Welcome to the weekend! And OMG – to June! And roll on summertime… I can’t wait for lazy sunny evenings and beach sunsets 🙂 Today I have a stunning late summer wedding to share with you. Gorgeous couple Rachel and Ben had a very relaxed, informal, vintage-inspired day with a party vibe for the evening party. The wedding breakfast was loosely based on Alice in Wonderland, complete with mismatched crockery and vintage cake stands with styling touches in dusky pinks and mauve.

Rachel’s dress is stunning – the perfect princess style and it suits her perfectly! She told me she tried on 8 dresses before falling in love with this Essense of Australia gown from Ava Rose Hamilton. The guys – including Ben and their 7 year old son – wore lovely 3 piece Marc Darcy suits. Ben’s tie and pocket square were champagne coloured to match Rachel’s dress.

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://annabeth.photos

I was reading wedding blogs on Facebook and saw an article featuring some of Hannah’s shots and instantly fell in love with her style and began to follow her work. As soon as we booked our wedding in December 2017 then I got in touch with Hannah and luckily she had availability on our wedding day.

We first met on 29th December where she travelled 2 hours and even through snow to meet us at our venue to go through our ideas and plans. We wanted a very relaxed, natural feel to our photos with the photos telling the story of our day and Hannah understood our brief so perfectly and put us at ease so much that we confirmed the booking with her that day!

We couldn’t be more pleased with our wedding photographer. At times we didn’t even realise she was there! Hannah and her 2nd shooter were so lovely and nothing was too much trouble. Our shots are so natural and tell the story of our day so perfectly that we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

We first saw a taster of some of our wedding photos whilst away on our minimoon a few days after our wedding. We were blown away and even after only seeing a few images then we knew they were all going to be amazing. A short while later Hannah then sent us the link to our full wedding album, created us a slideshow to music and also sent us a gift box through the post containing a usb full of all the images. Hannah and her 2nd shooters have captured every emotion, every detail and every moment of our day so beatifully that when I first saw the full album it brought tears to my eyes as all the happy memories came flooding back. We then shared the album with all our friends and family and they were equally blown away.

Follow Anna Beth Photography: Instagram @annabeth.photos || Facebook @annabethweddingphotography

Hannah from Anna Beth Photography would like to thank her two second photographers, who both helped her tremendously on the day (she was heavily pregnant at the time!) They are Andrew Pick and Natalie Pluck.

I’m thrilled to be able to share the highlights film from Rachel and Ben’s wedding – it’s by Fairclough Studios and it’s brilliant!

 

 

Wedding venue:

Iscoyd Park, Shropshire

Wedding month:

October

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

A fairytale dream come true with unforgettable memories.

Your wedding style or theme:

From day one we knew we wanted a very informal and relaxed feel to our wedding day although from being a little girl I had always wanted the ‘fairytale’ wedding so it was a challenge to incorporate the two. We opted for a navy, mauve, dusky pink and champagne colour scheme which also looked great given the time of year.
We both love a good party and regularly attend dance festivals and visited Ibiza so also wanted to incorporate this too.
Our vintage fairytale themed day included a string quartet, a unicorn topped cake and an Alice in wonderland themed wedding breakfast – We had afternoon tea which was served on mis match vintage crockery to fit in with our theme.
This then switched to an Ibiza themed evening with live sax and percussion provided by six15 events, a lot of dancing and glow sticks galore!!

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

We mostly used Facebook and recommendations to find the majority of our suppliers.
We also attended wedding fayres.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Plan ahead and don’t leave everything until the last minute.

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

The photographer, venue decoration and the evening entertainment team.

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

We designed and made our own invitations, table plan, table names, menus, welcome sign and order do the day. I learnt very basic grahic design when I was much younger which allowed me to design everything to match our theme. It wa shouts of painstaking designing as i’m a perfectionist!!
The table plan was made from an old pallet and random photo frames that were picked up from car boot sales.
Our table names were chapters from Alice in wonderland books customised with quotes and images from each chapter and we even had mad hatters tea party themed table menus.

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Yes! I tried on around 8 dresses but instantly fell in love with the dress I chose. I didn’t want to take it off once our day was over and spent atleast 30mins swaying and swishing around the bridal suite at the end of the night before begrudgingly taking it off!!

