WWW readers Emma and James envisioned a nostalgic yet fresh day for their June wedding celebration. They wanted to combine their love of colour, textiles and graphic design.

Choosing Trereife House, Cornwall to host their wedding over the weekend was one great decision, set close by to the beautiful coastline. Emma found an ethereal dress by Benjamin Roberts and wore a hydrangea hair piece she made herself. James went for a grey three piece suit from Next which looked very sharp indeed.

I love the subtle yellow colour scheme, from the lanterns to the Craspedia in the wedding flowers.

Thanks so much to Ali Paul for sharing his exquisite photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… Christmas Day 2011. Porthcurno Beach (also where the wedding photos were taken).

We went on a morning dog walk to our favourite beach on Christmas morning. We decided to only do small presents that could fit inside a stocking (that I made the night before!) and in the tip of the toe was a tiny trinket box holding my grandmothers Edwardian ring. It was completely amazing and surreal.

http://emmeloucreates.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/magical-christmas.html

The Vision for the Day… Relaxed tradition with fresh pops of colour, mixing James’ love of graphic design with my love of textile design and colour with a touch of nostalgia.

The Planning Process… The planning process was a little stressful at times as the wedding was the week after my degree show, I was working part time and we decided to re-home a 10 month old beagle in January (we already have a cat and a dog). But I learnt heaps about time management! I made a planner out of an old book, some book rings, lace and paper. I sewed some plastic wallets and popped in some business card holders from Paperchase. I carried that book everywhere and it was great to be able to sketch ideas in, and keep everything together in one place. It makes a great keepsake too. I had multiple Excel spread sheets, which helped keep an eye on the budget and guest lists etc…

The DIY elements of planning were (mostly) completed in the Summer and Spring holidays from University.

We took dance lessons for a few months, and learnt classic rock and roll steps with a lot of spins! We had so much fun and it was lovely stealing moments before breakfast and after work for a dance around the kitchen.

The Venue… The Venue was an easy decision. James and I had visited Trereife House 3 years before our big day, for Cornwall Design Fair and James planted the seed saying if we were to get married here (we always thought of getting married in Italy) that it would be the perfect place, and he was right! The house and the grounds are breathtakingly beautiful without being overstated.

Most of the wedding party and parents stayed the night before in the house, as we had exclusive use from Friday- Sunday. This made the world of difference as there was no stress of travelling to the venue, and we were able to enjoy our time together.

The Dress + Accessories… Benjamin Roberts 2263 Chiffon pleated dress with additional straps made by my seamstress. I bought my veil on etsy, even though it would have been easy to make, I chose a few things that were important to me to DIY and bought the rest in due to completing my Textile design degree.

I made my hydrangea petal hairpiece and the only jewellery I wore (except my rings) were a pair of owl earrings my sister gifted me years ago, with sapphire eyes for my something blue. I also made my garter with antique lace and beaded it to match my dress.

I struggled to find heels that were comfortable and fell in love with a pair of pewter leather t bar shoes from Bertie. I wore these for the ceremony and the first dances, but popped my pumps on, that I hand embroidered and beaded the previous summer. A little nod to my favourite movie, Father of the Bride, complete with sidekicks logo. They were so comfy and I was able to wear them to the beach.

Finding the Dress… I had seen a Benjamin Roberts dress when I was 17 that I loved…fast forward 8 years and I was dreaming of an antique lace gown. I tried a few lace dresses on soon after getting engaged and was really disappointed that they didn’t suit me! I was planning to take a trip to London to search for the perfect dress, but also given my height (just shy of 5ft 9”) I would struggle to find one long enough. I started to try others on and fell in love with chiffon. Whilst visiting James’ parents up country I went into a Bridal shop that stocked a dress I had liked to show them. Despite not having it I pulled out a few, plus one I didn’t like but I thought the beading was pretty and tried them on. Most looked terrible, but as I put on the dress I didn’t like, It instantly felt right and as I stood on the little platform I was so excited the consultant had to stop me from falling off. Doris Day’s secret Love started to play in the shop and I knew that was the dress I’d marry James in. I didn’t look to anyone for approval or advice and placed my order over the telephone when I got home to Cornwall. My parents were living in Vienna at the time so my mum didn’t see the dress until I had bought it!  Despite never wanting a strapless dress, or beading, and having to be lace, I’d gone for the complete opposite, as you do!

Groom’s Attire… James and the best man went to Bristol to shop for suits, and chose to buy instead of rent, as he wanted a more informal style. After going to every shop possible he chose a grey 3 piece suit from Next which really suited his personality and our wedding style. His shoes and belt were also from Next.

The Readings + Music… We didn’t want a long formal ceremony so opted out of readings, which was the right choice for us.

My Bridesmaids, Dad and I walked into the intro to Old Pine by Ben Howard; I made James wait a little for the key change after the girls walked in to make our entrance. We had some of our favourite songs playing for the guest’s arrival and signing of the register, which were covers by the Vitamin String Quartet. Our exit song was meant to be Mother we just can’t get enough (edited version) by the New Radicals, but the lovely Will played one of the VSQ songs instead which actually was really in keeping with the ceremony and more touching than our original plan.

