For my final wedding post, before posting the video this Sunday, I’m talking all things decor. You’ve already seen some details in previous posts, like the pimp your prosecco stand, but I thought I’d talk you through the overall look of the venue. We looked at quite a few barns and found that some were too rustic and some were so modern that they’d lost all character. The barn we chose was really big, it felt new and clean but still had so many original features that looked amazing. It was empty though, unlike a restaurant or a hotel venue barns tend to come without any decor.

Right at the beginning, I considered getting a wedding planner. I wanted to do it all myself but I didn’t want my job and content to suffer, so I did consider it. In the end, due to budgets, I didn’t use a planner but we did use Revival Rooms to decorate the venue and help us with on the day coordination. I didn’t want my friends and family ‘working’ on the day so it was really nice to have someone else in charge of logistics.

Each table was named after a year when someone in our family had got married, so each table had a wooden block which I hand painted the year on. The table plan was displayed using various plants in West Elm planters alongside family wedding photos. Each plant represented a year which was displayed on a slate herb marker and I made lots of little flags with each person’s name on and their table number on the back.

I wanted the barn to be full of greenery and textures. We used a mix of ivy on the vine, rose memory lane, wax flowers and eucalyptus. Ivy and eucalyptus hung from the beams in the barn and were laid along the tables too. We had a mix of round and rectangular tables to make the room feel less formal.

We also had someone come in and add more lighting as the barn was quite dark. I wanted lots of festoon lighting so we hung these from the beans and had twinkle lights behind the band to create a clear dancing area. We were supposed to have “dance” balloons here too but unfortunately the “a” balloon popped when blowing them up. Uplighting can really make a difference to the mood of a venue, for this we used a warm orange light as it brought out the natural textures in the wooden beams (& I really didn’t want pinks and purples!).

I feel like I could keep rambling on and on about this but when you see the video it’ll all make sense. I hope you’ve liked seeing some more photos of the day and thanks so much for all of your comments.

First came the venue, then came the food… that was our priority list. Food was so incredibly important to us and I think the food you serve at your wedding can really set the atmosphere and effect how your guests feel throughout the evening. We worked really closely with our caterers to make it exactly how we wanted it to be, so let me run through our food and drink in the order of how it went on the day…

As guests arrived at the ceremony barn they were greeted with a display of Evian Fruit & Plant droplets. We went back and forth trying to decide whether to feed people something when they arrived but budgets and time didn’t allow so instead we gave everyone a drink incase they’d driven from far. These were displayed outside along with our request for no photos online.

After the ceremony we had the reception where we served prosecco, elderflower fizz and canapés. We chose prosecco as we prefer the lighter taste and we created a “pimp your prosecco bar” inspired by Pinterest. Using a bar cart and a sign made by my sister we had a selection of fruits and cordials for guests to add to their drink. The canapés we chose to serve (all freshly made on site) were teriyaki salmon served with hot dipping sauce, chicken satay with peanut and chilli dipping sauce, mini spring rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce and avocado and tomato salsa in tortilla cups.

Rich took charge when it came to drinks as he has bar experience and as we had to stock our own bar we decided to limit the drink options. For the evening part of our wedding guests could drink wine on the table, take from the self-serve beer station or go to the bar. Behind the bar we had soft drinks, shots and two cocktails which we created with the help from a friend. Both cocktails were delicious and really drinkable, I made a sign and named each drink after mine and Rich’s funny middle names. For the best man’s speech we wanted all the guests to be served a shot, he did his speech last so we wanted the shot to get everyone in the party mood and for this we used homemade sloe gin. You might remember this vlog from last year when we picked the sloe berries , we made it at home ourselves and stored it all year ready for the wedding, it was so yummy! These were served in vintage shot glasses that we’d spent a year collecting from all different charity shops around the UK.

