So yesterday I featured Part 1 of Ingrid and Doug's Candle Lit, Sparkly, Winter Wedding…and made you wait for part 2.
The wait is officially over.
Here comes Part 2 featuring more candles, butterflies, a DIY photobooth, breath-taking photos and some brilliant advice from the stylish bride!
{Erm…just how cool is this photo?!}
The Speeches
Theme/Colour Scheme
I didn’t really have a theme, I just knew that I wanted everything to be elegant and romantic and slightly oldie worldly. I chose the table centre pieces first which were quite quaint and slightly vintage and tied the rest of the room in with them. The colour scheme was plum and ivory with lots of sparkle and candlelight.
The Flowers
Now usually I love flowers but I decided as far as the room went that they would be wasted on a winter wedding setting, especially as I wanted loads of candles. Instead I went with a single centrepiece for the top table and on each of the seat covers I had a single faux ivory rose. My bouquet was made up of ivory (Akita) and purply pink (Cool water) roses with the odd purple Eustoma to tie the colours in.
The Cake
The cake was made locally by a mother and daughter team at “The Cake Lady” in Eastham. I saw a picture in a magazine and asked them to recreate it for me and I was thrilled with the result. I wanted simple and elegant with a vintage feel. It was a 4 tier cake with fruit at the bottom and then alternating layers were vanilla and lemon drizzle sponge.
The Details
I kept things simple with ivory table linen and plum ribbon. The seats were covered in ivory and adorned with a plum and ivory organza ribbon, with a single ivory rose. I handmade all the place settings, table names and seating plan in ivory and plum. The centrepieces were old fashioned milk bottles suspended on a cream metal frame with butterflies around the top of the bottle, I placed these on a mirror with 5 church candles and a plum faux rose. Inside the milk bottle was a plum candle. I had plum heart shaped flower wreaths hanging from the top table too.
The favours were pieces of locally made Parkgate fudge, white chocolate and cranberry flavour, which I put in a little ivory coloured chest box and decorated with a pearly flower. For the children I had clear plastic teddy bear and VW bug containers that I filled with sweets as their favours, then I also made activity packs with colouring books, LED balloons and a small age appropriate gift to keep them occupied during the speeches.
The Entertainment
At the drinks reception we hired an acoustic guitarist and singer from Alive Network – Paul Dennis, who was fantastic playing everything from fifties rock to modern day pop! Everybody complimented us on him and he was as quirky as they come!
We had a live band called the Episodes, a friend recommended then to us – they were also local boys who were absolutely awesome, even allowing one of the ushers to get up and sing some U2 with them, the bride also had the opportunity to stretch her vocal chords but the less said about that the better!
My husband also built a photo booth equipped with a laptop, some photo software a push button and a photo printer. We brought in some props like funny hats, moustaches and even a fake parrot! This was a HUGE success, our guests had a great time dressing up , posing for the camera and then sticking their portraits into a guestbook while leaving us a message. Great fun and great memories! If anybody is interested in hiring the booth, just let us know!
Personal Touches-Any special cultural/family traditions?
Not really, although my Dads side of the family are from South Africa so I wouldn’t dare have anything other than South African wine served on the tables!
The Wedding Music
I walked down the aisle to Pachelbels Canon in D minor played on the organ and out again to Widor’s Toccata from the 5th Symphony. We sang three hymns, Give Me Joy in my Heart, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace by candlelight and How Great Thou Art. We also had the church choir to accompany us – thankfully! Our first dance was to Al Green’s “Lets stay together”
The Photographer
Choosing a photographer is a funny thing, a difficult thing, because you only really know what you are going to get once its all over! With Sarah I feel that we had some Divine intervention or something because we got seriously lucky. We had actually wanted a different photographer and as he was already booked for our day, he referred us to two other photographers, Sarah was one of them.
From the minute we started talking, her passion for romance and weddings became clear and she was genuinely interested in us as a family. Personality wise she had us at hello! Sarah also does a pre wedding shoot to get to know each other better, Doug and I were quite nervous and very giggly but we did eventually loosen up so by the time the wedding came round it was like we were being photographed by one of our closest friends, not many of which can say they have actually seen Doug and I snog under a tree!
Sarah takes absolutely beautiful pictures, she takes the picture you don’t expect her to take, she captures you in that exact moment when you allow yourself to smile privately, I struggle to find the words to describe her because she doesn’t just take your picture, she captures the essence of you. And I guess that’s what makes her stand out from the others, she totally gets what its all about.
{Such sweet words, an amazing testimony of Sarah's talent!}
{I know I've already shared this in Part 1…but this picture is perfect!}
Favourite Moment:
For me it was walking down the aisle towards my future husband, the minute I clapped eyes on him I felt all this love and emotion and I couldn’t care less about anything or anybody, all sounds and people faded into oblivion and it was like we were the last two people on the planet and this was our moment, beautiful! He says it was the same for him.
Any Advice For Other Brides?
♥ I felt truly blessed to be surrounded by a team of woman who were all professional and like minded. Choosing the right people to do your hair, make up and photography is key. Make sure they totally get you and are committed to making your day amazing.
♥ I highly recommend a female photographer, lets face it, when it comes to emotion, girls are best.
♥ Go for a highly qualified make up artist rather than do it yourself or have a friend do it, you want to look the best you ever have and its well worth the money.
♥ Chair covers are totally worth it, they transform a room.
♥ Don’t have your toddler with you while you are getting ready!
♥ Hiring a soft play area for the toddlers was a great idea and all the parents were so appreciative of the thought. In the end all the kids were playing on it having a great time, it gave the kids somewhere to call their own.
♥ Packing a sewing kit proved invaluable! One of the bridesmaids dresses had a zip malfunction before the ceremony, she was gaping open from the waist up and we ended up sewing her into her dress on the front step of the Brook Meadow!
♥ My one regret is that I didn’t film the ceremony, I thought at the time that it was unnecessary and that I would never watch it. It was such a beautiful day and things happened so quickly, I wish that I had.
{But you'll always have your beautiful photos and you, your family, and Doug's collective memories of the day to share wit each other!}
Such a happy couple!
I love Ingrid's romantic description of how she felt as she walked down the aisle towards her future husband, it made me get all misty eyed! The ideas to keep the kids entertained from the activity packs to the soft play area were genius and how fantastic is that DIY photo booth?!
Thank you so much to Ingrid and Doug for sharing their beautiful, joyful, family-filled wedding with us and a special thank you to Ingrid for sharing all of her planning details and her fabulous advice! I wish you both all the best for your future together.
I must also say a HUGE thank you to the very talented Sarah for sharing her wonderful photos and for being such a sweetheart throughout our correspondence. To see more of Sarah's beautiful photography (and to read more of her heart-felt intros) visit her website: www.sarahjanesphotography.co.uk or her blog.
Ingrid raised an interesting point when she shared her preference for a female photographer.
Do you have a preference? Do male & female photographers take different sorts of photos?
