Oh It’s Such A Perfect Day…

'..I'm glad I spent it with youuuuuuuuuuuuu'……

I swear I CANNOT get this song out of my head since preparing this latest real wedding feature for Love My Dress!

Part of a Wedding Photographer's job is to capture and convey the emotions of a wedding day on film, right? … so that the Bride, Groom and their families can look back and recall what a love-filled day the whole event was.  Well, in the relatively short time I've been 'Wedding Blogging', I've come to realise that some of the best Photographers out there when it comes to capturing these wedding-day emotions, are the Lawsons.

This is the wedding of Emma and Dave that took place on 19 June 2010 with a ceremony at St Michaels church in Much Hoole, followed by a reception at Rivington Barn near Horwich.  Bride Emma told me…

"I have been stalking Pete and Laura's blog for about two years now!
It was the first thing we booked, apart from our venues, and I knew
straight away that they would do a fantastic job! The only thing we
specified was that we wanted some pictures in the fields at Rivington,
but other than that we left them to be creative, and they were! We are
both so pleased with the photos and they really captured the relaxed
atmosphere of the day."

I challenge anyone to browse through these photographs and not have a smile on their face by the end! :)  I just adore everything about the whole thing; the Bride & Groom looking so completely happy and in love, the colours, the styling – those field shots!!  … the whole darn shebang is just absolutely perfect….

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Lawson Photography

Emma designed her own wedding dress and had it made by friend Helen, at Shacklady Couture…

"We went to several Bridal shops in and around Preston to try on and get ideas, but ultimately I knew that I wanted something truly unique. I have been a Ballroom dancer all my life, my mum is a teacher, and I always design my own dancing dresses which are then made by the very talented Helen. So when I'd created an image of the perfect dress in my head I put it onto paper for Her to translate into a pattern and then make! Several Fittings, trips for material and one year later – it was finished. It was completely perfect and exactly as I'd imagined it to be.   My favourite part is the lace train at the back, it's so dainty and pretty…"

"My shoes were a pair of strappy latin Dance shoes from
Supadance, made especially in Ivory Satin."

Flowers in her hair…

I was unsure about a Veil as I'm not really a fussy person and would rather go for a simpler, modern look. Also, being a wedding photographer I've seen how much hassle a veil can be!  We ordered one online to try, but when it came it Just wasn't me. In the end I went for a large ivory flower from New Look, which I loved!

Hair was styled by Fiona Nelson, who is a
friend and professional hairdresser, And who did a fantastic job! She
came early to do hair so that she'd have time to go home and get ready,
so that she could get to the church on time as a guest!   We all did our
own make-up, I wanted to feel like myself and be completely sure on
what I was having."

"I wore my Mums pearl bracelet as my something borrowed. Necklace and earrings from Accessorize…."   

Bridesmaids…

"I had three bridesmaids whose dresses we designed between us
and which Were then made by the same friend that made my wedding dress. My cousin Rachel
who was my Chief Bridesmaid was pregnant, and due 3 days before the
wedding! So we knew it was going to be touch and go whether she would
make it or not. In the end she went into labour on the evening of the
church rehearsal, the Tuesday before the wedding! Although we were
absolutely over the moon that baby Archie arrived safely, we were gutted
that Rachel would be in hospital for a week and so would miss the
wedding. So in the end we had two Bridesmaids, Lisa and Sian…"

Frilly Bouquet's and Purple Hyndrangeas…

"I knew I wanted the flowers to go with the relaxed theme of the day, so
I didn't want anything too structured or fussy. Judith at Tussie Mussies in Walmer Bridge was excellent. She new exactly What I wanted
when I explained not so clearly that I wanted a 'frilly' Bouquet! Mine
was made up of purples including hydrangea, lisianthus and anenomes,
with the girls having cream and lemon roses and peonies."    

