A Hayley Paige Dress For A Colourful Spanish Inspired Wedding

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What a treat I have in store today. This wedding is all kinds of fabulous. Bride Tara married her beau Gavin on the 17th of September 2016 at the gorgeous Fazeley Studios in Birmingham. It’s a venue with a definite ‘cool’ factor and I love how the couple just went for it with a Spanish/Mediterranean theme. What we get is a superbly fun wedding with beautiful big floral arrangements and leafy trees filling a wonderfully calm space. Two of the key suppliers, Flowers by Breige, and the amazing Ed Godden feature in our wedding directory.

“There was a Mediterranean look and feel to our wedding. I spent a lot of time in Spain as a child and we have both enjoyed holidays across the Mediterranean. The theme was carried through the use of bright bougainvillea-inspired florals with olive leaves in terracotta pots and urns. Tables were decorated with Spanish tiles and citrus fruits and our favours were little bottles of homemade sangria. We also had a fabulous Spanish band, Los Amigos, play at our afternoon drinks reception.”

Photography by Ed Godden

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The couple’s photographer Ed Godden is a coveted member of our Little Book for Brides directory, not only does he come highly recommended by us, but Tara and Gavin couldn’t be more delighted with their beautiful images.

“Our photographer, Ed Godden, was amazing and we are thrilled with our photos. He captured the whole day in beautiful detail and looking at our pictures really is like living it all again. Ed was so lovely to have around throughout the day and made us feel so comfortable. We would 100% recommend him to anyone.”

 

How amazing does Tara look in her gorgeous Hayley Paige dress? I adore the long sleeved lace top and those layers of cascading tulle are heavenly.

“I tried on so many dresses before finding ‘the one’. I wanted something unusual, a bit ethereal, a bit boho, I liked lace, an open back and had always wanted sleeves. Just a few requirements! The Elysia gown had all the elements I was after and once I’d tried it on there was no going back. We added a very thin belt for some sparkle, an elbow length veil from Nieve Couture and a custom made flower crown from Woodland Blossoms. At the last minute I wrapped the flower crown around a hair band of silk flowers and crystals that I had bought at a wedding fair, combining the two.”

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“I did my own make up. I really enjoyed spending the months leading up to the wedding trying out and testing new products. I am a bit obsessed with make up so it was a great excuse to buys loads of new stuff. My hair was styled into a low messy bun by Hair by Harriet.”

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Tara’s three bridesmaids wore gorgeous sky blue, floaty maxi dresses from ASOS with nude shoes. The ladies all wore their hair loose with gorgeous silk flower hair combs, also from ASOS and a necklace with a tiny set of wings.

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“I walked down the aisle with my dad to a version of ‘Canon in D’ by Pachelbel recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. My mum is Zimbabwean and my grandpa who still lives there was unfortunately unable to travel to the wedding.”

“We wanted to include some reference to Africa in the wedding so we chose ‘The Click Song’ by Miriam Makeba to play during the signing of the register.”

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“We met at a mutual friend’s party in Birmingham when Gavin was still living in Lancashire. For a year we spent our weekends travelling up and down the M6 between Warwickshire and Lancashire, before Gavin moved down to Warwickshire so we could be together.

Gavin proposed at the edge of Loch Voil, a beautiful secluded loch in Scotland. We were staying at Monachyle Mhor, a stunning hotel right by the water and after the proposal, which was a complete surprise, we sat out in glorious sunshine (we got lucky with the Scottish weather!) drinking Prosecco.”

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Gavin wore a dark blue three-piece tweed suit with grey tweed tie, tan brogues from Duncan James and his grandfather’s gold pocket watch. He had his white shirt tailor-made during a trip to Vietnam earlier in the year. Thetwo best men and three ushers wore dark blue suits and tweed waistcoats to match the groom.

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Tara and Gavin tailored their own vows and chose three readings, including ‘I Like You’ by Sandol Stoddard Warburg and a lovely extract from an Apache Wedding Blessing (below).

Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place to enter into the days of your life together,
And may your days be good and long upon the earth. Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.
When frustration, difficulty and fear assail your relationship – as they threaten all relationships at one time or another – remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives – remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

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“Our rings were from Element in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter. The level of expertise and service from Greg and his colleagues is excellent.”

