A Justin Alexander Gown and Maids in Navy for a Laidback Restaurant Wedding

What are your plans for the weekend lovelies? A spot of wedmin or some dress shopping perhaps? I have the most delightful wedding to get us feeling all of the weekend feels and provide you with loads of inspiration.

Danielle and Ian tied the knot on a lovely summer’s day on the 13th of August 2016. They chose The Old Parsonage in their local town of Didsbury for their ceremony, followed by the wedding breakfast at Piccolino, then reception at The Woodstock Arms.

“Particular styles, themes or inspiration were not important to us at all when we were planning the day. It only started to fall into place when we had picked out a couple of the outfits so we had a colour to start from. Ian chose a navy suit, and by chance we chose navy dresses for the bridesmaids. This gave us an idea of some colours that we liked for the day, so then the stationery and flowers followed with hints of purple, blue and white.”

Photography by Mike Plunkett

“We first met on a dating app, but because I was reluctant to actually take the plunge and meet up with a ‘man from the internet’ the conversation ended up fizzling out. A few months later we were both in the same bar in Manchester and I went over to say hello. We never looked back from there and a year later we were on a train somewhere having a chat about whether we should save up for a house or a wedding first.”

“We agreed on a wedding, then booked the venue before we were officially engaged! It was a few months later when Ian popped the question; he waited until exactly one year before our wedding date (I imagine partly to help with remembering anniversaries!). It was great to see people’s faces when they got both the engagement news and a wedding date at the same time!”

Danielle chose an exquisite Justin Alexander gown, bought from Elle Louise Bridal in Stoke on Trent, which she paired with a plain veil from Richard Designs, also via Elle Louise Bridal.

“I was struggling to really see anything I wanted to try on, when I spotted a woman through the curtain trying this dress on. I thought she looked gorgeous in it, but she was telling her friends that it just wasn’t what she was looking for. I asked the assistant if I could try it on and I loved it straight away.”

“Luckily the sample was in my size which always helps, and it was just what I was looking for – something pretty but relaxed and easy to wear. The taupe underskirt really warmed it up too and suited me much better than the ivory dresses I’d tried.”

“I went for a plain single-layer veil. I chose the lightest fabric they had and steered clear of any embellishments, and I think this worked well with the style of dress. I’m a bit of a diamante phobe.”

Danielle decided to do her own make-up, after an unsuccessful trial just a week before the wedding.

“If you can find a good, available make up artist for a Saturday in August with a week to go you’re a better woman than me! So off I went to a couple of make up counters, got a few tips from the most natural looking girls I could find, and treated myself to some new products. It was the best thing I could’ve done, I actually looked like me, which is always a bonus.”

“The hair was a lot more successful. The bridesmaids, my mum and I all went to Macleod Bradley in East Didsbury on the morning of the wedding. It was so lovely having the salon to ourselves and getting ready with plenty of space, rather than falling over each other at my house. I wanted natural, wavy hair, and we went for a plait theme for the bridesmaids, and they all chose how they’d like to wear it so it matched their own style. The salon also let me use their big bright mirrors to apply my make up after hearing all about my last minute panic!”

“The bridesmaids wore their own shoes and their dresses were from ASOS. Instead of letting a colour theme dictate what we could try, we had peach, pink, nude, floral all included in a trying-on session at my house. We chose the navy as it flattered all of their shapes beautifully. I had to buy a spare dress so the local tailor could use the extra fabric to lengthen two of them, however all of this cost combined was still less than purchasing custom made bridesmaid gowns. They all looked stunning on the day.” 

 

‘All You Need is Love’ by the Beatles played as the beautiful bride walked down the aisle with her dad. The couple chose many of the same verses for their vows and made sure to have input from their families in the ceremony.

“When the ceremony pack arrived from the council, Ian and I both went through the options for verses and vows and made a list of our favourites. When we matched them up we had picked many of the same things which made life easier!”

“We wanted our families to be involved in the ceremony, so Ian’s sister read Union by Robert Fulghum, and my brother prepared his own reading which left everyone grabbing for tissues.”

“My ring was from Goldsmiths, purely because I had clubcard vouchers I could trade up and spend in there! We got Ian’s from Wedding Rings Direct, an online retailer that sends you ring samples before you buy which was great for us. It meant that Ian, who has never worn jewellery, had the chance to keep the samples on for a couple of hours to see which fit was most comfortable for him. I’d definitely recommend those guys.”

“It’s hard to pick a favourite part of the day because I genuinely enjoyed it all so much. The most special part though was the ceremony. I’ve seen so many weddings where this part gets a bit lost and it can be too easy to focus on all of the other things that you need to plan, but walking down the aisle with my Dad to hear my husband promise to love me forever in front of everyone I care about is by far the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.”

Ian and Danielle went DIY for their wedding video. If you’ve been thinking of including one in your upcoming big day but don’t have the budget, this is a cost-friendly and often more personal option you might want to consider.

“We decided to DIY it for the wedding video, partly due to cost, and also because we weren’t too worried about having a facebook worthy, professionally edited feature. After hearing my mum talk about how she wishes she could remember more from her late dad’s speech at her own wedding, the key for us was just to capture the special moments.”