We wanted our dinner to be really relaxed, informal, delicious and not too heavy. We started with freshly made flat breads served on a board with hummus, marinated olives, rosemary and chilli dipping oils. Each guest also got a salad of speck, fig, beetroot, mozzarella, pomegranate and rocket. One person from each table was designated as the meat carver and given an apron (from H&M home!) and although I find this idea a bit done it’s really essential if you want the meat to stay warm. The meat we chose was oak smoked local lamb marinated in middle eastern spices with a mint yoghurt sauce. To go with the meat we placed large sharing bowls of salad for everyone to pass around and dig in. We had four fresh salads to choose from; french beans with pine nuts and orange, roasted cauliflower and hazelnuts, quinoa and puy lentil salad with lemon and sumac and roasted sweet potato with a honey and lemon dressing. All were completely delicious and worked so well with the lamb!

We chose not to serve dessert to the tables as it felt too formal and we wanted as much dancing time as possible. I also didn’t think we needed a cake, this is often a big expense at weddings and it was a detail that we weren’t fussed about. Instead we had a dessert table that guests could visit whenever they were ready and on here we had fruit, crumbles and doughnuts. There were so many Krispy Kreme doughnuts it was literally like a dream and Olivia very kindly brought back my absolute favourite crumbles for a one-off wedding special. I was obsessed with Livia’s Crumbles when they were around!

Later in the evening we had fresh pizza served onto the dance floor, I remember demolishing this it was so good! Thanks to Catering for Suffolk for the amazing food. Sorry if I’ve made you all really hungry, I wish I could go back and eat it all again!

Photos by Razia Jukes.

 

If you’re a long time reader or viewer of mine then you’ll know that this part of the wedding was an absolute dream for me. I’ve never been a fan of having my makeup done and I’ve always said I’ll do my own… unless Sam Chapman can do it. Sam Chapman (makeup artist and one half of Pixiwoo) has always been a huge inspiration to me and her makeup looks are always flawless, yet realistic. I’m not very trusting of other people doing my makeup but I always knew I’d feel completely happy letting her do mine. It was this time last year, October 2015, whilst on a press trip with Urban Decay that Anna and I spent a couple of days with Sam and Nic. We had so much fun and they kindly did our makeup before dinner one evening. When discussing wedding makeup and whether or not I was going to do my own, Sam offered to do my makeup before the big day… In a bit of a shocked, spluttery mess I of course said “omg that would be amazing, yes please!!”.

After filming this video we had a little trial at her studio and it was perfect. I was a little nervous but it was exactly what I was hoping for if not better. I told Sam I just wanted to look like a more put together version of myself and I told her of all my usual makeup habits. She changed a few products on the day and I was so so happy with the finished look. It was also such a pleasure to have Sam there on the morning whilst getting ready, I love her down to earth, real personality.

The look she went for in the end was a slightly taupe, smokey eye and nude lip. I was completely blown away by how she did my lips, I’ve tried to recreate it since but can’t get it right. It’s difficult for me to give exact directions of this look as I didn’t do it myself but I have a list of products she used and maybe one day we can recreate it for a video! Ok, so let’s go through the product list…

 

For the base she used the Laura Mercier primer and then MAC Face & Body foundation. Face & Body is great as it’s buildable but she also used a bit of the new Hourglass Foundation on my cheeks where Face & Body sometimes goes patchy on me. Although Sam isn’t a huge fan of Urban Decay Naked concealer it works great for me, so we used that alongside MAC Studio Finish concealer. She applied the base with a slightly damp Real Techniques Complexion sponge which gives it a really nice natural finish and the base was set using the Charlotte Tilbury Powder and Real Techniques Setting Brush.

In the trial we used NARS Laguna bronzer but I find it too muddy on me so for the real thing we used my favourite Too Faced Milk Chocolate Bronzer. She patted MAC Hush onto my cheekbones which is a gorgeous pinky/gold cream highlighter. For a bit of colour she used The Estee Edit Coral blusher, I usually wear quite a lot of blusher but I loved that this look was very soft and subtle.

