Chloe & David

This classic navy & white wedding on the Isles of Scilly is a little slice of heaven. The coastal views will take your breath away and the love between our gorgeous couple will swell your heart. Bride Chloe wears a fairytale princess Pronovias gown which is exquisite with its lace bodice and fishtail tulle skirt. The Groomsmen don sharp navy Ted Baker suits and the bridesmaids look a vision in complimenting elegant navy ASOS gowns. Plus more of those picturesque views and wonderful memories captured by Jason Mark Harris Photography.

Location

Chloe The Bride: Long before we ever thought about getting married we both knew there was only one location – Star Castle Hotel on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly; quite simply the closest to perfection without leaving the British Isles – I might be slightly biased as Dave’s family live there (and luckily for us own the Star Castle) but I don’t think anyone who joined us for the weekend could disagree. It is the only place in the world where we instantly relax and where life slows down just a little bit.

Food

We have enjoyed far too many delicious meals at the Hotel and so handing over full decision making to Head Chef Billy for the menu was an easy decision. They source all their ingredients locally so we just picked our favourites and left him to work his magic; Salakee Farm Duck and locally caught Lobster - thank you Dave’s father Robert for those! I ordered my cake from local cake maker, Becky - she is well known on the island for her amazing creations and certainly didn’t let us down with the different flavoured tiers!

Theme

Our theme of Navy and White worked really well with the island and nautical feel of the venue; a combination of the beautiful venue and my slightly limited budget meant that keeping decorations simple was the best option. I used frames from Ikea with navy card and white pens to create the table place names (all named after surrounding islands) and my years of collecting corks from our favourite wine finally paid off as I used them with more navy card to create the table settings which worked perfectly with the vine which grows through the conservatory where we had the wedding breakfast! I had a very specific idea in my head for our flowers so decided to do them myself with the help of my bridesmaids and mother in law – this allowed me to have them just as I wanted and was a welcome distraction the day before the wedding for me plus a perfect time to all catch up as different guests arrived. I ordered the flowers through the hotels supplier and navy and white ribbons from Amazon. My mother in law kindly placed an order with LSA for vases! I loved the resulting effect of classic whites with a pop of colour from my peonies and the boys button holes.

Dress

As most brides do I chose a dress which was nothing like the dress I imagined wearing; I fell in love with the princess style dresses in every bridal shop but didn’t find them to be very flattering – I wasn’t doing squats for England for nothing...Pronovias’s Spanish style of fitted tops and full tulle skirts ended up being the one. I added a belt just because I loved the way the bow and trailing ribbons looked from the back – oddly my favourite part of the dress and some of my favourite photos!

Accessories

Veils and tiaras don’t suit me as I have quite a small head!! I made up for it by finding the shoes I had fallen in love with the year before – a nod to the Manolo Blahnik Hangisi shoes worn by Carrie in SATC, and my something blue! My engagement ring had been created from a late Edwardian ring my Granny left to me – I was very specific that it should be recreated in exactly the same style – thank you to Jeremy France Jewellers of Winchester for their work. So lovely to now have a ring which has old very fond memories and now new ones too.

Hair

Being naturally dark I spend a lot of time in the hairdressers keeping my roots under control – this has led to me becoming great friends with my hairdresser Liz – to the extent that I had to have her as a bridesmaid. She is exceptionally patient with me because I hate product or over-styled hair! She created a beautiful nautical knot which was the simple classic up-do I had imagined whilst giving a perfect nod to our theme!

Bridesmaids

For my bridesmaids I ordered three navy options from ASOS and left them to choose their favourite – luckily they all loved the same dress – it had such a flattering cut and I loved the lace detail on the sleeves and back! The boys all chose a Navy three-piece Ted Baker suit which was paired with a Hackett Navy and White tie – I loved the fit of the suits and thought they were the perfect balance between formal and casual! We won’t talk about who split their trousers and changed into their Minions shorts...top tip...if hiring suits the additional insurance will be the best money you ever spend!

Photographer

In November 2015 we attended a close friend’s wedding – I spotted their photographer and was impressed with his quiet attention to detail and how he blended into the day. The resulting photos were quite simply the most beautiful wedding photos I had ever seen – his use of the natural changing light and ability to capture the essence of the day meant that choosing a photographer was the easiest decision I made. Jason Mark Harris made everything simple; even when his flight was cancelled the day before the wedding! Jason will effortlessly blend into your wedding day very quietly taking photos without making you feel awkward or uncomfortable; there isn’t any flashes or camera noise which was perfect for our tiny 12th century church and intimate day. Throughout he made the best use of the landscape and didn’t miss any opportunity – especially the incredible sun set.

Special Moments

The best part though – just a short wait and he sent us a slide show of the full day which has reduced more than one person to tears. I can honestly say I have watched it about 100 times and it is a constant reminder of how special and thoroughly fun the 23rd April 2016 was – not an awkward photo in sight!! I could not recommend Jason highly enough and hope he had as much fun spending the weekend with us as we had with him!

Advice

My only advice to any brides out there – whatever goes wrong nothing can spoil your day unless you let it – remember why you are there and don’t let anything, not even fog and cancelled flights the day before your wedding (that happened!) get in the way of creating memories with your favourite people.