Livvy & Josh

I've been looking forward to sharing this gorgeous wedding for a while. Livvy and Josh are both absolute beauties and their wedding was a stylish, winter wonderland of a day, bathed in golden sunlight and full of smiles. All captured in glorious detail by Richard Skins. Elmore Court is an amazing venue, the perfect size, the perfect mix of classic and contemporary - our very own Creative Director Adam got married there last September to Lizzie and we, like Livvy and Josh, had a fabulous time. And I can't not mention Livvy's outfit - she looks amazing in Rime Arodaky separates combined with a faux fur jacket from Oasis. The perfect attire for a winter Bride...

The Bride

Olivia The Bride: My two-piece was from The Mews in Clifton Village and is the Caplan/Pennington by Rime Arodaky. I love Rime’s modern/edgy designs and I knew this was the outfit for me as soon as I put it on. Funnily enough it was actually one of the first outfits I’d pinned on my wedding board on Pinterest! My metallic slingback shoes were Prada - these were a total bargain from the Prada outlet in Bicester Village. My earrings were Tom Foolery and my engagement and wedding rings were both from Sue Foster in Clifton Village. My faux fur jacket was Oasis which I bought about 10 years ago.

The Photography

Our photographer was Richard Skins, we came across his portfolio having trawled through 100s and we were so excited to find his. We wanted someone to capture the day in a more relaxed and informal way, all of the laughter and tears, without it looking staged. Richard did exactly that and we couldn’t recommend him highly enough.  We hired a photo booth from Jax Productions which was hilarious. Everyone got to take their print outs home but we have all of the photos saved on a USB! 

The Videography

We came across one of Simon & Jason’s films on RMW and were instantly sold on them! Having a videographer wasn’t at the top of our priorities when it came to whittling everything down on finances. But I have to say this was by far the best thing we did. I’ve watched it over and over and I still get a huge smile on my face every time I do! If you are wondering whether its worth paying the extra to get a film made I would say 100% do it!!

The Venue

Elmore Court was the second venue we viewed and we both instantly fell in love with it. It ticked all of the boxes for us. It was the perfect rural setting for our winter wedding. It has bags of charm and character with beautiful open log fires and stained glass windows. The team were incredible from start to finish and no ask was to big. They were on hand throughout the whole process to guide us along and they made the whole day run completely smoothly without a hitch. 

The Beauty

My Bridesmaids and I had our hair styled at Bonomini in Clifton. Lauren headed up the bridal team and they all did a fantastic job. I went for a slightly messy, loosely curled up-do and my bridesmaids all had milkmaid plaits. My makeup was done by Helen a freelance Bobbi Brown Makeup Artist. I wanted to look like me so we kept makeup as minimal as possible with a soft smokey eye and bronzed glow. 

The Bridesmaids

The bridesmaids dresses were from the ASOS Maya range. They were a lovely midnight blue, full length with a pretty sequin detailing along the top. They were perfect as they came in petite, standard and tall so they fit everyone like a dream. I bought them all matching grey pearl earrings from Not On The High Street to wear on the day and they went beautifully with the dresses.

The Groom & Groomsmen

Josh’s suit was from Clifton Suits in Clifton. Josh does a lot of body building and is quite broad on top so finding a standard suit to fit was basically a no go. He opted for a bespoke tailored suit made out of a lovely blue wool tweed. His shoes were Paul Smith and he wore his Dad’s wedding ring and cufflinks. The ushers suits were hired from Clifton Suits. The whole bridal party wore matching ties from TM Lewin. 

The Flowers

  Claire at The Wilde Bunch in Abbots Leigh - Bristol, decorated the venue and created all of the beautiful displays and bouquets. She made wreaths of blue spruce and berried eucalyptus which were placed on every table around the candelabra’s. On the top table were stunning centrepieces made out of root log pieces covered in green and white chintz. I have always loved succulents and eucalyptus and wanted these incorporated into our bouquets to which Claire added black berries and anemone. The buttonholes were succulents with berries, bound together with brown twine. We had six giant white balloons to which she tied fine garlands and micro LED fairy lights. The Christmas tree was decorated with pinecones, gypsophila and miniature hanging photo frames with photographs of our loved ones who are no longer with us. 

The Decor

My sister Becca is a visual merchandiser for Anthropologie and is incredibly creative - she designed and made our table plan and all of the mini signs which were dotted around the room. We hired giant O&J light up letters to go on the dance floor which were a last minute splurge, but looked awesome. The animal ears place cards were from Confetti and my Mum and I individually stamped everyones names on each one. The place card holders were from Pipii and doubled up as Christmas decorations that everyone could take home and put on their tree! 

The Cake

Our cake was made by Sam of Cakesmiths in Bristol. He was recommended to me by a friend to make Josh’s 30th Birthday cake last year, so we already knew he made the most divine cakes! We opted for a four tier cake decorated in simple white icing covered with foliage and berries. Each tier was different, the first tier was Victoria sponge, the second dark chocolate truffle, the third lemon sponge with lemon curd and the top was carrot cake. 

The Entertainment

Nero Sting Quartet played before and after the ceremony and throughout our drinks reception. I walked down the aisle to Pachebel’s Canon D and we walked out to Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. I created a playlist for our wedding breakfast with all of our favourite Motown songs. The evening entertainment was provided by Rich S a DJ from Stylish Entertainment who definitely got the party going and everyone on the dance floor including my Grandma! Our final song was Queen Don’t Stop Me Now.

The Food

We wanted there to be good food/drink and plenty of it, as we feel that is a big contributing factor to what makes a great wedding. Elmore Court have their own in house catering team and had rave reviews so we knew we were in good hands. We had a mix of delicious canapés during our drinks reception. The starters were sharing boards with Old Spot Charcuterie. The main was roasted rib eye of beef with gratin potatoes and red wine jus. Followed by a warm chocolate and peanut butter fondant with Welsh gold ice cream for dessert. For those still hungry later on there were Hobbs House bread rolls with slow cooked shoulder of Cotswold pork. It was most definitely hands down the best wedding food we’d ever had! Table favours were miniature bottles of Limoncello, Disaronno, Jager & Baileys.