Laura & Dan

Given that it's Christmas Eve and this is our last real wedding feature of 2016, we thought we'd truly embrace the season and share this Winter Wonderland wedding with you all. If anyone is planning a Christmas Wedding for next year, here's how to use pastels, sequins, fairy lights and Christmas trees without turning things into a festive fiasco. Laura and Dan's wedding is just beautiful and was held at one of recommended venues, The Green. We really hope you have a lovely Christmas, tune in next week for some extra special content. We'll be back in January with lots of stunning real weddings, inspiration and advice for planning your wedding day...

The Bride

Laura The Bride: My dress was Clementine by Naomi Neoh (with added bespoke sleeves) I fell in love with this dress the second I put it on I loved the floaty layers of fabric and the beautiful lace detailing in the body. Because it was a winter wedding I felt I needed something on my arms so I asked Naomi to add the sleeves on. This was the perfect finish.  My shoes were from Rachel Simpson I loved the champagne detail that matched with our colour theme and because they were nude shoes I can now wear them again. The leather is so soft it was really important that I felt comfortable throughout the whole day. I needed something borrowed for my something old, new, borrowed and blue. My sister got married 6 months ago and had a beautiful Helen Martin veil in champagne, which she kindly lent me, and was a perfect match.  I also had a custom-made headpiece from Holly Young headwear. This was made from fresh water pearls and a beautiful silk flower that matched the flower on my dress. I wore this in the evening.  My Jewellery was from Wanderlust. As we live in Cornwall I loved how they use sea glass incorporated into their pieces of delicate jewellery. My daughter and I often go hunting for sea glass on the beach so I chose some beautiful drop earrings, necklace and bracelet.  

The Groom

Dan loves the slim fitted tailored suit and wanted something slightly different to his groomsmen so chose a slightly different shade of blue to stand out. The waistcoat was from M&S, the wool waistcoat fitted perfectly into out winter wedding. 

The Wedding Party

I had two adult bridesmaids. They wore dresses from Needle & Thread. I loved the champagne gold net and embellishment on the top with beautiful beads and sequins. To complete the look they wore fur wraps from Zara and New Look champagne gold-strapped sandals.  The two younger bridesmaids wore a similar dress with champagne net and a gold embroidered top from Monsoon. With fur ivory capes and hand-muffs. They wore lace headpieces as well. They all looked so gorgeous. Our pageboy wore a blue suit from Next with tan brown shoes and a bow tie and waistcoat to match Dan these were from H&M. The groomsmen suits were hired from Moss Bros and were the blue tailor fitted ted baker suits, which they also wore with tan shoes. They were a slightly different shade to Dan’s suit.

The Venue

We visited a large variety of venues but fell in love with hidden gem, The Green, that we came across searching the Internet. The selling point was being able to have the venue and onsite accommodation exclusively over three days. As both of our (Dan and Laura) families live all over the country.  We loved the fact we could celebrate not only on our wedding day but also before and after. The wedding coordinator and staff went over and beyond to help make our wedding day perfect.

The Decor

I do love attention to detail so the decor was definitely one of my favourite parts to do. The colour scheme was champagne gold, dusky pink and ivory. Even though this was a winter wedding and close to Christmas I wanted to steer away from the traditional Christmas colours and just bring a bit of glamour and romance to our wedding. I hired some beautiful champagne sequin table clothes and table numbers from Pudding Bridge. For the top table I wanted a fur runner so I brought a throw that I made into a runner. My daughter and I collected pinecones from the woods and I individually wrote out the name placements with a gold leaf touch. We also wanted to add a personal touch to all our guests that we invited on the day so we wrote a personal memoir which was well received and brought a smile to many faces. We also popped a selfie stick on every table so we could get loads of great photos from our guests. Over the year I collected gold candelabras, Mercury gold vases and pots of every shape. I wanted the table to be filled with lots of candles and flowers. This really did look the part with lots of height and detail. We had large tree slices on the centre of the tables for these to stand on. Dan’s mother collected jam jars and individually decorated these with lace and twine. We popped tea lights in them and scattered them around the venue. (Jam jar decor by Margaret Stockton). We hired some lovely clear ghost chairs and charger plates from Inspire Hire. We used the chairs in the barn where we got married and also in the green room for the wedding breakfast.  The bride’s mother made some beautiful lace bunting which we erected in the barn as well as the large bulbed soft glow fairy lights which gave a really romantic feel.  For a cute touch I added some mistletoe at the top of the aisle. (Bunting handmade by Claire Sugrue)  Instead of wedding favours that I often think can get lost or left behind, we had a token on each table place, to have a drink on us. I also had a variety of pashminas in our theme colours rolled up and tied with twine. I used luggage tags to write little messages on for the guests to help themselves. For the gentlemen we brought tartan scarves and a cigar also rolled up and wrapped in twine. I hired the light up letters 'DANCE' that provided great photo opportunities as well as doubling up as a stunning backdrop for the dance floor. We hired these from South West Letter Lights. We had two artificial 6ft and 10ft Christmas trees for the barn and green room. My sister made handmade Christmas decorations, which included white feathers, dipped in gold glitter, gold-sprayed pinecones, clear baubles with fresh roses in and orange slices. They looked beautiful. (Tree Decorations by Emma Sugrue-Emery) 

