Lucy and Tim tied the knot on 6 July last year at Blickling Hall in Norfolk. This is such a lovely, English country wedding, with lots of charming little touches. Lucy’s fondness for antiques was evident in this pretty afternoon vintage tea party style wedding. And I adore those sweet little white gloves.
“We chose to have an afternoon tea style reception as we felt this really fitted with the garden venue and the games we had organised. Our families have been kindly helping us to source tea cups, saucers and tea plates from all sides of the country!
Nothing matched and we even made sure that every table had a mixture of designs. To me it reminded me of how a village wedding party may have been 100 years ago. Sipping tea from a bone china cup and munching a cream scone from an un matching plate- perfect!”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Katherine Ashdown
“Probably our favourite part of the day was sitting at the top table and watching all of our dearest friends and family chatting and having a fabulous time. Everyone looked so relaxed which is exactly what we hoped for. Also, the moment when Tim and I exited the Orangery after saying I do – it was such a lovely perfect moment.”
“In a way it’s very strange that Tim and I met as we did – we met for the first time at the pre-wedding meal of one of my dearest friends weddings. Unbeknown to me, Tim was her husband to be’s best friend and best man. In fact it appeared to be only myself who had never met him before. We got chatting after dinner and clicked straight way. Tim was so relaxed and friendly and I remember feeling really pleased that he chose to sit next to me.
Our friends’ wedding was beautiful and although Tim was busy with duties he managed to offer to buy me a couple of drinks. After the wedding I very bravely contacted him on facebook and I’m happy to say it went from there. Not many people get to say that they met at their best friends’ wedding!”
“Tim proposed on Christmas day evening 2011. He informed me that there was an extra present for me under the tree and as I turned to look he knelt down and produced the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I burst into tears as it was such a surprise…the ring was a 1930’s dark sapphire encased in diamonds (once belonging to Tim’s great aunt Bessy). This made it all the more special to me as Tim must have known how much I’d love it.
Tim’s dear mum had given him the ring earlier in the year as she knew how perfect it would be. Our families were over the moon and we felt so truly happy. We set a date for 6.7.13(giving us a year and a half). This is also my sister’s birthday.”
"Despite living in Cambridgeshire, both Tim and I love Norfolk and had some of our first dates on Norfolks beautiful coastlines, so when it came to choosing a location we knew it would be Norfolk. I had many childhood holidays in Norfolk and remember feeling so lucky when finding out that Tim loved Norfolk too.
We chose Blickling Hall as we wanted to get married somewhere where you can 'feel the history and the memories’- it was perfect. We looked at quite a few venues and Blickling was the last to view. I think we knew it was right straight away. We love the understated grandeur of the grounds and chose to have our ceremony in the old Orangery building complete with lemon and orange trees, and to have a traditional marquee in the gardens for the reception. What is especially nice is that we will always be able to visit our wedding venue anytime we wish too.”
“My dress is by designer Coco Couture and is called ‘Candice’ and I purchased it from Mia Sposa Cambridge. I chose to amend some of the details on the dress – changing sequins and diamante’s to pearls on the bodice and belt detail.
I hoped to have a heavy lace gown for our wedding. I loved the idea of wearing lace and knew this dress was right when I found it. It has a sweetheart neckline with an ivory lace and beaded bodice, and heavy, wide skirt. It felt like a vintage gown and I loved it. I hadn’t seen anything else like it (after trying on nearly 100 dresses)."
I arranged for a local seamstress to add the halter neck (made from the same fabric) and she also removed the train from the dress as I loved the way it looked when it was the same length all the way round. We used some of the ivory lace from the train to make beautiful cap sleeves for the bridesmaid dresses which looked lovely.”
“We hired Kings The Florist to create the bouquets (classic vintage style roses and closed peonies), and country style blue and green cottage garden arrangements for the orangery. My mum and aunt did the table arrangements and dried flowers for the orangery. They were beautiful – delphiniums, cornflowers and blue hydrangea.”
