Parisian Chic {Part 2} …

And so on to part deux of this most chic and unique French styled wedding…

J'Adore how Natalie and Scott's amazing Photographers, A J Williams, have captured their supremely gorgeous day – all that divine detail! …

All
Images Copyright (C) 2009, A J Williams Photography

 

"The ceremony flowers
were kept quite simple, as I knew we wouldn’t be in the room for long and I
wanted to spend more of the budget on creating the wow factor for the
reception.   At the entrance we had 2 bay trees with large blousy
roses and on the reception table I chose large open headed carnations stuffed
in to silver beakers, which looked very elegant and effective.  Carnations
are never my flower of choice but they worked beautifully.  The table flowers were a mix of large hydrangea heads,
roses, philaneopsis orchids and foliage for the wedding breakfast and were in
rounded heads sat on large silver candelabras with hanging crystals to give
light and movement to the room or sat in lower silver bowls on mirrors. 
We had bride and groom chair-backs of similar flowers to give us thrones
without having the posh and becks gilt chairs!"

"I sourced the aisle runner too – as the wedding
was to have a contemporary feel, with clean lines and elegant, romantic look I
didn’t want to use the traditional ‘red’ carpet.  So I purchased a
fantastic ivory aisle, which worked perfectly with the hired lime-washed Chivari Chairs and storm lanterns that
ran alongside it!"

 

I utterly adore this photograph of a truly
beautiful moment between Natalie and Scott (note to ALL Brides and Grooms to be – make sure
you tip off your photographer to get a similar shot, it will mean the
world to you)…

"I
chose lily of the valley for my bouquet as it was my late Grandmother’s
favourite flower and the scent is amazing. 
It was a more expensive flower so I couldn’t carry it throughout the
wedding flowers so I indulged in a larger bouquet!  I had also seen Liz Hurley’s bouquet and its
simplicity added to her dress but didn’t detract from it.  I wrapped the stems in antique French lace
and attached the brooch".

"The
wedding was a real labour of love for me and I thoroughly enjoyed all the
planning, even when it got really stressful and I didn’t know whether I was
going in the right direction or not.  So
many choices out there, ideas, inspirations etc. it can get overwhelming!  It all came to fruition on the day and I felt
incredibly nervous, so much so I wasn’t sure I would make it down the aisle
without fainting or at least turning my Brother’s arm blue from the tight
grip!!  I even asked the Registrar to
hurry it along just before I went in (after keeping poor Scott waiting for 15
minutes!)!!  However, when the doors
opened and I saw everybody beaming at me, but most importantly, seeing Scott’s
face, riddled with nerves I couldn’t wait to get down the aisle and hold his
hand.  I somehow channelled all my nervous
energy in to him and I felt quite ‘breezy’! 
I even spent time being my normal control freak self and straightened
Scott’s pocket-handkerchief and I caught my Mum’s glare telling me to
‘listen’!!

"Scott and I wrote our own vows which
was incredibly special for both of us.  We also had two readings.
 One by my very special friend Elaine who took a poem read by none other
than Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City called a New York Minute and the
other was a personally written passage dedicated to Scott and I by his lovely
Aunt Paula, it bought a tear to the eye all round!"

And then, they were married!  I can just imagine being there and feeling all that emotion! 

Enjoy the newlyweds…

 

 

This is one of my personal favourite shots of Natalie. I think she looks so completely beautiful here, worthy of a Vogue centre-spread I think!

Real petal confetti, from Shropshire Petals…

"The
little details are what really give the day that personal touch, but not only
that, they allow you to get creative, research for fabulous finds and showcase
your imagination on your big day.   Some
of the finer details on our day were some DIY projects.  Scott and I put together a large MDF board
and cut it in to a heart shape and covered it with loads of pictures, our ‘over
the years’ board and we included as many guests as possible too – from fancy
dress parties, Chritmases gone by, days of shell suits and boat parties – eek, it
went down a storm!"

"I
found Etsy – wow.  I fell in love with
the sight and spent hours, days looking through the different market sites of
such talented people.  I stumbled across
the $5 French Market and they worked with me to created glassine bags for the
wedding cake, which we gave to each guest. 
They were adorned with Paris images and covered in little crystals for
added sparkle!  They also created tags,
which I tied around the favours.  I
designed a stamp which had 5 French blessings on which went on the back of the
tags".

