknownst to me the registrar had requested in her introductory speech that only bio-degradeable confetti was thrown. Ours was, but our guests didn’t know this. (Curses!)

We got showered in the stuff outside though, so it was all good.

A Fiesta Feel

Whilst we were kissed and hugged and photographed and handed drinks and congratulated, the barn was being speedily turned round by my coordinator, Laura, and the brilliant staff at Tatlers Catering. Just before guests were asked to take their seats for dinner I popped to the loo, and couldn’t resist poking my head inside the barn to see how it was looking.

To say I was blown away is a total understatement.

I know it sounds ridiculous but I can honestly say that this was one of my favourite moments of the day. Obviously I was overjoyed to finally be married to Paul but that was the easy part. I would have done that in my sleep or dressed as a giant banana if I’d had to. That’s not what I’d spent 17 months imagining, procrastinating, pinning, blogging and preparing for. The creative process had been my joie de vivre and seeing the barn set up for the reception- from the lanterns and festoons to the tables, centrepieces, signage and bar was ah-may-zing.

Remember table-linen-gate? In the end I bought a beigey/grey linen-look fabric from eBay which my clever and long-suffering Mum turned in to floor length table cloths. I don’t think we actually saved any money this way but they’re mine to keep now, and potentially hire out through Utterly Wow. (If you’re interested do get in touch for more information.) Then we had an array of runners in black and white stripes, gold sequins and orange shot silk, and the pimped-up jam jars, table numbers and flower arrangements were on wooden roundels in the centre. A selection of tealights, menu cards by Kate Ruth Romey and home-made ribbon napkin holders in an assortment of colours completed the look of the tables.

Let Them Eat Cake

Ahhh, the cakes. The Great Wedding Bake-Off was a roaring success, although it didn’t come without it’s faults (more on that later). Décor-wise, I’d asked my good friends Kat and Claire to make me a ‘Bake Off’ sign which was BEAUTS. Then I’d bought a big piece of pewter sequin fabric and left the actual cake-arranging to Laura and the catering staff. I’d asked guests to bring a cake stand or their fanciest plate, and with the addition of the ceremony flowers to the table the overall effect was an eclectic array of rustic, sparkly, heaving, cakey goodness.

What I hadn’t given any thought to (or rather, what I gave some thought to before struggling to find a solution and deciding to ‘wing it’) was how to judge The Great Wedding Bake-Off. There were well over 20 cakes, and with Paul and I being whisked off for our second portrait shoot after dinner and my appetite being non-existant that day, we were never going to be the taste-testers. I’d lovingly made rosettes as prizes and decided upon three categories (tastiest, prettiest and most creative), and what I should have done was made three ballot boxes and asked people to vote. What I actually did was decide that ballot boxes made things too competitive, had a mini drunken taste test to myself later on in the evening when most of the cakes were eaten, and then slyly handed out the rosettes at the end of the night to the people whose cakes I’d heard the most about. Not so slick.

On the one hand I still maintain that I didn’t want it to get too competitive… but on the other people had gone to such efforts it probably should have been taken a bit more seriously.

It did look frickin’ amazing though 🙂

At around 4.30pm ish Paul and I were announced in to the barn to a huge round of applause (and stomping of feet) and the wedding feast began, which is where I’m going to leave you for today I think. Next time I’ll talk briefly about the speeches before concluding with the evening shenanigans, final reflections and the lessons I learnt (including not to believe your husband when he tells you you’ve not bought enough alcohol).

I hope you enjoyed this post and for anyone getting married this weekend, have an amazing day!! I’ll be running around a hippy commune in Oxfordshire making sure Charlotte and John’s day is the best it can be. It’s gonna be epic!

Now does anyone want to hire some linen-look tablecloths??

Sama xxx

An Announcement… (Or Two!)

No, I’m not pregnant.

Things are far more exciting than that today over at The Utter Blog/Utterly Wow HQ.

