The Bride & Bridesmaids
:me – eeeek(wedding dress experience, hair and makeup, flowers, accessories)
My partner proposed Sunday 23rd October 2016, we married on 24th December 2016 – only two months and one day afterwards!
My wedding dress was purchased at ‘The Wedding Collection’ in Beverley (www.thewedding-collection.co.uk). I was very nervous of going shopping for my wedding dress: being a plus-sized bride and not having time to order a dress I was conscious that my choices were going to be limited and kept putting of going to look for a dress. I had a certain style of dress in mind and felt sure I would have to make major compromises. Eventually my mother-in-law took me to The Wedding Collection boutique without my prior knowledge and I certainly wasn’t dressed for the occasion (I wasn’t wearing matching underwear and my hair was dishevelled) – she knew if it was planned in advance I would definitely have cancelled!
Needless to say, the experience was amazing. We were greeted by friendly staff and I quietly informed her of the size I needed expecting to be shown a just a few dresses. However, she led us through the shop and signalled three full rails of dresses that I could choose from, amazing! Sat right in the centre of one of the rails was a dress in exactly the colour that I wanted, I was ecstatic! The saleswoman gave us six discs and said to choose six dresses to try on, using the discs to highlight them. I tried on my dream dress and it fitted perfectly! I knew I wanted that dress, but I was advised to try on the others just in case. I tried them, but of course I bought my perfect first choice!
I never wear makeup so again this was a nervous decision to make. In the end, I asked my sister to do my hair and makeup and I’m happy to say I looked pretty good. We had several trials and she did an amazing job, I’m very thankful to her.
With my wedding having a winter wonderland theme, I decided to forego flowers and have a broach and diamante bouquet for myself and my flower girls. I also bought matching pins for both the mother of the bride and mother of the groom.
For accessories, we wore matching snowflake hair pins, with a beautiful, sparking tiara for myself!
The Bridesmaids:
I had two bridesmaids: Martin’s nieces Ellie (10) and Nia (9), and what beautiful princesses they were! They wore ivory princess-style dresses with beautiful fur jackets to keep them warm, and snowflakes hair pins to match their crystal bouquets.
The Groom & Groomsmen
As we had a very small, intimate wedding, Martin chose not to have a best man, with my three sons (Matthew, 25, Joseph, 24 and Luke, 14) as groomsmen.
Martin wanted to wear grey top and tails on our special day. We had tried to find the perfect suits online and in person in several shops in Hull and Scunthorpe but the customer service often left a lot to be desired. After another failed appointment, we happened to walk past Charles Richard Menswear (www.charlesrichard.co.uk). We popped in not expecting to be able to be seen as it was 1pm on a Saturday but they managed to squeeze us in the very same day at 3pm. The service was friendly and attentive – one-to-one attention was given to each of the wedding party for both measurements and advice. They were very professional, organised and polite, giving good old-fashioned service, perfect!
Each of the men wore a grey top hat and tails, grey trousers with grey silk waistcoats and white shirts. To be slightly different, Martin wore a grey tartan wool waistcoat and cane. Their look was finished off with dusky pink cravats and handkerchiefs.
The Service:
The service was in the beautiful gardens of Elsham Hall Gardens and Country Park in Brigg, North Lincolnshire (www.elshamhallevents.co.uk). We received special permission from the North Lincolnshire registrars to have our ceremony outdoors at 5pm even though it was winter!
Our ceremony took place under a stunning tree entwined with fairy lights in the gardens. To set the scene, there were hay bales for the guests to sit on and we provided soft blankets to keep them warm! Five organza-draped arches with fairy lights and lots of lanterns lined the walkway, leading to the incredible lit-up tree. As it was outside in the cold we chose to have a snow machine to add to the wintry effect. There were lanterns at the end of each row of hay bales, with hundreds of logs, candles, jars of gypsophilia and greenery, with white glitzy reindeer nestled among. The displays were scattered with faux snow at the base of the tree where we were to say our vows, it looked truly magical.
The Reception:
The reception was held in The Barn at Elsham Hall after the service. Whilst our photographer Calvin Taylor Lee got started on our photographs our guests were served hot chocolate and marshmallows to warm up with. They had the option of adding Bailey’s to their hot chocolate, or even a hazelnut syrup that made it taste just like Forrero Rocher!
