Hey lovelies! How was your weekend? I’m fairly sure I still have white paint all over my hair and face but hey – we had a successful decorating session! So back to it and this week we have some blindingly beautiful weddings and ideas to share with you on English Wedding. Kicking off the week are gorgeous newlyweds Beth and Carl, who celebrated their marriage at The Old Hall in Frodsham. This is so beautiful… and the FLOWERS!

All images are by English Wedding Directory member Jess Yarwood Photography. 

“Our wedding flowers were even more than what I was expecting, our florist Jenny from Jenny Penny Flowers in Frodsham completely went above and beyond in providing everything which I had envisaged. Jenny understood what I was asking for and provided us with more, we had so many compliments on the flowers and the table decorations. The flowers were an important factor on our day as they set the tone for our botanical feel and I could not have chosen someone better than Jenny to trust to do this, they were absolutely perfect.

Wedding photographer’s website:

www.jessyarwood.co.uk

We found it quite easy to pick our photographer as we knew from the beginning how we wanted our day to be documented, it was just a matter of finding someone relatively local as that was really important to us.
As soon as I came across Jess’s website i knew we had found our photographer, her style fitted exactly what we were looking for, it was relaxed, unobtrusive and completely us!

Jess was so lovely, during our initial meeting she really put me at ease about what to expect from her and the day itself. Jess has had so much experience with weddings and really made me feel i could ask her anything, whether it was photography related or just general wedding advice such as recommended suppliers.
The morning of the wedding arrived and my nerves slowly started to get the better of me, however Jess was such a calming presence and really helped to put me at ease. Throughout the day she captured the most amazing photograph’s without even being seen, one of our guests even described her a ‘photography ninja’ which much to our amusement we must agree with.
We had so many guests on the day and since then who have commented on how unobtrusive and lovely Jess was and everyone, including us are completely in love with how she captured our day, both the big moments and the smaller more intimate shots.

Jess kindly sent me a few pictures the following morning whilst we were sat having a family breakfast, which was completely unexpected but we were so happy to see them.
The day that we received our completed photographs it really took us back to the day itself, we felt as though so much had happened since then as we had more or less gone straight on our honeymoon and it had all seemed a bit of whirlwind. I don’t think we have ever smiled so much looking through them, remembering parts of the day which had gone in a blur and being able to see parts which we had not witnessed at all. The most important thing which we took away from seeing them is how relaxed and happy everyone was, it really was so special to us.

Wedding venue:

One thing that Carl and I really wanted was to try and keep our wedding as local as possible, the village we live in is so beautiful we really wanted to do it justice. Our church, St Lawrence is at the bottom of the road where we live and dates back to Norman times, we really loved the history of such a building and the community spirit it brings.
Our reception venue, The Old Hall is also based locally and offered so much character, it didn’t require much decoration as the charm of the building spoke for us.
It was also a plus for us that it had accommodation available as the majority of our family were traveling from all over the country. They were really open about letting me decorate the room and gardens to how i wanted and gave suggestions on the menu options, the food on the day was really well prepared and appetizing for all requirements.

Wedding month:

June

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

Traditional, yet relaxed, Happy, Full of Love and Laughter. Perfect.

Your wedding style or theme:

The style of our wedding changed on a number of occasions but i kept going back to the same original idea. We really wanted a natural, botanical feel to our day, I made a moodboard to try and narrow down some of the ideas and colours so as not to let it run away with me which i feel helped, especially when it came to describing what I wanted to other people. I found a lot of the looks which I was drawn to were Italian and woodland and the job was to try and combine that, we ended up going for the Italian way of dining which was to have long banquet style tables so it felt more inclusive for our guests and a woodland / botanical feel with our choice of flowers and table decorations.

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

I looked at online wedding sites and forums which I felt helped with ideas and bought bridal magazines in order to create my moodboard, however a lot of our main suppliers were local based businesses. We found once we had the ideas in place of what we wanted people were accommodating to fit that and we didn’t mind if it meant potentially paying a bit extra in order to support local business and also the convenience which that offered.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

We tried to keep in mind what our day was about, it’s so easy to get caught up in the planning and the details that the budget starts to become a little out of control, so whenever we felt that was starting to happen we went back to basics and thought about how much it would affect our day and our memory of it if we did or did not have a particular item. We feel by doing that it helped to keep us grounded and on track with our spending.