First of all, I’m very honoured to have my gurning face all over the pages of Rock My Wedding this morning! RMW is one of my favourite wedding blogs and I’ve been reading it since waaaay before I was even engaged, so to be sharing our wedding with a ma-hoosive community of brides (and grooms) to-be is a total and utter thrill. And a very special *hello!* to those fresh from the RMW pages who may have never visited this lil’ ol’ blog of mine before. Stay a while! Have a little browse. You can start right the beginning if you like. Or you could just type a random word in to the Search box and see what comes up… that’s always fun.

I shall, of course, continue to blog about the rest of our wedding here on The Utter Blog (if you haven’t read Part 1 already it’s right here), but for those keen to see the whole shebang in one go I shall allow you to head on over to the girls (and guy) at Rock My Wedding… right after you’ve read my second announcement. 😉

A-HEM…

(Is it too self-indulgent to ask for a drumroll?)

After two years of dreaming, scheming, training, researching, planning, prepping, practicing and designing, I’m pleased to announce the Utterly Wow website is now… LIVE!

Utterly Wow is go go go!

It’s been a long time coming but I’m delighted with the final product- a vision in my head made real (and so much better) by the very talented and super-patient Ian over at Swash & Fold. A special mention as well to Ed Pereira who spent an afternoon with me taking some of the fab pictures you’ll see on the site too. It’s more than a little daunting trying to get your personality, passion and business ethos across in just a few web pages, but I hope we’ve achieved this.

Wanna go take a look? Please do! And if you like what you see why don’t you tell someone about it too? A RT here and a Facebook share there will a very happy Sama make. After all, a snazzy new website is nothing without the attention of it’s target audience. (That would be the brides and grooms of Britain, for those still not entirely clear.)

Ooh… Utterly Wow or Rock My Wedding? Which one are you going to go to first??

I’ll be back on Thursday with Part 2 of the full, no-holds-barred wedding report, but in the meantime have a wonderful week, and a very Happy Monday to readers old and new.

Sama xxx

Our Wedding Part 1: Here Come The Girls

Good morning one and all. And welcome to a slightly new look Utter Blog! The Utterly Wow website is coming along thick and fast ready for an official launch, and as such I had a little play around with themes this morning to give the blog a bit of a face lift too. More developments coming very soon.

But in the meantime… fancy a wedding story?

I’ve ummed and ahhed with how best to approach this, but in the end have decided to break the day down in to four different parts: getting ready and the beautifying of ourselves, the ceremony and venue, wedding breakfast and reception details, and finally the evening shenanigans and that all-important drinks purchase analysis. Shall we begin?

The Pre-Preparations

We’d spend the Thursday and Friday setting up the venue. There was so much to do; festoon lights had to go up, paper lanterns had to be hung, furniture had to be received and mountains of alcohol had to be unloaded. Not to mention the sweeping, washing of floors, sign erecting, bar positioning, plant pot hanging, flower arranging, and a last-minute panic to order a heater, it was so FRICKIN COLD. And wet. My oh my, the rain did fall those two days.

Yet come 5pm on the Friday I was ready to down tools and surrender myself to serendipity. The forecast was bright for the next day, our family and friends were en route, and a large glass of white wine was calling me at the pub we had all arranged to spend the evening at.  The festivities had officially begun.

Paul and I had made the unusual decision to stay together that Friday night, as we historically sleep well when we’re together. This only partially came true. Whilst we passed out very quickly, I awoke at 3am to find Paul heavy breathing over the toilet bowl, and those last few hours were spent holding hands and dozing through nerves and the first jitters of excitement. However, all concerns about lack of sleep were eradicated when we saw the beams of sunlight trying to bust their way through the shutters at around 7am. It was an absolutely glorious day and the relief we both felt was pretty immense. It was going to be a good day.

All images by the sublime Dominique Bader unless otherwise stated.

