Stylish Beach Wedding in Wales with a Jenny Packham Ruby Dress | Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

Stylish Beach Wedding in Wales with a Jenny Packham Ruby Dress | Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

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WWW readers Emma-Kate and Dylan Saturday married on the 11 th May 2013 holding their wedding reception at Rosedew Farm, Wales.

Being a jewellery designer, Emma-Kate had an idea of the type of wedding she wanted to have. She designed her own jewellery, hired a photographer she worked with previously and found her dress in a boutique next to her business premises.

Emma-Kate wore the beautiful Ruby by Jenny Packham with Jimmy Choo heels and traditional veil. While Dylan opted for a tuxedo from Marks and Spencer's. I love the Lilies, ice cream dessert and the fab transport. Gorgeous.

Thanks so very much to Jake Morley for sharing his brilliant images with us.

THE PROPOSAL | We were on holiday in Italy and taking a boat tour of the Amalfi coast in September 2012. We stopped in Positano and completely fell in love with the place. We ended up getting a table in a fabulous open air restaurant cut into the cliffs, Music on the Rocks, very impromptu! There was an orchestral concert happening on the beach so there was an amazing atmosphere. Dylan proposed there a cocktail. It was just perfect. We'd been together over 8 years at the time and had discussed the possibility of getting married but this was still such a fabulous surprise! There was no getting down on one knee with a ring though! I'm a jewellery designer so it was discussed I'd design my own ring but the proprietors of the restaurant gave us a cd, as there is a club attached to the restaurant, so I've got a memento to keep of where the proposal happened!

THE VISION | We both wanted a stylish but relaxed day with all our friends and family around to celebrate, with lots of dancing, fun and frolics. I joked the look was James Bond visits Brighton Beach!

THE PLANNING PROCESS |We wanted to get married in the first half of the year as my busiest period of running my jewellery company is the run up to Christmas. In January 2013, we started looking at venues and getting an idea of where we wanted to get married and how much it was going to cost. We were thinking of planning to have it the following year as didn't expect anything to be available.

It was only when our parents suggested we look at getting married in church that everything fell into place pretty quickly. I didn't even consider a church marriage as we're not church goers (apart from going when we were at school) but we went to chat with the Reverend in Llantwit Major and there was a possibility we could get married in St.Illtuds Church. Dylan's sister Awen, and her family, lived in the same village so I could reside there for a few weeks to be eligible for us to both be married in that church. I was apprehensive at first but Reverend Butler was so lovely and laid back and the Church has the most amazing cultural history and presence that it all felt right. On the same day we went to look at a local barn that had recently been renovated to cater for wedding receptions with cottages and lodges for accommodation, Rosedew Farm, in Llantwit Major. Meeting Gaynor, the owner, made us sure we'd picked the right venue to hold a celebration. She was laid back but with lots of great suggestions too.

It was all very surreal but within a day we found out the Reverend, church, reception, caterers, Five Star in Penarth, and photographer, Jake Morley, were all available on 11 th May, only 3 and a bit months away! We jumped at the chance as it was meant to be.

I must admit I got my 'wed-head' on and completely engrossed myself in planning! My studio is based in Cowbridge, really close to Llantwit, so it meant I could arrange things easily and pop out when necessary.

It is above High Society, Wales's top bridal boutique and they have the most amazing bridal dresses. The dress was the next part of planning the wedding and I didn't realise you need to allow at least 12 weeks to order a dress and so I had to choose pretty quickly!

The rest of the planning was the decorative details, invites and the seating plan...no one ever told us how long that takes! Pinterest became my best friend for ideas!

BUDGET | Our budget was £10,000. It seemed a lot at the time but it sure did go! We had a spreadsheet of costs to keep track and once the main things like, church, venue, dress, catering, accommodation, photographer and rings were accounted for it didn't leave much over. But with our creative sides we came up with lots of fun and personal touches without blowing our budget.

I obviously made our wedding rings! But I called upon the services of a dear friend and one of the most talented engravers in Britain to engrave inside our rings, which made them even more special. I also made all the wedding day jewellery, using my Calla Lily collection as inspiration to complement my dress and also for my bridesmaid and personalised cufflinks for the ushers.

I'm used to designing and creating printed material for my business so with the use of Photoshop I designed and had our invites, order of service and thank you cards printed. I couldn't find what I wanted so this was the obvious choice for us and saved us a little bit too but the best thing was they were unique!

The only part I should've got a specialist in for was the flowers. I took it upon myself to organise this and although it was a learning experience and I quite enjoyed it I really didn't have the time to do it! I went to the local market and ordered all the flowers for the church, which I paid the church ladies to arrange. For the bouquets, button holes and corsages, I decided I'd make my own with a few tutorials on YouTube! Fortunately I engaged the services of my sister-in-law. I wouldn't recommend it to every bride to be, as it has to be done the day before the ceremony, but it was fun.

