Suzanne Neville Glamour and An Abundance of Gypsophila

Wedding designer and planner Kat of Katrina Otter Weddings would like to offer our readers a 10% saving on all bookings made before the end of April 2014 – this offer applies to all remaining dates in 2014 and 2015 across all of the services offered by Katrina (ranging from partial advice, on the day styling to full planning and styling support)."

Well I thought I'd highlight that little offer we first told you about here, because this afternoon's feature is the wedding of wedding planner Kat herself! Planner and Stylist Kat of Katrina Otter Events and her contracts manager husband Tom, tied the knot on 18 May last year, at Chippenham Park and this sophisticated black tie celebration truly reflects Kat's effortlessly glamorous style, who looks totally knock-out in her elegant Suzanne Neville dress.

Film Production Copyright (c) 2013, Reelloves Films

Regular readers may recognise that film above as we featured it last year, but it's so darn lovely, and had been crafted by one of our very favourite film makers, Reelloves Films, that we simply had to share it again.

"I styled the day around our venue, Chippenham Park, as I believe it’s important to use your surroundings to determine your theme, décor and details. Our venue offered us the chance to create a traditional English garden style wedding. 

The venue is set in a privately owned Grade II listed house with romantic ceremony spots all surrounded by 300 acres of award winning parkland. Everything else was styled around my beautiful Suzanne Neville dress!"

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Mister Phill

"Tom and I originally met about six years ago.  At the time Tom and my brother were both playing for Cambridge Rugby Club and my brother wanted to impress his friends so decided to bring 5 of his fellow players down to London for a night out with his big sister.

My first impression of Tom was bemusement over his Krusty the Clown hair do – thankfully he has now gone bald! 2 years later and Tom and my brother invited themselves on my girls holiday to Portugal."

"Three months of texting and endless Facebook messages resulted in our first kiss between the platforms at Victoria tube station.  A year later I moved out of London to live with Tom in Cambridge, we bought a Victorian Bulldog called Betty and our family was complete."

"A year after that Tom proposed (in our kitchen whilst I was cooking spaghetti bolognese – not the most romantic of proposals but I will give him credit for the surprise factor and the fact that he had bought the most beautiful sapphire and diamond vintage ring) and 15 months later we were man and wife."

"Early on in the planning process we both agreed that we wanted to get married as close to home as possible.  Another key factor for us was trying to find somewhere that was a home from home – a venue that was lived in and loved.

Chippenham Park. ticked all of those boxes.  Traditional English garden style, privately owned Grade II listed house, romantic ceremony spots all surrounded by 300 acres of award winning parkland.  We had originally planned for an outdoor ceremony however the English weather decided to be a little unpredictable – fortunately for us we were able to move the ceremony into the Old Ballroom in the house.  We held our reception in a marquee at the edge of the lake.  With two walls of windows, the views across the park and lake in the evening were magical."

"We had originally planned for an outdoor ceremony however the English weather decided to be a little unpredictable – fortunately for us we were able to move the ceremony into the Old Ballroom in the house.  We held our reception in a marquee at the edge of the lake.  With two walls of windows, the views across the park and lake in the evening were magical."

Kat wore the beautifully designed 'Spellbound' gown, by Suzanne Neville, that she purchased from The Wedding Shop in Colchester.

"The minute I saw the dress I just knew it was the one for me.  I loved the fact that it was bright white, classic, well cut and generally gorgeous.  Plus this was the only dress that reduced my mum tears!"

"Tom’s mother and brother run their own printing business and designed and printed all of our wedding stationery – from invites to place settings and everything in between.  They also designed us our own wedding website."

"A real WOW factor came from our cake pops by The Cakepop Company which were displayed in a custom made stand designed made by my bridesmaid’s husband of Cake Pop Stands."

"We had an abundance of gypsophila, a giant illuminated K&T from Vowed and Amazed, silver foil letters spelling out K&T and LOVE and paper pom place settings from Paper Poms.  Our table numbers were based on years from our lives – this was particularly amusing for our guests as I am 5 years older than Tom so on a table that had a photo of me at University there was also a photo of Tom starting secondary school!"

"It was an absolute honour to have Mister Phill photograph our big day.  He captured the very essence of our wedding – the nerves, the excitement, the emotion, the laughs (and there really were a lot of laughs to capture!), the love, the fun, all of our friends and family and of course Betty too!

