Hey lovely! How was your weekend? We’ve been loving the sunshine and laying a new floor while it rained… I guess we’re part of the army of DIYers since lockdown! Anyway – I wanted to begin Monday with a joyful, floral filled, summer wedding. Ruth and Richard’s day is just glorious, and Ruth is so incredibly beautiful. Theirs is a military wedding, classic and elegantly styled with greens, creams and a dash of pale blue (and don’t the bridesmaids look amazing?) Images are by Nisha Haq Photography – I’ll leave you with Ruth and Richard to tell you about their day!

With love,

Wedding photographer’s website

https://nishahaqphotography.com

How did you choose your photographer?

We saw an advert in a bridal magazine. When we saw Nisha’s website, we knew she was the one!

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

Nisha was great! She was so friendly and bubbly. Richard didn’t actually meet her until the day but she put us both at ease and we are thrilled with the final results. I have already recommended Nisha to a friend who has booked her for next year.

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

We had a friend of a friend create our wedding video. She is trying to get into the videography scene so we asked her if she could capture something of our wedding day.

I have to say, videography is up there with photography in terms of importance for me. The video gave us the chance to relive some of those special moments.

We are thrilled with the result!

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

Our wedding ceremony took place at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. It is the most incredible building and in order to get married there, you need a qualifying connection. I was lucky enough to be at boarding school in Sherborne so was able to get married in the Abbey.

Our reception venue was Haselbury Mill in Crewkerne. We were looking for a barn type venue and this had everything we wanted including guest rooms and on site catering. Nothing was too much trouble for Minnie and the Haselbury Mill team and I would highly reccomend them.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

I absolutely loved my dress. I was incredibly nervous and barely slept the night before. Once I stepped into my dress, the nerves subsided a little.

As we had a military wedding, it was easy for the groomsmen. Most were in uniform and therefore we only had to sort a few suits. Richard took charge of this!

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

Our florist was Sara at DaisyLee. She was absolutely amazing and really captured what we were after. I wanted it to look as though there were trees on the table. Everything was very rustic with just greens, creams and some blue to match the bridesmaids dresses. We had 16 tables at our wedding and Sara, with the help of a friend, managed to put it all together in just a few hours. We had lots of comments on how beautiful the flowers were.

I would reccomend a throwing bouquet too. I wanted to place my bouquet on my grandparents grave so wanted to have an alternative to throw. I think it’s a great idea!

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

Our cake was made by A Taste of Difference – Ash’s cakes. Ashleigh is friend of ours and we were thrilled she was able to make our cake for us. Our top layer was fruit (which we have kept), the next layer was chocolate and guinness, then we had lemon and elderflower and finally red velvet. It had blue icing to match the bridesmaids and had lace detail. It was absolutely amazing.

https://www.facebook.com/A-taste-of-difference-Ashs-cakes-100328598228083/

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

My grandfather sadly died when I was 13. I was very close to him and wanted him to be a part of my day. My grandfather was a keen gardener and especially loved Fuchsias. On the wedding day I had a fuchsia inside my bouquet as a tribute.

Also, on the morning of the wedding one of the bridesmaids handed me a letter from Richard. He explained in the letter that he knew how special my grandfather was to me, and that, though he had never met him, he wanted to honour him on our wedding day too. Richard had asked my father to borrow my grandfather’s army cufflinks and Richard wore them all day. This was incredibly thoughtful and meant I started the day with a lot of happy tears!

I was working at at an all girls prep school in Dorset at the time and asked the choir if they would sing at the wedding. I myself had been a pupil at the school and had been a member of the choir. It was really special to have the Knighton House School choir sing so beautifully and made many of us cry. I picked my favourite songs and the girls (aged 10-13) took it all in their stride. They were amazing.

We decided to make our wedding favours. I would say, as nice as they looked, it was a real time consumer. We made little candles for people to take away. This caused a lot of stress and if I were to do it again I would most definitely buy them already made. We did have comments saying how nice it was but still…

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

We didn’t personalise our vows but we did have some beautiful readings.

Union by Robert Fulghum which I know is popular but still made me cry on the day. We then had two Bible readings. One from the book of Ruth and the other from Song of Solomon.

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

Accidently in love by counting crows. We love the song. The band did an acoustic version and it was perfect.

Favourite wedding suppliers

https://nishahaqphotography.com
Sherborne Abbey
Haselbury Mill
Hannah’s Hairlines
Natasha Coles Make Up
Live, laugh, create Stationery
Wedding Time Dorchester – Day Dress
The Dressing Room Garstang, Lancashire – evening dress
Magic by Alfie – magician
The Royal T’s – band
A Taste of Difference – Ash’s Cakes
Blackdown Photobooths
Hireaclassiccar – Car Hire