I am totally in denial of any gales blowing a hoolie outside my window right now!! Come and join me because it’s SPRING here on English Wedding and we’re filling our eyes with sunshine and flowers… and the stunning wedding of Milly and Nick. They married at Little Glemham Church in Suffolk, and celebrated with a beautiful reception at  Glemham Hall in May. Their day was traditional and relaxed, with wild white English flowers and luscious greenery in keeping with the Suffolk hedgerows and pebble greys as they were so close to the sea!

 

 

I very nearly went for a wedding dress that was entirely different, the first dress had pockets so instantly I loved it but when I went to try it on a second time with a view to putting down the deposit it was 30 degrees outside and I was so uncomfortable, all I wanted to do was get out of it!

Claire at Lavender and Jude was incredibly patient, I nearly still bought the first dress just because I know how much I had loved it the first time. But Claire could see I wasn’t entirely happy and told me to start again and thank goodness because she took on board all my comments and worries about the other one and brought out ‘The’ dress, which was a Kenneth Winston style 1598. It had an oyster undertone which was really flattering to my pale skin, the shape gave me a silhouette I didn’t even know I had and the embroidery was made of soft cotton, I knew that was the one!

My shoes were my something blue, they were a pair of Hobbs cornflower blue/grey suede court shoes. I borrowed some simple grey crystal stud earring from my sister. I also wore a simple cathedral length ivory veil, which my mum insisted on and I’m so pleased she did.

When I woke up on the morning of the wedding I was surprised with a gift from Nick which he had given my sister (Maid of Honour) to give to me. It was a beautiful halo eternity ring made by an independent jeweler called Kate Smith. I broke down when I opened it, thankfully my sister sent me to have a cold shower and told me to stop ugly crying and pull myself together… I needed that!

Nick and his ushers wore a traditional morning suits, with a pink tie with blue elephants on and his ushers wore blue ties with pink turtles on.

 

I bought small glass bottles from ebay and we filled them with rhubarb and ginger gin and then stuck personalised stickers with our names and the date on the front along with clear stickers with all our guests names on in gold writing, so the favors doubled up as place names. We put a simple sprig of olive leaves on the napkins tied with brown packing string in a bow. I sketched a picture of the church to use on the front of order of services which we also printed ourselves. I loved making things for the wedding, I would have done more if I’d had the time.

I wasn’t going to have a cake as we had a stack of wheels of cheese for the evening food and Nick and I love cheese. But my bridesmaids mother, Sarah kindly offered to make a cake, it was the most fantastic black forest chocolate cherry naked cake and was decorated with edible pearls and white flowers.

 

Wedding photographer’s website:

www.ajg-photography.co.uk

We met Ayshea at wedding fair held at our venue Glemham Hall. Ayshea had shot weddings at Glemham Hall before and to be able to see those photos made such a difference because we could envisage our day. It was really important to us that the photos looked relaxed and natural and Ayshea seemed to capture that beautifully.

We were overjoyed with Ayshea’s photos! Nick and I are normally ‘that’ couple in photos with our eyes shut or pulling an odd face and Ayshea somehow managed to capture the moment just before I shut my eyes or just after Nick looked the other way, she’s a genius.

I was nervous before seeing them, what if I didn’t look how I had pictured myself on the day? Ayshea invited us to her studio for a glass of bubbly and to watch the slideshow which she had set to music and projected onto a wall, I think I had welled up by about the third photo.

Also my one regret after the wedding was that we didn’t get a videographer, our reason at the time being that they can be a little invasive. Well, once we saw the photos we no longer had any regrets about not having a videographer because she had captured the day so perfectly.

Contact & Bookings: Ayshea Goldberg Photography

AJG-Photography.co.uk
Twitter.com/ajg_photography
Facebook.com/AysheaGoldbergPhotography

See the full supplier list at the end of Milly & Nick’s interview for more supplier info.

 

 

 

 

 

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

I actually found most on Instagram, photos that suppliers had taken at our venue etc. What I liked about that was that you could see pictures that their clients had put up and not just the suppliers promotional photos.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

I love making things and there are so many ideas to copy on Pinterest. We saved lots of money by buying the loose cut flowers from our florist and then we spent a year collecting old vintage bottles and jam jars and then arranged all the center pieces ourselves and dotted additional jars and bottles of flowers around the venue and church.