Mister Phill arrived at 10:00am and stayed until the last guest departed – what an absolute trooper and a truly talented man."

 

"As a present for my bridesmaids and mum I designed personalised thank you messages that I framed along with a photo from my hen weekend.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room when they opened them the night before the wedding!"

Kat's shoes were by Jimmy Choo – of course!

"Stylist Jo Adams and her assistant worked their socks off doing not only my hair and makeup but also all of the bridesmaids, my mum and my brother’s girlfriend."

"We hired a green iconic double decker bus from Dews Coaches to transport our guests from the hotel to the wedding venue.  We were also very fortunate that Tom’s Dad and Best Man both own VW Camper Vans – so one was used for the boys and the other for the girls and an over-excited bulldog!"

"My Dad walked my down the aisle, and cried all the way!

During the ceremony, we had a guitarist Mike Davies on the day who sang Elvis Presley’s – Can't Help Falling In Love.  The lyrics summed up our love for one another and the emotions we felt at that moment; 'take my hand, take my whole life too, for I can't help falling in love with you.'

Our readings included a Untitled piece by Bee Rawlinson."

"After visiting the Designer Wedding Fair we had our rings custom designed by Hyde Park Design.  Paul & Sean are absolutely incredible to work with.  They met with us on several occasions and gave us all the time and advice we required.

We also had a hand beaded ring pillow from the fabulously talented What Katy Did Next.  The pillow had our initials on and was customised to our colour scheme."

"Our florist was Samantha from Wild Poppies.  For me gypsophila never fails to make a significant impact.  Our table centres were tall silver vases overflowing with gypsophila and hydrangeas.  Likewise our bouquets consisted of varying combinations of the two.  As a keepsake after the wedding my mum surprised me with a brooch bouquet designed by my florist.  The bouquet was made up of fabric from my dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, my mums coat and Tom’s suit lining.  The brooches were donated and also stolen from Betty’s dog collar!"

“I know I should say the moment I saw Tom when I walked down the aisle but I know he would agree with me that the speeches were legendary – I honestly don’t think I’ve ever laughed that much.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Firstly – Enjoy every second – it really is the best day of your life and goes way too quickly.  Secondly – have an assistant there on the day.  I was fortunate enough to have a couple of old events colleagues who were there to meet with and direct suppliers, put all the decorations out on the tables and finalise place settings – if this had been left to the Best Men I probably would have had a sense of humour failure!"

"Lastly – keep an eye on how many shots your husband drinks during the wedding breakfast.  Obviously there’s a reason why I said this!

My Best Friend Susie lives in Canada and as she wasn’t in the country until the day before the wedding we asked her to be our Master of Ceremonies.  She certainly lived up to this role.  As a way of incorporating her into the wedding party we gave her the same shoes as the bridesmaids and an engraved old school bell to help with her summoning duties!"

"I know this post should really be about the wedding day itself but the Sunday for us was equally as magical.  We returned to my parents’ house where they had a hog roast for 100 guests to celebrate my Dad’s 60th.  We were able to continue the celebrations in style with our nearest and dearest.  One of our friends who had flown over from Australia for our wedding proposed to his girlfriend that afternoon and the champagne started to flow all over again."

What a beautiful day – which seems even more beautiful by that glorious smile of Kat's! Thank you so much Kat for sharing your wedding with our readers. You looked the absolutely epitome of bridal grace and I adore your glamorous style. That dress looks as thought it was designed for you!

And a big thank you also to the jolly nice and friendly photographer that is Mister Phill – who we hope to be featuring much more from in the coming weeks and months.

Suzanne Neville fans can see more from this very brilliant, British designer here.

Love Annabel

Photographer – Mister Phill
Wedding Planner/Stylist – The bride, Katrina Otter
Venue – Chippenham Park
Wedding Dress – Spellbound by Suzanne Neville, via The Wedding Shop, Colchester
Brides Shoes – Jimmy Choo
Grooms Suit – Reiss Personal Tailoring + shirt from Anthony in Cambridge
Bridesmaids – Maids to Measure + Paradox Pink Lauren shoes
Flowers – Wild Poppies
Cake – cake pops by The Cakepop Company
Transport – Dews Coaches
Rings – Hyde Park Design + ring cushion by What Katy Did Next
Catering Company – Chimneys Catering
Stationery – Scunthorpe Printing
Make-up + Hair Stylist – Jo Adams

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