Happy New Year everyone! Warmest welcomes from me if you’re new to English Wedding – oh, and huge congratulations if you’ve got a brand new sparkly thing on your finger!!! Exciting times are ahead and I’m here to inspire you through your wedding planning journey. Come & grab a cuppa and I’ll introduce you to everyone at English Wedding.This blog is for everyone – brides and grooms alike. We focus on real weddings all around the UK and share the very best ideas, advice and photography from the wedding world. I like to think English-Wedding.com is a little different – as well as the gorgeous details, the weddings we feature have a sense of humour and authenticity to them. It’s not all about spending a fortune to create an insta-worthy day: every wedding is about your personalities, your family and friends and having the most amazing party with the happy smiling faces of the folks you love.

English Wedding is a diamond. We have four sides: there’s our BLOG, where you’ll find real weddings, shoots and ideas every single day. Then our SHOP for gorgeous, on-trend and affordable wedding invitations and reception stationery. Our RECOMMENDED suppliers list showcases our team members – sponsors whose beautiful photography and inspiration is what drives English Wedding to be more brilliant and inspiring for you every single day. The English Wedding DIRECTORY is where you’ll find wedding suppliers all around the country – from cakes to florists, venues to photographers, gift lists, stylists and planners and so much more.

So let’s begin the year with an absolutely stunning wedding for you, shall we? Joanne and Matt married at Hestercombe House and Gardens in Somerset in October. They created a beautiful Parisian rustic wedding style, with a stunning Kenneth Winston gown for Joanne, and Matt in a classic navy suit with bow tie, braces and waistcoat. The little touches are divine: the table plan was home made, the cake is out of this world; but Hestercombe didn’t need a ton of decoration because it really has its own charming character. All images are by Devon wedding photographer Special Day Wedding Photos.

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://www.specialdayweddingphotos.co.uk/

How did you choose your photographer?

Whilst we were looking for our wedding venue we were looking at photo slide shows and wedding videos on YouTube, which is where we saw a set of photos from Special Day Wedding Photos, and they were stunning. We made a note of the photographer, then later down the line when looking to book a photographer we went to see his website. All the other examples of his weddings were great, and we loved his documentary style of shooting, so we got in touch!

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

From the first meetup where we visited the venue and did a pre-wedding shoot, until late on the wedding day Anthony was great. We had lots of people comment on our photographer, which is probably unusual for wedding! He was very energetic, running around to get different shots etc. but at the same time, we were unaware of his presence for the majority of the day. He was super organised and we were made to feel relaxed and at ease all day. He remembered everything we had asked previously and was just what we were hoping for.

Tell us about the moment you saw your wedding photos for the first time?

Anthony sent us a single photo just a day after the wedding and it was perfect, it made us desperate to see the rest of the photos and it was worth the wait. We sat down together and put on the slide show of the hundreds of images from the day, and we spent most of it talking back through what we were thinking at the time, or reminiscing about the different parts of the day. There was plenty of laughing at some photos, too!

Contact & Bookings: Special Day Wedding Photos, Devon

www.specialdayweddingphotos.co.uk
Instagram: @specialday.weddingphotos
Twitter: @Ant21Lyons
Facebook: @sdwphotos99
Pinterest: @sdwphotos

 

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

Better weather than we thought for October. Too warm.

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

Wedding fair at the venue. The classic google searching. And through other supplier’s contacts.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Just have what you want, not what people expect you to have. Don’t buy signs. No one likes signs.

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

Photographer and Band.

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

Bit of both. We bought Save the dates, invite pack, menu cards and name places from Papier and then made the table plan and centre piece bits. We really enjoyed the making parts!

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Eventually. Tried on lots of dresses across lots of boutiques, so it took a while to find the one. Then i needed a little break and go back to it a couple of weeks later to make sure. But once I had found the one, I couldn’t wait until the wedding day to wear it. Just sad now I can’t wear it again.

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

Kenneth Winston from Eva Ashley

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

Flat shoes from Dune. I didn’t want to be taller than the groom! Pearl was the theme because of my engagement ring so all accessories were pearl related. Nice pair of pearl studs and then my Grandmother’s pearl bracelet.

And what did the groom wear?

Navy suit with bow tie, braces and grey waistcoat. Tan shoes. The classic.

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

Floor length blush pink dresses from Monsoon with two little matching flower girls.

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

Professional for both. I used the hairdresser who i’ve been using since I was 18 come over from Cardiff (getting the 6am train!) to do my hair, and make-up by ‘By Annabella’ who we found at the Hestercombe wedding fayre.

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

Tilda Rose from Taunton, who we found at the wedding Fayre at the venue. She was great and really accommodating for what we wanted, even taking on some additions just 2 days before, for some table plan foliage! We had wild flower theme with lots of foliage and garland.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

The venue itself looked so great that we only needed to add a sprinkling of our theme – less is more!

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

Joanne made origami boxes for the wedding favours, which were then filled with home made Welsh cakes made by her step-mum. They went down a storm! The boxes were then finished off with bunting and personalised tags which we designed.

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

We had a semi-naked double-height three tiered cake, then flowers on top by the florist. super simple, but looked so good!

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

Out of the ceremony we had an accordion player who gave a bed of music which was just so perfectly fitting. Matt maintains that it was one of his favourite parts of his day! We then had a band and DJ later in the evening. We had an amazing photobus – Gertie – full of beautiful knitted hand made props inside a converted camper van. Everyone loved it!

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

Make a wall of post it notes with every task you need to do on it. It means you both see how much there is left to do, and you can always feel progress is happening, even when you may be going through a slow week! This really helped us prepare and help make the wedding week feel so much more relaxed than it could have been.

What’s the best thing about being married?

Getting to spend every day with my best friend. By law.

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Photographer – https://www.specialdayweddingphotos.co.uk/
Make up – http://www.byannabella.co.uk/
Photobus – https://gertiethephotobus.com/
Accordion player – http://www.accordionjohn.co.uk
Florist – http://tildarosefloristry.co.uk/
Cake – https://www.emskitchencakes.co.uk/
Band – https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/members/evelyn-and-the-band.html
DJ – http://www.speaker-box.co.uk/
Bridal car – http://www.tractionweddingcars.co.uk/
Suits – Dyfed Menswear
Dress – Kenneth Winston