I am full of festive spirit today! It’s our last blog before Christmas and we have an absolutely gorgeous, sparkly twinkly Christmassy wedding which I know you will LOVE!!! The newlyweds are Katy and Simon, married at Northamptonshire’s Fawsley Hall with images by Sky Photography. I’ve been so excited to share this wedding with you, and I’m thrilled that Katy’s written all about their stunning day including fabulous reviews for her favourite Northants wedding suppliers. As always, I’ll share favourite photos on instagram (@englishweddingblog) but for now, grab yourself a cosy cuppa and scroll slowly – this is one of the loveliest Christmas weddings I’ve ever seen!

Wedding photographer’s website

Northamptonshire wedding photographers Sky Photography (https://www.skyphotography.co.uk)

Wedding photographer review

It’s difficult to know where to begin but quite simply we were blown away with Sky Photography.

Simon was the only choice for our wedding. As soon as we saw his work we knew Sky Photography were the best people to capture our day. I knew that I didn’t want lots of posing pictures and I also wanted the wow pictures that Sky Photography specialise in.

Sky Photography were so knowledgeable and worked well with our videographer throughout the day. Simon and Carla are such lovely people putting us at ease through the day as I was worried about posing and what to do but they took all of that away. I’m still in awe at all of the pictures, I love them all.

Your best wedding moment or memory

Apart from saying our vows, the best moment was when it was just me and my husband in the horse and carriage taking everything in and having that special time together. Everything had been so busy that morning and then the rush of getting married it was  nice to take each other in.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

I would say that we’re very traditional so I don’t feel like we did anything differently. I am such a romantic and loved watching all the wedding films growing up, that I always pictured the bride going in last down the aisle in the church. I wanted to see my sister (bridesmaid) and nephews walk down the aisle and then I come down last, I loved they had their own moment in the spotlight too. On the back of the Order of Service we had a page covering ‘Our Love Story’. We felt not everyone knew our story and when it all started, so wanted to share it with everyone as it is our favourite story to tell!

Videographer name + review

Ayelle were our first choice of videographer as out of all the videographers we had looked at, it was only Ayelle’s that made me cry. They capture the emotion of the day and their videos are truly beautiful, I must have watched ours over 100 times. Adam was amazing throughout the day and worked well with our photographer.

Venue name + review

Fawsley Hall Hotel

We had a number of venues lined up to look at, one of the things I wanted was to get married in a church but I loved the convenience of a civil ceremony where everything is on the same site making it easier for guests. I wanted a church that was therefore either in the grounds of the venue or very close by. Fawsley was the first place we looked at, and as soon as we arrived me and Simon both looked at each other and instantly knew it was the venue for us.

The church is across a small field and the venue is incredible. Everywhere was breathtaking and The Great Hall where we had our reception drinks was certainly a talking point. Originally we were looking at an autumn wedding as that is my favourite time of year. However, when Olivia showed us pictures, we saw their Christmas tree and which must be about 30ft tall along with all of the beautiful decorations at Christmas we fell in love as we both love Christmas and changed the date to fit in with having the Christmas decorations there. It really did add to the day, making it so special, warm, romantic and timeless which is everything we wished for. I also loved that the wedding breakfast and entertainment was in a separate building but with the same aesthetics as the main hotel. This made it feel more exclusive for us. We had a horse drawn carriage that took us to the church and back and it really did fit in well with the venue and gave Bridgerton vibes.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Pronovias – Mingsha
I am the type of girl that has been dreaming of her wedding since I was a little girl. I loved looking at my Nanna and Grandad’s wedding photo whenever I was at their house, it was so beautiful, elegant and timeless and my Nanna’s dress would not look out of place today. That is exactly what I wanted from my dress, to look at it in 50 years time and for it to still be beautiful. The Pronovias gown is a classic lace gown with long semi-transparent sleeves (it was winter!) and a breathtaking skirt and train.

I chose a veil that was slightly longer than the train with lace edging to match the dress. To complete my classic look, I had a Ivory & Co tiara.

My shoes were the most beautiful shoes I had ever seen and really completed my look. The detail with all the beading was so beautiful and they were called ‘Cinderella’ which I thought was fitting. They were from Emmy and quite pricey but worth it to keep for years to come. I personalised the bottom of the shoes with coloured crystals. I chose my birth month to put in one shoe which was Aquamarine and as we were getting married in December I chose the December stone which was Tanzanite, I used this as my ‘something blue’.

My husband and Groom party all wore a three-piece suit from Nigel James Dresswear in Coventry. This was navy in colour with a slight check pattern through. My husband wore an ivory coloured tie and the rest of the party wore a dusky blue colour to match our colour theme. This was paired with brown brogues. My 3 nephews all wore the same suits too, however my youngest nephew was 18 months old at the time and we had to get one from Next, but it matched the others really well.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Lavelle Bridal Couture – Warwick

This was the first shop I went in and also the last. I had 2 appointments booked that day but after trying on the first dress which was ‘The One’ I cancelled my second appointment.