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

We’re glad we invested in Jess as our photographer as she did such an amazing job and our photographs are something that cannot be replaced, they will last us a lifetime. We also splurged on Carl’s suit as it was just as important for him to feel his best as it was me, as it was just as much his day as mine.

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

We sourced our stationery online from a site called Papier, we wanted to keep the invitations and the stationery simple and elegant, after a lot of searching this provided us with the look which we wanted and at a reasonable price.

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

My wedding dress was everything which I initially did not want in a dress, it was strapless, Ivory and a ballgown. I only selected it as a last option whilst trying on other dresses and as soon as I put it on I cried (and so did my mum), I knew it was the one as i didn’t want to take it off. I loved the beading on my dress as it was so delicate and offered just enough sparkle and being in a ballgown I really felt like a bride.

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

I purchased my dress from Wed2Be in Leeds and had it altered by Dawn at Elizabeth Arnold sewing studio in Frodsham. Dawn was so patient as it took a few attempts to get it right due to how heavy my dress was, but it was definitely worth it in the end.

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

i purchased my shoes from Kurt Geiger and earrings from Etsy. Carl surprised me with my beautiful necklace on the morning of our wedding which he had hidden in our house, I received a message from him during the morning preparations telling me where to look for it, which I thought was so sweet.

And what did the groom wear?

Carl’s suit was a bespoke tailored suit from Whitfield & Ward who are based in Wilmslow, the whole process of purchasing and being fitted for a bespoke suit was an interesting and memorable experience, he was able to pick every detail of his suit and really personalize it which I know he very much enjoyed.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

Our bridesmaids wore dresses from AX Paris, we just happened to come across them online after searching for months for the right colour and style to suit them both, I was about to give up and change the whole colour scheme when we finally found them. I wanted them both to feel comfortable in what they wore and they turned out to be perfect.

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

The bridal party hair was done by the very talented Lisa Naughton, who is one of my closest friends and was a wedding gift from her which was extremely generous, especially as she was also one of our guests and had to find time to get ready herself.
Our bridal party make up was done by Jessica Carswell who I came across online, I had every faith in Jess’s work and she did not disappoint on the day, both our hair and make up lasted all day and I could not recommend both Lisa and Jess highly enough,

 

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

The venue was mostly decorated with our flowers and garlands on the tables which were provided by our florist Jenny, we also bought some outdoor lanterns for the garden which are able to re-use in our own garden.
We were able to give the flowers which were on our tables to our aunties and close friends for them to take home with them, which they all loved.

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

The only homemade element of our day were the Save the Dates which we sent our a year before, this was due to a lot of our family having to travel to be with us. I purchased the stamps, inks and magnets from Hobbycraft.

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

Our cake was a homemade three tier Victoria sponge with royal icing made by Carl’s stepmother, Karen. I had searched pinterest for different ideas and really loved the look of a particular one which Karen was happy to replicate. We had so many compliments on how it tasted, she really did a great job.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

The music at our wedding was one of the most important factors, as both Carl and I love music and have a very eclectic taste. I chose Fleetwood Mac – Songbird for my aisle walk as they’re my favourite band and our exit music was Stevie Wonder – Signed, Sealed, Delivered which we knew would make everyone smile.
Our DJ for the evening reception was a company called The Hi-Life, we were really pleased with their service, all the contact we had with them was always professional and they offered an excellent variation of DJ’s who specialised in different genre’s dependent on personal preference.

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

Enjoy the process! As with most couple’s we only planned to do this once, so we wanted to enjoy the planning as well as the days itself. If we ever felt we were getting caught up in the details we took a step back and remembered the reasons why we were doing this and this helped to take the planning back to being enjoyable, exciting and most of all not too stressful.
On the day itself as much as we tried to relax it really is so difficult as it goes by so quickly, our only regrets were that we felt we weren’t able to spend as much time with each of our guests as we would have liked.

What’s the best thing about being married?

In day to day life not a great deal changes (although I do enjoy being referred to by my new Mrs title!). Carl and I were always confident in our relationship but it was such a positive experience to go through seeing how much love and support we had from our family and friends. We are able to share such lovely memories with them of the day and it was definitely the best day of our lives, I wish we could do it all over again!

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

www.jessyarwood.co.uk
www.byjennypenny.com
www.facebook.com/jesscarswellmakeup
www.oldhallhotelfrodsham.co.uk
https://whitfieldandward.co.uk
www.thehi-life.co.uk