Welcome to BridalMusings’ brand new wedding inspiration week.
Let’s start with a lovely pastel wedding in Wales. Two stylish teachers tied the knot in a ceremony that was full of florals, dazzling boys, and adorable girls. A primary school choir also sang during the ceremony. What a sweet gesture!
You may recognize Amy and Ashley as they were featured in their unique wedding video slideshow created by Mckinley Rogers Film and photography. Today, I am thrilled to be able to share Photographyeous wedding photos with you.
Amy is one of my favorite brides. She’s a beautiful and joyful bride with a witty account of their wedding. Her dress dramas are sure to reassure all of you brides who still haven’t decided on your dress.
The Colour Palette
Early on, we decided that the theme of the event would be a garden party. The venue was an incredible marquee that had great views and was filled with sunlight on sunny days. We chose a palette of pastel colors to complement this. Pastel colors gave us the freedom to choose so many different elements for our wedding. On the wedding day, we were thrilled that all the colors blended so beautifully and created the pretty, light image we had envisioned.
Wedding Dress
After I got engaged, I was incredibly excited to go dress shopping and made an appointment almost instantly. My first experience wasn’t ideal. I didn’t have a clear idea of the kind of dress I was looking for. I knew it wasn’t going to be a Katie Price princess-meringue-style dress, but I kept an open mind. I used the princess meringue style to pick out a few items I liked. This was not an easy task, as there were racks and racks of white. My choices were disastrous, but the assistant refused to accept defeat. She insisted that I wear a WAG-style dress, which was fine but not “me.” She still wrote down the information for me, even though she was aware that I didn’t know myself. This did not happen.
I visited several bridal shops but failed to find anything I liked. There’s a lot of pressure to have the “Wow, it’s the moment!” and waltz through the shop like the dress was your second skin. I never did. The moment I had a more subtle eureka came when I visited All About Eve. The sales assistant, a Saturday girl of 18 years old, was the most helpful person that I encountered. She was complimentary without being pushy and made me feel comfortable. It’s no accident that I discovered the dress during this experience. The dress was the only one to make my mum cry, and I was sure I would like it. It was nearly two years until the wedding, and I thought it was too soon to make a decision.
The shop sold the sample when I decided to purchase it, only seven months before my wedding. I would not be able to try it again. In the hope that everything would be fine on the big night (or, in this case, the wedding), I bought it. It was seven weeks before the wedding, and several alterations were needed. My husband-to-be and his family were so grateful that I wasn’t a stressed bride. They also fell for my mantra, “It will be okay …”. I didn’t like the dress because it had a huge train. The seamstress gave me a horrified look when I asked her to cut it off. It took some convincing. After the alterations, I felt that the dress was finally mine. There was a little waltzing.
The Ceremony
Ash and I both teach in Welsh medium schools. We wanted to incorporate this somehow in the ceremony. Calon Lan was chosen as our hymn by a friend who read a beautiful Welsh poem. We asked Ash’s School Choir to sing at the signing of the Register as a surprise. They did a fantastic job.
Groom & Bridal Party Outfit
Ash and I both knew that we didn’t like the look of the hired suits. Ash loves clothes, and his case was as important to him as my dress. This decision was met with some eyebrows, but we stood by it. It turned out to be one of the best decisions. It was a Goldilocks moment when we went shopping together to find the perfect one. Ash chose navy because he thought it was classic and wouldn’t be too heavy for the summer wedding. I commented to a well-known retailer that I did not know the suit was blue. The sales assistant responded, “You can’t get any bluer than this love.” We quickly walked to Reiss, where we found a gorgeous bluer suit. Sold. I know I’m a bit biased, but I thought he was very handsome and dapper that day.
We asked the groomsmen only to wear their grey suits on the big day. They all looked great and helped create the mismatched look that we were going for. They were all absolute stars, and it was a breeze buying for them. We wanted the bridesmaids to be happy with their outfits, so we agreed quickly. On the day, they looked absolutely stunning!
Decor & Details
Decor evolved and changed during the planning phase but was always centered around our desire to create an elegant garden party setting. After considering lanterns and pom-poms for the ceiling of our marquee, we decided bunting would be the best option. We considered making it ourselves, but after finding a lady on eBay who could make what we wanted at a very reasonable price, we decided to let her do the work.
We love to travel and have been on many amazing trips together. We wanted to celebrate our love of travel in some way, so we decided to name our tables for our favorite places that we’ve visited together. Ash used apertures of us to create postcards that were then used as table names. The table plan consisted of a vintage-style world map, with luggage tags attached to each table. The project was placed on top of an old suitcase that was generously given to us by Ash’s mother’s friend.
The Flowers
We changed our minds about centerpieces several times. I knew I wanted flowers to be the focal point because I am a big fan of flowers and thought that it would add some color to the white marquee. After seeing milk jugs in a magazine, my mum suggested them. A couple of weeks later, we attended a friend’s reception, and there were flower-filled milk jugs all over the room. After our friends agreed to sell us these milk jugs, we made the purchase. I’m a lover of flowers, but I know nothing about them. I went to a florist and told her I wanted pastel, fluffy, country garden style, pastel-colored flowers. Sian’s creation was more than I could have imagined. One of my favorite parts of the day was being surrounded by so many beautiful petals.
We collected a lot of tea cups but couldn’t decide how to use them. A few days before, I came up with the idea to fill them with truths or dares so that guests could have something to do in between the busy parts of the day. It was a tedious job, but it was worth it to see the hilarious pictures and moments that were captured on the wedding day.
We owe this brilliant idea to our wonderful photographers who created a similar display for a wedding fair. It looked so good that we couldn’t resist! This helped create a homely atmosphere in the marquee, and we were very pleased with it.
The Favors
The fates helped us choose after we had gone through an absurd amount of ideas. Three months before my wedding, my dad died suddenly of a sudden heart attack. He was a nosey father who had been involved in the planning and so excited about the wedding that we wanted to include him in as much of the day as possible. We also included photos of him in the crate and donated to the British Heart Foundation. We received heart-shaped paper infused with wildflower seeds as a favor.
The Refreshments
We love cake, and, being aware that our guests had a long day ahead of them, we wanted to make sure they could have plenty to eat. Instead of a traditional wedding, we chose a cake-based buffet. Ash’s talented grandmother made delicious Welsh cakes, cupcakes in various flavors, cake pops, macaroons, and scones. My vision of a rainbow-coloured array of treats was created by collecting a variety of cake stands and plates to display the cupcakes. Again, this was something I could only dream about until the wedding, and the reality exceeded my imagination. The next morning, only one macaroon remained. Hopefully, this was a sign our guests liked them.