“I discovered my hair stylist, Flamingo Amy on our photographer Katherine Ashdown's brides group on facebook. Amy specialises in classic and vintage hair and I loved her styling as soon as I saw her work. Amy created the most amazing vintage hair style for me, it was perfect for the dress and style of the day and it stayed in all day! Amy herself really put me at ease during the run up to the wedding and was so calm and friendly on the day. She is a true expert and offered careful advice about styles. My style was created by curling then pinning the curls to create hold, with a gentle curled wave at the front with the comb on the other side. My adult bridesmaids had vintage side buns with slight beehives. They looked perfect.
My hair comb was by Melissa Morgan Designs. Melissa lives in Kings Lynn and produces amazing jewellery and wedding accessories with a vintage feel. She agreed to make me a comb using the brooch and some old pearls that I had found. When the comb arrived it was so beautiful, totally perfect for the dress and how I hoped to have my hair."
“My bridesmaids wore pale blue dresses from Monsoon . They were knee length with a crossover detail. I was so pleased with them.
My two adult bridesmaids (sister and cousin) and myself wore matching pearl and diamante drop earrings and pearl necklaces made again by the amazing Melissa Morgan using old pearls that I’d sourced at an antique fair."
“Our photographer was the amazing Katherine Ashdown who is based in Norfolk. We met Katherine briefly at the East Anglian Daily Press wedding fayre in 2012 and knew that we’d love for her to capture our wedding. Her photos are so beautiful with such amazing light. Katherine and Clare her assistant were wonderful on the day. They were warm and friendly and completely calm despite the soaring temperatures.
We love our photographs so much and will be able to treasure every little memory.
“My amazing Dad gave me away to the sound of an instrumental version of Take That’s ‘Greatest day’ – we danced back up the aisle to Paulo Nutini’s ‘Pencil Full of Lead’."
We had two readings, 'A Good Wedding Cake', chosen because my previous job was heavily orientated around food (and read by my dear friend and colleague), and 'I Belong In Your Arms', by Deborah Bridea – chosen because this is exactly how Tim makes me feel (also read by a dear friend);
'Finally, I have found a place
Into which I fit Perfectly, Safely
And securely with no doubts,
No fears, No sadness, No tears.
This place is filled with happiness and laughter
Yet it is spacious enough, to allow me
The freedom to move around,
To live my life and be myself.
This wonderful place, which I never believed really existed,
I have found Finally
Inside your arms, Inside your heart, inside your love.'"
“We hired The Voxettes – a trio of vintage singers to sing just after the afternoon tea. They are amazing and wore lovely 1950’s style dresses.”
“Tim’s dear mum made our cake and created beautiful flowers and decorations. It was lemon and buttercream and utterly delicious.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“I would have made more time to step back and take in different points of the day. It all goes far too quickly.
Such a classy and elegant wedding and I absolutely love those golden hour shots too. Huge thanks to photographer Katherine Ashdown for sharing her work today and Lucy and Tim, I hope you have the most lovely 1st year wedding anniversary in July and that your first year of marriage is a memorable one.
With love all – we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.
Love Annabel
Photographer – Katherine Ashdown
Venue – Blickling Hall in Norfolk
Brides Dress – Candice by Coco Couture, via Mia Sposa Cambridge
Veil/Headpiece – Melissa Morgan Designs
Brides Shoes – Dune peep toe golden shoes
Bride's accessories –
Grooms Suit – Gerald Boughton + the brides granddads pocket watch
Bridesmaids – Monsoon + Clarks Shoes
Flowergirl + Pageboy – Monsoon + BHS
Florist – Kings The Florist
Cake – Family
Entertainment – Entertainment – DJ via Your Party Music + The Voxettes
Rings – H Samuel
Hair Stylist – Flamingo Amy
Make-up – The brides sister, using Benefit
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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.
