One Thousand Paper Cranes and a Suzanne Neville Gown for a Relaxed and Colourful Marquee Wedding

Different things stand out for every wedding- sometimes its an incredible dress, an amazing venue or beautiful details.  Sometimes its just the pure simplicity of it all.  Everything about today’s wedding is just beautiful but the main thing that jumps out for me in these photos is the bride’s fabulous smile, which doesn’t falter all day long.  Its all about the happiness here and I absolutely love it.

Sophie, a commercial manager at a global entertainment company and owner of lifestyle blog sophiecliff and her beau Sam, who is a musician, married on the 24th June 2017 at St Seiriol’s church in Penmon, Anglesey, followed by a reception at the beautiful Tros Yr Afon.   The couple met at a gig in Leeds and Sam proposed while on holiday in Brooklyn, New York, a place which is very special to them both.

“Sam grew up on Anglesey and his parents still live on the island, so we have lots of happy memories there.  We really wanted our guests to experience its beauty.”

Photography by Jenna Woodward

“We wanted our day to be a very laid-back affair and I didn’t want to add any unnecessary stress, so we decided not to have a fixed colour scheme and just keep everything bright and cheery.  Everything else kind of flowed from there.  We tried to stay very true to ourselves and incorporate as much of our personalities as possible.”“It was important to us that we could work with the suppliers we wanted and create a day that was very personal to us, and Tros Yr Afon was the perfect venue for that.  We were able to have a marquee on the lawn with all of our own suppliers, but still had the support of the team at the venue.  They were an absolute joy to work with.”

On her feet Sophie wore a pair of beautiful cutout heels by Kurt Geiger, which were a gift from her sister.  Her fabulous green foliage crown was by Blossom’s House of Flowers, while for scent she chose a combination of Orange Blossom and Nectarine Blossom and Honey by Jo Malone.

“This combination was extra special to me as it was a little nod to my cousin, Blossom, who passed away last year.”

Sophie looked beautiful in Ornella by Suzanne Neville, purchased from the Suzanne Neville showroom in Cheshire along with her veil.

“I had imagined I’d wear something lacy, floaty and long sleeved, but this style really didn’t suit me.  As soon as I put the Ornella dress on I felt like me and I loved how it worked with my figure and how clean and classy it looked.  It was made to measure and I even had my first fitting with Suzanne herself which was a total privilege.”

With the simple lines of her dress, Sophie was keen to keep accessories minimal, so opted for her mum’s diamond necklace, her nan’s wedding ring  and a pair of sparkly earrings from Anthropologie.

“My gorgeous sister and maid of honour, Molly, gifted me with a beautiful bangle on the morning of the wedding from Tom Design.  It was so dainty and pretty, plus it had the date of our wedding on it.”

“I had seven bridesmaids who all have different styles and figures, so we decided to go for separates with skirts were from Zara and cami tops from Matalan.  My sister, who was my maid of honour, wore a sparkly top from Coast.  They all looked gorgeous.”

Sophie’s cousins, Raymond and Remi, did her hair and make up and made her both look and feel a million dollars.

Sam’s suit was from Hugo Boss and he paired it with tan brogues from Jeffery West and a bow tie from Selected Homme.  He accessorised with a pair of braces from John Lewis and some jazzy watermelon socks.

“I wanted plenty of flowers and luckily my insanely talented cousin is a florist and owns Blossom’s House of Flowers.  She chose the most beautiful selection and really brought the marquee to life.  I loved that the blooms were all quite wild and the styling complimented our laid-back vibes perfectly.”

“I was absolutely over the moon with my beautiful bouquet – I wanted something quite wild and rustic and what Hayley created was better than anything I could have imagined.”

The two little bridesmaids wore dresses from Monsoon, while the page boy sported tailored shorts and a waistcoat from Matalan.

“My Dad walked me down the aisle and it was one of my favourite moments of the whole day.  I can vividly remember him telling me to take every moment in and to slow down.  We walked to Staralfur by Sigur Ros – it’s a gorgeous piece of music.”

Sophie and Sam chose three readings- On Your Wedding Day” read by Sophie’s two young cousins, 1 Corinthians 13, read by Sophie’s mum and ‘A Vow’ by Wendy Cope, Sophie’s favourite poet, read by Sam’s mum.

To cement their vows, the newlyweds exchanged rings, which were made in their hometown of Leeds by Form.

“Saying our vows was our favourite part of the day.  We didn’t expect it to be as special as it was, but we were both beaming throughout the whole ceremony.  It’s hard to describe the feeling of saying those words out loud to each other in front of all your loved ones, but it will forever be one of the happiest moments of my life.”

“Our photographer was the incredible Jenna Woodward.  Jenna and her husband Ewan were so lovely to work with and put us all at complete ease.  So many guests commented on how they barely even noticed they were there and yet the moments they captured are just absolutely beautiful.”

“We were keen to try and just capture the moment and that is exactly what Jenna and Ewan did – we both laughed and cried looking back through the photos as we remembered all of the little details of the day.”

“Having a marquee wedding meant that we had a pretty blank canvas in terms of decor and I was keen to make it look as pretty as possible.   While I was researching decorations I stumbled across the colourful paper cranes and fell in love.”

“I then learnt that there’s a Japanese tradition that says if you have 1000 paper cranes at your wedding then your marriage will be blessed and I was sold.  My mum and I folded them between us and she hung them.  They looked fab against the white backdrop of the marquee and were definitely a talking point.”

Catering was the work of Outside Food, as well as family and friends, while for evening food The Pizza Maker serving wood fired pizzas.

“Our favourite restaurant is a little Turkish place in our village, and so we decided to serve our guests a Turkish feast.  The food was served sharing style which worked well for getting everybody chatting, and was delicious.”

“We had a dessert table and two of my friends, Fiona and Yen, whipped up the most amazing array of treats, from salted caramel tarts to brownies to Pimms jelly.”

“My amazing Dad made our wedding cake and my cousin and auntie decorated it for us on the morning of the wedding.  I bought the personalised cake topper from a seller called Sophie Victoria Joy from NotOnTheHighStreet.”

“Sam is a musician so weaving good music into our day was really important to him. We asked two of our friends to DJ and the dance floor was full all night.   Later we switched over to a silent disco (Silent Disco Direct) and made a playlist each.  We had such a laugh watching everyone dance to different songs.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Do as much planning as you can up front – I made a running order for the day and the set up which meant that on the wedding day I could relax.

Stick to your guns with what you want – so many times Sam and I were tempted to stray from our vision and take a more traditional approach, but we wouldn’t have had the day we had if we’d done that.  Keeping things personal and informal set the tone for our guests and I think it helped everyone relax and enjoy themselves more.”

“Finally, try as hard as you can to soak it all in.  A lot of people told me to focus on faces as I walked down the aisle and this helped me remember the moment as vividly as possible.“

So many thanks to Sophie and Sam for sharing, I love every minute of this relaxed and colourful day.  By the way, it was so lovely to read that Sam and Sophie got so much inspiration and confidence to do their own thing from the blog and also our Love My Dress Facebook group.  If you’re not already a member, please come and join us!

Much love,

Shona x