A Marriage Full of Military Style...

It's Friday! Time to embrace the bank holiday, and certainly time for two lovely newlyweds called Robyn and Jamie to be spending some much deserved special time with one another;  Jamie, or Sjt. Jamie Houston, as he is better known to his colleagues, has only recently returned Afghanistan - he and wife Robyn tied the knot on 17 July 2009 with a ceremony at St John the Baptist Parish Church at Priory Gardens, Royson in Hertfordshire, followed by a reception at Fanhams Hall Hotel in Ware {for any beady-eyed readers, no, I've not misspelt 'Sjt.' - this spelling is unique to Jamie's Rifle's Regiment}.

"Jamie tells me he had been admiring me from afar for some months before he plucked up the courage to approach me one night in a local night club.  We have been together for four years.  I could not list all the reasons why I love Jamie but he is everything I could ever want for – my knight in shining armour!  Jamie was deployed to Afghanistan with 4 Rifles in October and only just arrived home last week after a tough seven month tour.  I thought planning a wedding was stressful and I must admit I did get carried away with trivial details but going through something like that makes you realise what's really important  and it definitely helped me to put things into perspective.  I am so very proud to be able to call him my husband."

A huge thank you to Photographer Kim Hawkins for submitting this beautiful wedding to Love My Dress ~ "Kim id a fantastic job for us, after seeing her previous work displayed on her website I was convinced she was the photographer for us. Her work on our pre-wedding shoot and my boudoir shoot further built my confidence in her.   She remained professional throughout and achieved amazing results."

Love My Dress Wedding Blog ~ All Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Kim Hawkins

 

My dress was designed by Donna Salado, which I purchased from Karen Forte.

"I was looking for something slightly different and found exactly that in my dress.  It is the most beautiful dress which consists of yards upon yards of ivory silk forming a full skirt and train with diamante encrusted floral panels.  It is a backless design with a jewelled back piece and a diamante encrusted bodice.  As my dress is so detailed I decided not to wear a veil.  My shoes were from Rainbow, they were ivory silk to match my dress."

"I spent the night before at my parent’s house.  I was brimming with excitement, so much so that I was up at 5:00 am on the day of the wedding!  I managed to stay calm throughout the morning, it was only on the way to the church in the car that the nerves really kicked in.  Seeing Jamie standing at the altar waiting for me made all those nerves melt away and for the rest of the day I could not wipe the smile off my face!  I was so happy to be marrying Jamie and for everyone we loved to be there to witness it and celebrate with us." 

"I wore a stunning headband handmade by Flo & Percy. Coincidently the headband is the same design as Jamie’s former regimental coat of arms, the Maltese Cross.  I did my make-up myself and my hair was put in rollers in the morning.  Although I did my own make-up I decided to treat myself to some clinique make-up just so that I'd have a different look from every other day.  Saying this, the foundation I used was rimmel recover which is the best foundation I have ever come across, I applied it with a clinique foundation brush to achieve a flawless finish.  I also used mac paint on my eyelids to ensure my eyeshadow stayed in place all day."

"Sally from Halo Blossom designed our wedding flowers and I would recommend her services to anybody, she did a fantastic job. The flowers comprised of Hydrangeas, Old Dutch and Sweet Avalanche roses, Gypsophilia, and plenty of rich green foliage. They were beautiful shades of white to cream, with hints of champagnes, pinks and mauves coming through, romantic and vintage in appearance.  My bouquet was bound in antique lace and pinned with pearl-headed pins.  The sconces in the great hall were decorated with Ivy and we had two striking floral displays on the windowsill’s as well as a stunning top table spray and garlands."

"We travelled in style in a 1935 Hillman 16 Saloon; it’s a rare vintage with only a handful remaining. It has appeared in several films including episodes of Poirôt.  It certainly added a touch of decadence to the occasion."

"The military theme was the order of the day and it made sense to follow on with the corresponding colour scheme of winter green.  We wanted the day to have a glamorous and traditional feel to it.   I had three bridesmaids, all friends of mine.  The girls all bought their own shoes, I didn’t wan't them to look identical!  They wore full length, midnight green silk dresses designed by Amanda Wakeley in keeping with the military colour scheme. They also decided how they had their hair done - that way they still had an individual look about them."

"Jamie wore his Serjeants (sic.) dress uniform with full regalia.  Countless people remarked at how dashing Jamie looked.  It was the first time I had seen him in this particular uniform and he certainly did look very handsome, I was so proud to become his wife that day."

 

   

 

"I think I can speak for both of us when I say that our favourite moment was during the wedding breakfast.  We both took this time to soak up the atmosphere and bask in everything that was going on around us, admiring the stunning Great Hall, watching our guests smiling and laughing, listening to the delicate sound of the harp playing, enjoying the radiance of the candelabras and indulging in the delicious food, and us, being husband and wife.  It was such a pleasure to have all our loved ones there with us, and to see them enjoying themselves.  Our guests were the most important aspect of the wedding."

 

"We decided to have individual cup cakes, they were decorated in pastel green and pink icing and topped with rose buds."

"Jamie and I couldn’t agree on a first dance song for a long time, we both wanted very different songs so we sat down together about three days before the wedding and spent some time trying to decide on a song before we settled on We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters, we both agreed it’s a beautiful song and we felt the lyrics were very fitting."

 

What a lovely set of photographs to start the day with :)  Thanks so much Robyn for sharing your wedding-day with us, and thanks again to Photographer Kim Hawkins for allowing us to reproduce your lovely photography on our little Wedding Blog.

Happy Friday love to one and all :)

♥

Comments

[Kirstie Taylor]

You can really see how much in love these 2 are! Best of luck to them both from all at Flo & Percy

[Carly]

I couldn't agree more! Just lovely and made me feel quite emotional reading how they had been separated as the Groom had been in Afghanistan. How stunning does the Bride look!!!!!!!!! Lovely wedding xxxx

[Caroline]

Oh what a beautiful dress!!!! Gorgeous photos X

[Whimsical Wonderland Weddings]

Beautiful - I know those venues also as i live locally :) xxx

[David McNeil]

The whole wedding set looks great and Robyn was a truly beautiful bride. Kim has done a fantastic job with this lovely wedding.

[Lisa Devlin]

Stunning photography, they could be stills from some fabulous movie.

[Looby Lou]

Beautiful wedding - and I love how a cross theme is subtly evident throughout - even the back of the Bride's dress, which is stunning.

[Penny]

I love that she wore her hair out, not many brides do. It looks so natural and gorgeous. Good choice!

[Luigi]

This wedding reminds me of romantic movies. So nice. I like the photos. It made evrything more beautiful. :) Congratulations to the couple.

[Deantietalome]

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