As we come to the end of Christmas week, I’m loving the chance to revisit some of our favourite features from 2019. Lizzie & Faz’s wedding was an absolute highlight for me: their story is magical (and their double-act filling in our English Wedding interview makes me HAPPY!) their wedding is glorious and I just ADORE the beautiful golden hour photographs by wonderful Grace Elizabeth. Here are my highlights from their wedding at Fennes. To see the full feature, click here: Lizzie & Faz’s wedding

“Our wedding was relaxed and inclusive: a fusion with Pakistani and English elements. Our colour palette was green and gold; we wanted a natural greenery feel and something that would blend with the Asian wedding vibe for the second ceremony too.

We went with ‘Dress it Yourself‘ for almost all of our decor and they were incredible for helping us to plan out our vision for the wedding! They do a diy service or they will also do set up which is what we went for. We went to their workshop and met with them to design the plans, they helped us so much to clarify everything and to make sure we were really focused on what we wanted.”

Lizzie & Faz’s Fennes recommended wedding suppliers:

Photographer: Grace Elizabeth
Videography: http://trulymadlyfilms.com
Stationery: Joe Stevens Design
Venue  Fennes
Asian dress: Zarkan
First dress: Wed2B
Dress alterations: The Dressmaker
White and glitter mehndi: Henna by Nabilah
Suit: Harris and Zei
Makeup:  Tanjia Syed
Flowers: Dress it Yourself
Acoustic guitarist: Sian Eden

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

I was lucky enough to have two beautiful wedding dresses. People always ask me which I prefer but I find it so hard to choose! My Asian dress was much heavier than the white dress but also more comfortable! My white dress was nothing like I had planned in my head, I was thinking totally plain and simple, no lace or beads so I was a bit shocked when I really loved the one I chose. My mum cried like you see on TV so it had to be the one. It needed some adaptations (as I was adamant to not have a strapless dress) so Kimmy at The Dressmaker added a slight lace sleeve for modesty. When I chose my Asian dress I wanted something that wasn’t too bright or too heavily beaded, I didn’t really want a typical red dress. My mother in law and sister in law came with my mum and I to Green Street to try dresses and we all agreed pretty quickly when I found this one. My measurements were taken and sent to Pakistan so we had to wait 5 months to see the finished dress. When it arrived it fitted like a glove which was incredible! I had many wobbles over whether I had chosen the right dresses after we had bought them, but I knew 100% I had when everything all came together on the day.

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

White dress: Wed2b, the best value but the experience was a bit crazy! There was a huge queue for the changing room so it wasn’t the individual experience some might desire.
Asian dress: Zarkan of London, Green Street

What did the groom wear?

Let’s be frank gentlemen, despite all the lies you are told this day isn’t about you, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something in it for you (apart from getting married of course, so my wife tells me). For my first outfit, my suit, I wanted something that I could use more than once but still looked special. I originally wanted a double breasted suit, however I decided against this as I felt it might limit its use after the wedding. I decided instead to get a three piece suit with a double breasted waistcoat. I went for a horseshoe waistcoat because it looked classical and formal but I wanted it all in blue as it would be more likely to get more use at a later date. I visited Harris and Zei firstly for measuring and design, then for fittings and finally for collection. I have always wanted a perfectly fitting suit and this was the perfect excuse. My second outfit, my sherwani was from Junaid Jamshaid in Ilford. We managed to get this cheaper in the sale with all the matching accessories and in a gold and green colour which would match the wedding theme! These can be custom made but we were just so fortunate to get what we wanted ready made! I wore a mondaine watch and adjusted the strap to a light brown to match both outfits. My first set of shoes were a pair of Churches loafers in burgundy, gifted by my dad before he passed, and these were perfect with my outfit, but also as a way to keep him close to me on the big day. I couldn’t resist adding a bit of fun to the outfit with a pair of Paul Smith dinosaur socks. I love fun socks and so I wanted to break formal tradition slightly to add a bit more of my own personality.

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

Lizzie was absolutely adamant that she wanted to get her make up done by asian bridal make up instagram sensation Tanjia Syed. After we booked the venue, the second thing booked was Tanji. Originally Lizzie intended to only have make up done once to suit both outfits but after the trial decided that she’d prefer two looks as the styles of make up required were really different. Tanji advised on the types of lashes as well as listening carefully to requests so that Lizzie would feel comfortable. She did an absolutely incredible job and the make up didn’t even need a single touch up all night. It was just flawless. Lizzie’s hair was done by the incredible Elena Hair. She advised and guided in the trial as well as on the day. She was so supportive and helpful on the morning of the wedding, not just doing two hair styles but also changing Lizzie’s outfit and lacing up her dress!

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

Our wedding stationery was sourced from a variety of places but all elements involved us printing and assembling. Our beautiful wedding invitations featured hand drawn pictures of both of us as well as a hand drawing of our wedding venue. They were made for us by a close friend Joe Stevens. https://www.etsy.com/shop/joestevensdesign We then printed those and put them inside gold and white envelopes ordered from eBay with pre-addressed return envelopes using stickers ordered from etsy. Thank goodness for bridesmaid and sibling packing skills! We then used downloads from etsy and Adobe to adapt our wedding signs and leaflets and we got those all printed ourselves prior to the wedding day.

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

We chose Blossom and Crumb to make our wedding cake. We saw Megan’s cakes on instagram and they were just so stunning as well as looking like they would taste amazing! The flavour list is just insane. We went for a tasting in South London (possibly our favourite wedding planning day!!) and we narrowed down to 4 flavours for the different tiers. Chocolate orange, Persian love cake (our absolute favourite), lime and coconut and London Fog.

What’s the best thing about being married?

For us, living together and becoming each others family. We lived separately up until the wedding so it was a really big thing to move in together and start our new life. It is also wonderful knowing that your partner and best friend is now legally your family, I am not quite sure why, but it just is!!

 

 

 

Wedding photographer’s website:

https://www.grace-elizabeth.co.uk/

“Lizzie was super fussy when choosing a photographer(!) She hated all the over edited shots with really cliché poses and didn’t want the guests to be hanging around for hours watching group shot after group shot. We spent a long time scrolling through instagram using hashtags. We think the hashtag the we found Grace from was #essexweddingphotographer! We stalked her insta and she ticked all Lizzie’s boxes with her beautiful shots and so we submitted her enquiries form… (Including a question about unicorns!!) The rest is history!

Grace was amazing, she captured all the big moments as well as so many of the small, (unseen by us) moments! We met her before the wedding for a pre-wedding shoot and we just sat and chatted after our pictures were done. When we saw her again on the morning of the wedding it was so reassuring to see a familiar face. We honestly felt like she was the most trusted and reliable part of the day, we just knew she’d do an amazing job! She was so calm when things got crazy (think delayed second ceremony – Imam on the m25!) and she made sure we got the beautiful sunset shots we wanted when we had literally minutes of sunshine left!

The next morning after the wedding we were on our ‘minimoon’ staying in a country barn close to our wedding venue. We were with Lizzie’s family and we had just finished opening our wedding cards and reading all our lovely messages from our family and friends. Grace texted us saying that the previews were coming through and we were so excited. It was the most amazing thing to see shots straight after the wedding and relive the moments again, knowing that there were more to come! The rest of them were finished a few weeks later and sent through to us in a beautiful box on the cutest rose bud USB and we snuggled in bed to scroll through! We also have a video of the day from our videographer Sian from Truly Madly Films!!