4. Date #blogtober17

Today I’m going to talk about a date that is very special to me and that’s our Wedding day! Sunday 2nd August 2015.

A day I’ll always remember and one that was one of the best days of my life. (that and my babies births)

I think I planned this day for nearly 7 years (although we were only engaged for 2!) I look back on the Pinterest boards and I’m struck that I had nearly everything that I’d wanted.

The first thing I booked was our wedding photographers, they were amazing and I knew that they would be booked up years in advance so once we had picked a date (we were at somebody else’s wedding when we decided) I emailed them straight away.

Lawson Love:

We chose Lawson Photography for a few reasons, I was obsessed with looking at peoples wedding on lots of different blogs that I followed and time and time again the Lawson’s kept popping up, I loved their photos. So natural and not staged but with an Annie Leibovitz Vibe that I loved! We chose this husband and wife team because are talented and professional, and they are literally the nicest people you will ever meet! We skyped a couple of weeks before the day to get an idea of what we wanted and they were just so good in the day. The pictures they took are amazing and I love them, I love the way they captured the day and the smiles and the enjoyment on everyone’s face.

It’s all about the Choos:

I have been obsessed with owning a pair of Jimmys since I was 18 and I first started reading vogue, so it was only fitting that I got a pair for my wedding. I wore a beautiful pair of Jimmy choo Lace and they were amazing. Just look at them!

Hair and Make Up:

One of the best things I did was to get the help of a professional to do the bridal parties make-up and Hair. Once my make-up was complete I kept thinking ‘is that really me?!’….Jodie A Smith is an amazing professional make-up/hair artist and she was not only a wiz at making us look flawless but along with her assistant Faye she helped with everything from putting me in my dress to dressing poppy. She kept me calm and she is such a lovely person. I had, had a trial with her and it was fab, but I completely changed my mind on the day and gave her free reign and she made me fee like a million dollars! With regards to my hair, I wanted it exactly how she did it, with my bargin hair band from monsoon (£1.86!!)

Dress wobbles:

My dress was from Deborah Jane Bridal in Morecambe and it was by Ronald Joyce and it was called Italia. The dress was something that ever bothered me about getting, I picked a sale dress when Poppy was about 3 months old and it needed altering (I had the top made into a sweetheart neckline and the hips taken in), but about 2 months before the wedding I had a massive wobble about my dress, I wasn’t sure I liked it, I wasn’t sure Gary would like it and for months after the wedding I couldn’t look at our amazing photos because I thought that I looked crap! I know I didn’t but it’s a weird feeling I went through, maybe it was the wedding blues! But now when I look at my photos I realise I was being a fanny and I looked great and I actually kinda love it! I teamed it with a beautiful belt that I bought from Etsy and Jewellery from Marks and Spencer.

The Wedding Party:

My bridesmaids wore long slate grey multiway wrap dresses. I loved them, I had searched high and low for really good quality dresses that weren’t going to break the bank, as I had three adult bridesmaids and then 5 flower girls and two page boys. Eventually I settled on dresses from a UK supplier called In one clothing and their customer service was amazing as she sent dresses to trial at first so we could get the correct sizes. The flower girls all wore dresses from BHS that were a light pink colour and they looked gorgeous and the boys had the same outfits as Ryan which were from Next. Poppy had two dresses on the day one from a local independent shop (that she didn’t actually wear) and a Mamas and Papas dress which was just so pretty.

The flowers: Were arranged by the lovely Karen, my cousins Mum. They were amazing!

Cake: was made by my lovely Grandad, I loved it!

Theme:

No real theme but the colour was predominantly Grey chevrons. The lovely staff at Barton Grange Hotel made the room look lovely using stuff I hired from Lancashire chair covers. We also had favours that me and my mum made (mini jam jars filled with M&Ms) the place settings that I hand wrote and the table numbers made by my amazing brother-in-Law. we also had Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and a sweetie table for the kids (and adults) On our card table we also had a finger print tree and a post box.

Entertainment:

All Day we used Barton Grange’s resident DJ Rob Falcon, he didn’t stop all day from coming to see us getting ready in the bridal suite to talking to guests at the very end of the night! He was the most amazing children’s entertainer (we had 32 at our wedding!!) We danced to two wedding songs: Sam Smiths ‘Lay me down’ and Michael Jacksons ‘rock with you.’ We just couldn’t decide on one so we were greedy!