So today’s wedding is an absolute DREAM!!! I have fallen head over heels for our stunning couple Daisy & Alex, for the FABULOUS florals by Dartmoor Flowers and the prettiest images by lovely Clare Kinchin Photography.

Daisy & Alex tied the knot at Lakeview Manor in Devon, on a beautifully sunny day in June. Their style is neutral glam, with so many beautifully elegant details, from Daisy’s breathtaking Willowby by Watters dress (from The Ivory Secret Bridal Boutique) to the mini rose gold bauble place card holders and eucalyptus sprig place settings. Oh, and don’t miss the bouncy castle photos towards the end of the post… they are just so uniquely brilliant and Daisy’s face is a picture!

Wedding photographer’s website:

http://clarekinchinphotography.co.uk

How did you choose your photographer?

We had seen a lot of Clare’s pictures on social media and in wedding magazines and just loved her style!

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

Clare was fantastic and made us both feel so at ease! We did an engagement photoshoot with her before the wedding to help us get used to being in front of the camera and it was so much fun – we even got to bring our dog! Seeing the engagement photos before the wedding made us even more excited to see the pictures from our big day and because Clare was so warm and friendly, it made us feel like our pictures were being done by a friend.

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

There were lots of happy tears! It was impossible to be everywhere at once so it’s so nice to see pictures of parts of the day we would have otherwise missed. We have them on a slideshow on our TV so we can see them whenever, we love showing them off to guests and we never get tired of seeing them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

We found most of our suppliers online, through social media and recommendations from friends and family

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Don’t be afraid to shop around for bargains, and if you have time to do DIY, do it!

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

The photographer and the videographer – from the offset I said I would make cutbacks in other areas if it meant finding the right photographer and videographer. I spent hours looking because there are so many different styles out there, you just have to keep searching until you find the right ones! I think it’s definitely one of those things where “you get what you pay for”, and now we have photos and videos that we will treasure forever

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

It was definitely a labour of love, we actually found wedding invitation bundles in the middle aisle in Aldi and then bought a calligraphy set and practiced handwriting in the same style as the invites. It took a few weeks to write them all, and we had a lot of help from the mother of the bride! We then made a website for people to RSVP and get any information they needed about the day

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

Finding my wedding dress was a very lengthy process, we had a long engagement and my taste changed over time, varying from ball gowns to figure-hugging silhouettes. I must have tried on about 50 dresses and I got to a point where I wasn’t even sure what I wanted! I was so pleased when I eventually did find my dress – I received so many compliments on the day because it was just so “me”. Eleanor at the Ivory Secret where I bought my dress was so patient with my indecisiveness and very helpful

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

Dress – Philomena by Willowby by Watters
The Ivory Secret Bridal Boutique, Crediton

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

Jewellery and clutch bag – Debenhams
Hairpieces – Amazon
Shoes – Badgley Mischka

And what did the groom wear?

The groom, groomsmen and both dads wore bespoke blue suits and brown shoes from Zebel with taupe ties to match the bridesmaid dresses

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

All the girls wore “Maya” Bridesmaid V neck Maxi Tulle dress with tonal delicate sequins in taupe blush from ASOS. The girls accessorised their own looks but I bought them each a rose gold bangle with their initial on.

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

My local salon does bridal hair and makeup. I’ve been going to The Hut – Hair Beauty and Barbers for about 5 years so I knew I wanted their team involved on the day as they always make me feel so beautiful! It was so nice having friendly faces with me on the day too

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

Our flowers were beautiful, relaxed, natural ivory and dusky pink garden flowers with lots of greenery. They were arranged by Deborah at Dartmoor Flowers. She did a truly amazing job at decorating the venue, she has an amazing eye for detail and everyone loved the delicate flower curtain in the marquee

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

The venue were very flexible with decorating, we could do as much or as little as we wanted as it was basically a blank canvas. We hired West Country Wedding Planner, told them the colour scheme and they set to work! We didn’t really know how difficult it would be to come up with ideas as we aren’t very creative but we met with them a few times to go over ideas on pinterest to make sure it was what we wanted. I was more than happy to let them take the lead, it took all the stress out of it and they did an amazing job!

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

We had a few crafts and makes dotted around the venue – one of our guests made a post box for the cards and gifts which was really helpful for keeping everything together. The seating plan ended up being a bit more elaborate then we planned as we used a seating plan from Sainsbury’s and ended up attaching it to a photo backdrop inside the marquee. We also bought our place card holders from home bargains in the shape of mini rose gold baubles which have since been reused by us and guests as Christmas tree decorations – it’s a lovely reminder and so great that we can reuse them

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

We went for a simple textured buttercream cake decorated with matching flowers from my bouquet designed by Sweet Satisfaction Creative Cake Design. We’d tried their cake the year before at Alex’s dad’s wedding and didn’t need to try any one else’s! Nicole has just won the South West Wedding Award’s “Wedding Cake Designer of the Year” for the third year in a row! We wanted to cater for all tastes so we opted for three different flavour tiers. 1 victoria sponge, 1 chocolate and 1 strawberry and champagne. Needless to say, everyone loved the cake and it went down a treat!

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

We took a risk by hiring a band called “Something Blue” who we’d never heard perform live but it was so worth it!!! They had lots of clips of covers which sounded amazing and that we knew people would dance to. They did a mix of covers and DJ’d a playlist we’d prepared on spotify. They had everyone dancing all night and got lots of encores, it was some of the best feedback we got about the whole day and would definitely recommend them.
We also had a white bouncy castle and it was amazing! I was so sceptical because i really thought no one would go on it but everyone went nuts for it, we’ve got some amazing pictures of Alex doing a backflip over my head!

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

Try to have fun! It can be quite stressful planning a wedding and getting bogged down with tiny details but as long as you look at the bigger picture you can look forward to spending the rest of your life with you best friend and having an amazing day

What’s the best thing about being married?

Knowing that you have someone who will stand beside you whatever life throws at you.

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Venue – https://lakeviewmanor.co.uk/
Photography – http://clarekinchinphotography.co.uk
Videography – www.sobyfilms.co.uk
Wedding Planner – https://www.westcountryweddingplanner.co.uk
Flowers – https://dartmoorflowers.co.uk
Wedding Cake – www.sweetsatisfaction.net
Wedding Dress – www.theivorysecret.co.uk
Wedding Suits –www.zebel.co.uk