Hello everyone! Where is this week going? Will time pleeeeease slow down a little already! I hope those of you joining me in the half-term holiday challenge are enjoying precious time with family – it’s a tough one to juggle when you work for yourself, but I seem to be doing OK so far?!
This morning’s wedding was sent in by the very lovely duo Sam and Sequoia who make up Mirrorbox Photography. Amy and Steven’s wedding took place on 15th June last year at Newton Hall in Northumberland.
“We both wanted our wedding to be relaxed, informal and fun – but the styling of the venue was then up to me. One of the first purchases I made were the bridesmaid dresses, I fell in love with their peach tone, which ended up being our colour base for the day, along with a loose floral and rustic inspired theme. I also threw in a few vintage elements as I went along, it was a case of choosing things I loved and then tying it all in in some way.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Mirrorbox Photography
Amy wore the Muscari gown by Jenny Packham which she purchased from the very same shop I got my own wedding dress – the wonderful Poppy Bridal in Darlington.
“I searched for nearly a year to find the perfect dress as I wanted something a little bit different with plenty of back detail. I had visited Poppy Bridal on a few occasions as they were the only stockists of Jennny Packham in the north east. I had originally chosen the style ‘Esme’ however on the day I went to pay my deposit the Jenny Packham agent was there with her full collection.”
“It would have been rude not to try on the styles the shop didn’t stock. I tried on the Muscari and instantly knew this was the one, it was stunning, it had back detail, the fabric and cut was amazing, and most of all it was so comfortable and I knew id be able to bust a few moves on the dance floor in it.
My shoes were by Bertie and I purchased them from Fenwicks in Newcastle upon Tyne.”
“We used jam jars that we decorated with hessian, ribbon and buttons – they also looked especially pretty tied on the ends of the chairs. I bought the suitcase from a charity shop and lined it with Laura Ashley wall paper – we used this for the cards. I had rolled up hankies in a heart shaped wicker basket with a frame saying “Hankies for tears of joy”
“Our cake was made by The Master Cakesmith. I had seen a hand-painted design in a magazine which I loved. Again it was something I felt was a little different yet stunning. Dawn helped me create a unique design which tied in with the colours and themes of the wedding. We had three different flavoured tiers each tasting truly delicious. Steven and I found the cake tasting one of our favourite parts of the wedding planning process.”
“My family and I did all the flowers ourselves. My mum, Aunty, Steven and I went to the flower market a few days before the wedding. I had picked rustic jugs for the centre pieces therefore I didn’t want the flowers to look too formal or perfect but to have a proper hand-picked fee. The girls posies were just plain gypsophila tied with lace, and my posie was made up of calla lilies and roses. I just wanted something small yet pretty, and being able to go and pick my flowers made them that little bit more special.
The menus were made by my friend Nicola – we wanted our menu design to be rustic to reflect the food choice – we attached them to wooden clip boards which looked great.”
“Because our aim for the wedding was going to be relaxed and fun we wanted our wedding pictures to reflect this. After spending weeks looking through websites we stumbled across Mirrorbox Photography via Love My DRess®. We didn’t want too many posed shots but instead action shots capturing live emotion and everyone enjoying themselves. Having looked through the photos since, they achieved this perfectly.
I don’t think there are many shots where there is no one laughing or smiling. Sam and sequoia made us both feel very relaxed, especially so since Steven had a real phobia of the camera.”
“I bought the Jenny Packham Stelina bracelet to tie in with the embellishment of the dress and I’m a fan of a statement piece.”
“My hair piece was my something borrowed from friend Lisa. It was by Jenny Packham and the style was ‘Acacia 1’. I was so grateful as it went with my dress and bracelet perfectly.”
“My Dad gave me away. He wore his traditional African Agbada. I knew I wanted to be sung down the aisle acoustically but was spoilt by choice in choosing the right song. I decided to go with Moloko the time is now which is my favourite.”
“The bridesmaids dresses were bought from the high street at Warehouse. I stopped in my tracks as I saw them in the shop window, and by time I got round to buying them they had been reduced; I paid less than £200 for three dresses in the end. I bought my teenage bridesmaid dress from Miss Selfridge the colour was a perfect match. The girls chose their own shoes.”
“Our wedding favours for the women were bath bombs wrapped in vintage hankies, tied with twine with luggage tags for the place setting.The mens favours were a little more creative. Steven and his groomsan Andy decided to brew their own ale, with them being fans of the beverage. It was quite risky as they made the brew at the last minute and it was their very first time. It was touch and go a few times during the process, however the end result was brilliant.
It tasted good and it also looked good, Steven designed his own labels and we came up with our own name for the brew – STEAMY ROMANCE. Again we used luggage tags round the neck for the place settings, and it was a hit as the bottles were good ice breakers around all the tables.”
“Steven and I both agree that our favourite moment of the day was we stepped into the room where we had our wedding breakfast, and were introduced as husband and wife.”
“Steven went for an airforce blue 3 piece suit bought from Reiss. As a surprise, I bought him a Raymond Weil watch as a gift, and had our wedding date engraved on the side, this was delivered to him the morning of the wedding with a card telling him how much I loved him ahhhhhh. His shoes were from Office.”
“With half of my family being Nigerian we decided to have our first dance to my Dads favourite Nigerian artist, Fela Kuti. We followed the Nigerian traditions and wore traditional dress and were then sprayed with money during the dance! After that we went on to listen to some soul and funk followed by a few House classics at the end.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“Our day was perfect, however looking back my only regret was not having the day recorded as I know there would have been so much we missed, and I would love now to watch it again and again.
We both have very big families who travelled from across the uk and from as far as Nigeria and trying to please everyone was hard, so my advice would be, sometimes you just have to be a little ruthless. You can’t please everyone, its your day, stay true to youself and your personalities, and the main thing is to enjoy the whole experience from start to finish, as it won’t last forever. It was truly the best day of our lives.”
A big thank you to the always lovely Mirrorbox Photography and to Amy and Steven for sharing their precious memories with everyone today.
Have a lovely day everyone.
With much love Annabel
Photographer – Mirrorbox Photography
Venue – Newton Hall in Northumberland
Wedding Dress – Muscari by Jenny Packham via Poppy Bridal in Darlington
Headpiece – Jenny Packham Acacia 1
Brides Shoes – Bertie via Fenwicks
Accessories – Jenny Packham Stelina bracelet
Groom – Reiss + Office + Raymond Weil watch
Bridesmaids – Warehouse
Flowergirls – Monsoon
Cake – The Master Cakesmith
Stationery Designer – Sweetpea Paper Design
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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.