The Flowers

The florist we chose was Wedding Flowers in Cornwall by Anna Sawle. She worked very closely with the bride and I loved her enthusiasm and creativity. The bride had a romantic hand-tied bouquet of Champagne, Blush, soft Apricot flowers that included Roses, Lisianthus and Spray Roses. The bridesmaid’s bouquets were a smaller version of this. The buttonholes incorporating the same rose and design. Even our dog has a buttonhole. Our daughter Scarlet had a wand to carry down the aisle made from fresh flowers. Each table was filled with beautiful flowers in the vases. I would say the piece de resistance was the backdrop behind the top table. This was two ladders and a wooden plank with all the different coloured roses of the wedding with Eucalyptus foliage, a hanging ribbon garland and glittered champagne gold deer skulls. It was so impressive and was everything I imagined it to be and more. 

The Ceremony

We had two readings which we asked one of Laura's bridesmaids and best friend Sophie to read this was a piece by Pam Ayres called 'he never leaves the seat up.' The other reading was by Stephen Curtis Chapman called 'I will be here' and read by Dan's best friend and Laura's brother in law Luke.  A particular special moment that will remain close in my heart would be walking down the aisle with my Dad as he was terminally ill and sadly passed away two weeks after our wedding those memories I will cherish forever. We also had our dog Oscar the pug as our ring bearer who walked down the aisle with the rings around his neck. 

The Entertainment

Day entertainment we had the fantastic Swing Kings who are a jazz duo and performed during the drinks reception. Evening entrainment we had magician Daniel Brazier who wowed the crowds with his fantastic magic.  And Shameless (The South West's number 1 indie/rock cover band) Dan even made an appearance on the drums. And finishing with DJ Martin cee that kept the guests moving 'all night long'.

The Food

Canapés - mini Yorkshire puddings with beef and horseradish, Caramelised red onion and goats cheese tartlet, Mini Chicken satay skewers, With a mulled cider aperitif  Starter - Chicken liver pate with Melba toast and green tomato chutney, Anti pasti board - meat and veg Main - Braised sirloin steak in a red wine gravy, Rolled chicken stuffed with mozzarella, spinach and sundried tomatoes, Portobello mushroom served on a feta and spinach tartan with dressed salad and aioli  Dessert - The Bride and Grooms favourite mini assiette of desserts (Eton mess, tiramisu, mad chocolate torte) Cake - The cake was made by Dan's auntie, Pat Shaw. We had a three tier vanilla sponge cake with buttercream icing and a gold glitter finish. This was decorated with roses. We had a cake stand made by a local tree surgeon that sliced, treated and sanded a large tree slice. He engraved our names and wedding date into it, which is a lovely keepsake.

The Photography

We first met Ben at a wedding fayre and fell in love with his work as well as his personality. His work is natural, not posed or staged and creative. As you can see in our photos we definitely made the right choice. 

The Videography

Joel lives locally in our area and is an extremely professional, creative and experienced videographer. We warmed to Joel straight away and he made us feel so comfortable we just knew we wanted him to film our wedding day. I am so glad we did and we have the best memories to look back on and reminisce.