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“We loved the whole day but our favourite part was the ceremony. Walking down the aisle was so exciting and Gavin and I seeing each other for the first time that day was really special. The room felt full of love and it was so light and bright with lots of natural daylight – it was just beautiful. I was worried that I would be crying the whole time but I was so calm and we both smiled through our vows.”

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“I first saw Fazeley Studios featured in British Vogue before we were even engaged. It was definitely top of the list to visit after Gavin had proposed and we loved it straight away. We liked the idea of a city wedding, with the wow factor and it just ticked all the boxes.”

“Gavin made two huge blackboards for our seating plan and menu and I wrote the place cards and table names on black card, using the white chalk pen to match. I’d seen an image on Pinterest of a hanging backdrop made of wax paper cones. About 60 hours in and we were kind of wondering why we’d started! Thankfully we started early, persevered with a lot of help from my mum and managed to get it done. It looked really effective as a pretty backdrop to our ceremony.”

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“They really helped to create the Mediterranean vibe. We felt that Fazeley Studios also had a sort of villa feel to it with light tiled floors, arched windows, indoor potted trees, lots of white and its little courtyard – which complemented the theme nicely.”

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With an all white venue, their wonderful florist, Little Book for Brides member, Flowers by Breige, had a real opportunity to add extra colour and vibrancy to the space.

“Breige grows her own flowers and is so knowledgeable with a fantastic eye and lots of ideas. We had two huge displays in urns with trailing greenery, pops of oranges, pinks and lime greens. Olive leaves and fresh fruit nestled amongst the flowers added to our Mediterranean look. On the tables, we had a mixture of beautiful displays in urns and terracotta pots, surrounded by tea lights, Spanish ceramic tiles and fresh fruit. The top table and ceremony table were decorated with long displays absolutely full of flowers and greenery.

My bouquet was so pretty and included zinnias, garden roses, eucalyptus and dahlias. My bridesmaids had gorgeous hand tied posies in the same vibrant colours. The only time during the whole day that I really was in tears was when Breige arrived with the bouquets, corsages and buttonholes. I was overwhelmed by how beautiful they were and it hit home that it was my wedding day.”

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“Our guest book was a poster of illustrations which guests coloured in and wrote on. We had the completed poster framed and it looks fab hanging up in our house.”

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The Cakery in Leamington Spa made our cakes. We chose a selection of different flavoured cupcakes with a Victoria sponge cake top tier.”

“The cake stand was surrounded by olive leaves, lemons and small flower displays and we added a simple pale gold ‘love’ topper.”

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“Our first dance was ‘I wanna be yours’ by the Arctic Monkeys, a band we both love and have seen a few times together. It especially reminds us of the amazing time we had at Glastonbury the year they headlined the Friday night.”

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“Tony from DiscoWed DJ’d until early the next morning. He managed to pull together our eclectic taste into an incredible sounding set.”

“We also hired Infiniti, a magician who delighted our guests during the evening with some impressive, non-cheesy tricks. It was a last minute decision and we are so glad we booked him.”

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I know everyone says it but try to take it all in. Stop every so often and actually think about what is happening as it just flies by. I was really pleased that my brothers filmed the speeches. It was nice to see everyone else’s reactions and emotions which we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We were quite calm throughout the whole planning process but I was still anxious for everything to go as planned and for all the details to be perfect.

Everything did work out pretty perfectly but my mind set on the day was so relaxed, I feel like it wouldn’t have bothered us too much if things hadn’t have gone exactly as planned. Don’t put too much pressure on anything, it’s a big happy celebration so just enjoy!”

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Congratulations Tara and Gavin, a most gorgeous wedding it certainly was. Thanks also to Ed Godden whose images tell the story beautifully.

Love Caoimhe xx

Credits & Thanks

Caoimhe Anderson

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.

5 thoughts on “A Hayley Paige Dress For A Colourful Spanish Inspired Wedding

  1. Absolutely stunning bride and groom and what a great venue, gorgeous flowers, fabulous dress. A special day had by all.

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