An Elegant and Romantic Spring Wedding at Pembroke Lodge

I think we all need a dose of fresh bright sunlight at this time of year, so today’s offering is just perfect to help see off a course of the winter blues.  Plus, its pretty, full of sparkles and smiles and features a beautiful gown from the wonderfully named Fur Coat No Knickers.  Meet Kate and Jamie, who married on Friday 29th April 2016 at Pembroke Lodge, Surrey, which they chose for many reasons, not least, the excellent staff and stunning view across Richmond Park.

“We didn’t have any particular style in mind for our day, although we wanted it to be modern, simple and sophisticated. I am English and Jamie is a Kiwi and, when discussing the invitations, we came up with the idea of a incorporating a rose and fern design to represent our nationalities. We asked my brother to sketch something and we loved it so much that it became a bit of a theme.”

Photography by Funky Photographers

“Jamie is a real romantic and a great planner. He proposed while on holiday in France on August 15th 2014, the 1000th day since our first date. We were having dinner at the Moulin de l’Abbaye hotel by the river in the small French town of Brantôme and after dessert, the waiter arrived with a ‘gift’ for me on a tray.  No sooner as I had opened it, Jamie was down on one knee at my feet and presented me with a stunning diamond and white gold ring.

It was engraved on the inside with the roman numeral for 1000 (to commemorate the date), a Maori symbol for love (he’s from New Zealand) and a little silver fern (the NZ emblem and his nickname for me).  It also had a small amber stone (my birthstone) embedded in the base.  He’d planned the proposal down to the final minute – one of the waitresses was even filming it on Jamie’s phone from behind a tree!”

Kate wore a beautiful sparkly gown from Fur Coat No Knickers which she had shortened to better suit her own style and allow her to display those fabulous glittery Jimmy Choos. Sadly, the Fur Coat No Knickers team announced their closure in October 2016 – something we’re immensely sad about.

“I found FCNK online and couldn’t wait to go along as all their dresses looked amazing.  I tried on three or four in a style that I thought would suit me, but was disappointed to find they didn’t (I now know of course that this is quite usual) then I spotted the ‘French 75’ and completely fell in love with it.  The lace had delicate silver threads weaved through it and I LOVE silver.  I tried it on and it was perfect.”

The girls at FCNK were amazing – nothing was too much trouble.  I asked them to shorten the dress as I’d always felt that I didn’t want full length, plus I’d seen the most amazing pair of shoes that I wanted to show off.  I felt that I needed something to cinch me in at the waist and a sparkly belt was the answer and along with the headband (both purchased from FCNK), they were the perfect finishing touches.”

Flowers were by Steph Turner of FairyNuff Flowers and aren’t they gorgeous?  They make me want to scoop them up and have vases of them everywhere- so very pretty and romantic.

“Steph was recommended by our photographer and I had seen photos of her amazing work on Twitter. We met up beforehand and warmed to her immediately.”

“She made me a hand-tied bouquet of pale pinks and whites: sweet avalanche roses, ranunculas, peonies, black centred anemones, eucalyptus and ferns.  It was stunning!  I’d only seen ranunculas in yellows and oranges before – the pink ones are my new favourite flowers.”

“My hairdresser of 15 years, Sergio, did my hair.  I didn’t want anything too structured and I knew he’d do it in a style that suited me.  My friend’s sister, Lauren Dunn, did my make-up.”

“I was worried as I don’t generally wear very much make-up but she made it look very natural. All I could think was how lovely it would be to have your own personal hair and make up people on hand every morning.  No wonder celebrities and film stars looks so good- I felt like a princess!”

Kate’s beautiful drop earrings were from Phase Eight, while for scent, Kate chose Coco by Chanel, her long standing go-to perfume.

Kate arrived at the ceremony in a beautiful Bentley and, as her dad sadly passed away in November 2015, she was accompanied down the aisle by her brother, Matt.  To keep her dad walking with her in spirit, Kate attached a photo of him to her bouquet, which I think is just lovely.

Jamie looked extremely smart in a navy blue three piece suit by Ermenegildo Zegna from Savoy Taylors Guild, paired with a Ted Baker tie, shoes from Church and a hand made shirt.

“I bought Jamie’s cufflinks from Sally Clay on Not on the High Street.  She engraved them with our rose/fern design and they came out really beautifully.”

Kate and Jamie opted for the vows suggested by the registrar, keeping the ceremony short and simple and their friend Charissa read ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton, a personal favourite of mine.

The couple exchanged rings from Theo Fennell.

Capturing those special memories on camera was Hannah McGregor of Funky Photographers.

“Hannah was great. We met up a few weeks beforehand for an engagement shoot and she made us feel so relaxed.  The photos were so amazing; we knew we wouldn’t have to worry on the day, and so it was.  She was “nowhere and everywhere”; we hardly noticed her but she captured every moment from every angle, incredible really.”

“We used the design on the invitations, table plan, table names and place cards.  I had it engraved onto cufflinks for Jamie to wear on the day and we even had it iced on the cake, and of course, we included roses and ferns in the flowers and buttonholes.  We also named our tables after English roses and New Zealand ferns.”

“At the venue, our florist Steph of FairyNuff Flowers tied small bunches of gypsophila to alternate chairs along the aisle and filled two large glass vases on plinths and on the tables she grouped small silver/mercury glass vases filled with a mix of flowers to match my bouquet.”

“We collected all the flowers the next morning and spent two hours arranging them into every receptacle we could find at home.  They lasted for ages and were a beautiful reminder of our special day.”

For favours the couple chose personalised love hearts from the Love Hearts official online store and seed packets from Paper Bea on Not On the High Street.

 

The beautiful cake was the work of Jen’s Cakery in Hanwell, West London (isn’t cakery a great word?) and sounds incredible.

“Jen invited us to her house for a tasting – how could we refuse?  There was a lot of choice but in the end we went for a combination of coconut cake with lime butter cream and chocolate fudge cake with salted caramel butter cream.  We kept the decoration relatively simple with plain white icing, apart from the bottom tier which Jen covered in sequins sprayed in silver.  She iced our rose/fern design in silver on the second tier too.”

Evening entertainment was provided by Lee Russell of LR Disco Entertainment, who kept the dance floor full and also provided the light-up LOVE letters and a confetti cannon to add to the fun.

 

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Try and step back every now and again to take it all in. Everyone I talked to told me that and I was glad we managed a couple of moments alone to reflect on our special day.

Don’t panic if everything doesn’t go exactly to plan- no-one will notice- and don’t let anyone make you feel guilty about not conforming to tradition or to their idea of the perfect wedding – it’s your day, have it how you want it.”

 

So many thanks to Kate and Jamie for sharing their lovely day with us, and to Hannah McGregor of Funky Photographers for sharing her beautiful images.  Do we have any other brides planning a wedding in shades of pink?  We have so many other beautiful past ones to share if so…

Much love,

Shona x