Danielle & Christiaan's Contemporary Classic wedding at Coombe Lodge with Chevrons & Succulents by Louise Beukes Styling and Belle & Beau Photography | b.loved weddings | UK Wedding Blog & Inspiration for Pretty Contemporary Weddings | Wedding Planner & Stylist

Danielle & Christiaan's Contemporary Classic wedding at Coombe Lodge with Chevrons & Succulents by Louise Beukes Styling and Belle & Beau Photography | b.loved weddings | UK Wedding Blog & Inspiration for Pretty Contemporary Weddings | Wedding Planner & Stylist

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Danielle & Christiaan's Contemporary Classic English Wedding

Written by: louise

Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2014

To say I'm excited to share today is a bit of an understatement!! It's FINALLY time to share the wedding(s!!!) of our gorgeous Real Life Bride Danielle to her fiancé Christiaan, captured by one of my very favourite fine art photographers, Holly at Belle & Beau Photography. It's been over a year since these two got engaged and started sharing their wedding planning journey on b.loved, from their hilarious engagement story (involving a pie!) to the difficulties of planning an overseas wedding and their gorgeous winter-y engagement shoot showcasing the groom's obsession with Polaroid cameras!

The inspiration for their day started with this chevrons & succulents mood board which I created especially for Danni, and ended in not one but two magical celebrations in both the UK and South Africa. Today I get to share their contemporary classic UK wedding on a stunning summer's day at Coombe Lodge in the beautiful Somerset countryside. They exchanged vows in the sunshine after sneaking in a first look with their photographer Holly from Belle & Beau (yay!!) and celebrated with friends and family in a stylish reception. There is just SO much to say about their day - from the chevron details that appeared throughout the stationery and framed prints incorporating their favourite romantic quotes by Knots & Kisses, classic clouds of white hydrangeas created by Liz at Blue Sky Flowers to the contemporary succulent favours (a sweet detail included in honour of my own South African wedding where Danni was a bridesmaid!) and DIY details. Yet, for me this wedding is mega special, as not only did I get to share Danielle & Christiaan's story right here on the blog, but also as their wedding stylist, guest and sister-in-law!! But enough from me, here's the lovely Danni with the story of their day...

