Glorious golden hour images from Tiffany and Joe’s Colchester Castle wedding, with Grace Elizabeth

Published by Claire Gould on

Golden hour wedding pics for a gorgeous colchester wedding, with Photography by Grace (11)

Today’s wedding has the most beautiful golden hour pics – and a gorgeous bride and groom whose focus is on family and celebration. This is how a wedding should be – full of love, and as creative as you’d like your day to look!! The photos by Grace Elizabeth are just fabulous and really capture the love between these two! “Grace completely understood the vibe we were going for. From booking to receiving our photos, everything was effortless. She’s certainly extremely popular with our friends and family!”

Our ceremony was at Colchester Castle. It was a beautiful day and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the town so busy. A superhero invasion and a historical re-enactment really added to the magic of the day. We even had cannons going off during our vows. I had little girls waving at me and calling me a princess – it was surreal but amazing!

Golden hour wedding pics for a gorgeous colchester wedding, with Photography by Grace (17)

Our reception was at a Village Hall. We were supposed to be getting married abroad but we changed our plans and decided to try and do it simple and cheap. The Hall was pennies in comparison to the big venues although it did mean we had to supply pretty much everything! We loved the location especially coming away from the madness of Colchester castle.

My bridesmaids really came to the rescue with all the things we needed to make! I had lots of ideas just not the time. Having a toddler and working meant life was busy. Add to that learning to drive and moving house, wedding planning sometimes came last on the list. My bridesmaids sourced items, came up with alternatives, they painted bottles, made Pom poms, painted canvases and boxes. They printed photos for me, tied string round jars etc etc. Between them there was a wealth of wedding and crafting experience. I picked my team well 🙂

Golden hour wedding pics for a gorgeous colchester wedding, with Photography by Grace (1)

Wedding photographer’s website:

Www.photographybygrace.co.uk

Grace photographed our daughter, Violet, when she was a couple of weeks old. We love everything about her and her work.

Golden hour wedding pics for a gorgeous colchester wedding, with Photography by Grace (3)

It was a Saturday when we saw our wedding photos for the first time. We had the afternoon to ourselves and we cuddled up and looked at our online gallery together (our beautiful photo package was still at the post office waiting for me to pick it up). We looked at each and every one. Gasps, awwws and other noises of delight as we reflected on the day. They took us through our day perfectly and gave us moments we hadn’t seen and just beautiful natural shots. Even down to the formal family shots. Very modestly, of course, we couldn’t believe how good we looked! Grace captured every single detail of our day and it was just lovely to see all our ideas in a beautiful format.

 

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Wedding month:

September

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

Just. The. Most. Perfect. Day. With. The. People. We. Love!

Your wedding style or theme:

A typical Tiff & Joe party. Lots of food, good music and plenty of booze.
Added with a lot of love, pastel colours and a whole lot of glitter!

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

Recommendations from friends.
Previous wedding items used by friends.
Local craft shops, charity shops and wholesalers.
Facebook – there’s a national group for wedding items which was amazing for items and suppliers.
Instagram – where we found our bespoke neon signs.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Try and put some away each month. Once you’ve booked venue, food and photographer, set a budget.
We are not the best people to ask this really as we our budget was hugely blown and we paid as we went along.
Write everything down. I had a notepad that went everywhere with me which I wrote every list, idea, dream etc etc and that’s also how we kept an eye on what we were spending. Although it pretty much went out the window the month leading up to it!

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

Food and drink. Photographer (obviously). It was actually the things I didn’t expect like Transport! The bus & car was amazing. The car was a late addition and I’m so glad we had it. Tablecloths and napkins! Don’t cheap out…makes the world of difference if you are DIYing it.

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

This was done by a friend of ours. I gave her my ideas and she produced exactly what I wanted. She also brought our table plan idea to life. I loved our invites so much!

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Yes. A few times. I’m not the most decisive and I’d bought my dress two years before the wedding and before having a child. My eye wandered to new designs and I worried that it wasn’t the one. But I kept going in and trying it on and I loved it more and more every time. When your dress arrives compared to what you try on just cements that especially when it’s altered to fit perfectly. It wasn’t what I thought I’d go for but I felt amazing in it and I don’t think it was too much. Can’t say the same for my extensive veil though haha!