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

Music. Very last minute we booked a string quartet Sole Bay Strings to play during the reception drinks outside in the rose garden, it made it feel so special and atmospheric. We also had a live band called the Phat Cats in the evening and their energy and fantastic playlist got everyone on the dancefloor. They even (after very little encouragement) persuaded the groom to sing a solo!

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

I bought stamps from The English Stamp Company and we stamped countless menus, name labels and save the dates.

 

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

Dresses for my maid of honor and three bridesmaids took some thinking about with so many different heights and skin and hair tones. Also Katie was 4 months pregnant so I wanted her to feel comfortable. I chose 4 different style dresses all in pebble grey from David’s Bridal,  I thought they could all then wear the style they felt happiest in as I was happy for them to be in different dresses and amazingly they all liked the same style, they were all so easy going. Their bouquets were slightly smaller versions of mine and they all chose their own shoes.

My niece Emily was our flower girl and she wore a lovely ivory dress from Monsoon, she was as good as gold all day.

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

Our hairdresser Lisa (www.hairbylisa.co.uk) was brilliant, I had two trials because I couldn’t decide on a style and each time she was very patient and took very detailed notes and photos each time. On the day she did an incredible job, 4 different styles for the bridesmaids (they chose their own style) styled my mums hair wonderfully and did a fantastic job of mine and it stayed in place all night!

My bridesmaid Charlotte’s sister is a very talented amateur make-up artist and she did mine and another sister helped the rest of the bridal party too.

 

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

We chose Moat Farm Flowers (www.moatfarmflowers.com) Frances Boscawen grows all her own flowers in her beautiful garden in Suffolk. She was fantastic because she understood our very vague brief entirely and even remembered that my mum had mentioned that she loved white bleeding hearts (dicentra Spectabilis), nigella flowers and Anemones and specifically included them in the bouquets. The big milk churns of flowers Frances put together for either side of the entrance to the church were perfection.

 

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

The marquee really didn’t need much once the jars and vintage bottles full of flowers were in. I ordered 30 white paper pompoms in three different sizes from Amazon which our ushers painstakingly made and hung up the day before.

We also ordered some wonderful wooden hand painted signs and a table plan board made by Victoria Steward Signs, she personally hand paints every one and her attention to detail is incredible.

 

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

Nick had planned to surprise me during the first dance with confetti cannons but he accidently showed me the email notifying the band of what he was planning to do but we still had the cannons. Our first dance was to Mumford and Sons Lover of the Light played by the band and the lead singer Charlotte sang it beautifully.

I gave my father some cufflinks from www.notonthehighstreet.com they had a tiny extract from a OS map on and the location I chose was Little Glemham Church because our special moment together was walking down the church aisle to Pachelbel Canon in D Major.

The church was walking distance from the venue but Nick really wanted to borrow our family friends 1959 Jaguar XK150 and I have to say I loved my journey to the church with my dad in the car and then with my husband on the way back, I will remember those journeys in that Jaguar for the rest of my life.

 

On the day tips and advice:

Just relax, all the hard work is done and if anything doesn’t go to plan remember your suppliers are all there to help and so are the ushers and bridesmaids, ours did an incredible job.

What’s the best thing about being married?

The best thing about getting married is having all our favorite people in one place, the love and happiness seemed to radiate all day and night.

The best thing about being married is knowing that whatever happens next in life…we’ll never have to tackle it alone.

Favourite supplier list for other brides and grooms:

Photographer – www.ajg-photography.co.uk

Venue – www.glemhamhall.co.uk/

Hair – www.hairbylisa.co.uk/

Hand painted signs – www.etsy.com/uk/shop/VictoriaStewardSigns

Flowers – www.moatfarmflowers.com

Dress Shop – www.lavenderandjude.co.uk

Band – www.thephatcats.com/

Strings – www.solebaystrings.co.uk

My Eternity ring – www.katesmithjewellery.co.uk/

Ushers Ties – www.reefknots.com/

Dads cufflinks – https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/evydesigns/product/personalised-location-rectangle-map-cufflinks

Hopefully I’ve not forgotten anyone!