In our last feature of today, our lovely sponsor Julia of Julia & You shares these photographs of Kate and Marcus, who tied the knot on 12th April 2013 at Spains Hall in Finchingfield, Essex.
This is a sweet wedding peppered with pretty pink, pastel and floral detail and I love how Kate shows that short hair can be styled in such a pretty way using fresh flowers. Enjoy my lovelies…
"Marcus and I met at University in Nottingham - we were very
young when we got together (only 23). Four years later Marcus surprised
me with a trip to Venice for my 27th birthday and he proposed while we
were away. It was absolutely wonderful – and I practically bit his arm
off! We knew we wanted to get married in Spring,
as we love that time of year.
We didn’t have a theme – just lots of
pretty colours, nothing too bold as we wanted our lovely friends and
family to take centre stage. We had a Church wedding as I am religious.
I really didn’t want the day to look too stylised, so we let the
bridesmaids choose their own dresses and didn’t have a set colour
scheme."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Julia & You
Ooooh, those pretty bow shoes above? Kate actually won them from Upper Street via this competition on Love My Dress back in 2011! If you're not familiar with Upper Street, it's an online service that allows you to design your own shoes. From scratch. Genius really!
"My nan spent hours unfurling paper pompoms the afternoon before the
wedding, while my sister, my mum and I hung white cotton and lace
bunting all around the wedding breakfast room."
"Marcus’ incredible sister Christina is a clothing designer
and at the time was working at Antonia Pugh Thomas in Fulham, and she
designed and made my dress. It was the most beautiful dress I had ever,
ever seen. I wanted something classic – I chose really beautiful
fabrics (raw silk and French lace) and let them speak for themselves.
Christina made my veil, too. It was probably my favourite part of my outfit. It was long and dramatic and I also had a blusher.
I just wore fresh flowers in my hair – I wanted to keep it all simple."
"We went with blossom as our main flower, and added to these with
roses, tulips, and peonies. The men wore one single large pink rose,
which I thought looked fantastic.
My bridesmaids wore wrist corsages,
which meant they couldn’t be mistaken for regular guests in their mix
and match dresses – as they had their corsages on all day and didn’t put
them down like they might have done with a bouquet. I loved the
flowers in the Church, they were so beautiful – and my bouquet was
gorgeous too!
Our florists were Jade's Flowers."
"I made all of the save the dates, menus, orders of service
(complete with a little timetable of the day and who’s who of all of the
key people on the day and their roles) and I also made the table plan
which was written on a big mirror in a white frame which I picked up in
The Range last year.
I also made the table numbers, which I hung from
lace on piles of old books – I am a complete bookworm so it seemed
fitting! I am not sure if this is stationery as such, but I made little
drinks flags using grey ribbon and coffee stirrers and also bought some
paper stripy straws to use during the drinks reception."
"Our photographer was Julia of Julia And You.
Julia was beyond fantastic – she pretty much ran the day as well as
taking incredible photographs! She was such a support to me on the day
as I was giddy with excitement and up and down with emotions, and Julia
and Hannah (her assistant) were so calm and lovely and they gently
guided us through all of our requested shots. I honestly can’t thank her
enough."
"We spent ages planning our ceremony – this was the most important
part of the day for us. We got married in a Church and so we said the
vows associated with the marriage sacrament, and we asked one of Marcus’
best men, Andy, to play his guitar as the guests entered the Church.
During the signing of the register, my cousin Emily sang a rendition of
The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love” and Andy accompanied her on the guitar.
It was absolutely perfect – and very fitting, as we got married on a
Friday!
It was really important to us to have
meaningful readings and we went for Romans 12:1-2; 12:9-18, which was
read by my Auntie. Also, we had to choose a reading from the bible and
we wanted something that was about relationships between human beings in
general, not just marriage. This piece from Romans focused on peace and
forgiveness. The second reading is my favourite poem – I first read it
at University and it is tied up in so many memories for me; when I met
Marcus, I framed it and gave it to him as a present, meeting him helped
me to understand it in a new way. Marcus’ mum read this poem and she
looked over at us as she read it during the service; it was such a
special moment. She read it absolutely beautifully;
'I
appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern
what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Let
love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love
one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing
honour. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the
Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be haughty, but give yourselves to humble tasks. Never
be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought
to do what is honourable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it
depends on you, live peaceably with all.'"
"We also had LVII by E.E. Cummings, read by Marcus' Mum;
'Somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equal
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever in each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.'"
"My lovely mum made little pots of homemade jam. They took ages to
make up – all of the jars had to be topped with fabric and labelled –
but they doubled up as place names and they looked really lovely on the
day.
