Good morning all, I do hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend? As I write this, the window is open and the thermometer is still happily displaying 17 degrees at 5pm in the afternoon- spring finally feels like it is here! However, I don’t know about you, but less than a week ago it was snowing in Yorkshire, so I’m not yet convinced we can pack away our jumpers just yet- this is Britain after all. While we wait to see what the weather fairies will create for us this week, here is a wonderful winter wedding for you, as a reminder of all the lovely things about the colder months- orange sunlight low in the sky, cosy interiors and Christmassy décor, combined with the most beautiful Claire Pettibone dress, two gorgeous historic venues in the pretty town of Rye, and one of the happiest brides I have ever seen, all captured in perfect detail by photographer Jacqui McSweeney.
Faye, director of an educational travel company, and Mac, a sports business consultant, married on a beautifully cold and crisp day on the 13th of December 2014 in the pretty and historic town of Rye, East Sussex. The couple celebrated their union with a civil ceremony in the elegant surroundings of the town hall, followed by dinner and dancing at The Mermaid Inn, one of the oldest and prettiest inns you could ever hope to see.
Photography Copyright (c) 2015, Jacqui McSweeney Photography
“We try not to sound smug when we say that our plan was to keep everything as simple as possible. We loved the venues and the ancient town of Rye, all of them full of exceptional character and design and the venues needed minimal amounts of decorating to make special. The wedding was in winter so Christmas touches made up part of our plan – fairy lights, Christmas trees, winter blooms, candles and candle pots casting warm light.
The novel Catch-22, our trans-world/trans-Atlantic romance also featured in some of our decorations – luggage tags for name places and an old trunk decorated with pages from the book would hold the cards and gifts. It was all really wonderful and worked brilliantly.”
Faye looked absolutely stunning in the beautiful ‘Wren’ by Claire Pettibone; a fabulous mixed- lace gown with an elegant cut-out back, bought from Leonie Claire, in Brighton. ‘Wren’ is from what Claire calls her ‘Decoupage Collection’ and it’s such a perfect name for these graceful dresses, with layers built up from various delicate fabrics. I can’t stop looking at the detailing- isn’t it gorgoeus?
“I wanted something relatively simple, classic and timeless. It was important to me that I felt like myself the whole day and that I could move, dance, eat and enjoy every moment. I loved the material – the different lace throughout was just so delicate and beautiful and the back was sexy but in a subtle way. I also knew Mac would love it!”
Faye teamed her dress with a pair of lovely dancing shoes from the ever popular Rachel Simpson, which she bought second hand on eBay, and completed the look with a small hairpiece and earrings by Katherine Swaine, and family rings, as well as a rather gorgeous sequinned clutch.
“The dress was so beautiful that I wanted to keep it simple – I wore gorgeous Katherine Swaine earrings, my late Nan’s ring and my engagement ring. Katherine really makes such beautiful subtle and unique pieces.”
The couple chose London and Brighton based photographer Jacqui McSweeney to record their big day in pictures, and she really did them proud! There are some wonderful emotions and very beautiful light captured in these images, and a real depth of feeling too. The black and white shots on the cobbles outside the Mermaid Inn (a really beautiful street, should you wish to visit) are possibly my favourite; so sharp and crisp, but I love the soft evening sunlight shots as well, and of course, the grinning faces throughout.
“To our minds, what is important in separating the good photographers from the great ones are the individual character and personality that they bring to the work, and without any agenda or motivation, we can tell you that Jacqui is as warm, wonderful and fun a person as we have met in any part of our lives.”
“As with other photographers we met, we liked Jacqui’s work immediately. It was intimate, candid and authentic, and no matter the setting, the subject or the condition of the day, the images were striking and beautiful. But it was the interview that sold us. She took the time to listen to our story, actively tried to get to know us and to understand how she would shape her work to our own personalities and to what we hoped for from our most special day. It was like meeting a new friend — that is a talent, and an approach whose quality is nigh impossible to match.
We were amazingly fortunate on the day with spectacular winter weather, and blessed as we are to have wonderful friends and family, Jacqui captured the splendour of it all magnificently. We were so very lucky to have found her.”