One of the things we really compromised on was the cake. We just couldn't justify spending money on this so I came up with an idea just to get a couple of ready-made white iced sponge tiers from M&S and completed it by painting a couple of wooden cake toppers purchased for very little on eBay. They are one of my most treasured items from our day - they now take pride of place on our dresser and I receive lots of comments on them. To make them personalised I painted mine holding a hammer with an anvil at the back of my dress and Dylan was painted holding a rugby ball and a Bafta award.

THE VENUE | The venue was Rosedew Farm, in Llantwit Major, run Gaynor and Rhodri Davies. A converted barn with very high ceilings, natural stone work and surrounded by countryside and the pretty cottages for guests to stay in. Everything was onsite, the kitchens for the caterers, a separate bar/lounge area adjoining and a nice terrace entrance. It was a completely blank canvas and we were allowed to do practically anything we wanted, as long as it could be removed the next day. It was also close to the beach where we really wanted our photos to take place.

When you hire the venue you take it on Friday and Saturday, so it means that guests can really come and enjoy a weekend of celebrations, and it means that we really got to catch up with friends. The beauty of it was that there was also plenty of accommodation near the venue so no one had a journey at the end of the night. Some were even ferried back to their lodge by Gaynor!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Well, this was a hurdle for me to get over initially as I seemed a bit lost in the sea of dresses available! But for my sanity I had the assistance of my very patient sister-in-law, Awen. Even though there was an amazing bridal boutique directly beneath me I still had a look around at the high just to check that I was looking at all the possibilities. Sometimes there is too much choice but what I found was the huge difference in quality from high street to designer boutique. I had the perception previously that it is a dress that you only wear once in your lifetime and so spending a fortune didn't compute. But I soon learnt that this was the most important dress of my life and it would be captured on photos that were going to be around for my lifetime so it became a real investment. Also I found the fit on the high street just didn't suit my shape but the designer ones seemed to fit much better and with the help of the talented seamstress, Rhiannon Jane Brown, that High Society used I had a made to measure dress.

FINDING THE DRESS | I knew I wanted a dress that was floaty and not corseted as I just felt too claustrophobic in a boned bodice. Jenny Pakham was the obvious choice and I very quickly found the perfect dress that embodied exactly what I wanted, a low back, v-neck, deco-embellished, gorgeously floaty dress (think Ginger Rogers!) called Ruby. The only problem was the timeframe...getting a designer dress takes about 12 weeks and I literally had day in which to order it for guaranteed delivery!

The rest of the accessories just fell into place when I ordered the dress. I was making the jewellery, inspired by the Calla Lilies from my bouquet, and I actually opted to go full-on-bride with a veil! That surprised me but it really completed the look. When else do you get the opportunity to wear a veil?

My mum then instigated getting my wedding shoes. We planned a shopping day in London and I thought I was helping her get an outfit. I told mum I was planning on getting married in flipflops and was soon whisked in to Harvey Nichols and straight to Jimmy Choo... all I can say was wow I never thought I would walk down the aisle in a pair of Choos! (they had to be wedges as I seriously can't walk let alone dance in heels!) They were the best investment to date as I've worn them loads of times since and they are truly fabulous.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Initially we had a chuckle that Dylan would get married in shorts but eventually he chose to wear a tuxedo which I loved (very James Bond!) and it went really well with my glam art deco style dress. We also liked the idea of inviting all our guests to dress in Black Tie so all the guys looked handsome in their tuxes!

Dylan chose a suit and shoes in M&S which was perfect (and a perfect price too!)

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We really considered how we wanted the ceremony to proceed but there are certain parameters with getting married in church but that was actually a blessing as the format was there for us to select what we wanted and add our personal touches.

Dylan gave me a brief to design the order of service, inspired by an old school Wales v England rugby program. We both love rugby and with me coming from Brighton and Dylan being a passionate Welshman it seemed the obvious choice. As a last minute thought we indulged in a male voice choir which were very entertaining. The boys from the Maesteg Gleemen Male Voice Choir did not disappoint! We had traditional rugby sung hymns, Jerusalem and Bread of Heaven with Calon Lân. It almost sounded like a match day in church!

We had three readings which were read by friends, with excerpts from Song of Solomon, Corinthians and a poem, 'I will be here' by Steven Curtis Chapman, which had me welling up.

The most special job of the day was given to my one and only brother, Carl, who stepped up to give me away. It meant so much for me to have him do this as he's always been there for me. I think he was more nervous than I was though but we had a giggle walking up the aisle.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My first and only choice was to have my teenage niece, Cerys, as my one and only bridesmaid. I remember I always wanted to be a bridesmaid when I was younger and never had the opportunity and I have such a great relationship with my niece that it felt really special. Cerys was perfect on the day and even made me a 'getting ready' mixed tape!

I asked my girlfriends to help me with other tasks like hen organising, making props, readings etc.