I spent hours painstakingly sticking a lace edging on luggage tags
– we stamped one side with “Beverley’s homemade jam” and wrote the
guest’s name on the other."
"We went for cupcakes and a top tier. The cupcakes were lemon and
chocolate and the top tier was red velvet – all supplied by the Pretty Gorgeous Cake Company."
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"We
were so lucky to have lots support and help from both of our families –
we can’t thank them enough. We had an absolute blast planning the day
and making bits and pieces here and there. You only get to do it once,
though, and I know it’s easy to scrimp on photography/videography as
when you are trying to create a ‘look’ for your day, of course they
don’t really feature. But the images and film really are lasting
reminders, and I would really encourage all other couples to spend what
they can on making sure they get the best they can (granted, not always
the most expensive) as the photographs are a real source of joy
afterwards.
The night before the wedding my mum hosted a tea party for me and
my bridesmaids and nan in a little tea room in Finchingfield, and then
we all went back to a cottage we had hired on the grounds of Spains Hall . We spent the evening laughing, watching “Bridesmaids” and laying
around in our pyjamas and it was brilliant!
I loved the
actual wedding ceremony – walking into Church and seeing Marcus was the
best bit! My dad was so lovely and completely calmed me down – he has a
great voice, my dad, it is really deep and soft, and I just remember
finding it really soothing when I heard him come into the room we were
getting ready in in the morning in the cottage."
"The speeches were
fantastic. My dad’s was just so genuine and heartfelt – he was so
confident and really made everyone laugh, I was so proud of him. Marcus’
best men were both hilarious and had obviously been so carefully
prepared – I know Marcus was truly touched by the effort his friends had
gone to, and that was lovely to see. Marcus’ speech was absolutely
beautiful and I will remember it all my life; I couldn’t believe my luck
that he was actually stood up talking about me.
One of
the best things about the whole wedding process was that I got to spend
lots of time with my lovely mum, nan and sister and Marcus mum and
sister too. One of my favourite memories is all of us going into town
for my dress fitting and then going off for a huge burger and chips and
sitting in the sun eating it and chatting all afternoon. It was lovely.
The whole process made me realise how lucky we are to have such
beautiful family and friends – they are all (every single one of them)
AWESOME!
The other thing to say is – make sure you
get some cake!! I do wish I’d popped a couple of cupcakes in the
kitchen for us to have later as apparently the cake was amazing and I
didn’t eat a crumb!"
"I loved
watching the guests go crazy for the photobooth – this was another one
of Marcus’ choices and I really was a bit dubious but it was an absolute
hit and everyone loved it!
Our first dance was “The Look of Love” by Dusty Springfield. Marcus
chose this – he was in charge of the music! We wanted something soulful
and that we actually wanted to dance to."
"Definitely
get planning early so that you give yourself enough time to make sure
all of your plans and ideas can come to fruition. I had a scrap book of
ideas and my mum and nan helped me to make the day look exactly as we
imagined it would – but this takes a long time and lots of lost weekends
sat in piles of fabric scraps and balls of string! Also, have a ‘flip
flop’ box – our guests loved it! I picked up pairs for a pound at the
end of last summer. And one more thing!
Try to think of each part of
your day as an ‘event’ in itself, it helps make the planning easier and
makes sure you really enjoy every second.
My nan and my mum treated us to a harpist
to play during our drinks reception which was wonderful. It was
drizzling as everyone arrived at the Elizabethan Hall at the venue, and
they arrived to drinks, canapés and some beautiful music – we wanted our
guests to feel looked after, and I think this really helped to do
that."
A pretty lovely way to end the afternoon, we hope you'll agree. We recommend any of our readers in the Essex area looking for a wedding photographer contact Julia of Julia & You. We know her, and love her – clearly Kate and Marcus were pretty impressed too.
Is anyone else having a dress especially made by a family member or friend for their wedding day?
Thank you so much Kate, Marcus and Julia for sharing this beautiful wedding day with us all.
With much love all,
Annabel
Photographer – Julia & You
Venue – Spains Hall in Finchingfield, Essex
Wedding Dress + Veil – Bespoke made by a family member
Brides Shoes – Upper Street (won in a competition on Love My Dress in 2011!)
Bride's accessories – Flowers in her hair
Grooms Suit – Jack Bunneys + Barker Shoes
Bridesmaids – Coast and Emporio Armani
Flowergirl Dresses – John Lewis
Flowers – Jade's Flowers
Cake – Pretty Gorgeous Cake Company
Catering Company – Lime Berry Catering
Entertainment – Brian Mole
Hair/Makeup – Dawn Taylor
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.