All the floral displays, bouquets and buttonholes were the creation of Caitlin Clonan (Mac’s talented sister) who works for a florist and garden centre in the US. I love the images of her getting everything prepped on the morning of the wedding- what an enormous job!
The flowers themselves came from a Dutch wholesaler, Flowers4Florists. Unfortunately I am no expert on flowers, but I love the combination of colours and textures used in Faye’s bouquet, with the formal shapes of the pink roses set against the soft fronds of the greenery. Delicate and beautiful and a perfect foil for her dress.
Mac looked extremely dapper in a blue two-piece suit and blue tie from Woodies of Brighton, tan shoes from Jones Bootmaker and a crisp white shirt from Marks and Spencer. Here, he explains how the couple got together. It’s a lovely tale of romance spanning continents, a coincidental meeting and many air miles, which explains their choice of travel-themed decor.
“I met Faye randomly on the 15th of March 2013 in Sydney Australia at the Establishment Hotel — never has ‘love at first sight’ been such an apt description. She was visiting the city for two days after having spent the previous nine working in Melbourne. I had moved from San Francisco to Sydney in 2011, so was living there at the time. What a chance meeting!”
“I asked her to dinner the following evening and if she’d consider spending her last day in Sydney with me so I could show her the city. We had our first date in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge at Sydney’s Opera Bar, followed by dinner at a restaurant called The Morrisson. That was a wonderful night for us both and without doubt, sowed the seed for our relationship. We remained in contact for the next three months on Skype before I flew to the UK for a summer holiday (and the place unbeknownst to me I would choose to move to permanently).
We then flew back and forth from the UK to Connecticut, US {where Mac is from] for a while prior to me becoming engaged 15 months later. We were married 6 months later.”
Faye walked down the aisle arm in arm with her brother Daryl, to Ian Brown’s ‘F.E.A.R’, a song which means a lot to her and Mac and has been the soundtrack to many a happy time.
“Our vows were performed as per the registrar’s script. We had a chance to see them and make changes to the order prior to the ceremony but the vows were, as communicated to us by the registrar herself, personal to them, i.e. it was something that they found had worked very well and been well received. That said, we did make minor changes to the order of things per our sense of what was best and to allow for readings to be fitted in.”
I love how the groom recalls seeing his wife for the first time on their wedding day…
“Seeing my wife for the first time, walking down the aisle, to a song that made us both so happy so many times – it was so emotional and I was so blown away by how beautiful she was that I said “Holy s***” just loud enough to get a warm laugh from the crowd. Amazing.”
The couple chose two readings- ‘Desiderata’ by Max Ehrmann, and a reading from ‘The Irrational Season’ by Madeline L’Engle. I haven’t come across this before and liked it very much…
‘Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature. To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take… If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation… It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected.’
They also chose rings which went well together. Faye’s complemented the antique style of her engagement ring, with seven channel set diamonds in a platinum band, while Mac chose a standard men’s band, also in platinum.
“There are too many favourite moments of the day to choose just one, but chasing the sunset in Rye was pretty exceptional. Hearing the F.E.A.R song start as the Town Crier opened the doors to Rye Town Hall and then seeing Mac’s eyes well up with happiness was pretty special. I also loved the end of the evening surrounded by close friends, pint of beer in hand and dancing to our hearts content!”
The two venues were so lovely, neither really required much in the way of ‘dressing’ but jam jars of flowers and fronds of ivy and winter greenery were laid on the tables and throughout the rooms, to bring everything together, and add to the rooms’ existing magnificence.
“We really wanted to keep the decor personal and to reflect our house, which is covered in candles, lights and blooms most of the year! The decor therefore included fairy lights, winter blooms, candles and candle pots casting warm light, ivy and winter greenery.”
Catering was prepared in-house by The Mermaid Inn – I love the banqueting style set up of the tables which makes for such a lovely cosy, intimate atmosphere. Faye and Mac were very impressed by the service they received;
“The Mermaid Inn provided all four courses of our choosing at a very reasonable price, were exceptional in the level of service, and coordinated the addition of outside food (such as the cake) with ease and efficiency.”
