A Colourful Pastel Wedding at The George in Rye with a Rixo Bride

Amy and James tied the knot on a sunny spring Thursday in April, surrounded by the cobbled charm of Rye and the warmth of their closest people. The ceremony took place at Rye Town Hall, followed by a relaxed and joy-filled celebration at The George in Rye – a venue chosen not just for its characterful interiors but for the wonderful people behind it – it is also a venue we love to recommend to lovely followers.

Full of heart and colour, this wedding was all soft Easter pastels and thoughtful little details. Amy wore a contemporary, elegant Rixo dress and walked through the streets of Rye with her bridal party in tow, lilac Gucci sandals just peeking out beneath the hem. The bridesmaids wore a joyful mix of pastel dresses that suited them perfectly – the yellow dress by the brilliant Rewritten. The flowers, created by Amy’s sister, were completely breathtaking.

This beautiful celebration was captured by Kerrie Wood Photography.

The George in Rye have an in-house wedding planner – Anna Campanella. She put us at ease from day 1, she is one of the many reasons that we booked The George. She genuinely cared about every detail of the day and no ask was ever too much.

She took all of the stress away from us wherever she could, she is truly brilliant at her job and one of the kindest people you will ever meet.

We wanted an English pub with character. We hated venue hunting but as soon as I walked into the ballroom at the George, I cried as I knew it was the one. I didn’t believe anyone who said ‘when you find the one, you will know’ but it turns out – its true!

We wanted a spring wedding that was inspired by the colours of mini eggs! Our pastel easter theme was more perfect than I could have ever imagined mainly brought to life by our beautiful bridesmaids who each picked their own dress and the most incredible flowers we’d ever seen! The yellow dress is Rewritten, the blue dress is Omnes, the green dress is Nobody’s Child, the orange dress is Never Fully Dressed and the pink dress is Mango Capsule. I gifted the girls a pair of Astrid & Miyu Huggie Birthstone earrings, each in their own colour to match their dress.

My dad walked me down the aisle. A special moment – he cried all day! We were accompanied by the sound of ‘Golden Hour’, by JVKE. James picked the aisle song which made it even more special.

We had East Sussex registrars. We asked for a low key/chilled ceremony and they were amazing. Everyone was in stitches of laugher and they put the whole room at ease. 

She even recited ‘the power of love’ by Huey Lewis & The News – their character was something we really wasn’t expecting but it was just perfect and really added to the fun vibe of the whole day.

Two of my closest friends did our reading from ‘Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton’. They said to me before the day that they made a couple of changes to the original but they totally personalised the whole thing. It was a lovely surprise and they absolutely smashed it.

We didn’t have personalised vows – we were both nervous so wanted the serious bit out of the way as quickly as possible – LOL!

My ring was from The Sapphire Shop in Hatton Garden. My engagement ring has pale green sapphires in it which I wanted to match for my wedding band. This supplier specialises in matching the stones which is why we chose them!  James wanted a vintage band, he used in A.R. Ullmann LTD in Hatton Garden.

Corduroy suits were from Moss. James wore sage and the best man and groomsman wore brown.  James also wore a vintage Gucci tie and tie clip. Hunting for vintage items can be tedious but it was so worth it, they looked fab.

Our photographer was Kerrie Wood – we could not recommend her more. She captured our day perfectly and was so chilled on the day. We really wanted a candid vibe but still asked for quite a few pictures with key people so it was a hard brief but we are over the moon with our photos.

My sister is a florist at Lavender Grace Flowers, so she was always going to do our flowers. She used two amazing freelancers/friends (The Botanical Shed and Evelyn Rose Floristry) in the lead up to help her bring our vision to life but also so she could also be my maid of honor on the day! 

I can never put into words how much it meant to me to have my sister do my wedding flowers, it’s something I will never forget. I didn’t really give her a brief, just colours – she clearly knows me better than I know myself as I was so overwhelmed when I saw what she created.

The bridesmaids had individual bouquets of their colour which looked stunning – I would never have thought of this but Grace was in charge! She is honestly the best in the business, we had endless compliments on how amazing the flowers were, it was such a massive part of the day.

Our stationery was by Emily Allison Design – Emily was an absolute dream to work with! I will cherish a copy of our order of service forever.

We provided ‘Mini Eggs’ for our guests – how could we not at Easter? 😊 We also printed individual polaroid’s of each guest as name tags in corks. Everyone loved these and took them home, it was a lovely personal touch.

Our cake was incredible! We had a pint of Guinness as a cake with us sitting in the top, even my Gucci shoes were made from icing! It was even more special as it was made by my auntie and uncle. She doesn’t do this for a profession (but she should!) so we don’t have the supplier to share. My dad also made us an additional cake out of cheese as he owns a catering company. We are very lucky to have so many talented people in our family that helped us out, it meant a lot.

Our first dance was to ‘Sonnentanz by Klangrussell ft. Will Heard’ – we have always loved it; the lyrics “the sun doesn’t shine without you” says it all. 

We hired Dom Booth and Chaddy Sax – these guys gave us the best party we could have wished for! Dom was so helpful from the start and got the vibe bang on. I would do anything to be back in that room singing my heart out to Jubel by Klingande on Sax. 

James’ parents also play in a Northern Soul band, it was so special to us that The Signatures played an hour’s set with our stepdad on drums and the mother of the bride on backing vocals, a band very close to our hearts were a massive part of our special day.

Try to take it in… I know everyone says it but it really does go so fast. Then take time afterwards to process it all. We had a sweetheart table which I was so glad we did as we got time to sit and chat together while everyone was eating dinner. 

My only other tip would be to get dressed much earlier than you think you need to be! That last hour before we left literally felt like a minute. 

And just have the best day of your life! Everything I worried about in the lead up didn’t matter when everyone you love is having fun together in the same room – it’s a feeling you can’t explain so try not to worry about the little things (too much! 😊)

I would also maybe drink a little less… I was really good at not over doing it on the alcohol until the party but I do have slight black out from 10:30pm lol! I blame my friends who ploughed me with tequila… But to be honest, I wouldn’t change it – I had the time of my life!

We went over budget slightly but we had 18 months to save from booking the venue which meant it wasn’t really too much of an issue! 

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