A Morning Of Calm

Despite our beautiful surroundings and welcoming host, Jill, Waters End Farm had ZERO phone signal. And I mean zero. Nada. Diddly flipping squat. Which would have been fine as by this point I was happy to relinquish control to my coordinator, Laura, and our trusted suppliers over at the venue, but the B&B was also particularly hard to find… and we had to receive a lot of important visitors that morning.

We were expecting the arrival of best man and bridesmaids at 9.30am, so when it was approaching 9.50am with no sign of them, I decided a phone call from the owner’s landline was probably advisable. Thankfully, just as we were making our way to the main house, the car pulled up to the sounds of hysterical laughter from within. Turns out I was quite a sight in my ‘carefully thought out’ outfit of denim shorts, pyjama top, bed head and facial scowl. I think the exact quote made by the best man was, “That’s going to need a lot of work”. Cheers Al.

My bridesmaids bustled in with their bags, dresses and morning treats (a random selection of bread rolls, bananas and cider), and after a kiss and a hand squeeze from Paul, the boys left with their stuff to go and get ready elsewhere. Moments after, my Mum arrived to drop off Cass, our hair stylist and all-round Getting Ready Guru, and also the bouquets courtesy of Bloomin’gayles, at which I promptly burst in to tears, they were that beautiful.

Those few hours are already a hazy memory but I know I enjoyed them immensely. My maids had put together a surprise CD of ‘Sama Choons’ which we had on in the background, and whilst we took it in turns to have our hair styled, I segwayed seamlessly between taking swigs of champagne, exclaiming delightfully, ‘Look at the sun!’, congratulating Cass on her amazing hair skills, and answering questions about seating plans and schedules. Dominique and her husband, Samuel, turned up just before midday and started snapping away, at which point the morning preparations were in full swing.

Just Give Me Hair

As I was having my hair down, I was keen for the girls to all have up-dos, and as long as they were big, tousled, and incorporated some sort of plait, I was happy to let Cass weave her magic. Absolutely nothing fazed her- from a big old bun to a J-Lo inspired chignon, I was so delighted with what she created.

As for me, regular readers will know about Operation Get Good Hair and my eternal quest for luscious locks. Cass gave them to me, with a mixture of clip-in and glued-in extensions that gave me the kind of volume (and a smidgen of extra length) that I’ve always dreamed of. With some big old waves put in and my ‘something old’ on my head (the flower garland my Mum wore on her wedding day, given a new lease of life by Crown and Glory), I was ready to go.

Well, almost. My face needed some serious work first!

I’m actually pretty confident doing my own make-up, and in preparation for The Day I Had To Look The Best, I’d had three different make-up counter trials and ended up buying half of Bobbi Brown. The ‘look’ I wanted to create was a stronger, longer-lasting version of what I usually wear for a night out: the only thing stopping me was the Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner that I’d bought, and for the life of me couldn’t get to grips with. Liquid liner I can apply in a matter of seconds; gel eyeliner with separate eyeliner brush… Disaster.

Things turned very serious when it came to eyeliner application time as I was concentrating so hard, but magically it went on like a dream. Well, if we’re being really picky, the angle at which the line flicked on one eye was totally different to the other- but it was good enough for me!

And for anyone interested in a breakdown of the exact products I used, I’ve done you a little picture and product list. You can thank me later.

Image by me.

1. Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base- moisturiser and primer
2. Clarins Skin Illusion Foundation in Nude- the most flawless but natural foundation I found. And smells great!
3. Benefit Erase Paste- I’ve talked about how much I like this product before
4. Bobbi Brown Blush: Slopes- a warm pink with a hint of coral
5. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick: Nectar- a shimmery highlighter with a hint of colour to go right at the top of the cheekbones
6. Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Champagne Quartz- to go over the whole lid
7. Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Bone– for the inner corners of the eye and to highlight under the eyebrow
8. Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner: Black Ink- a bugger to apply but once it’s on, it’s on
9. Bobbi Brown Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush- I bought a cheaper alternative first and then had to go back and buy this. It goes hand in hand with the eyeliner really
10. Ruby & Millie Eyebrow Trio- to define the eyebrows, even if you’re a brunette!
11. No.7 Lip Pencil in Caramel- to define but also fill in the whole lip. It gives the lipstick something to hold on to.
12. Bobbi Brown Lip Colour in Italian Rose- I was sold by the name! A burnt pinky red colour that made me feel like Sophia Loren.