Talking of cake, the couple chose to forgo the sweet stuff in favour of a tower of cheese- a lovely option for those who prefer savoury to sweet (or you could be very greedy like my husband and I were, and have both!)
“We opted for non-traditional as we had in many other aspects of the wedding, to have a cheese tower instead of a cake. Six types of cheese organised in their wheels in ascending height, complete with biscuits, chutneys, figs, grapes and ivy to garnish. The cheese provider was Mouse Trap Cheese, Hereford.
Faye and Mac made the decision to hire Smokestack Lightning– a three-piece swing/ rock and roll band for their evening entertainment, and judging by the photos of them and their happy guests having an amazing time on the dance floor- it was a fabulous choice!
“This swing trio, with a piano, drums and stand-up bass, kicked out amazing works of truly classic rock & roll across the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s featuring the likes of Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and others. Stellar vocals and the kind of friendly and engaging vibe you’d hope for to keep a party rolling meant we had a hard time letting them pack up and leave!”
Their first dance was to Ray Charles’ ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’ and I just love these photos- don’t they look like they are having just the most fantastic time?
For the rest of the day, the couple created a background playlist through Spotify, to create the Christmassy feel they wished for.
“We used Spotify to create tailored play lists we could stream or play offline from a phone through in-house speakers to have background music for cocktails and dinner. This solution cost us £9 and people loved the blend of crooners that were in keeping with the Christmas feeling and antique style featuring the sounds of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Nat King Cole and others.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“The day is about you and your husband-to-be and no one else. For all of the family and friends that you want to be there with you, for all the consideration you will give them, for all of your hopes that they will enjoy their time, there is no one on earth who should begrudge you putting your own pleasure, enjoyment and peace first on this day, and you must, because it will be, up to that point, the most momentous day of your life. The memory of joy and magic perfection is what you want for you and your love. No one else matters. Shut out the “outside noise” and focus on only what the two of you want – it results in the most magnificent day!
Also, talk about and listen to music early on as the right band can be very hard to find. With food, make sure you are on exactly the same page with the chef in the two weeks before the wedding breakfast. Don’t try to make it perfect… It is the little imperfections that make it your day. Everyone kept asking us if “we were finding the wedding planning stressful” – we didn’t. Not one bit! It was fun and exciting and that’s exactly how it should be. Try not to overcomplicate anything.”
Both practical and emotional advice there readers, and both well worth taking to heart.
Thank you so much to Jacqui McSweeney for these gorgeous images today, and huge congratulations to Faye and Mac. This wedding really goes to show you don’t have to spend hours on DIY and months on planning if you don’t want to (if you do, (and I know I did!) that’s fab, but everyone is different) after all, the happiness, the love and the people are the most important things at the end of the day, and this wedding has those things in spades.
I’m off to explore the rest of the current Claire Pettibone collection now- I’m so in love with Faye’s dress! For more of Claire’s stunning creations, have a look here, and do also have a peek at the other lovely weddings Jacqui has photographed for LMD– enjoy!
Love Shona x
Photographer – Jacqui McSweeney Photography
Venue – Rye Town Hall + The Mermaid Inn, Rye
Wedding dress – ‘Wren’ by Claire Pettibone via Leonie Claire, Brighton
Headpiece – Katherine Swaine
Shoes – Rachel Simpson
Accessories – Earrings by Katherine Swaine + heirloom ring
Hair Stylist – Kate at North Laine Hair Co. Brighton
Makeup artist – Eydie at Space.NK in Brighton
Groom – Suit +tie via Woodies of Brighton + Jones Bootmaker shoes + M&S shirt
Florist – Caitlin Clonan (Grooms sister) using flowers via Flowers4florists
Cake – Cheese provided by Mouse Trap Cheese, Hereford
Entertainment – Smokestack Lightning
Stationery – Created by the couple
Transport – None, but they couple were led through the town by the Rye town crier, Rex.
Shona Raffle-EdwardsView all Shona's articles
Shona is a wedding admiring bookworm with a love of the countryside, flowers and all things organisational who is currently based in sunny Yorkshire with her husband and beloved cat