The Shavata Brow Defining Pencil was used on my brows followed by the Blink Clear Brow Gel. We used the Illamasqua brow gel in the trail which is much stronger but I found it to be a bit uncomfortable so we went back to my favourite. She brushed the hairs on my brows upwards making them look textured and full. The eyeshadows were all from the IT Cosmetics Naturally Matte Palette which she used with the MAC 239, Real Techniques 203 and slanted liner brush. Once the shadow was done she lined the upper lash line with a brown Burberry pencil liner and applied a small amount of black eyeshadow right at the lashes. I wasn’t sure how I felt about false lashes as I never wear them but we tried just corner lashes for the trial and after cutting them down a bit I thought they looked really natural and pretty. The Sera G corner lashes shaped my eye really nicely adding a bit of lift to the outer parts of my eye. A lot of MAC Extended Play Lash waterproof mascara was then applied and I can confirm I had no smudging throughout the wedding!

The lips were created using the Shavata eyebrow pencil on the outer corners and cupids bow, she used it as a contour creating shape and fullness. I loved the shape especially on the corners of the lips and then on top of the liner she used Soap & Glory Nudist Gloss Stick which is a colour I found and chose. The shade was perfect but unfortunately I’m really allergic to it and have had terrible sore lips ever since… so I won’t be able to wear it again.

I hope you like these images and let me know what you think of the amazing makeup look that Sam created. Go check Pixiwoo’s YouTube channel here, their makeup brush line here, their new book Face here and their Hollywood Icons documentary here.

 

I was also incredibly lucky to have Bobbi Brown Cosmetics there to do my sisters’, Rich’s family and my friends’ makeup. Prior to the big day we went along to the Bobbi Brown Convent Garden boutique for trials and had the Bobbi Brown tea at Balthazar, it was such a special day. Bobbi Brown are definitely the go-to brand for wedding makeup, they just get it. They have some amazing bridal how-to’s online and offer lessons in store too! They were all so so happy with their makeup, the artists did an amazing job and I’ve genuinely never seen them all look so good. My sister Carly especially, she doesn’t usually wear any makeup but they created a natural look that perfectly enhanced her features. It was so special to be able to have Amy and Ashley there, I was blown away with their skills. If you’re thinking of doing your own makeup for your wedding I’d really recommend using Bobbi Brown either in store online for lessons!

Photos by Razia Jukes

I’d never really thought about wedding dresses before I got engaged. In all honesty I had never really seen a bride and thought “ooh I’d love to wear that”. I had always been quite confused about the idea of being uncomfortable on your wedding day, not being able to breathe or eat. When I first got engaged I thought maybe I could just go to Selfridges and buy a really nice dress to wear, why did it need to be a wedding dress from a bridal shop? Turns out my laid back approach wasn’t as easy to execute as I thought and I struggled to find something that felt right.

The first time I tried on a wedding dress was at a sample sale and we all laughed our heads off as I tried on dresses that made me look like I was playing dress-up. The sample sale process was really intense, I’m not sure I’d recommend that unless you know exactly which dress you want and you know it’s going to be there. Honestly I was completely shocked by the price of wedding dresses, I had no idea that people spent that much on their dresses. I think it depends where you prioritise your budget, I personally wanted to invest in the things that would benefit everyone, like food, drink, music and decor. I first went to Mirror Mirror, then to Charlie Brear and then luckily, I struck gold on the third place. Catherine Deane seemed like a really nice, semi-casual brand, I knew I wanted something comfortable, flattering and that made me look like me.

After trying on a few dresses that weren’t quite right, I tried on some of their separates. My final pick was a satin bodice with a high waisted silk tulle skirt and a lace button back top. It looked just like a dress but because it was separates it was a bit more affordable than the dresses, score! I still think it’s a lot of money to spend on one day but I was happy with the price I spent and what I got for my money. I wore the Catherine Deane Dasha top and the Anika skirt with the Darla bodice.