The Wedding Dress of Dreams

I wrote at some length about the search for The Dress. I don’t believe in The One when it comes to wedding dresses; I think that there are several we could all pick and feel sensational in. But the one that made me feel the most like I should wear it  for my wedding day was Chantilly by Claire Pettibone, purchased, of course, from Blackburn Bridal Couture where I work.

It’s a soft, fluid fishtail, covered in chantilly lace and intricate beadwork, and it has the most exquisite back I’ve ever laid eyes on. I was very excited to wear it.

Unfortunately it seems my bridesmaid, Nicola, wasn’t so keen, as, mid dress-going-on, she decided to get some of the beaded lace caught in the bracelet I’d just given her as a wedding gift. And when I say caught, I mean secured. That bad boy was not coming off.

Let’s picture the scene. There’s me, butt naked except for my massive beige M&S pants, arms in the air with my dress halfway over my head and trying desperately to keep my freshly made-up face away from the fabric, whilst the entire bridal party (that’s my three bridesmaids, hair stylist and photographer) try to gently prise the stubborn thread out of the bracelet’s clasp. I’m getting hotter and hotter by the minute, and whilst I’m trying to see the funny side of things, I really just want to get the whole bloody thing off me.

This is a tasteful, actually quite beautiful version of what you could imagine was going on…

…and this is the in-your-face, not so beautiful version of what was actually going on, courtesy of my finding-the-whole-thing-hilarious bridesmaid, Sarah:

Image by bridesmaid Sarah

Of course, the thread eventually came free and the dress eventually went on. And after much relieved laughter, beauty touch ups and a final hair boost, I was ready.

By this point it was around 1.45pm and the ceremony was at 2.30pm. Dominique left for the venue, and the rest of us waited for my Dad to arrive, alternating between titillating in front of the mirror, packing up bits and last-minute toilet stops. I think the most surreal moment of the whole day was when my Dad pulled up and we all piled in to his car; Cass making sure my hair and dress got in ok before passing me this enormous, gorgeous bouquet, and then me turning round to look at my three bridesmaids in the backseat, a masse of coral and pink loveliness and bubbling excitement. The weight of what was happening hit me like a brick wall at this point, and on the journey there I swung wildly between shrieks of “Oh my god, I’m getting MARRIED!”, and contemplative silence. It was happening, folks.

Next time, I’ll tell you all about our twinkly, joyful ceremony, but for now I’ll leave you with the ‘finished’ shots of me and my favourite girls. Huge thanks to Dominique Bader for taking the most beautiful images I could have ever asked for, Cassandra Rizzuto for her amazing hair skills, and Bloomin’gayles for the blooms that surpassed all my expectations.

See you at the barn…

Sama xxx

A Winter Wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

Thank the Lord, it is Friday.

