Susie & Joe

Pennard House weddings are always some of our favourites to share, they all have a lovely relaxed vibe, with stylish couples who want a day that looks gorgeous, but is also full of fun. Susie and Joe's wedding took place over the course of a weekend, with Friday night drinks and a post-wedding BBQ too. This is always a great way of making the most of the occasion and means you get to spend more time with the people you perhaps don't see as often as you'd like. Ali Paul and Irene Piera have captured the joy of this wedding to perfection, so make sure you're sitting comfortably, this is a wedding you'll want to savour...

Our Wedding

Emily the Bride: We were after a relaxed and fun atmosphere for the wedding. Most especially we hoped for as much time with our family and friends, so planned a long weekend with a gathering at a local pub on Friday night and a BBQ on Sunday. After all, we had friends who travelled half way across the world to celebrate with us. Luckily, the venue was so charming that we didn’t need to add many decorations, only personal touches. We made these items ourselves and some of our family members either lent or gathered items too. The wedding party also helped set up the day before. A special mention for my big bro, who hauled numerous items down to Somerset, built us a photo frame and managed to deal with a tricky church warden on the morning of our wedding!

The Venue

After a short search we fell in love with Pennard House. We were instantly taken by its relaxed atmosphere and beautiful features; the church at the bottom of the garden, two large lawns, several bedrooms in the house and a stunning coach house. We brought along lawns games to play during the reception drinks and encouraged guests to take photos with our DIY floral photo frame. We also wanted a venue with no corkage. Thankfully, the sun made an appearance after two extremely wet days beforehand (que wedding party stress) and the rain, thunder and lightning kept off until minutes after the guests entered the coach house for the wedding breakfast. Phew.

The Ceremony

To be frank, neither of us are particularly religious but there were a few reasons for choosing a church wedding. After all, as much as we couldn’t wait to party, it’s important that the marriage is the focus of the day and a church wedding felt traditional and special to us. Both of our mums read and we sang some favourite childhood hymns.

The Bride

I fell in love with the designs by Rime Arodaky. Unfortunately, I was a little slow (although I had no idea at the time) to start looking at dresses, so I wasn’t able to get an appointment at The Mews, Notting Hill (we live in London). Having fallen head over heels for these designs, I booked an appointment with their sister store in Bristol. My mum dutifully came along each time. I was momentarily disappointed after realising they didn’t stock as wide a variety of her dresses, but, like so many other brides, I ended up trying on another design that I had not considered before, it was the one. The team at The Mews were wonderful. I always planned on selling my wedding dress. As special as the dress is, it makes me sad to think it will sit in the back of a wardrobe! So I splashed out on Valentino shoes – a re-wearable keepsake. My veil was from Britten. Anni from Portraits Bridal did my hair and created the natural make up I was hoping for. She and her assistant looked after us really well, creating a relaxed and fun environment on the morning of the wedding.

The Groom

Joe wore a Ted Baker suit, textured grey tie and dark brown shoes from Bertie. He decided against a three piece suit to keep a relaxed look.

The Wedding Party

The girls wore floor length dresses from Mango. We love the colour green and this dress suited everyone’s figures beautifully. The boys wore blue suits to compliment Joe’s from Marks and Spencer.

The Flowers

We had arrangements of relaxed green foliage and white, with elements of peach, flowers. Kate was wonderful - we loved her positive nature from the offset. She was the only flower supplier we met who asked us our budget and helped us work towards it. We made the confetti and cones ourselves. I only wish we could have had more flowers!

The Band

Joe and I love to dance. Soulshine had the guests on the dance floor all night with their funk and soul style. We chose September by Earth Wind and Fire after our first dance to get the party started and added a sax player for some extra funk.

The Photography

We were drawn to Ali’s style and wanted a photographer that would capture the special moments without being obtrusive. He was willing to capture Joe and the boys running up Glastonbury Tor on the morning pf the wedding, before heading over to Pennard House. The day was captured beautifully and we love the change in style for the dance floor shots. We are really pleased with the results.

The Videographer

Irene was one of the best choices we made. It took me some time to convince Joe that a wedding video would be such a brilliant token of the day. Eventually he was bought around! Irene has a wonderful style and was also unobtrusive while capturing the day creatively. We simply love the video.

{Watch The Film}