As for the dress, we opted for a floaty knee skimming dress from Dessy. I really wanted the colour to reflect the railings along Brighton beachfront, which was a kind of sea turquoise and found the perfect colour, 'Spa'.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Well our first choice was the very talented Jake Morley. He had approached me a few years ago when I had just set up a studio in Pontcanna and he was doing a photo shoot for a local magazine looking for alternative outlets in the surrounding area. We had a chat and he took a couple of sample shots of me working at the bench. When I received them I loved them and use them to this day. He captured me so naturally and I loved his style of photography. I've used his skills in other shoots for business and when it came to our wedding it was a natural choice as we both wanted to feel at ease with being photographed and not feel staged.

He captured every detail without us knowing he was really there. The only one-on-one shoot was down at Llantwit beach which was so windy I nearly lost my veil! These pictures were amazing and very dramatic, just a tad bit cold!

THE DETAILS & DECOR | The decorative details were the most fun! I had hours poring over Pinterest to get inspiration. We simply wanted to keep it personal.

One of my best friends Kirsty ( byKirsty.com!) helped me with decorating the venue the day before and also made a Kissing Booth! It was such a personal touch and everyone loved having their snapshot taken with a few of the fun props.

Our theme was loose but we loved movies and the beach, so everyone had their place name & favour as a stick of Brighton Rock with a name tag. When it came to table plans, we gathered quite a few bottles of bubbly and I went about spray painting some with blackboard paint, and writing names on in white marker for the table plans, then arranging them on the dresser in the bar area for people to discover. The table centrepieces were bottles sprayed silver with hot pink Lilies in them set around a mound of pebbles, and a dvd case of the movie table name next to it. We had everything from the King and I to True Romance, defining films that were personal to a time in our lives.

One thing we hadn't thought about was transport... Dylan's other sister, Enfys and her partner came to the rescue and kindly offered to transport us on the day with their a rare vintage VW camper, called Yurgi! It was beautifully decorated inside and out and became a great backdrop to some of our photos throughout the day.

Our food for the reception centred around platters and was inspired by my upbringing in the Caribbean so we had some quite spicy food with lots of cooling accompaniments. And the best of all was the dessert, straight from our favourite ice cream parlour in Swansea, Joe's Ice cream, with lots of sprinkles and chocolate flakes!

THE HONEYMOON | We decided to have a mini moon the day after the weeding in our favourite peaceful getaway, The Saracens Head, in a tiny hamlet by the river Wye. Here we enjoyed opening all our cards lazily in bed whilst also trying to organise a longer honeymoon.

We both liked the idea of celebrating it in the United States and settled on a 2 week holiday visiting 3 very different cities that we'd never been to, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York. It was a complete unforgettable blast and found that Americans love newlyweds and were really accommodating, especially in Vegas!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | Well there are two memorable moments. Both polar opposites to one another. One happened the day before, when I was setting up the venue and the other happened at the altar.

The day before I was rushing round with flowers and attending to the final details whilst waiting for guests to arrive. I wondered why there was a police car around the entrance to the Barns and the owner came in to calmly explain there was a dead body by one of the lodges and that the police were investigating whether it was a crime scene. I was in total shock but found out the lady had died whilst walking her dog in the early hours and had forgotten to take an inhaler. It was so sad but I couldn't let it affect the mood and I was determined our guests didn't find out as it could've really spooked them and just had to get on with it. Fortunately the police left just before our guests arrived.

The second moment happened whilst making the vows. Now, I've been to a lot of weddings where it is usually announced to turn off ones phone. Our Reverend didn't bother saying this as assumed we were all old enough and wise enough. Shame the Best man forgot to switch his off and when reaching in his pocket to get the rings he 'accidentally' turned his music on and blasted out some manic dance track. Jake the photographer captured my features perfectly before and after, from complete shock and fury to absolute giggles... it was eventually seen as pretty hilarious. The congregation thought it was a set up but it was most definitely not and it certainly lightened the mood and the Reverend was patient.

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | It can seem daunting organising a wedding but they generally follow the same format, the best thing to do is add those personal touches and always keep in mind what you both want from the day. Keep a spreadsheet of costs but have a buffer as there are always the little extras that you just forget about! I totally had a 'wed-head' on and was on a mission as it was the biggest thing I've organised in my life but I just had to run with it together with the help from our friends, family and of course, my husband, Dylan, I couldn't have done it without them!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Jewellery | Emma-Kate Francis

Photographer | Jake Morley

Dress | High Society Cowbridge

Venue | Rosedew Farm, Llantwit Major

Catering | Five Star, Penarth

Ice Cream | Joe's Ice Cream

Flowers | P J S Flowers, Bessemer Road, Cardiff

Decoration details | Whittingtons

Mini Moon | The Saracens Head, Symonds Yat

Honey Moon | booked through Trailfinders

Wooden Peg Doll Cake Toppers | Ebay

Cake (and Suits!) | Marks and Spencer

So much style!

Thanks so so much to Emma-Kate and Dylan for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou

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