"In terms of stationery, I
wanted something a little different for the reception.  Something quirkier that could really
demonstrate the theme and show our guests the detail of the day.  I had seen Rebekah Daley designs used on a
fellow friend and ‘GTL’ (that's 'Good Taste Lady', for those not in the know!) wedding and contacted her for ideas.  Rebekah is incredibly creative and talented
and we bought the designs together!  I
had 3D Eiffel Tower place name cards and menus designed with the Eiffel Tower
image and French sayings for each course! 
Our guests loved the detail and it looked beautiful when the tables were
all set up with the French lavender place settings and table crystals and candles
galore!  It all created a really romantic
feel.  Rebekah’s attention to detail was
excellent and she really makes you feel at ease.  Our
table names were places we visited in Paris – I sought the pictures from Google
and created these too!".

Flower decoration by Nancy at Blooming Perfect…

 

J’adore
macaroons – massively!  So I wanted these
for my ladies favours – the gents sadly didn’t get anything, a woman’s
indulgence I think!  So I ordered from
Harrods boxes of macaroons which went down very well – so much so that the 10
boxes I had left over were collected from my fridge over the days following the
wedding!  I think I had one!

We
also created our own table plan – I’d send an idea of a frame, which I
loved.  I searched endless in antique
shops for one large enough but no joy.  
So we bought MDF and frame gilding and created it ourselves.  We painted it white and strung midnight blue
ribbon down and attached individual escort cards to this.  We created these on our Mac and printed on
card with mini Eiffel Tower images in the background, the table name and ‘eat,
drink and be married’ on!  These were
attached with little pegs.

"We
had a gift table with ‘fake’ antique birdcage source from Confetti.  I adorned blue silk ribbon with French
‘present’ wording on!  This was used for
our Trailfinders vouchers, which our guests very generously gave us.  On the same table laid our guest book,
sourced from Oh So Cherished – I attached my own blue ribbon.  We had an old Polaroid, which our fantastic
toastmaster used to take happy snaps of our guests – they then attached their
own personal message.  

As
both Scott and I have lost our Fathers, I wanted to show our guests how special
they are to us – so I found pictures of both of our parents on their wedding
days and put them in gorgeous frames alongside the guest book so everybody
could see them in their glory days". 

I adore how Natalie wove the beautiful navy blue (tres chic!) through her day.  Natalie and Scott's stunning wedding cake was by Makis Cakes…

Natalie and Scott's Guestbook was from Oh So Cherished…

The Bride taking a rest from her totally fabulous 4" Louboutin heels! I love this shot…

Well if that isn't an extremely very gorgeous and stunning pair of newlyweds, I don't know what is! I think they were having rather a lot of fun in this snap!…

Divine!!! A heavenly dress indeed…

 

"We
had a fabulous nine-piece band led by 4 female singers called Hulagroove – they were fantastic
and most definitely one of the highlights for us and our guests – they really
rocked the floor and nobody wanted to stop dancing come Midnight!  They sang alongside our DJ who played
classics, which bought back memories for us. 
We chose all the music for our day – spending hours and hours in front
of iTunes and old dusty CD’s.  Scott used
to be a DJ and music is a passion so we wanted it right throughout every step
of the day, giving the right tone and feel and creating the right emotions.  We included some favourite songs of our two
Mums too, to help evoke memories of their own wedding days…"

The
day was over so incredibly fast and wasn’t without hiccups!  Even though we planned and planned and did a
timeline plan for every supplier, the Hotel, our wedding planner, our wedding
party, ourselves… things still didn’t go smoothly!  Our band was over an hour late due to an unfortunate
car accident on the motorway that momentarily freaked me out and our video
camera was lost.  All I would say is
don’t focus too much on seeking the absolutely epitome of perfection. What is
most important is that you’re there, you say ‘I do’ and you have fun with your
friends and family.  Your inspiration
will shine through as will you and you’ll have lasting memories – even if like
me you can’t remember certain things, your friends will not hesitate in
reminding you of the fun they all had!
 Relax,
take a deep breath and as Carrie would say… “every once in a while, a girl has
to indulge herself”!

I have been so very honoured at Natalie's willingness to share her story on Love My Dress and touched at the special attention she paid to every tiny detail in planning her wedding.  I can imagine this was a true labour of love – hard work, but so very worth it in the end.  I can imagine Natalie and Scott clasping eyes on each other for the first time on their special day, and the smiles that filled the rooms of their beautiful venue.

This has to be one of the most exquisite, chic, unique and carefully planned weddings I think I shall ever come across. Natalie – your idol Carrie would most certainly be proud!

I'd like to thank Natalie personally for being so incredibly helpful in providing all the 'steal her style' detail and wish her and her gorgeous Husband Scott a very long and happy married life together.

And yes, I absolutely LOVE Natalie's dress!!

LMD ♥