I’ve been singing ‘Bring me Sunshine’ as I write today’s blog because beautiful bride Laura walked in to her Grandad’s favourite song (and it’s totally stuck in my head now!) This is a gorgeous day with lovely personal touches, full of love and stunning florals. I adore the cat cake topper, and the images are absolutely stunning. They’re by Cambridgeshire wedding photographers Sky Photography.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.skyphotography.co.uk

Wedding photographer review

Karla and Simon were amazing! They listened to us and they worked their magic. The photos were one of our top priorities as we had read everywhere that the photos will be around for years filled with memories. The night of our wedding at 1am, I saw a notification pop up on my phone, and they’d sent us a snap shot of our wedding photos – we couldn’t believe it! They’d captured the day beautifully!

Your best wedding moment or memory

Laura walked down the aisle to a special song – ‘Bring me Sunshine’ – it was her grandad’s favourite song. As she walked down the aisle in the Gold room, the sun flooded in through the windows.

We also enjoyed having a surprise singing waiter – Laura booked it and kept it a secret! When the waiter fell over, the whole room was shocked, but soon everyone was up dancing and the atmosphere was lifted even more. The band arrived as we were doing the conga around the venue – they said they didn’t know whether to join in or not!

The absolute best thing about the whole day was having every person that we love all together in one room – it was so special. My Dad’s speech was so good – he is a joker and brought a bag of prompts. We were all laughing at his punch lines.

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

Our place settings were Polaroid pictures of us with that person – for example my Grandad had a picture of me when I was younger sitting on his lap. I then paper clipped it to an envelope with a heart paper clip and inside I had written a quote or a message to each guest as I wanted them to feel special. I also gave the children a book and inside wrote ‘love Mr and Mrs Read’.

Dom’s Dad handmade our postbox which is really special and we have kept it as a memory box. I made room labels and gift bags for the people who were staying at the venue over night – inside the bags were sweets, water and things for the next day like an eye mask.

Our cats were our cake toppers – a family friend made them! I bought photos that you can iron onto ties – so I made one for my dad, my grandad, Dom’s dad and Dom and it just added something a bit special.

We had an amazing singer called Cara Beard who sang as we walked down the aisle and sang as we had our drinks reception. She learnt new songs like ‘being me sunshine’ foe as we walked down the aisle and ‘big news’ from the film summer holiday with Cliff Richard.

The whole day was filled with personal touches and I thought through every part of it really carefully. I had 8 bridesmaids because they are all my closest friends and we wanted them to be part of our special day. We also had our close friends be our witnesses.

Videographer name + review

Twisty Focus Videography – He was great! He’d travelled about 5 hours to arrive for our wedding. He did a great job and we love our video as it shows all of the candid moments in the day.

Venue name + review

Holmewood Hall near Peterborough. Our wedding coordinator was called Lee Digger and he went over and above. He helped set up the venue.

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

My dress was from Lily Francis Bridal. It was altered by the Bridal Pixie. Originally I thought I wanted a really different dress, but when I tried on my dress, I knew it was instantly the one for me. I wore my veil longer than I had planned to and had glittery shoes.

Dom got his tweed suit for hire form Vow Bridal in Wansford. They provided everything – even shoes.

My jewellery was bought from vinted. My veil was from Lily Francis Bridal – I bought it separately to the dress as Lily Francis Bridal was having an accessories night.

Florist name + review

Feather and Ferns – When we were looking for a florist, we found it really hard to find someone who understand what we wanted. Our vision was to have the blues like you see in the ocean with the contrast of the bright pink flowers that you usually see at the coast. Becky understood our vision straight away! I was so excited to see the flowers when they arrived. I love flowers! We had so many! We reused the bridesmaid bouquets as table centre pieces which worked well. We also had two urns of flowers for the ceremony and they were moved to be near the cake for the reception. On my bouquet, I had two charms with my late grandad and late aunt’s handwriting on. I loved having this on my bouquet as when I walked down the aisle it meant they were with me.

Cake maker name + review

Baked Peterborough – The cake was very delicious. We had three tiers. We opting to take the top tier home and it is in the freezer – I read that it is good luck to have some on your wedding anniversary! The cake was decorated with cat figures made by a family friend and flowers from our florist.

Stationery maker’s name + review

Laura! – I made all of the stationery myself. I learnt how to make things on Canva and I got things printed on Vistaprint. I loved the process of designing everything and making it. I used the same font throughout for continuity and followed the same colour scheme.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

I made all of the signage and the stationery. Dom’s Dad made the post box. I made all of the place settings.

Wedding readings?

My best friend Mel read the opening monologue from Love Actually. My sister did a reading of lots of sayings like people say everyday that show love. My brother wrote his own personal reading and it was a poem. It was a fantastic personal touch. My best friend Galia then led a blessing once the registrars had left, this was really special as it added a faith element to our ceremony and allowed her and our family and friends to pray over us and bless our marriage.

Hair + makeup name + review

My make up was done my Luxe Beauty – I had 8 bridesmaids and they did all of their make up, plus my mum’s make up before we even lived across to the main house. They were so punctual and they did na amazing job. One of the make up artists even set up the bridesmaids dresses on the end of the four post bed for photos. They went above and beyond. The same can be said for Coral (bridal by Coral) as she did my hair, my mum’s and my sister’s hair.