After the engagement our very first decision was whether to have the wedding in England or South Africa. I ended up being the luckiest bride and had two special days! We had our wedding in England followed by a blessing in South Africa. For our wedding day in England I wanted to create a classic but contemporary look. Our approach to searching for venues wasn't quite the norm, being in South Africa and planning a wedding in the UK we did a lot of research online and once we had narrowed it down to 2 venues we sent my Mum & Dad to view them for us. They then sent us videos back to watch and as soon as we saw Coombe Lodge we knew it was perfect for us. We booked it and only then went to view it in December before our wedding in June. When we saw it we knew we had made the perfect choice. It's a stunning country house set in beautiful gardens with views over the Blagdon Lakes. For us it ticked all the boxes, we wanted to a country house with a bright, modern feeling inside. It has retained a lot of it original features such as the oak panelling and doorways, and offers luxury accommodation which was important to us as it meant our English and South African family could all stay together. There is also the option to have to ceremony inside or our and we were blessed with the weather to hold the ceremony outside. I found my dress at Pirouette in Exeter, after a fairly quick dress search in the UK with my mum {read about it here}. It's beautiful design by Maggie Sottero, and I added the laced bolero and the button detailing down the back of the dress. When I look at the photographs I am still in love with the beautiful lace and bead detailing. I was so lucky to get to wear my dress twice, in England and South Africa! For my hair and make up I wanted quite a classic look so chose to have my hair in an up-do and kept the make up quite natural looking. The bridesmaids wore navy dresses from Debut at Debenhams. They chose the dress and shoes that suited them rather than every one wearing matching dresses and shoes. Christiaan's wore a bespoke suit that he had made for the wedding and the Groomsmen wore their own navy suits. We chose to do a 'first look' with Holly, this was a really magical moment. While it's not traditional to see each before the ceremony as soon as we heard about a first look we knew we wanted to do it. As a couple it gives you a private, intimate moment together that is just for you. Holly has given us the most special gift, lifelong memories of our very special day. The colour palette naturally came together from my love of white flowers. I still don't know where it came from but from the outset it was really the only detail I knew, I wanted only white flowers with lots of greenery. And then to that I decided to add the colour navy. This created the very classic look that I wanted to achieve. The overall style was classic and elegant with contemporary details. I love the navy chevron design that we incorporated into the day; it added quite a striking design to the stationery through to the décor on the day. I was fortunate enough to be a b.loved bride so from the beginning was able to bounce ideas and get inspiration from Louise. She was able to guide me and recommend suppliers; it was through b.loved I found our photographer, table runner supplier, florist and stationer. On the day not only was Louise a guest (now my sister-in-law!) but was also our wedding stylist. So on the day while I was getting ready Louise and her team (and her husband!) were working their magic and the results were incredibly pretty! Our florist was Liz from Blue Sky Flowers. I knew I liked white and cream flowers and I also knew that I wanted to give succulents as favours so gave quite a straight forward brief to Liz - white flowers, plenty of greenery and succulents! I wanted the flowers to be quite contemporary, I didn't want any traditional sprays in the middle of the table instead opted for a variety of smaller arrangements on each table. On the day I was absolutely blown away by the flowers, Liz interpreted what I wanted and more! My bouquet was simply stunning and the bridesmaids had gorgeous hydrangea bouquets. A super cute detail on the day was the flower wand for my flower girl Chloe! For our invitations we chose a bespoke set from Knots & Kisses and Nikki also designed our posters and guest book. The chevron design ran through all three and the posters included quotes from our favourite songs as well as maps of England and South Africa. For the tables Louise found the navy chevron runners at The Sweet Hostess, these added the perfect contrast to the white flowers. For our favours a family friend grew 80 succulents for us and potted them in miniature terracotta pots. My Dad's partner made navy chevron name flags my Godfather who is a calligrapher hand wrote the names which acted as place cards. My Dad's partner also made our cake which had super cute Grease Goose bride and groom toppers which I found on Etsy, and silhouettes of England and Africa on the sides. It was lovely to have these personal touches where family had given their time and effort.
For our escort cards we made little luggage tags with the 'passenger' name and table 'destination'. Instead of numbering our tables we named them after places in England and South Africa that were special to us. For the ceremony we put little envelopes of confetti which we bought from Peach Blossom. On our guest book table we printed wedding photographs of our Parents and Grandparents and provided a Polaroid camera for guests to take fun photos. This was one of best ideas as we have some really fun Polaroids for the album! Our photographer was Holly from Belle & Beau Photography, we were drawn to Holly's light, dreamy, romantic fine art photography. When we visited England the December before our wedding we squeezed in an engagement shoot and I would highly recommend this! It gave us as chance to meet Holly and get used to being in front of the camera and I am sure we have more beautiful and relaxed wedding photographs as a result. Christiaan's immediate family flew to England for the wedding and we knew that we might never have all our family and friends together, let alone in the same country, for long time, if ever. So it was very important to us to choose a photographer who could capture the emotion and special moments on the day. And Holly did just that and more! We are still blown away by the photographs we have, I still have to pinch myself that we have such beautiful wedding photographs! Some of them still bring tears to my eyes as they capture the emotion of the day. I know I'm totally biased, but you just have to love their day. Tomorrow Danielle will be sharing the story of their South African blessing, and it's so totally different!

***

Photographer: Belle & Beau Photography // Styling + Coordination: Louise Beukes Styling // Dress: Maggie Sottero, from Pirouette in Exeter // Accessories: Veil also from Pirouette // Shoes: Rainbow Shoes // Bridesmaids dresses: Debut at Debenhams // Groomswear: Bespoke suit // Florist: Blue Sky Flowers // Cake: My Dad's partner Lynne // Stationery: Invitations and posters by Knots & Kisses // Hair: Hair Thairaphy // Makeup: Kelly Hooper at The Barn // Venue & Catering: Coombe Lodge // Music: Rising Sun Roadshow

Categories: real weddings · Tags: belle and beau, blue sky flowers, chevrons, classic, contemporary, coombe lodge, danielle, green, knots and kisses, maggie sottero, navy, outdoor ceremony, peach blossom, real life bride, succulents, summer, the sweet hostess, unplugged wedding, white

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