Good afternoon my friends – brides, before you get stuck in to this post, have you seen our latest competition on the blog this morning? You can win a full wedding photography package you know!
This afternoon's real wedding comes to you from Cardiff based wedding photographer and our long-term sponsor, Jake Morley. Jake was the chosen photographer to shoot Ruth and Steffan's wedding, which took place on 3rd November last year, at Craig Y Nos Castle.
Ruth's chic and elegant dress was a Jesus Piero design – a purchase from the Alyson Jayne bridal boutique in Cardiff…
"I
loved the simple elegance of my Jesus Piero dress and the classic Audrey
Hepburn-esque style. I don’t do sparkles or lace – I wanted something
sharply cut and very stylish – this was only the 2nd dress I tried on
and I loved it immediately."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Jake Morley
"We wanted a non-religious humanist ceremony. I was
inspired by autumn and autumnal colours – I really wanted a different
wedding to the normal summer wedding. I fancied sparklers, log fires,
cosy, candle lit setting. The navy and orange colour scheme came out of
the colour of autumnal leaves and the burnt orange bouquet I wanted.
Our Florist was The Bee Orchid
Claire was absolutely fab, she was a fellow Brummie and so friendly
throughout the whole process. I decided to go with a burnt orange colour
palette and wanted to feature succulents really prominently as they are
something my Gran and my mum have always grown at home. The succulents
used were grown by mum."
"My veil was from an amazing lady Ashley behind With Love from Bobbin – the headpieces and veils are all handmade and she made my shoe bows
too – we met by accident at a vintage shop in Cardiff, Vintage Zizou
http://www.vintagezizou.co.uk/ who provided both of my white vintage fur
coats for the day!"
"Our venue, Craig Y Nos Castle,was
an amazing venue set in the Welsh Valleys. It was once the home of
Opera Singer Adelina Patti and has a reputation for being haunted. The
venue was beautiful, quirky, atmospheric and very 'us' we also loved the
preserved Opera Theatre where we had the ceremony."
"We met when I moved back to Cardiff after graduating
from Cardiff University for my first job. Steffan's best friend had
moved out of a shared house of four boys to go and live in Manchester
and I was the replacement.
We met after I had been living there a couple of weeks. I
instantly liked him but it took us nearly 6 months to finally get it
together! He proposed after seven years by taking me on holiday to
Kalkan in Turkey and it was the world's worst kept secret. It nearly
ended in a row though as he had disobeyed strict instructions NOT to buy
me a ring – I wanted to choose my own! We got lost looking for a
'special beach' with Steffan getting more and more anxious – in the end
he blurted it all out next to a wheelie bin! Romantic!
Seeing him all stressed and emotional and finding it difficult to
get his words out made me love him even more – even if he did fluff
it!"
"DecoPomPoms
are amazing, effective and cheap. Everything else was hand made even
down to the orange confetti painstakingly cut using butterfly and heart
paper stamps!"
"Our photographer was Jake Morley.
Jake was great and all my guests observed how he was brilliant at being
unobtrusive. We are really happy with the shots and he has captured
some beautiful memories of the day. We would definitely recommend!"
"My lovely Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of 'The
Promise' by Tracy Chapman – performed by the amazing Jess Childs. We
also all sang 'I can't help falling in Love' by Elvis again performed by
Jess – it was amazing and incredibly moving. We wrote our own vows and we were married by Steffan’s father Julian Courtenay-Pinfield who is a trained Humanist celebrant.
Our readings included 'In Paris With You', by Jonathan
Franzen, read by our mutual friend Rhys Morgan. Rhys chose this reading
for us because he felt it summed up our relationship, he is one of our
few friends that knows us both really well and has been a lifelong
friend of Steffan. We also had 'Northern Sky', by Nick Drake , read by Joe Mullineux
(my brother). This was chosen because it was a song played at the
funeral of my close friend Rosie when she passed away 5 years ago – I
wanted to make sure she was central to the ceremony and the lyrics are
beautiful."
"I had my own rings designed by a family friend Louise Ireson as I
didn't get to pick my own engagement ring! (Which I have grown to love
since!) The reason I wanted to pick my own rings was that I really
wanted them to be designed and made in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, I
grew up in Brum and it is an important place to me.
But now I have a little bit of Cardiff and a little bit of Brum
all rolled into one. I also have something Steffan, chose and something I
chose so it worked out well in the end! I designed two wedding bands
(one gold and one white gold) to fit around my engagement ring and the
designer nicknamed the ring 'the hug' in her gorgeous brummy accent that
reminds me of home!"
"I wore a bracelet of my grandmother's pearls lent to me by my aunt…"
"Laurien at the Cocorico Patisserie on Whitchurch Road in Cardiff
was our cake maker. Laurien made custom made Macarons in Rosemary and
Apricot, Lemon Praline and Passionfriut and Chocolate – they were to die
for!"
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"No matter what happens though the most important thing is to
have a fab day with family and friends, don’t spend too much money- just
enjoy being with those you love! I couldn’t help smiling all day at my
wedding – so smile, smile, smile!
You can see more weddings photographed by Jake Morley on Love My Dress here – and you might also want to explore our Jesus Peiro and Orange categories!
With much love,
Annabel
Photographer – Jake Morley
Venue – Craig Y Nos Castle
Wedding Dress – Jesus Piero, bought from Alyson Jayne in Cardiff
Veil/Headpiece – With Love from Bobbin
Brides Shoes – Orange heels by Michael Korrs and orange wellies
Grooms Suit – Custom made by A Suit That Fits
Bridesmaids Dresses – Dorothy Perkins
Flowers – The Bee Orchid
Cake – Cocorico Patisserie
Makeup Artist – Lucia from Bobbi Brown in Cardiff
Decor – DecoPomPoms
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
