Why hello there, I do hope you didn't miss your daily dose of Bridal Musings too much last week.
I'm back from my blogging break feeling refreshed, revitalised and positively raring to share all the eclectic wedding inspiration I've got lined up for you in the coming weeks.
From glamourous vintage inspiration shoots to darling DIY projects and a whole host of gorgeous weddings from the USA, Europe and exotic, far flung destinations. It's going to be awesome – hold on to your sun hats!
Let's get right to it with Holly and Luke's intimate seaside wedding held at one of the UK's most epic wedding venues – Tunnels Beaches in Ilfracombe, Devon.
A wedding filled with postcard-worthy rugged coastline and crashing waves, striped deckchairs and hearts at every turn, as well as maps and vintage luggage labels to represent Holly and Luke's love of travel.
Holly looked effortlessly glamourous in her halterneck wedding dress teamed with a chic, fur shrug and flowers in her hair. While her bridesmaids dazzled in floor length emerald gowns. Each of the ladies in the bridal party, including the bride herself, wore delicate wrist corsages as a beautiful alternative to bouquets.
It's my pleasure to introduce you all to the work of Woz at Howell Jones Photography who captured Holly and Luke's wedding to absolute perfection.
From the Bride…
Our day truly was everything we'd hoped for and so, so much more! It was totally chilled out & all about having a huge celebration with our nearest & dearest. We were adamant that we wanted to be surrounded by those who had supported us over the past year & took the opportunity to spend some quality time with friends & family who meant the absolute world to us.
The Wedding Attire
The girls wore teal/jade floor length, v-neck, floaty dresses and the boys grey/charcoal suits each with a different purple tie & personalised tie pin. I did my own make up and hair as well of one of the bridesmaids hair.
The Flowers
I wanted to keep fuss to a minimum and didn't want anything looking too matchy or regimented. We kept flowers minimal with wrist corsages & hair pieces for the girls, including me (no bouquets) and button holes for the boys. Instead of bouquets one of the bridesmaids carried a brown paper scroll with our vows, which we'd written ourselves, the other two two carried rosemary heart shaped wreaths, which I made with my gran, as a symbol of remembrance for my Grandad & Luke's Auntie, who had both sadly passed away after being diagnosed with brain tumours earlier in the year.
The Wedding Ceremony
They day ran seamlessly, the sun shone and we were able to get married outside, it was a bit nippy but we supplied guests with blankets and I had a lovely brown fur shrug to keep me warm. I walked in to one of our favourite Stereophonics songs, ‘It Means Nothing', we had readings from my friend Em & Luke's Dad, which they'd picked themselves, and we walked out to Bruno Mars, ‘Count On Me'. The words in the songs and readings were incredibly apt for our day, especially taking in to account the events of the past year.
Travel Themed Decor
I thoroughly enjoyed the build up and was determined not to get stressed or turn in to a bridezilla!
We love travelling and so tried to tie this theme in to the wedding where possible. I made my invitations all by myself, these were luggage tags in mini vintage envelopes. My bridesmaids, mum, gran & sister-in-law to be were a dream team when it came to making the table plan and decorations.
Each table was named after a destination on our travels around the world. For the table decorations we used wine bottles filled with sand, and twigs painted white with photos from our travels, cute hanging hearts & luggage tags pegged to them, and a map of the world pin board with luggage tags for the plan.
Dinner & Dancing
We hand Pimms & a “gunk trunk” of Coronas as our reception drinks along with canapés, then a gourmet BBQ and desert for the meal. The speeches were incredible. My dad had just the right level of emotion. Luke's was just beautiful, with a good helping of humour, and the best man's was heartfelt (we've all been best friends since infant school) but absolutely hilarious!
Luke had compiled an awesome playlist which moved seamlessly from daytime into evening and my little brother's band, Under A Rest, played a set and wowed everyone. We kicked off the dancing with our first dance to Stereophonics, Step on my Old Size Nines,and the dance floor was packed from then on until the early hours of the morning (always the sign of a good wedding). The only break in the dance floor action was when one of our friends, a professional flatland BMXer, performed outside on the cliff top to Nelly's Ride With Me…despite having had 5 pints! We ate bacon butties and cake in the evening – perfect for mid evening munchies!
We were turfed out at 2am & then continued the party in the bar until 5.30am….the majority of our guests stayed in the same hotel and it was hilarious to see everyone again the next day.
Howell Jones Photography
We now have our fantastic photos, courtesy of Woz at Howell Jones Photgraphy, to remember what was nothing but a perfect day and we couldn't be happier with them. Woz was totally discreet on the day and this shows in the beautifully natural photographs that he has produced – the perfect record of the best day of our lives!
Advice for Other Brides
My tip to any brides out there would be just enjoy it! I can't tell you enough how much it upsets me to hear people stressing about a wedding, you only do it once so just make the most of every second, build up and prep included!
Many thanks to Holly and Luke for sharing their special day and to Howell Jones Photography for these stunning photos.