After the photographs we were seated for our wedding breakfast supplied by a good friend of mine Chris of Your Chef (www.yourchef.uk.com). Our guests had the choice of my favourite Hunter’s chicken with plenty of cheese, bacon and barbeque sauce or Martin’s favourite hearty steak pie with mushy peas! There was a selection of chips, roast potatoes and roasted root vegetables to go with it. For dessert we chose to offer either a sumptuous chocolate fudge cake with cream or a zingy lemon cheesecake, with cheese and crackers for those who didn’t fancy something sweet. With our wedding being on Christmas Eve we didn’t want an elaborate three course meal. We were very aware that everyone would be having a roast dinner the next day, and we wanted a more informal occasion – I’m pleased to say that our choice was very well received!
My mother and I arrived in a vintage Morris Oxford Empire called Boris, from All Occasion Cars (www.alloccasioncars.co.uk). What an exemplary professional service! My driver Jeff was fabulous.
I was very excited to be in my Victorian styled dress being walked down the candlelit aisle to meet my husband to be who with his top hat, tails and cane was also looking rather Victorian: his choice of suit couldn’t have suited my dress more.
I walked down the aisle to the sounds of a baby grand piano, situated at the back of all my guests. Nia and Ellie walked down the aisle first; I was then accompanied to my husband-to-be by my mum Pam.
I honestly cannot say which part of the service was my favourite, it was all so special! My two eldest boys did an emotional reading, I had written my own vows and my mother-in-law did a brilliant reading too.
I styled our wedding myself, with a lot of help from my close family and friends. Because of the Christmas Eve date, we had to have a fabulous winter wonderland theme – and I have to say it was absolutely amazing! The Barn had drapes and fairy lights cascading from the beams, and the chairs were covered in white spandex chair covers wrapped with a white sash. To these we added ruffles and feathers and beautiful posy of pastel flowers with tiny, sparkling snowflakes tucked in.
We chose a banquet-style table with very elaborate centrepieces of bare trees suspended from the 30ft high barn beams. We decorated them with hanging crystal garlands, various sizes of glass candlesticks, a variety of logs, candles, lanterns and sprayed snowy greenery, reindeers, and approximately forty jars of gypsophilia. We added a fireplace and mantel mirror to the end wall of the barn, surrounded by trees with hanging crystals, snow covered greenery, glass candlesticks, baskets of pines cones, candles, lanterns and fairy lights.
We chose not to have a wedding cake – we had a tower of my favourite chocolate, Ferrero Rocher instead. It took over 400 Ferrero Rocher to fill our stand! The table was decorated with ruffled tablecloths and hundreds of fairy lights for a snowfall effect: it looked amazing!
The Evening:
While our choice of Ferrero Rocher instead of cake meant that we didn’t do cake cutting, we did take a bite out of the giant Ferrero Rocher that sat on top for the photographs! Our first dance was to Cascada’s ‘Every Time we Touch’. The song takes us back to when we met.
The Honeymoon:
Because we were hosting all the family for Christmas we didn’t go away on honeymoon. We’ve not got one booked yet, but we’re hoping to continue the snowy theme and go to Iceland to see the northern lights and swim in the Blue Lagoon.
The Extras:
Each of our suppliers deserve a special mention!
We had tried to keep our wedding a secret for as long as possible, trying to book services without letting on it was our wedding, but with it being Christmas Eve the suppliers were all a bit reluctant to book with such short notice until they realised it was me getting married!
The registrars from North Lincolnshire Registry Office don’t usually offer outdoor ceremonies after September due to the unpredictable weather, but with each registrar loving the services offered at Elsham Hall they were happy to perform our outdoor service.
Our caterer Chris of Your Chef was originally going away for Christmas, but she kindly put off her travel plans to cater for our wedding.
The chauffeur Jeff of All Occasion Cars has two young children and should have been home with his family preparing for Santa’s visit but he and Boris popped out to work my special day.
Our photographer Calvin of One Click Photography again, should have been with his family relaxing after a very busy season, but once he knew it was our wedding he wouldn’t take no for an answer and wanted to be my chosen photographer – he felt privileged to have been asked.
The pianist, Ben Thomas – what a wonderful guy, he even learnt to play three new, special songs specifically for our wedding. This included Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’, which we walked out of the service to.
Favourite Moment:
The whole thing! We married at 5pm, ate at 6pm and had a few extra evening guests at 7.30pm – carriages arrived at 10pm to take our guests home to wait for Santa. It was perfect in every single way.