You know you’ve found the one when you do a little dance in the mirror. That’s when you know. 

I tried it on twice before committing, once with my mum and another time with my best friends and then I had to wait a bit for my size to be ordered and delivered. Something I regret not doing is practising dancing and jumping around in it. When I went back to pick it up I realised how restricting the top was, I couldn’t lift my arms up and I really didn’t want to be the sort of bride that couldn’t let loose and dance. I loved the outfit though so I looked into the option of changing my top for the party. Needle & Thread have an amazing range of wedding pieces and they kindly gifted me the Victorian Lace Top. The beaded top went really well with the skirt and added more of a party vibe to my outfit. Also, I was able to dance…. hard core dance.

I did need some alterations though, so I went to Julia Dee at The Wardrobe Curator. She was incredibly helpful and patient, I think when it comes to something so important like your wedding outfit you should only use someone you trust and feel comfortable with. I’ve heard awful stories about people having unpleasant alteration experiences so I’m so happy Julia was such a pleasure to work with. I visited her a couple of times, she took up the bottom of my skirt and took it in at the waist so it sat higher on my waist. She also had to take in the bodice so it fitted really well and I wouldn’t feel the need to lift it up (or wear a bra!), she also added some clear straps for a bit of lift and security. I decided to sew the skirt to the bodice so there was no chance of them coming apart as I didn’t want my stomach to show. This also meant it was really easy for me to step into it like a dress and made transporting it simpler too. The lace top was perfect so didn’t need any alterations but I did take the Needle & Thread top in slightly at the sides so it fitted better. This was a bit of an unnecessary step that you would’t need to do but I wanted it more fitted and Julia did an incredible job with the complicated beading work. Changing tops in the toilet with my friends Anna and Debs was such a funny memory, we were all so giddy and excited, I think I just jumped up and down for 10 minutes.

I wasn’t that fussed with shoes, comfort was key. I chose some grey, low, chunky heeled sandals from Steve Madden and changed into my white converse at around 10.30pm.

Rich wore a blue wool suit from Oscar Milo which we found in their shop in Spitalfields. He chose to wear a patterned, linen-blend shirt from Ted Baker with a blue brushed cotton tie from ASOS. He was obsessed with these shoes he found from Justine Reece and the whole thing came together really well. He didn’t want to wear a traditional suit so finding all the pieces to work together took a while but was worth it.

We both felt really happy and comfortable in our outfits and if I could do it again I wouldn’t change a thing. I hope you’ve liked seeing some more photos!

Photos by Razia Jukes.

Thanks to my mum I’ve been a fan of Jo Malone London since my very first spritz, so when it came to picking a wedding scent I always knew it would be Jo Malone I’d go to. The Jo Malone boutiques offer bridal consultations so my mum and I went along to our local store and it was such a lovely and memorable experience. The consulation is free of charge and you receive and complimentary hand and arm massage too! We spent the time there exploring the different scents for myself, for Rich and for the venue. One of best things about Jo Malone is that their scents mix really well and you can create your own unique combinations.

I have firm favourites from the brand but I wanted to maybe try something a little different for the day so that the scent would always remind of that specific time. In the end I chose to wear the Blackberry & Bay body creme with the Nutmeg & Ginger cologne sprayed on top. The combination worked really well with the freshness of Blackberry & Bay and the warmth of Nutmeg & Ginger creating a scent that was clean, relaxing & special.

For the barn, we chose my favourite candle scent Wild Fig & Cassis and mixed it with some Mimosa & Cardamom candles. We also used Nutmeg & Ginger cologne to spritz in the ceremony barn and to spray the linen and chair covers. I liked the idea of the venue scent fitting with my own but the fig also added a gorgeous smell that worked really well with the food and wasn’t at all over powering. In the bathrooms we had Blackberry & Bay hand lotions and in the women’s we had Mimosa & Cardamom hand wash and in the men’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt hand wash. Let’s just say, everything smelt amazing. 

