Sarah & Simon

Today is Valentine's Day, the day of love, and you can certainly feel the love radiating from the pages of this dreamy country Cotswolds wedding. Bride Sarah's creative background in graphic design and Groom Simon's background in vintage lighting helped set the tone for all the delicious decor. With Sarah designing the gorgeous floral stationery and signs and Simon taking care of all the hanging industrial and fairy lights that adorn Hyde House barn. Complimented beautifully by the blush blooms in various jars and spray painted bottles it really is a picturesque place to celebrate. Sarah's keen eye is also reflected in her wedding attire opting for many of our Look Book designers. If like us you can't stop swooning over her Naomi Neoh Loretta gown or stunning Suzanne Neville belt then you should definitely take a peek and see what else they have to offer. The whole wedding is warm, rich and decadent without feeling over-complicated and captured beautifully by White Stag Wedding Photography. Are you ready to swoon and sign?

The Wedding

Sarah the Bride: When Simon and I got engaged we knew exactly how we wanted our wedding to be – romantic and fun, with our own personal creative touches. Traditional yet modern, classy but relaxed and affordable.

The Dress

My Mum and I went to the most beautiful bridal boutique in Essex – The Bespoke Wardrobe, in Ingatestone. Their dresses are exquisite and the service and expertise from Reggie and Mary is outstanding. For me, there is no other bridal dress designer more romantic than Naomi Neoh. The mix of the finest silk, chiffon and delicate French lace make them utterly divine and move with such grace. I chose Naomi’s Loretta dress and paired it with a beautiful lace off the shoulder jacket from Stewart Parvin, a simple satin belt from Suzanne Neville and a plain, single tier, long veil. The combination gave me the versatility of two dresses, when I removed the lace jacket and veil.

Accessories

I kept my jewellery really simple. A single pearl and gold bracelet from Dogeared and my Nan’s pearl earrings. When I took my lace jacket off in the evening I simply added a matching pearl and gold necklace. I had fresh flowers in my hair (white roses and wax flower) to match my bouquet. Allium Florist did such a wonderful job in creating pretty, natural hand tied bouquets for me and the girls. My shoes were by Pink for Paradox London from Elegant Steps. A classic satin peep toe, with stunning vintage beading on the heel - a cheaper alternative to the beautiful beaded shoes from Emmy London.

Grooms Attire

Simon wore a classic, sleek, modern navy three-piece suit from Ted Baker. His tie and pocket square were also from Ted Baker and matched our colour scheme of pink, plum and gold perfectly. His shiny navy patent shoes also matched his suit and were sourced from China.

Wedding Party Attire

The two bridesmaids wore classic pink cocktail dresses by Alfred Sung and the groomsmen’s suits were from Debenhams’ Red Herring collection. We got a discount for buying a large amount of suits and further money off from opening a Debenhams card – much cheaper than hiring suits and the Ushers and best man got to keep them.

Ceremony

The Cotswolds was the ideal half way point between our families in Wales and Essex and a stunning place to say ‘I do’. We picked ‘the most romantic street’ in Lower Slaughter as our ceremony venue. The Parish Church of St Mary’s is intimate, warm and magical when all the candles are lit. Reverend Katrina Scott delivered a beautiful ceremony. We altered the words of the reading, A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton, to tell the story of how we got together. It certainly raised some smiles and laughter, which was much needed after our emotional wedding vowels. Lower Slaughter Manor next door is a remarkable reception venue where we arranged 
pre-wedding drinks on the lawn before the church service. A stunning, affordable backdrop for our photos and a great place for people to meet.

Transport

To take us to and from the church, Evesham Classic Wedding Car Hire drove us around in their charming DAIMLER V8 250.

Reception

Our reception was then at the gorgeous Hyde House around the corner. It had the perfect mix of traditional Cotswolds stone, contemporary elegance and a versatile space for us to put our own stamp on. The staff at Hyde House were amazing at helping us decorate the barn and created a delicious menu that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. We hung 194 Edison bulbs throughout the barn to add warmth, romance and a personal touch. Simon runs his own online lighting store – so we created a gorgeous mix of festoon lighting and pendants hung at different heights above the top table. House of Bunting were a fantastic help in putting them all up for us. We collected vintage looking sweet jars and tied gold ribbons around them for Allium Florist to fill with beautiful white, pink and plum flowers and lots of wild greenery. They looked so gorgeous and matched our stationery, which I designed, perfectly. We collected wine bottles and sprayed them gold for table number holders and named each table after songs that hold great memories for us. Our wedding cake was a simple creation from Marks and Spencer’s, which Allium Florist dressed in beautiful flowers for us.

Entertainment

To entertain our guests, we created a Pimp Your Prosecco bar for them to personalise their champagne with four different cocktail concoctions. We replaced favours for our own personal take on the game Articulate. Everyone had a word to describe to the table, from Welsh/Essex words to places we had been and funny slang words. The person to guess the most answers correctly on the table won a scratch card. We also built our own photo booth for guests to enjoy. Using an Ikea cabinet, we housed a camera linked to a touch screen and computer to provide a compact little booth, with a free standing curtain backdrop and lots of props from Poundland and Amazon. It worked out cheaper than a hiring and we had it for the entire day. Our DJ in the evening was amazing – David Brooksbank. He kept the dancefloor packed all night playing a great mixture of genres for all ages to enjoy. We didn’t hire a videographer. Instead, we passed around Go Pro cameras to capture people’s messages and the general party atmosphere of the day.

Photography

The whole wedding was more amazing than we could have ever imagined. Every look of love, laughter, fun and emotion was captured effortlessly by Catherine and Andy at White Stag Wedding Photography. Their romantic and contemporary style matched our day and what we wanted to achieve perfectly. Their natural, reportage approach told a true and wonderful story that we will treasure forever.