Erica & Steve

I have a feeling you're going to LOVE Erica and Steve's wedding. It's one of those weddings where everything is executed to perfection. They've opted for bright pink everywhere, which just makes the vibe so joyful and happy. The couple were really lucky with the weather too and got to hold their ceremony outside in the gorgeous grounds of Lillibrooke Manor. Erica hunted down a Wtoo by Watters dress (which ended up being just 15 miles from her house) and doesn't she look gorgeous? It's a little bit boho and a little bit glam which is the perfect blend for her and Steve's big day. And even I, as a self confessed green-hater, am LOVING the forest green bridesmaids dresses. It's such a gorgeous shade on both ladies and contrasts beautifully with the bold pink of the florals. Right, are you ready for this one? It's about to knock your socks off...

The Bride

Erica the Bride: A few friends and I met up for dinner one night and we were chatting about wedding dresses and BHLDN was mentioned. I went home that night and looked at their website and there was so many pretty dresses on there. I went to see where the nearest shop was and it was in America! I didn't have a trip planned and thought how am I going to find these beautiful dresses in the UK, after ALOT of googling I found Heritage Brides in Hatfield House which was only 15 miles from my house! I had to go and have a look! I went to 10 shops and nothing I had tried had the WOW factor but when I tried Lenora By Wtoo. I was so happy and was so comfortable! Sam who owns the shop was fantastic and was so helpful along the way.   I bought the shoes from Sophie Webster before I even found the dress. I loved everything about them – the colour, the delicate flowers and the rose gold block heel.

The Venue

We knew we wanted a barn wedding and after viewing four venues we booked Lillibrooke Manor. We loved all the different sections of the venue, the cloisters, great barn, engine room, small barn, manor house and bridal room. The space was so versatile! Plan A was to get married outside in the cloisters area and luckily the weather was in our favour!

The Decor

Fuchsia pink & dark green. Tropical Indian summers inspired my choice of colours. Because of my Indian heritage wanted some exotic and vibrant colours and think the pinks worked really well with the green foliage. Ice cream theme I hear you say!? My bridesmaid Carlie West used her design skills to help with the creative elements and helped create our amazing ice cream cone table plan! The reason behind the ice cream theme is because ice cream always brings a smile to our faces. It reminds us of good times, holidays, sunshine and fun childhood memories on the beach. Our favours were mock ice cream cones filled marshmallows and metallic coloured chocolate balls, and these doubled as name places.   Academy Productions did all the lights and lantern decorations, outside lighting and set up the stage for band, they did such an amazing job! We had some BAR letters which Vowed & Amazed provided for us and thought they looked fab! The hay bales we had in the garden area were arranged in a horseshoe shape and were decorated with rose gold heart cushions. Of which only one made it back to our house!   For our guestbook we had a simple book and we had fan decorations to surround the table. An Insta camera was used to capture some quick shots and our guests stuck in a photo and wrote us a little message.   

The Flowers

Seventh Heaven Flowers did all of the flowers for the day. They provided centre pieces, bouquets, button holes and the epic arch! After the ceremony they moved the arch to the entrance of the Great Barn for dinner/evening which made a beautiful feature. We also had some ‘S&E’ letters filled with peonies, which we put behind the cake. 

The Ceremony

Our readings were ‘He Never Leaves the Toilet Seat Up’ read by Patrick Blackman and the second was‘Your Love is Better’ read by Charlotte Rogers.  

The Entertainment

We were originally going to get a DJ do the music for the whole evening but three months before the wedding Steve and I thought it would be nice to have some live motown type music to get people up and dancing. One evening I was out with my brother and dad and mentioned it to them, my brother’s response was ‘if you want a motown band...you have to have The Faithettes!!!!’ (his band). I asked if he was sure as would LOVE that and he said he would love to play. We were so honoured having him and the band playing on our day. Our family and friends had such a fun time dancing the night away! He even sang our first dance and the father and daughter dance. The last song they played was ‘Purple Rain’ which is my favourite song, it was such a special moment.

The Food

Because the theme was ice cream it would be rude not to have an ice cream cart. Adam from I Scream sourced some Gin & Tonic ice cream for the day which was amazing, other flavours we had were Eton Mess and Chocolate Honeycomb. It was a surprise for Steve and he thought it was a great touch! For starters we had duo of duck bon bon with and locally smoked duck breast or heritage tomato and charred courgette salad. For main course we had pot roasted shin of beef wrapped in parma ham or baked salmon fillet wrapped in smoked salmon. For dessert (our favourite course) was a chocolate trio of rich dark chocolate brownie, strawberry sorbet and white chocolate baked New York cheesecake. Evening Food - woodfired pizza oven  @ venue - Ham hock & edam, BBQ chicken, Goats cheese & red onion, Margarita   Our wedding cake was made by Petit Gateau. Jordana who is based in Berkshire made our cake. She was so lovely and let us taste a variety of different flavours. We designed the cake together at her studio – taking elements of cakes we liked to create our own with the gold leaf and soft icing finish. Each tier had different flavours - white chocolate and raspberry ripple, chocolate brownie sponge, marble cake with passionfruit buttercream and classic Victoria sponge. Seventh Heaven adorned the cake with fresh, beautiful flowers.

The Photography

We found our lovely photographer through Lillibrooke Manor. I looked at Ilaria’s instagram page and loved her work. It was a pleasure working with her and would recommend her to everyone. She was great to be around and discrete at the same time. She made us feel so comfortable and was so passionate about her work.