Joey & Nick

Anyone who has had a child will appreciate how insanely beautiful Bride Joey looks - she had a baby between buying her wedding dress and getting married! What a total babe! As is her gorgeous little lady and her lovely new husband for that matter. They make such a handsome family, and their joy at cementing their family unit with marriage is just so infectious. The first image in the slider above made me very emotional indeed...what incredible memories to cherish as a family. Joey's grey Vera Wang gown is just perfect for a Winter wedding and fits her like a glove. She's definitely one of the most beautiful (and HAPPY) Brides I've seen and it's a pleasure to share these images by Lemonade Pictures with you.

The Bride

Joey The Bride: I bought my dress over a year before the wedding date and had a baby in between then and the wedding date so I was worried it wouldn't fit on the big day! (It did! Phew!) David's Bridal was the second bridal shop I went into on my first day of dress shopping - I had only planned to browse and didn't initially like the look of my dress on the mannequin (because it wasn't white). My Auntie made me try the dress on, I knew it was the one when both Mum and Auntie cried! After trying it on I loved the colour, which I felt was perfect for a winter wedding.

The Groom

Nick wore a Paul Smith suit, with a pocket watch bought as a present from one of his groomsmen. He also wore a Tag Heuer watch, which I bought and had delivered to him on the morning of the wedding.

The Venue

Cooling Castle Barn was the second venue we visited - I grew up in the local area and had always been aware of it since I was a little girl. We both knew it was the right place for our wedding day as soon as we visited. The 18 months we had to wait for our date was worth it!

The Decor

I had always wanted to marry in Autumn or Winter and so chose colours and decor to compliment the season. We went for navy bridesmaid dresses and navy chair covers. We had the barn decorated with fairy lights.

The Flowers

My Dad ran a floristry business for all of my childhood, a business which had been in our family for several generations. My Auntie previously worked in the family flower shop and so she agreed to do all the flowers for the wedding. I was able to go to Covent Garden Flower Market to choose all the flowers and table arrangements individually, and my Auntie arranged them all. I felt my bouquet was the perfect place to honour my three grandparents who had passed away years before, so I had tiny framed photographs of them attached to my bridal bouquet. It felt special having them walk down the aisle with me.

The Ceremony

Bridal entrance music was played by Fran (family member) on cello and Alex (bride's brother) on piano. They played 'The Feather Theme' from Forest Gump, one of our all time favourite films. Our maid of honour coordinated a surprise as we exited the wedding ceremony...all the guests sang to us in unison and it was amazing! It was also particularly special to us to exit the ceremony holding our baby daughter.

The Entertainment

Alex (bride's brother) sang our first dance (Something about the way you look tonight, Elton John). We also had a band (The Soundcasters).

The Food

Cake by Bride's auntie Kim, we asked for a sponge and she created a masterpiece! Even featuring 3 little robins on the top (to represent the new 'Mr and Mrs Robbins' and our daughter, Matilda as the baby robin!) The food was done by Cooling Castle Barn's in house chef. It was lovely!

The Photography

The maid of honour saw Nichola (Lemonade Pictures) at a friend's wedding and when she showed me the photographs I loved them. It was important to both of us to have a photographer who made us feel relaxed as neither of us are particularly comfortable in front of the camera. Nichola made us feel so relaxed and we hardly even noticed she was there most of the day!

The Videography

We aren't due to receive our video until May 2016. This was one of the biggest extravagances, and one that took a lot of persuasion from bride to groom!

Our DIY Projects

Our maid of honour designed our seating plan herself based on a map of the world, she labelled each table a different country we had visited together.

Advice

Don't forget to enjoy the day, rather than worrying about whether everything is going according to plan.