Hello afternoon blog readers! Quick reminder before I tell you all about the Tamara and Steve’s wedding, that we’ve already blogged the most vibrant and colourful wedding this morning, and shared a new competition over lunch time. Consider us your personal reminder of wedding matters of the utmost importance 🙂
Tamara and Steve married on 2nd August 2014 with a ceremony at St Nicholas Church in Remenham (near Henley On Thames), followed by a reception at The McAlpine Estate in Fawley – a venue that really has to be seen! It provided the most wonderfully quirky and fun backdrop for this lovely Summer wedding…
“Our reception venue, The McAlpine Estate in Fawley, is the most incredible place – it is Sir William and Lady Judy McAlpine’s home and comes complete with victorian railway station that Sir William bought and had reinstated as his home, as well as a full size carousel! There are animals wandering the grounds too – it really is the perfect place to pitch up a tipi tent and have fun – a very, very special place indeed.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2015, Jackson & Co.
“Our florist was ‘The White Garden‘ – the flower theme was lots of colour, wild flowers, no uniformity and rustic to go with our festival wedding. I also have always loved sunflowers and they are quite special to me and my family for personal reasons.”
“My dress was called Emmerson and it was by the dress company, Watters. I bought it from a shop in Twickenham where we live called Emma Elizabeth Bridal.
I loved the unusual beading and how it looked slightly vintage too. The brilliant Emma and Carol from Emma Elizabeth Bridal were the deciding factor for me – as they were both so lovely.”
“We met at work on a beach in Dorset, and Steve proposed in April in the Lake District at the top of ‘The old man of Coniston’, after which, we celebrated over cheese and pickle sandwiches!
We were engaged for 15 months before we got married. Neither of us have a big family so we wanted it to be more about our friends and having a great party rather than the traditional wedding so I suppose our theme was festival and fun.”
“We sourced our own candle holders and pom poms but the day was made amazing with lots of help from Sam Allen from Spirited Events – she and Cindy put the extra touches in to make the venue look incredible and run smoothly, using pretty festoon lighting and hay bales, amongst many other items.”
“We had various street food stalls for our catering, they were all amazing. They included a ‘fish n chip’ tram from Fish n Chip Catering, an authentic Nepalese curry tent, an ice-cream van, scones, sandwiches, tea & coffee from Vintage Dotty, a mobile Citroen Van Bar and beer barrels.”
“Our photographers were Jackson & Co.– we cannot recommend these guys highly enough. If you want a photographer to act as a friend on the day, put you at ease and get on with every single one of your guests then please book Michael and Hannah.”
“In terms of scent, we both wore Creed on the day – I wore ‘Spring Flower’ and Steve wore ‘Vetiver’. We love their fragrances as they are from one of the oldest perfume houses and not on every high street.”
“My mum walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘Canon in D’ by Pachobel.
During the ceremony, for the bible reading, we had ‘1 Corinthians 13, and for the other reading we had ‘I rely on you’, by Hovis Presley. My uncle chose the bible reading and my husband chose the other reading as it was a poem written by his friend.”
“Our rings were from Courlanders Jewellers in Richmond – we chose a platinum ring for Steve as we thought because he will only ever have one ring and he doesn’t were any other jewellery, he should have a special one.
I thought I wanted a plain band but after my engagement ring, I’ve got quite attached to diamonds….so we opted for a ring with sparkle instead!”
“Steve made most of our wedding cake which was 4 tiered home made pork pies with various fillings and then we added in some large wheels of cheese as well from the The Cheese Shed.”
“We chose ‘Northern Sky’ by Nick Drake for our first dance track, as this is a song we both love.”
“It’s so difficult to pick, but I think our favourite part of the day has to be just after the first dance, one of our friends got up and sang ‘All night long’ by Lionel Richie and everybody was suddenly up on the dance floor and we both realised everyone we know and love was all there together with us, having a wonderful time under one big glitterball, under one big tent!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Don’t sweat the small stuff. I started to get stressed over little things when we arrived at our reception, they were all sorted and nobody was any the wiser so give yourself a good talking to and don’t stress!
Try and savour every moment as it goes past so quickly – we still say we’d liked to have been a guest at our wedding!!
Finally, my main words of wisdom are put pain relief gel on your feet! You’re standing pretty much all day in shoes you’re not used to and this tip was genius all thanks to Emma at Emma Elizabeth Bridal”
So much fun! My biggest of thanks to photographer Michael of Jackson & Co. for sharing his work on Love My Dress today – Michael is no stranger to this blog, we’ve featured several more of his beautifully photographed weddings here. My love thanks thanks also to the lovely bride and groom, Tamara and Steve, for so generously allowing us to enjoy their beautiful wedding.
Do we have any more Watters brides reading this today?
Love Annabel xx
Photographer – Jackson & Co.
Venue – The McAlpine Estate in Fawley
Stylist – Spirited Events using Party Lights + stoon lighting and hay bales
Dress – Emmerson by Watters, via Emma Elizabeth Bridal
Bride’s Veil – Gillian Million
Bride’s Shoes – Rachel Simpson
Bride’s Hair Accessories – The Bespoke Wardrobe
Accessories – Monica Vinader bracelet + heirloom earrings
Bride + Groom’s scent – Creed
Groom – Cad and the Dandy suit + Shoes by Grensons
Florist – The White Garden
Cake – DIY (the groom) + The Cheese Shed
Entertainment – Musician, Paul Dobie + Photo Booth Caravan
Rings – Courlanders Jewellers in Richmond
Catering – Fish n Chip Catering + Nepalese Curry Tent + Ice-cream van + Vintage Dotty + mobile Citroen Van Bar + beer barrels
Stationery – DIY
Festoon Lighting – Party Lights
Hay Bales – Party Bales
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
Beautiful looking wedding. Outdoor, vintage weddings are really in fashion right now. Some cracking photography here.
Excellent set of images, lovely colours and such a beautiful couple.
Thanks for your comment Eneka! x x
Fantastic shots right there, you really captured the feel for the venue itself as well, great work. You gotta love “Dotty” the mini caravan !