Hello lovelies, how is Tuesday treating you so far? Hopefully this sweet wedding will help transition your afternoon into your evening. The very lovely Jade and Joe tied the knot on 18th March this year at Cripps Barn. It was super important for the bride to have her 91 year old Nan attend the wedding and Cripps Barn provided comfortable access as well as a most beautiful backdrop for their celebrations.
The day was captured to perfection by our Little Book For Brides member Ed Godden, whose work we thoroughly enjoy sharing here on Love My Dress.
“The photographer was really important to Joe and I, and not something we were willing to cut corners on. Ed Godden was the first photographer that we came across and we knew he was ‘the one.’ We booked everything else around his availability! His relaxed, candid style was exactly what we wanted.”
“We both love travelling so there was a slight reference to travelling in our day (tables were named after places that we had visited). We just wanted a relaxed informal day.”
Jade’s dress was by Allure Bridal and purchased from the Wedding Belles in Sutton Coldfield.
“The dress was the complete opposite to what I originally wanted. I envisaged a fitted, plain dress, but ended up with the opposite.”
Joe and I met at work, I didn’t care much for him when we first met – I actually thought he was rather arrogant! Hehe! However, we got chatting on a more social evening and I changed my mind, the rest is history. We got together on Friday 13th May 2011 and became engaged in New York on 16th February 2014.”
“Hester at Wedding Belles chose my gown for me to try. I initially turned it down, but as soon as I put it on, I felt so comfortable and loved the colour, which looked different in different lighting, sometimes pink, sometimes peach and sometimes ivory. The ladies at Wedding Belles were fantastic and put me at ease.”
“Jenn Edwards styled my mum’s and my hair, whilst Natty did our make up. They were so helpful on the day assisting with the buttonholes and doing some of the men’s hair too.”
“I am a Jo Malone addict and English Pear & Freesia was my first Jo Malone fragrance. A soon as I smelt it I knew I would wear it on my wedding day. It is my all time favourite.”
“Shirley Middlemass used to be my childminder when I was younger and kept in touch. Shirley always did flower arranging in her spare time. I was delighted when she asked me if she could do my flowers.”
Jade was given away by her step dad to the sound of Nick Cave’s ‘Love Letter’.
“We are both massive Nick Cave fans and this one just felt right, plus there was a good chance that it was going to make Joe cry!”
Jade and Joe opted to have no special vows or readings at their ceremony…
“We wanted the formalities out of the way as quickly as possible so that everyone could start to enjoy the party.”
“We went for a rustic dessert table as Joe and I both have a sweet tooth and it meant that we could have cookies, cupcakes, cake pops, fruit tarts, macaroons, sweets and pink lemonade!”
“Our main cake by Cotton and Crumbs was lime and coconut sponge which all of the guests were raving about!”
A range of vintage suitcases and rustic crates from ebay were used to decorate the reception venue.
The couple’s first dance was to Nick Cave’s ‘Breathless’.
“We spent ages trying to pick a first dance track as Joe and I are really into our music and there are so many songs that mean so much to us and book mark our time together.”
“We settled on this Nick Cave song because we are both massive fans of Nick Cave and this is a nice uplifting track that said it all.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Make sure you book everything well in advance to avoid disappointment. Enjoy the planning process too. It goes so quickly on the day, so make sure you take time to step back and take it all in. Everything kept telling me how quick it was going to go but it still didn’t prepare me for how fast it all went by on the day itself – before I knew it, it was 2am in the morning!
We really struggled to pick a track to walk back up the aisle to after we were married, so much so, that Joe picked his on the morning of the wedding! I had the track for the first time when we were walking back down the aisle. To my shock, he had picked Beyonce’s Single Ladies track. The guests found this quite amusing!”
Lastly, it is quite sad and rather an anti-climax once the wedding and honeymoon is over, so make sure you plan something to look forward to after the wedding like date nights and weekend getaways etc.”
Huge thanks to the wonderful photographer Ed Godden for sharing these lovely images today. You can see more of Ed’s work on Love My Dress here.
Love Annabel x
Photographer – Ed Godden
Venue – Cripps Barn, Shustoke
Brides Shoes – Stuart Weitzman from Russell Bromley
Wedding Dress – Allure Bridal from Wedding Belles
Hair Accessories – Bought from Wedding Belles
Perfume – Jo Malone’s English Pear & Freesia
Hair and Make Up – Jenn Edwards
Bridesmaids Shoes – Dorothy Perkins
Bridesmaids Dresses – Dessy bought from Wedding Belles
Grooms Suit – French Connection
Grooms Tie and Pocket Square from The Tie Bar
Groom’s Men/Best Man – All their own
Florist – Shirley Middlemass (No website)
Cake – Cotton and Crumbs
Rings – Platinum Jeweller’s, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham
Entertainment – The Kicks Band
Transport – Calico Moon VW Camper Van
Stationery – Paperchase
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! But then I’m rather biased! As a fellow blush pink dress bride who also married at Shustoke, I’m of course going to love this day. However the addition of the leather jacket and a lime and coconut cake makes this one even more special. Many congrats guys xxx ??✨?
An achingly cool wedding. I love the contrast of the sweet full-skirted blush gown with the leather jacket ❤️ X x x
Where do I even start? Flowers, seating plan, dress, jacket! I can feel the love here guys, just utterly gorgeous xxx