Faye & Oli

Faye is one of those brides you instantly wish was your friend. Not only did she include a giant model zebra in her wedding decor, but when it came to bridesmaids dresses, this gorgeous lady ordered a load from the internet and set up a bridesmaids boutique in her own living room for her friends to select their favourite gowns, complete with mannequins. What a woman. As you'd expect from a stylist, this wedding is gorgeous to look at, but also full of fun! Faye and Oli are clearly a couple who like to enjoy themselves and they wanted their guests to enjoy themselves too. Choosing the stunning Walled Garden in Nottingham for it's relaxed, outdoor vibes, Faye wore a stunning Kimono sleeved Rue De Seine gown, and the boho vibes flowed all day long.

Our Wedding

Andrea the Bride: Like most couples these days we didn’t want a traditional wedding, we wanted the day to reflect us as a couple so we only focused on what was important to us like food music and the venue. We wanted to create a relaxed informal vibe and The Walled Garden was the perfect place to do this. The ceremony took place under the loggia which created a beautiful back drop to say I do, we were so lucky with the weather on the day that the sides of the marquee were raised creating a large open plan space. It felt like we were at home in the garden surrounded by our family and friends, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was that chilled some of the guests had siestas on the grass!

The Dress

I found the dress on Pinterest within a few hours of Oli proposing (he did this at home on the sofa and casually carried on watching tv like nothing major had happened) I knew exactly what I wanted and searched for Kimono wedding dress and the Cleo gown by Rue De Seine was one of the first that popped up. I live in kimono’s so I couldn’t imagine myself getting married in anything else. Beck and Flic at Jean Jackson Couture were so welcoming also coolest mother daughter duo ever! I actually went on my own to try it on, I can imagine for most brides this would seem quite daunting but for me it was quite easy I knew exactly what I wanted and within seconds of putting it on I knew I had to have it, I couldn’t stop shimmying in it!

The Bridesmaids

I said from the start I didn’t want the bridesmaids in the same dress, I wanted them in a dress that suited them individually, made them feel amazing and would wear after the wedding. They were more than happy for me to pick their dresses, I did creative and mannequin styling for Topshop for several years so they were in good hands. The leopard print dress from Never Fully Dressed was one of my favourites from they start, I used that as a starting point and then curated a selection of over 30 dresses from various high street retailers to complement the tones in the leopard print. I created a pop up bridesmaid boutique and gathered them all round one evening to try them on, luckily everyone managed to pick their favourite that night...and they were all my first choice for them so it worked out perfectly. They always do but they all looked bloody gorgeous on the day!

The Groom & Groomsmen

Oli’s suit shirt and tie were all from Paul Smith, he actually purchased the suit a few years back with the intention of wearing it to a friends wedding but saved it for our day instead. The shirt had small brush stroke print on it in blush burgundy greens and blues which complimented the flowers perfectly and finished the ensemble off with Jospeh Cheaney & Sons brogues and leather belt. The majority of the groomsmen already had suits in various blue tones and were all happy to wear them again, we liked that they were all different but coordinated with the Groom by wearing matching Paul Smith shirts and ties, they all looked great especially when the jackets came off!

The Styling

As an Interior Stylist I plan and style exhibition stands and showroom displays on a regular basis so I was in my element when it came deciding how the venue was going look, there wasn’t a theme as I wanted the overall look to reflect us and our style which is a mixture of bohemian, vintage and a little bit of randomness. I used items that we had already like the glass bowls and cake stands (some of which belonged to Oli's late grandparents) I sourced additional vintage brass candle sticks from ebay and charity shops to add to our existing collection. We already had a small selection of empty gin bottles that we saved over time so with help from friends, family and a few pubs we soon had enough to use a vases for the tables. I’ve really wanted a Peacock chair for ages and always thought they looked amazing as thrones at a top table especially with flowers cascading down the sides...perfect excuse to buy them! I made all the on the day stationery and signage with help from a friend and fab graphic designer Abby she also designed all our wedding stationery as well. Oh I can’t forget Benedict the zebra a little something I acquired from VM days at Topshop, great photo opportunity and bloody hilarious watching people trying to mount him throughout the day for the perfect pic! We have a bunch very talented and helpful friends and family and I couldn’t have done any of it all without them.

The Flowers

The venue has such a beautiful established garden I felt the only area that needed the ‘wow factor’ was the arch way of band stand, and simply let the flowers to all work by adding pops of colours and drama throughout the marquee, I simply gave Louise a few pictures of the bridesmaids dresses for colour inspiration along with pictures of the certain areas in the venue that required her magic and left her to it. My only ‘demand’ was to have Protea as it’s one of my favourite flowers and had used an illustration of one on the wedding stationery, oh and pampas grass bloody love the stuff but unfortunately Louise couldn’t get hold of any so I had the fun job of knocking on people's doors who had pampas grass bushes in their front garden! (I don’t think it means what it used to back in the day as I didn’t have any offers) Lol. I think people really under estimated how much of an impact the flowers can have and help pull everything together.

The Music

One of our favourite films is Chef which has a cool soundtrack and often listen to it regularly whilst cooking together so naturally that was played throughout the day and Oli created a chill hop playlist for the guests to relax to after the meal. I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of Beyoncé ‘Runni’ and we walked back to Sexual Healing by Hot 8 Brass Band. Our fist dance was to John Legend ‘All of me’ the line ‘you’re crazy and I’m out of mind’ sums us up pretty well! Our RSVP cards had a section where the guests can list a song that would get them up on the dance floor, it was great seeing people’s faces when their song came on and the array of dance moves that follow!

The Food

We didn’t have the usual ‘one me u for all’ wedding breakfast, we wanted a relaxed informal meal where guests helped themselves and a had choice and the team at The Walled Garden were brilliant at accommodating all our needs and requirements. I had been drooling over Elle Jane’s creations for some time and after Louise recommended her I contacted her straight away! I have a huge sweet tooth so cake tasting was one of my favourite tasks, The citrus meringue cake was a firm favourite from the start we teamed that with cinnamon toffee apple for our 2 tier nearly naked cake, we then picked a selection of patisserie items for guests to help themselves to after meal, they went down a treat! As we loved so many of Elle’s flavour combinations we had a second nearly naked for the evening, which was chocolate caramel and cardamom, she’s a cake genius! Adam and Abbey from Artisan Street Food Woodfired Pizza were a pleasure to deal with, we simply picked toppings we wanted and they rocked up in the horse box and served the tastiest pizzas for us all in the evening.

The Photography

I had actually met Sally few times before through Elaine (bridesmaid and fellow photographer) so was already familiar with her work and knew she would be up for the challenge of shooting our day as Oli not fond of having his picture taken. Sally did such an awesome job capturing the day and the little candid moments, we got so many beautiful shots which was great as we didn’t spend too much time away from the guests.

Memorable Moments

Faye: taking the first few steps down the aisle and seeing everyone in front looking back at me, it hit me there and then that it was a actually happening, and everyone's here to see us get married! Elaine and the rest of the bride squad surprising me with my customised Mrs Chenery leather jacket! Dance floor pizza! I’m a permanent fixture on the dance floor once the music starts so really appreciated being handed plates of pizza! Oli: the food especially the Pizza. Oh and seeing Faye in the dress for the first time. (Apparently that wasn’t in any particular order)

Advice

Don’t get roped into doing anything that you don’t want do! If it means either of you are going to worry or stress about it it’s not worth it! As longs as you have good food drink and you are surrounded by people you care about, the day will be amazing. Bloody enjoy yourselves!!!