Becky was fantastic throughout and made me feel at ease as I was on the bigger end of bridal sizes. Becky had picked out some dresses based on my likes which I did try on but I knew it was the first one. I lived in Wales at the time and Becky was so accommodating with fitting me in for fittings. It was a lovely experience for both me and my mum and one that I will cherish forever.

Florist name + review

The Country Garden Florist

I have followed The Country Garden Florist for many years on Instagram and always knew I would have her do my wedding flowers. Her style is natural and organic that captures the flowers’ beauty in a timeless manor. We had a meeting with Donna to discuss what I wanted and apart from the colours and my bouquet I left it to her to create my vision.

I gave Donna a picture of my Nanna’s bouquet which she used to create mine as I loved the trailing greenery my Nanna had. The flowers really were incredible and she bought my vision to life in the church and the wedding breakfast room. We had an archway outside the church as well as flowers down the aisle and at the end. Donna then re used the arches to place behind the top table and the aisle flowers were stood in front of the top table. I wanted lots of candle light to create the romantic and cosy look, so Donna provided some hanging tea lights from the tall flower displays which were just beautiful.

Cake maker name + review

Cake Maker – Cakes Fabulous Cakes

I met Karen at a wedding fair and when we tasted the cakes, we both loved them and booked an appointment there and then to have a tasting session. We tried all of the flavours and couldn’t decide so had a flavour for each tier.

Karen talked to us about our vision for the wedding and helped us to decide on the cake that fitted what we wanted. We decided on a 3 tier cake with a 10” base fondant ruffles in white, an 8” white smooth buttercream with mine and Simon’s initials in a gold monogram instead of a cake topper and a 6” top white smooth buttercream with pearls. We hired the cake stand from Karen which was a hoop surrounding the cake which could be decorated with flowers from our florist.

Simon is a lifelong Coventry FC fan and as a surprise I asked Karen to create a hidden reveal on the cake with the Coventry FC badge on the back. On the day when me and Simon went to look at the cake, I turned it around to show him, and he loved the surprise!

Stationery maker’s name + review

Stationery Maker – Inki Pinki Weddings

I found Inki Pinki on Etsy and their designs were beautiful and printed on lovely card. Jenni was very accommodating and fitted in everything we wanted for our stationery on the day.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

I did not make anything unusual but I wanted to be involved as much as I could to help with cost and to also appreciate our work on the day. I asked my Dad to make me a wooden sign to signpost people to our wedding who were driving and I made the labels for this, I really enjoyed spending time with my Dad doing this, a memory I will cherish forever.

I also made the lettering for a poem and placed this on a mirror I upcycled which was displayed in the entrance way to the wedding breakfast. It read ‘True love is when both people think they are the lucky one’ and I personalised it with our names and the date.

For the seating plan, I wanted something different for the table seating plan and as I was shopping I saw a corner shelving unit that was really pretty with intricate cut out pieces and had the idea of putting them back to back and displaying the tables on every other shelf and using the spare shelves for candles, flowers and gold accessories, it all came together and looked really pretty.

I also wanted to make sure special people we had lost were a part of the day and had photographs of them displayed. I wanted to put favours on the table and we decided to make our own using shortbread biscuits, ready made icing and I bought a stamp from Etsy with our initials and the date of the wedding on. I then popped these in a bag and placed a ribbon around it to match our colour theme, this helped bring a pop of colour to the tables.

Wedding readings?

As we got married in a church we had a biblical reading which we chose ‘Song of Solomon 2.10-13; 8:6-7’ which was read by our friend. My 7 year old Nephew beautifully read ‘My Advice by Anon, he did so well and read really confidently. My sister who was my Maid of Honour chose a poem for us which was a surprise for us on the day. She read Whitney Hanson’s ‘Wedding Poem’. It is simple in its words but just so wonderfully beautiful in its sentiment.

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Everly Fair – Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now. One day I was scrolling through Instagram and heard this song that I immediately loved. We did not have a song as a couple and this was one thing we were really struggling on. We both loved this one and loved the original was from the era we were born and it was important the words meant something to us. We researched on Youtube simple wedding moves as I did not want the pressure of learning a performance but still wanted it to look good. We had a good start with some twists and dips throughout that kept the dance interesting. We did not manage to do it right once the whole time we were practicing, but on the day it was perfect!

I have always wanted to do a Father-Daughter dance and after our first dance I had a special dance with my Dad to My Girl by The Temptations

Hair + makeup name + review

Hair – The Hairbook Wedding Stylist – I met Natalie at a Wedding Fayre and loved how nice and calming she was. She spent time talking to me about what I liked and what she could do. From that day she was a dream to work with. I had one bridesmaid, my sister and we both had a trial 6 weeks before the wedding where I could bring my tiara and veil with me. My hair stayed in all day and felt comfortable as I was worried it would start to ache. Natalie went above and beyond on the day and captured some photographs in the room for me that I had the next day from her, she also helped with my dress and was just a lovely person to work with.
Makeup – Rebecca Frances Makeup – Rebecca was recommended to me by my wedding dress shop. Rebecca is very talented and fulfilled my vision perfectly. I wanted to look ‘flawless’ but still look like me as I do not wear a lot of make up in real life.