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

Designer was Enzoani and it was bought in MiliMili in colchester. Such a gorgeous boutique wedding shop with some unique dresses. There was such a lovely feel to the place and unlike some other shops, they didn’t push for a sale or have me trying on dresses above my budget.

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

Jewellery was borrowed from one of my bridesmaids. She wore it on her wedding day that I was bridesmaid for! My shoes were coral to match with the accents on Joe and Violet’s outfits. They were from Le Redoute and were £25!

And what did the groom wear?

Joe wore a classic slim fit three piece black suit from the Grooms Room at Abigail’s in Colchester. He didn’t want the traditional tails. We bought monogrammed shirts for all the boys. They also had pastel ties and socks. Can’t beat a man in a suit especially when it’s a good fitting suit. They all looked fit!

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

Ahh they looked so stunning!
They wore dresses in a variety of styles and different pastel colours from ChiChi London. I didnt want them looking too bridesmaidy. It was stressful for me at times with 5 girls, 5 sizes, 5 personalities but only because I knew in my head what I wanted for them and it just took a while to get it. But sooooooo worth it in the end!

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

Professionals. I wanted us all to not stress and just be pampered and have it done for us. Definitely recommend – you’ll never feel as good as when you have your hair and makeup professionally done especially in the most expensive dress of your life!
Yvonne Bone was hair lady – highly recommended and used before. Speedy, lovely and light (sooo many pins but literally can’t feel any of them)!
Hayley Jessica and Emma Rhi – MUA. Funnily enough best friends! They were amazing. Transformed us. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so comfortable and pretty as I did that day. We also had make up done early hours and it still looked good 15 hours later.

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

Amega Fleur. Recommended by a friend.
Gorgeous lovely lady! I already knew exactly what we were having. She delivered my brief perfectly. I was quite emotional when they arrived on the day. Stunning!
We only went for bouquets opting for a simple sunflower in a bottle for the tables in the venue.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

A fair amount. It was a lovely hall but basic. The main room was large but was completely transformed. Chair covers and tablecloths made a massive difference! Our theme was pastel colours but there was no limit on styles so we had bunting / Pom poms / neon / balloons / glass / wood / ribbon / flowers / string, even water beads! We had a frame table for family photos and absent guests. A ladder with photos of our friends weddings. A massive frame with a timeline of couple photos that our friends secretly created for us. Knitted dolls. Lego. Vinyls. Bubbles. It was everything we loved. Very personal, even down to handpicking the soaps and diffusers for the toilets and having our favourite scent throughout the venue (yankee black cherry btw).

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

We opted out of having a wedding cake. We didn’t want to do the ‘cake cut’ and having never really eaten the cake at weddings we figured there would be a lot of waste. Instead we had Joe’s sister, and my bridesmaid, make her legendary cupcakes.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

We had a friend DJ for us using my Dad’s DJ equipment.
We had a photobooth which was so much fun plus you get a guestbook out of it. Would definitely recommend- our guests loved it.
We also had a glitter station where you could apply festival style decoration to your face. My little sister became heavily involved and glittered everybody including the caterers! Lots of fun!

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

Do whatever you want to do.
Don’t stress about having a theme and everything matching.
There will be a moment in the planning where you’ll question if the time, stress and money is worth it – once you have your day you’ll see it absolutely is!
A friend told me to not worry if something doesn’t go quite right on the day because you’ll be the only person to know.

What’s the best thing about being married?

I can’t really feel or notice any difference to be honest. It does give a a sense of security, especially having already had a child. It brings you closer as a couple. Ive never been more in love with him than I was that day

Supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Www.photographybygrace.co.uk
Colchester Castle
Dress by Enzoani from MiliMili in Colchester
Grooms Room at Abigail’s in Colchester
Bridesmaids’ dresses – ChiChi London
Wedding Hair by Yvonne Bone
Hayley Jessica and Emma Rhi – MUA

Bus hire – https://www.vintagebushireipswich.co.uk
Flowers by Amega Fleur Floral Design


Claire Gould

Claire spends her days writing - either in beautiful calligraphy or online. She lives on the edge of the English Lake District only minutes away from the beach, where she loves to escape and unwind. Claire's calligraphy can be found at www.byMoonandTide.com. Claire launched the English Wedding Blog in November 2009 - it's been a top 10 UK wedding blog ever since, with a regional focus we hope you LOVE.

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