Kiki-Sunshine & Stu

Sometimes we feature weddings with minimal details, and sometimes we feature weddings where the carefully thought about decor is just endless, and this morning's wedding definitely falls into the camp of the latter. Wonderfully named Bride, Kiki-Sunshine, works in the wedding industry, so her big day to the lovely Stu was always going to be super pretty. But also important to the couple was to include nods to their heritage, so the day is bursting with details that are Burmese, Thai, Buddhist and British inspired! If you checked into RMW for yesterday's wedding, you'll know how useful I think it is to see weddings held at your venue of choice...well this wedding, like yesterdays, was held at The Matara Centre - if you compare the two, you can see how differently it has been styled and you can also see the photographers differing style too. It's such a helpful way for you to decide on suppliers once your venue is booked. Anyway, I'll stop with my wedding planning tips now, and let you enjoy this really pretty wedding, with stunning images from the lovely Holly at Belle and Beau...enjoy!

Influences

Kiki-Sunshine The Bride: I had a fairly clear vision for our wedding when we started out for two reasons – working in the wedding industry really makes you think about what it is that you would love! Also I had always felt really connected to my Grandmother on my fathers side, yet had never met her in person. I’ve spent so much time looking at images of her over the years, of how glamorous she was and really wanted to show my admiration for her on our big day – infusing our wedding with something that over in the UK is quite a different look. We also wanted for our wedding to reflect who we were – as individuals and as a couple and further infuse the Buddhist belief that it's so important within a marriage to maintain each individual’s personality whist celebrating the union. So the fun, bright and natural element had to be in play but at the same time, I wanted to honour my family who were unable to join us as they live so far across the globe. We therefore included elements with a Burmese/Thai/Buddhist infusion such as the table covering fabrics, the water ceremony (and props for), the bells rung at the end of the wedding ceremony, the Thai lotus flowers and the silks used in the Bridesmaids, the Bridal outfits and the Grooms/Best man’s suits. All of which came from a city that my ancestors had founded hundreds of years ago in Northern Thailand.

The Venue

We were also fortunate to discover Matara – a venue which suited our theme perfectly with its natural vibrant and organic setting. Coupled with the water feature, pagoda, the artifacts from all over Asia and really open layout it really presented us with an already wonderfully suited and styled yet slightly unusual and incredibly tranquil place to be to share our union with our families and friends. It was super important to us that people were able to really feel relaxed at our wedding, so we utilised the extensive grounds of the venue, taking into account the mazes, the energy spiral, the walled rose gardens and the woodland walk and set a treasure hunt so that people would take a little time to take in the beauty of the grounds whilst we had our photographs taken.

The Bride

I have to give absolute credit to Jessica Charleston whom I had the pleasure to work with on my two bridal skirts and bodice. Again for my first outfit I had wanted to honour my Grandmother so it was styled in a way that was inspired by the original Burmese traditional outfit, incorporating my wonderfully intricately beaded bodice with delicate beaded and embroidered flowers and birds, the skirt was straight yet softened with a layer of soft silk organza which gave a beautiful movement and the two tied together with a belt made from fabric again from Northern Thailand with a traditional Thai pattern in gold thread. My second skirt that I changed into for the late afternoon and evening celebrations was more a reflection of my own personality – a bit more fun loving, vintage inspired and flared. We used the Thai fabrics along with some bespoke lace from France – a place where I remember being happiest as a child with my parents so every element that went into creating it all meant so very much to me. Jess is an absolute professional and an incredible designer my outfit’s could not have possibly fitted any more like gloves if we had tried – they were so perfect. The beading on the bodice was done by Clare of Vintage Button Bridal Designs who bespoke created my accessories – my jewellery and hair/headpieces too. Clare reflected my love of certain colours – the rose gold, white and blush pink throughout the beading and accessories – colours which were also reflected in our wedding flowers.

The Styling

I really couldn’t recommend enough employing the use of a stylist for your wedding day either and Kirsten – The Little Wedding Helper – is wonderful at what she does. I have never come across someone to work with that I have been able to put my full trust in quite as much as Kirsten as I just knew that she would lay everything out so beautifully, removing any work, fear or wonder of what the ceremony and wedding breakfast area’s would end up looking like which really is a God send on the morning of your wedding when you just long for time to relax rather than worry!

The Photographer

My other recommendation is for our wonderful photographer, Holly from Belle and Beau Photography. Both my Husband and I looked at our wedding with a fear that we would have many people looking at us, taking photographs and for us being the centre of attention it was a little unnerving. But Holly made us feel so completely at ease, she posed us so gracefully, took photographs with us barely noticing and I am so proud to have been able to work with her to ensure that our families and future family of our own has these wonderful images to treasure.