Romantic Grey and Pink Wedding at Gaynes Park

Drumroll please…

It's the first real wedding feature of the year on Bridal Musings!

Amanda and Ediz's elegant and relaxed nuptials in Gaynes Park, England, are filled with my favourite things:

A perfectly pretty grey and pink colour palette, romantic roses, soft baby's breath, hearts, polka dots, pom poms, a seriously dapper groom, a beyond beautiful bride (and Bridal Musings reader – YAY!) as well as the super talented Dasha Caffrey Photography behind the lens.

Amanda designed her own wedding dress and I. am. in. actual. love.

Delicate, Chantilly lace cap sleeves, an open back , a dusky pink ribbon belt…need I go on? Watch out for her bridesmaids' reaction upon first seeing her gown – it says it all really! And you all know I'm a sucker for brides with vintage waves.

Be sure to stay tuned as this afternoon I'll be sharing their gorgeous wedding film too!

The Colour Palette

Our colour palette was dove grey & blush pink. We chose grey first then added the light pink as an accent colour and I think it turned out beautifully. We didn’t have an exact ‘theme’ for our wedding but when I pictured it I imagined it to look classically elegant and pretty, whilst not being ‘stuffy’ or too formal. All the flowers were composed of pale pink sweet avalanche roses, baby’s breath and grey foliage. Simple, romantic and pretty.

The Dress

My wedding dress was ivory French Chantilly lace, with a dusky pink ribbon belt, sweetheart neckline, lace cap sleeves and open back. I designed it based on dresses that I had tried on and inspiration from Pinterest and Ediz's very talented Aunt made it for me. It was great to be able to have exactly what I wanted as I’m so picky!

The Suit

Ediz wore a very dapper blue suit called ‘Rimini’ from Reiss. We both spotted it online and thought it was perfect as the name of the restaurant we went to on our first date was called Rimini! Talk about meant to be!

The Ceremony

The focal point of our ceremony was large ‘E & A’ wooden letters (our initials) with a baby’s breath arch. We didn’t have any readings as we wanted the ceremony to be short & sweet. In hindsight this was a very good idea as I don’t think I could have stood there for any longer! My legs were shaking the entire time.

Favourite Moment

My most memorable moment was walking down the aisle. I had an image in my head of what it was going to look like: the sun shining, the pom poms moving around in the trees and seeing Ediz standing at the end of the aisle. What was really strange was that it was a little overcast when we were walking round to the orangery (where the ceremony was held), then the exact moment I walked down the aisle the sun came out and everything looked exactly as I had pictured it! I was so overwhelmed that the day was finally here and I got to marry my best friend.

We are so incredibly lucky to have each other and we never forget it!

The Photography

We chose Dasha as our photographer as we loved how fresh & natural her photographs are. They’re timeless and so ‘happy’ looking – if that makes sense! She has a great eye for capturing moments.

The Bridal Party Attire

My mum made the bridesmaid dresses out of pale pink silk dupion, and they wore their own choice of grey/silver shoe. I bought them little silver bow earrings for helping us ‘tie the knot’ which they all wore on the day. My little bridesmaid was my littlest sister, Izzy (5 years old) and she wore a dress made from the same fabric as the other bridesmaids, with a light grey sash.

The groomsmen wore simple grey suits with brown shoes and grey & white polka-dot ties (and matching cufflinks!) we bought for them.

Decor & Details

We wanted lots of pretty lighting so we had lights around the beams in the barn, hanging from the ceiling, behind us at the top table and finally, a curtain of lights on the dance floor. It created such a pretty glow.

My mum made the grey table runners and my dad made the table numbers which were white-washed blocks with a light grey wooden number. The place names were written onto wooden hearts painted light grey and tied to the backs of the chairs with white ribbon. I love the fact that when I go to people’s houses now I see the hearts hanging up! The vases for the centrepieces, tealight holders and cake stands were all mercury glass.

The Refreshments

We had a three-course sit down meal, which is typically formal but we had music playing throughout, and everyone seemed to feel comfortable enough to mingle in between courses. The food was incredible and people were commenting on it all night! We had three buttercream wedding cakes – one Victoria sponge with raspberry filling, one lemon with lemon curd and one chocolate goulash. We had them all cut up and served on platters in the evening.

The Favours

Our favours (also made by my mum!) were small jam jars tied with light grey ribbon, containing strawberry jam. My mum actually grew the strawberries on her allotment and made them into jam. The children’s favours were the same jam jars with jelly beans inside instead.

Unique Details

I think what was unique is that we had it exactly our way; we didn’t do anything just because we ‘should’, which meant that we were able to create a day that was exactly as we imagined. So many people have said to me on the day and since that it was the best wedding they’ve ever been to which is so lovely and all you can ask for when planning a wedding. We have a great group of friends and family that all totally blended together to create a great atmosphere and just generally fantastic day.

Ediz’s family are Turkish Cypriot so we incorporated one Turkish tradition called the ‘Testi dance’ – this basically involved the bridesmaids and I dancing individually with a clay vase, the finale of which was me smashing it on the floor. All the bridesmaids were so nervous about it but I think they secretly enjoyed it in the end!

Advice For Other Couples

True story – I read Bridal Musings every day when planning our wedding! I still do! I mainly used Pinterest & wedding blogs for inspiration, and purchased lots of items from notonthehightstreet.com and Etsy.

– My budgeting advice to other couples would be – save as much as you possibly can from the outset. We don’t regret a single penny spent on our wedding, but in the beginning we had unrealistic ideas of how much things would cost which meant that we ended up having to save much harder in the last few months.

– Don’t let other people tell you what you should & shouldn’t have at your wedding – there are so many little touches that can make it more ‘you’ so don’t be afraid to do something different just because you haven’t seen anyone else have the same! That’s a good thing!

– Enjoy every moment – it really is true that the day goes by really fast. Remember that the reason you are doing this is because you want to marry the love of your life – everything else is just a bonus! It really is an amazing experience that you get to share together.