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

The designer is Essence of Australia purchased from the stunning Ava Rose Hamilton bridal boutique in Silsden.

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

My dress was quite detailed so my jewellery was minimal. I wore a tiara from ivy and co and a necklace that the hubby gave me the morning of the wedding.
My shoes were the star of the show. They were my dream Charlotte Mills and even had a sixpence in the sole for good luck!

And what did the groom wear?

The groom, best man and grooms men were in matching Marc Darcy ‘Dion’ 3 piece suits. The groom had a champagne coloured tie and pocket square which tied in with my dress and the others had mauve ties and pocket squares to match the bridesmaids. They completed the look with personalised pocket watches which were given as a thank you gift the morning of the wedding.
The Marc Darcy suits come in junior boys sizes too and as my little boy (aged 7) was walking me down the aisle it was very important to us that he was matching the groom. They all certainly looked the part!

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

The girls wore mauve bridesmaids dresses from the high street store Quiz. They were gorgeous and fir perfectly.

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

The hair and makeup of the bride, bridesmaids and mother of the bride was done by the amazing Vicky and Charlotte at bridal hair and make up of Cheshire.
I would highly recommend these ladies. Our hair and makeup lasted all day and both did a great job of calming the nerves the morning of the wedding. Nothing was too much trouble and the whole morning ran so smoothly thanks to them.

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

Our wedding flowers and venue styling was done by Cathy and Louise at L&C Floral Design at Sandra McGill’s Florist in Manchester.
The wedding flowers were very relaxed and rustic incorporating our colours of mauve, dusky pink and cream/champagne.
Cathy and Louise fit our brief perfectly and everything was absolutely stunning.

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

Iscoyd park as a venue is stunning in itself. The ceremony room is bright and light and doesn’t need much styling but we completed the look with blossom trees to frame the aisle and pew ends that matched our theme.
The wedding breakfast was held in the marque and the tables were decorated with blossom trees, log slices, lanterns and floating candles to create the dreamy fairytale look.
All venue styling was done by our florists L&C Floral Design at Sandra McGill’s Florist.

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

The main thing we made was the table plan. We used an old pallet and white washed it. We then made a foldable stand. We used random photo frames picked up from car boot sales to frame the table plans themselves and decorated it with fairy lights and flowers. We were very proud of it!

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

We had a 3 tier cake which was made by blackrod cake company.
Our flavours were banoffe, double chocolate and strawberries and cream. It was delicious!!
The cake was decoarted in our theme colours and finished with fresh flowers. The cake was topped with a unicorn cake topper which stole the show!

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

We had Amy Chalmers string quartet provide the sound track to our ceremony and drinks reception who played a mix of classic and current chart hits.
We then had six15 events provide our evening production entertainment with dj ashtee, thesaxguy (live sax) and joystix (percussion) to party the night away!!

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

Don’t let anyone try and dictate what you should and shouldn’t do on your wedding day, who you should and shouldn’t invite etc. It’s your day and you should do it the way you both want.
Make sure you have some time together on the day itself, away from friends and family to let it all sink in. Take your time and don’t rush on the day – people will wait for you if they have to – it’s your wedding day after all!

What’s the best thing about being married?

The opputunity to get to start a new and exciting adventure together as husband and wife and spend our together forever.

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Etsy – fab for personalised gifts and decoration.
www.faircloughstudios.co.uk – our amazing videographers

Iscoyd Parkhttps://iscoydpark.com/
Anna Beth Photography:www.annabeth.photosSecond shooters: Andrew Pick and Natalie Pluck
Hair and Make up: Bridal make up of Cheshire https://www.themakeupcheshire.com/
Flowers and decor: Sandra McGillhttps://www.facebook.com/sandramcgillflowers/
Dress: Essense of Australia from Ava Rose Hamilton http://avarosehamilton.co.uk/
Suits: Marc Darcy suit hire https://marcdarcy.co.uk
Cake: The Blackrod Cake Company https://www.facebook.com/Theblackrodcakecompany/\Videography:  Fairclough studios https://faircloughstudios.co.uk/
Entertainment: Six15 events https://www.six15events.co.uk/