Sifting through wedding photographs is the loveliest job, it truly is! Something about Aimee and Ben’s day made me realise every one of the celebrations I see is special for something truly unique to the couple. For Aimee and Ben, the barn location and simple, relaxed styling makes everything look perfect – and the delight on their faces makes it a treat to look through their images from beginning to end.

Images are by lovely Camilla Lucinda Photography, who told me this wedding inspired her as a photographer so much because of just how much emotion and love filled the venue. “Ben and Aimee are the couple of every photographer’s dreams, so easy, laid back, relaxed and utterly besotted with each other – and I think this shines through the photographs, (well I hope it does!) And her bridesmaids are just stunning and naturals in front of the camera too – their dresses are BEAUTIFUL!”

 

Wedding photographer’s website:

www.camillalucindaphotography.com

I know Camilla through my place of work and had heard she was doing wedding photography, I followed her on Instagram just after we got engaged and instantly fell in love with her pictures.

Camilla is totally amazing, professionally and personally. She is such a happy beautiful soul that everyone instantly felt relaxed and comfortable in her presence. Best of all, most of the time you didn’t even know she was there snapping away, which put everyone at ease and also made the pictures even more gorgeous. Everything from start to finish was done with such class & style, we feel so lucky that she was our photographer.

We were so excited to see our photos for the first time and they were so much better than we could ever have imagined, they brought back so many memories which was lovely and I still cry every time I look through them!

Wedding venue:

Three Hill Barn, Park House, Torpenhow

Wedding month:

September

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

A day based on our love for each other

Your wedding style or theme:

Relaxed & Romantic

Where did you find your suppliers? (Blogs, magazines, recommendations?)

Our caterer Liz’s Country Kitchen, was on a list of suppliers the Venue gave us – She was absolutely AMAZING!
We found our DJ, Steve Mitchell through our own research online
Our Florist Steph, who has Bespoke Flowers By Steph, was recommended by my Maid of Honour Lizzie
Cake was by The Lake District Bakery

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Negotiate with everyone, usually their first price isn’t their final price. Also, don’t sweat the small stuff, its easy to spend loads of money on stationery and things like that, but, at the end of the day the stationery isn’t what people remember from the day. Oh and look out for other local weddings that you like, I bought lots of props & things second hand which saved us a lot of time & money & I sold them on again after the wedding!

… and which elements of your wedding are you glad you spent more on?

I really, really, really wish we had paid for a Videographer, its my biggest regret. The day goes by so quickly & its such a lovely romantic day which means your very overwhelmed so you don’t take in as much as you would think. I would love to watch us saying our vows to each other, it was the most magical and romantic part of the day & I’d love to re-live that moment over & over again.
Oh, I also wish we had paid for live band too to start the evening off & play our first dance.

Where did you buy or source your wedding stationery – or was making it a labour of love?

Our stationery was a labour of love, Ben (my husband) was great at helping with it & so were a couple of my bridesmaids, I couldn’t have done it without their help.

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Yes, instantly. I really liked pretty much every dress I had tried on before I found the one, but, none of them were quite wowing me, until I tried on my dress. It was £700 over my budget, but, as soon as I got it on I had to have it. it was completely different to what I thought I wanted and nothing like any other dresses I had tried, but, as soon as I got it on, I didn’t want to take it off.

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

the designer was Pronovias and the bridal boutique was Marrime Bridalwear, Kendal

Tell us about your accessories: jewellery, shoes and anything else!

I wore flat sandals (which I love) from Moda in Pelle
Ben bought me a gorgeous silver cuff bracelet to wear on the day from Necessary Angel
My veil was from Britten Weddings

And what did the groom wear?

Ben wore a gorgeous 3 piece suit by DKNY from Moss Bross with Paul Smith shoes.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

They wore navy blue high neck maxi dresses with an open back from ASOS and made by Jarlo. The flower girls wore off white dresses from Debenhams.

Hair and make-up – did you DIY or hire a professional?

I found my Make-Up Artist Rebecca, who has Bliss Beauty in Penrith by chance through Instagram. She is totally glam and I loved the pictures she put on of her previous Clients and decided I had to book her straight away.
My Hairdresser Danielle Coates has been a friend for years & I have seen lots of wedding hair she has done, so I knew I wanted her from the start.

Describe your wedding flowers. Who arranged them for you? (florist details would be lovely please)

For our flowers we used Bespoke Flowers By Steph.
When I first met Steph to go over my ideas of what I wanted, I had about 50 Pintrest pictures and Steph took every single bit of detail I mentioned and made me the most beautiful bouquet EVER, it was even better than anything I ever dreamt of.
For the Bridesmaids I wanted them to be in a ‘wild’ design like my bouquet, but, just White & Green, the button holes were also in ‘wild’ design using similar flowers as the bouquets and thistles and ferns. The flower girls carried gypsophila pomander’s and the table flowers were all gypsophila.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

No it didn’t need much decorating which is why we chose it. From the start all I wanted was lots of candles and lots of fairy lights (just like my house) and that’s all we really had.

Crafts and makes – tell us about any homemade elements of your wedding… did you enjoy them?

For our favours we made homemade Sloe Gin and put them in to really cute little bottles, they went down a treat.
We also had to make last minute name places and table names, as we had forgotten to do them, so we had an idea of using a tree branch that had fallen down, cutting it down into small circles and writing the names on to there with a Sharpie, it was totally last minute, but, everyone loved them & most people took theirs home to keep.

The wedding cake: what kind of cake did you choose and why?

From the start I knew I wanted a naked cake,and luckily for us Ben’s cousin Jessica is a baker (a very good one at that) and has a business called The Lake District Bakery.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

No

Words of wisdom: share your best piece of advice for other couples:

Once you start planning, don’t get swept up in it all, take your time & make sure what you are booking is the right thing. Initially we had booked a hotel wedding, as we were so excited and we got so caught up in it all and a couple of months down the line, we actually realised that it wasn’t for us and was also going to be well above our budget, so we had to cancel and we lost out on a lot of money because our deposits were non-refundable, however, it was the best decision for us.
Also, try and enjoy it all as much as possible, you’ll miss it when it’s all done.
Oh and be prepared for the ‘Wedding Blues’ they’re bad! Haha!

What’s the best thing about being married?

It’s just so amazing to call Ben my Husband and now we are married I feel like we are real family unit.