This Groom knows his style! …

"Dave had a set idea of what he wanted in his
head, a Modern, short Jacketed grey suit with matching grey waistcoat.
He looked everywhere and in the end went with Moss Bros, where we hired
suits for all The boys.  He went
with an ivory cravat, and Helen the dressmaker made purple cravats
for the boys from the bridesmaids material.  Dave's shoes were also from Supadance, they were very swanky with half suede, half patent!"    

 

Camper Style…

"We knew fairly early on that we wanted something
different, and we looked all over for a camper van. The Hire companies
we found online wouldn't travel as far as Much Hoole, and in the end we
pretty much gave up our search. Then one day Dave was driving through
The Village when he saw one parked up, so he knocked on the door and
asked if they would drive us to our wedding! Kevin was great, he brought
his son along for the ride, and the camper looked perfect!"    

Emma walked down the aisle to a piano instrumental of Make You Feel My Love…

Rings…

"On a
trip to visit Dave's nan in the midlands we took a detour to the
Jewellery quarter in Birmingham, which is definitely a must! They had
the exact ring that I wanted, slim with tiny sparkly diamonds, and Dave
designed his own to be made from Palladium. I took mine home straight
away but we had to wait for Dave's to arrive by courier a week
later…."   

I think Mrs Lawson has been practicing with her snazzy new photo lens! What a gorgeous shot! 🙂

Is this the best EVER throw the bouquet shot in the world? I think so!

Rivington Barn Hall…

"I grew up in Much Hoole and attended the church primary school, so I'd always imagined getting married there! I also help to teach the Church morris dancing Group so am involved in quite a few of Their events. When it came to choosing a venue for the reception we did a huge amount of research! We got brochures from all sorts of places and drove around looking for ideas, but it was only when we took one of our regular motorbike trips up to Rivington Barn that we realised how perfect it would be for a wedding!  We simply wanted our day to be relaxed and fun, and a
reflection of ourselves."

 

Cake Surprises…

"Our best man Andy (Who is a plumber!) Made our cake as a gift to us.
He kept the design as a surprise which was great, and we loved it! It
looked so professional!"  

"As a joiner Dave
did An excellent job of making our centrepieces! They were wooden boxes
which we splattered with paint and filled with pebbles and candles. We
didn't need to do a lot To the barn as it was so fabulous already!  We Put little empty Vases as favours on each place setting, and then
gave out single stem freesia and lysianthus To people as we greeted them
at the door. When everyone was in the room It was beautiful, with a sea
of flowers and candles!"

Practice Makes Perfect…

"As dancers we decided we wanted to do a choreographed dance, and went for
a Foxtrot to Nat King Cole's L.O.V.E. Mum did the choreography and we
had fortnightly Practises for months before the day! I think it went
down well on The night!!"    

A 2nd Wedding?

"Our wedding took two
years to plan, but was stress free all the way! We are pretty chilled
out Generally so tried to enjoy every minute of the planning And
everything came together Perfectly in the end.
There were a few
people who couldn't be there on the day, firstly Rachel my chief
Bridesmaid and baby Archie, and also Dave's nan who was in hospital
after having a stroke. Now that everyone is back on Their feet dave's
mum has planned a 2nd wedding for us! We are having a garden party in
August and we're all wearing our outfits again! Not many people get to
do it all Over again like that!"    

Words of Wisdom…

"To
any brides to be, I would say make the most of your talented friends!
We are very lucky to have so many lovely, kind and talented friends that
contributed on the day. Also, we Did a lot of the organising/making
ourselves, from invites and stationary to centrepieces And favours,
which took a lot of the stress away as we weren't Worrying about relying
on other people to come though on the day.

I am very well
known for writing lists! You can never go wrong if you write everything
down, Dave Says I even write lists about the lists I'm going To make!
But it works for me :)"     

Oh the wonderfulness of it all. Makes me so happy and smiley it does 🙂

Congratulations Emma and Dave for pulling off the day of your dreams (and looking so utterly fabulous too!).  Thank you so very much to Lawson Photography for allowing reproduction of their exquisite photography on Love My Dress.

Have a lovely day all 🙂

Annabel

♥