Good morning lovely readers! It seems like August was a busy month for marriage proposals so a huge warm welcome to our wedding blog, if you happen to be one of those brides to be still on an engagement high. The wedding I have to share with you today has some great ideas for adding cool personal touches to an already picturesque venue. I especially love the Polaroid frame with a picture of each guest. Our newlyweds Mike and Sophie tied the knot on the 27th June 2015, with a ceremony at the St Hugh Of Lincoln Church in Letchworth and a reception at stunning Burloes Hall in Hertfordshire.
“It was important to us was that the day was really relaxed and fun for everyone. We wanted the decorations, food and flowers to reflect a fun mood so we used jars and vases to hold beautiful mixes of flowers dotted all over the marquee and a huge centre piece of hanging gypsophila.”
Photography by Jonny MP Photography
I adore the image below – it’s not all too often that wedding photographers are allowed to get such intimate ceremony images – some church’s won’t allow photography during the ceremony at all (you might want to read this feature and this feature in relation to photographing your wedding in church by the way – an important matter to take into consideration – make sure your photographer checks with the Vicar!).
“As soon as we saw Burloes Hall we knew it was the perfect venue for us. It has stunning gardens, incredible views of the Hertfordshire country side and lots of hidden gardens for exploring. The country house felt relaxed and fun as well.”
Sophie’s show stopping Gemy Maalouf Grecian style dress was perfect without too many accessories. She kept the look simple with just her grandmother’s brooch added to a hair slide and sparkly shoes.
“I tried on a lot of dresses! Mirror Mirror was the last shop of many I visited and the dress was the last that I tried on. I really liked that it was really different and didn’t look like the average wedding dress, it was detailed without being garish. I thought the cut was lovely and flattering as well and it was so comfortable to wear. I knew when I tried it on it was “the one”, it just felt different and I knew it was most suited to my style and personality.”
“The pale pink bridesmaid dresses were from ASOS. They very much matched the Grecian style of my wedding dress and even had embellishment at the top similar to my dress as well. The girls all wore their own nude strappy sandals.”
“My mother’s good friend Dorothy Scott is a florist, so she did all the flowers for us which were beautiful. Dorothy has a fantastic style and vision and she knew exactly the type of flowers and vibe we wanted to go for with the flowers and she certainly delivered. She was a pleasure and worked really hard to make the flowers unique and beautiful.”
Sophie travelled to the wedding in a stunning 1964 white Bentley S3, and then walked down the aisle with her dad to the bridal march.
Mike wore a blue Ted Baker suit with a floral tie and Monk Strap brogues from Barker. The rest of the boys wore floral ties and socks to match the bridesmaids.
“We met when we were both studying at Leeds University in 2004 and got engaged in November 2013. Mike whisked me away to Berlin for a surprise birthday trip and proposed in the Tiergarden Park on the Venus Trail, 18 months later we got married.”
“Our wedding rings and my engagement ring were made by our friend Robert Aylett of Robert Glenn Jewellers. Working with Bobby designing the rings and having them made was so much fun and he was a complete pleasure to work with.”
“Mike’s sister Anna read from The First Letter of Saint Paul to The Corinthians, chosen because the words included ‘Love is patient, Love is kind etc’, words which we felt reflected the notion of love not just between the two of us but for all the people we love in our lives. My brother George wrote a beautiful piece written about how love and a relationship makes you complete, words which were made most special by the fact my bother wrote them especially for us.
My school friends Helen and Tara read the Intercessory Prayers and Mike’s cousin Helen read the Responsorial Psalm. It was amazing having all the people we love together on a beautiful day celebrating with us.”
Sophie and Mike hired The Mersey Belles to get the garden drinks reception off to a fantastic start. The Royale played later on, even letting some guests on the microphone!
“We didn’t style the marquee too much. The tables were decorated with white linen and hessian runners and our florist used jars and small vases dotted along the tables with various assortments of flowers in which looked brilliant. As our food was being served in a sharing style we didn’t want to overload the tables with decorations.”
As big lovers of cheese, Sophie and Mike opted for a wedding cake from The Cheese Plate in Buntingford served with port as a course within their wedding breakfast. Mat and his team at Big Day Catering took care of the delicious food. Small groups or tables got their own beef joint with the carver getting their own apron and chef hat – a wonderful idea to create a more fun and relaxed meal for guests.
“My Dad is incredible at all things DIY so he kindly made a hanging frame for Polaroids. My mum wrote out the name tags so that our guests could add a Polaroid of themselves. We got some brilliant photos from it.”
The couple hired Jonny MP Photography to capture their special day after seeing his images on Facebook.
“We saw some pictures of a wedding some friends of ours attended last year where Jonny was the photographer. As soon as we saw his relaxed and natural photography style we got in touch with him, his pictures are just amazing and he was such a pleasure to have around on the day, he felt like a guest enjoying the day with us! He managed to make everyone feel comfortable and caught some beautiful moments on camera.
I would definitely recommend Jonny to anyone, he is brilliant!”
“Our first dance was to You’ve got the Love’ by Florence and the Machine. We love the song and saw her together at the first festival we went to together.”
Thank you so much to our lovely couple Sophie and Mike for sharing your beautiful day with us. Also many thanks to Jonny for the amazing images.
Love Caoimhe xx
Photographer – Jonny MP Photography
Venue – St Hugh of Lincoln Church, Letchworth + Burloes Hall, Royston, Hertfordshire
Wedding Dress – Gemy Maalouf from Mirror Mirror, Islington
Shoes – Roland Cartier at Debenhams
Bride’s Scent/perfume – Chanel, Coco Mademoiselle
Groom – Ted Baker Suit + River Island Tie + Barker Shoes
Bridesmaids – ASOS
Florist – Dorothy Scott (no website)
Cake – The Cheese Plate, Buntingford
Catering – Big Day Catering
Transport – 1964 Bentley S3 (no website)
Entertainment – The Mersey Belles + The Royale
Rings – friend Robert Aylett of Robert Glenn Jewellers
Stationery – Bop Creative (no website)
Hair Stylist – No. 15, Welwyn
Makeup Artist – Katie Eaton Make Up (no website)
Caoimhe Anderson View all Caoimhe's articles
Caoimhe will never tire of beautiful wedding dress and a blooming flower crown. When she's not lusting after a gorgeous wedding she will be trying new vegetarian recipes, knitting very slowly or capturing a pink sunset from behind a camera lens.
Her dress is so unique and the marquee looks absolutely breathtaking!
Ahh, you are lovely Becky, thank you for leaving some lovely words xx