“We bought a half decent camcorder (around £200), tripod and a couple of SD cards and a friend of ours set it up and left it to run. We are really happy with the results, and on reflection, it meant that there weren’t two extra bodies trying to get a good shot in our tiny ceremony room.”

“Ian’s suit and tie was from Next, his shirt from Reiss, and shoes from Aldo. All of the groomsmen wore matching Next suits and looked great! We were expecting to have to pay a bit more for the men, but were really pleased with the fit and quality of the suits.”

The flower girls dresses were from Ted Baker at Debenhams and the floral garlands from ASOS – what little sweethearts!

Flowers were supplied by Didsbury Flower Lounge.

“Sian was brilliant at interpreting what we were looking for. She knew that when I said I wanted flowers that looked ‘relaxed’ I actually meant ‘hand picked’, and a few flicks through a Pinterest board and some sample flowers later we were booked! I was still blown away when the actual flowers arrived – how she’d managed to understand what I meant and improve on it so much amazes me. She also decorated Piccolino for us with similar flowers to the bouquets in empty jars we’d collected, and laid foliage across the tables.”

“We met the lovely Mike Plunkett at our one and only venture to a wedding show in Manchester. From the images he had on display, and the conversation we had with him, we could tell that he was right for us.”

“We were looking for a really natural set of photos that prioritised capturing everyone having fun and special moments, rather than arty shots of my shoes or hairbrush! We were delighted with Mike and the photography and have had countless comments on the images from guests. There are candid moments he has caught that will be treasured forever.”

The couple’s biggest challenge was transporting all of the guests from each venue, so they hired a vintage double decker bus for the day from Belle Vue Coaches – and this move kept the party vibe going throughout the day.

“After the ceremony Ian and I climbed on board with everyone and it was so lovely to have everyone all mixed together having fun as we moved on from each venue.”

“A friend of ours is a designer and created our stationery for us as a wedding gift. We had quite a lot to post out with our invitations as we had a menu along with RSVP card for guests to choose their meals, and as a lot of my family were travelling from Stoke on Trent for the wedding we put as much information as we could about the venues, taxis and local hotels.”

“With three venues to decorate, this could’ve easily gotten out of hand! Luckily The Old Parsonage is so beautiful it didn’t need more than some fairy lights (which decided to jam on strobe mode the day before), and a couple of balloons outside.

We had our florist decorate Piccolino as we much preferred the look of fresh flowers to sculpted table centrepieces, and Ian made our decorations for The Woodstock Arms by painting old beer bottles and filling them with flowers. We also made a Polaroid timeline of key dates in our relationship so far.”

“What was so great about choosing Piccolino for our wedding breakfast were the staff. They don’t as a rule have many weddings in their restaurant, so we could really tell that they were working hard to make sure everything went perfectly for us. The food was fantastic, and we were able to offer our guests a choice that we handpicked from the wider menu.”

“We also decided against putting wine on the table and instead guests could choose from a bar menu. Given that only two tables actually chose to order wine, I think it shows that most people prefer to have the option!”

“As favours, we had a little jar of bon bons and a scratch card for each adult, and made bags for the children with colouring pencils and toys to keep them occupied!”

“The place cards were hand-written by one of the bridesmaids and looked fantastic.”

The couple chose a selection of mouth-watering cakes from local baker And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon.

“I did the typical bride thing of not actually eating any of it, but they looked gorgeous set out in the venue, and the guests were raving about them.”

I simply adore this most beautiful story behind Danielle and Ian’s first dance song – one of those ‘meant to be’ moments.

“When I was little, my dad used to sing a song to me that for years I thought he had made up, ‘I love you yes I do ’cause I know that you love me too’. Then when I met Ian, he sang it to me out of the blue! One of the many ways I knew it was meant to be! Anyway, it wasn’t a song my Dad had made up, it’s a brilliant ska song called ‘Special Brew’ by Bad Manners, and we had that as our first dance. We wanted something upbeat, happy, and that would get everyone up with us and it did just that. I don’t even mind that it is actually about beer.”

“A good friend of Ian’s is a DJ in Manchester and provided the music for the evening. We gave him a playlist of some of our favourite songs, he added the rest, and the dance floor was packed all night.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I once read some advice for a bride to be that said ‘let your husband have a say in a few things, give him a little job to do so he feels involved. After all it’s his wedding too!’ I think that planning your wedding together is a total no brainer and I would’ve never dreamed of being so in control that I could only spare Ian a ‘little job’!”

“It meant we were both proud of how the day went, we both knew exactly what was going on, and were both so excited to see our plans come to fruition.”

I totally agree Danielle – the best bits of my own wedding were the ‘wedmin weekends’ with my hubby. It drew us closer together and I loved seeing that he was just as excited about many elements (like the cake!) as me.

If you’ve taken a fancy for Danielle’s divine dress, be sure to take a look at our archives for even more Justin Alexander loveliness.

Have a groovy weekend!

Love Jo -xo-