Rich wore the Black Cederwood & Juniper cologne which I actually chose for him and he’s now obsessed with it.

Scent is really important to me so it was so nice have such a focus on it for our wedding. A smell can last in your memories forever so these scents will always be special to me.

Photos by Razia Jukes 

With the Internet being such a huge part of my life I think my friends and family were surprised I didn’t go for the online invitation option, but I’ve always been a huge fan of stationery so it was something I wanted to make special. We wanted to send out a “save the date” to make sure our guests kept it free so it was something we thought about quite early on. I thought it would be such a lovely and sentimental idea to use Olivia Whitworth as she created this illustration that Rich used to propose to me. He found her on a freelancer website and they had a couple of months of back and forth to work on a “will you marry me” illustration with drawings of all my favourite things.

A little bit about Olivia. She’s a freelance illustrator who originally trained in architecture, you can check out her website here. One thing I have to say is she was an absolute pleasure to work with. Throughout the whole process she was incredibly patient and we really became friends. She’s so talented and I would 100% recommend her for any illustration projects.

We started with the “save the date” and of course, me being me, I really dislike the term “save the date”. It just didn’t feel like something we would naturally say, so instead we went for “fancy another wedding?”. It was important for Olivia and I to nail the illustration at the beginning as we knew it could then be used throughout the rest of the stationery in different variations. I wanted it to reflect my vision for the venue… lots of greenery and hanging festoon lighting. I’ve posted some early illustrations below so you can see what we started with, I sent over lots of photos of the type of greenery, lamps and lighting that I like. We played with the idea of succulents but in the end we decided ivy worked best. The final illustration of ivy and festoon lights is so gorgeous and perfect for us. The drawings were first done in pencil, then scanned into the computer and coloured/touched up using photoshop. The colours were originally done as flat colours but were then brought out using photoshop brushes and texture overlays.

Next up was the invite itself and with this we sent an information card and an RSVP card. As it was a non-religious, non-traditional wedding we could write what we want and our parents are both very laid back. So we just wrote our first names and basic details of the day. The information card was where we could mention local accommodation, transport options, gift list, how we felt about posting photos online and of course, dress code. I’ve never felt strongly about telling people what to wear at my wedding, it seems strange to me, so we wrote “It’s a barn venue and there will be a very small amount of walking on grass. We just want you to be happy and comfortable so wear whatever you like!”. In case any of you are thinking about doing no dress code, I can confirm that everyone looked lovely and happy and I don’t remember for one second caring what anyone else was wearing. I say, go for it!

The RSVP card was pretty standard, although we wrote “yes, I’ll be there, can’t wait!” and “Noooo, I can’t come. Gutted!” instead of yes or no. If you decide NOT to print names on the cards, I’d recommend writing a small number on the back of each one that correlates with a spreadsheet as sometimes people forget to write their names on their RSVP cards.

There were just a few bits of stationery that we wanted on the day. The order of service was double sided with the lyrics to “Hey Jude” on the back for the singalong at the end of the ceremony. On the front was a list of the people in the ceremony and a rough outline of how the afternoon and evening was laid out. I didn’t want to give too much away but I also think it’s nice for people to have an idea of timings and not feel like everything’s a surprise. The menus were placed on each guest’s plate and instead of ‘menu’, we chose “let’s eat!” to encourage the casual, sharing vibe of our dinner.

So I hope you liked having a peak at our wedding stationery, let me know what you think! There are also some brilliant ready-made invites out there, so don’t feel you have to get your own thing designed, it’s definitely not essential.

As I said, Olivia was so perfect to work with on this and I’m so grateful. I’m excited to hear that she has just released her first colouring book so I wanted to add in a few photos of that too! “Dream Weaver” is available now and unlike most colouring books, this one has a story of images to follow. The nameless woman, I like to call her Mary, drifts off to sleep and the book follows her dreams. It’s a gorgeous book that would make a really lovely gift too.

{ the early sketches for the stationery }