First up, apologies that I have been so quiet this week.  A last-minute acting gig meant I was working in one form or another aaaaaall week, so I just haven’t had a chance to blog.  I am OFF today though (yay!) and have a first on The Utter Blog for you, in the form of a real-life wedding…

Lauren and Lewis are ‘sixth-form sweethearts’ who were married on 5th December 2010 at Cooling Castle Barn in Rochester.  We were actually all at school together, so it’s an absolute pleasure to have them on the blog, but for now I will hand over to Lauren…

Lewis and I met in sixth form at school. He was the cute boy that used to hang out in the common room and I have to admit I always had a soft spot for him. I guess we just naturally got together and 5 years later he popped the question. It was Christmas Day 2008 and we were exchanging stocking fillers in bed when he got down on one knee (which was quite difficult in bed) and pulled out a stunning princess cut diamond ring. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

All images via Danni Beach Photography

Being a curvy girl, I already had a good idea of what dresses I should be avoiding but I was pretty clueless on what would suit my figure.  I made an appointment at Confetti and Lace in Lakeside Shopping Centre and all I had was one cut out from a magazine that I happened to like. To my surprise (and what I believe was a touch of fate), they happened to have the exact dress in the shop and it was in my size too! I couldnt believe it. I did try on other dresses but as soon as tried on Sabelle by Maggie Sottero, I just knew it was the one and no other dresses compared. Even to this day, I havent had a dress wobble and would choose my dress again. It had everything I could have wished for; a sweetheart neckline (essential for the larger bust), a gorgeous beaded bodice which held me in, and a full taffeta skirt with lace and ruffles. It was perfect.

I chose to wear my Mum’s veil that she had worn on her wedding day. Not only did the vintage lace match the lace on my dress perfectly, it also meant a lot to me, to wear something that my mum had 30 years earlier. I also wore a gold necklace that had been worn by each female in my family for the last 100 years. I originally didnt want a necklace to detract from the dress but to wear a piece of jewellery that had been passed down the generations was something I felt honoured to do and I think it looked perfect.

Lewis and I had always been slightly ‘anti’ the traditional groom attire and preferred the more relaxed look of a smart suit.  However, when Lewis went to try some suits on, it became clear that this didnt feel enough for him.  He felt like he was going to work.  We had a re-think and decided to go for traditional tails and headed to Austin Reid at Bluewater. We chose a pale gold colour for Lewis and a champagne colour for the two best men and the usher. There were a few problems with the suits due to the heavy snow, meaning I spent the day before the wedding getting trousers turned up at the local dry cleaners but this was hard to avoid and was no-ones fault but Mother Nature’s!

Ever since I watched the film ‘Father of the Bride’ as a child, I had this vision of a snowy wedding day. I am the kind of girl who gets overly excited about Christmas adverts in November, cold winter days and of course fairy lights- lots and lots of fairy lights! This led to us having a December wedding and me being able to put my vision of a winter wedding in to action.  Never did I imagine that my dreams of a snowy wedding would come true and the day would actually be set in a backdrop of 6 inches of snow!

I wanted the day to feel warm and cozy as well as having that winter magic feel. I was lucky that Cooling Castle Barn had already decorated the barns with Christmas decorations which consisted of lots of fairy lights and large Christmas trees in each of the barns . For all the extra touches we had the help of Laurie from Cherry Tree Events who shared the same vision. With a little help from her team, Laurie provided us with stunning bouquets, button holes, chair backs, hurricane lamp centre pieces and the floral arrangements. I could not sing her praises loud enough. When I saw the barns on the big day I was overwhelmed with how my vision had come to life.

All images via Danni Beach Photography

My advice to other brides-to-be would be relax and enjoy the journey starting from the engagement! I loved being engaged and I think it is sometimes easy to turn into a bridezilla and forget to take time out from planning and spend time just being in the moment.  For me, the most memorable part of our day was standing in a field of snow after the ceremony. Although we were having our photos taken by the fabulous Danni Beach, we felt completely relaxed. We chatted, laughed and the whole situation felt like we were part of a Narnia film. It was utterly magical and this is a moment I dont think I will ever experience again.

The pictures in the snow are absolutely my favourites- so serene and yet so dramatic!  And isn’t Lauren just a beaut? Although don’t be fooled… behind that gorgeous face is a filthy sense of humour.

Thank you for being the first real wedding on The Utter Blog, Lauren and Lewis!

Go on, leave some love…

Sama xxx