We had live music from Holly Turton after dinner, who sung our first dance, I really Need love – the Bees which blended into My Girl – the Temptations for the father daughter dance. It was so much fun and was lovely to dance and chat to before the retro DJ – Honkytonk Angel in the evening when we really let our hair down!

Beautiful Bridesmaids… We had three beautiful Bridesmaids, two of which were our sisters and skype bridesmaids as they live in London and Oxford: my make up artist sister Rebekah and James sister Emily. Kate, our mutual friend who’s married to the best man was our local girl. I knew I wanted pleated dresses, in our colour scheme, which turned out to be such a headache, especially as they are all so tiny! But luckily two of them I bought last year, and the other was a last minute find (we had a dress that wasn’t working) called Emma and the only pleated dress in the same shop, Oasis. The shoes were on sale from Mango.

The Flowers… We wanted to incorporate both structure and soft delicate textures in our wedding flowers, and Caroline Crabb from Fleurtations understood exactly what we wanted. We had craspedia to match the lanterns and bring in the pop of colour, silver brunia matched another bridesmaid and the suits, and the frilly carnations and babies breath were a nod to my parents wedding flowers, as it was their 28th wedding anniversary that day. I love peonies and hydrangeas so they also made an appearance along with green amaranthus. We absolutely loved them!

The Cake… James mum made the cake for us. We sent her a little mood board of what we liked, but ended up giving her full control and it tasted delicious. We had a selection of cakes from a local bakery and sweets which guests nibbled on all night.

Your Photographer… We had arranged to meet a photographer we found locally, when a girl I was studying with at University sent me her boyfriend’s website link, and we were floored! Ali’s style was beautifully natural, and he seemed to capture the magic and emotion in every photo we saw. After meeting over a coffee we booked him and it was the easiest, best choice we made. He had everyone at ease, and felt like a wedding guest.

Our photos still make me cry, and he’s truly captured more moments than we remember.

The Details + Decor… We loved putting our wedding together, and whilst I got carried away with so many DIY projects, and ideas we decided to strip back and keep it simple, focusing on a few key details and most importantly, reflecting us.

I was approached through my blog by an illustrator who, after seeing we were engaged told me she did custom wedding stationary. I’d wanted to do it myself, but having far too much degree work we commissioned her to design us a wedding ‘logo’ of sorts. I am a night owl, and James a morning lark, so Holly incorporated the birds with our wedding colours and flowers, which we then used on everything from the invites, to table numbers and badges for the guests to wear and keep. We also asked her to paint our fur babies for us and I transferred them onto cushions.  Everyone loved them and it felt like they were there with us. We have the original artwork hanging above our bed.

I spent some time gathering photos from the past 10 years of our relationship, incorporating friends and family and created some photo transfers onto votive candle holders, for each table.

I painted cake toppers and we made little favours out of test tubes, with ice cream flavoured jelly beans, instructing our guests to experiment with the flavours as a sweet reminder of how we fell in love in physics class over 10 years ago. People loved them, and it was just enough cheesiness to keep me happy!

Our family and friends were still painting our signs, table plan, and order of service the night before the wedding, which were constructed by my dad and James out of old pallets. They were a true labour of love.

Elle from Inspire Hire hung the lanterns for us, which we loved! And provided the seating area which was lovely for evening guests to hang out in whilst the band was setting up and people to rest their tired dancing feet.

The Honeymoon… We received incredible contributions towards our honeymoon from our friends and family as wedding gifts, and are planning to backpack around the West Coast of Canada on our first year anniversary; something we’ve wanted to do since we were 18. It’s lovely to have something to plan and look forward to.

Memorable Moments… We were lucky enough to have the house and grounds exclusively for the weekend, which led to many memorable moments. Watching our friends and family working hard the night before to make everything perfect for us was really memorable as was having a last minute change of mind about the styling of my dress, and myself and my 3 bridesmaids pinning me and stitching at midnight! Having some time with my mum the morning of the wedding as we went to have our hair done and of course walking down the aisle with my dad, seeing my best friend who would be my husband was the most amazing moment. Spending time on the beach James asked me to marry him was amazing. The whole day was full of so much love and the happiest memories.

Advice for Other Couples… Don’t feel that you have to have something, or get caught up in tradition.  Prioritise projects, and if something isn’t done, don’t stress on it! As long as you are having fun, your guests will be too!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Ali Paul Photography http://www.alipaul.com

Trereife House http://www.trereifepark.co.uk/

Fleurtations  – Caroline Crabb http://www.fleurtationscornwall.com/

Miss Tea – Catering http://misstea.co.uk/

Coast 2 Coast Marquees http://www.coast2coastmarquees.co.uk/

Elle Inspire Hire http://www.inspire-hire.co.uk/

Holly Exley illustration http://www.hollyexley.com/

The Bridal House http://www.bridalwearaylesbury.co.uk/

Rebekah Lidstone – makeup http://rebekahlidstone-makeup.co.uk/

 

Oh my, just the most touching of wedding images. Thanks so much to Emma and James for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today. I do so love it when i get to feature WWW readers :-) XOXO Lou