Carlie & Stuart's Real Life Wedding Ideas
Carlie & Stuart - Winter Wedding
They had been looking around at other venues and just couldn't find anything they were really happy with. "Then I came across the website for Gaynes Park and it looked like everything we had in mind. We booked an appointment for that day to have a look around and as soon as we arrived we knew it was the place that we wanted to have our special day." They booked the venue early January for the Christmas of that year.
Carlie had 1 maid of honour, one bridesmaid and one flowergirl. The maid of honour and bridesmaid wore chocolate brown dresses with ivory sashes and the flower girl wore an ivory dress with a chocolate sash.
The best man and 3 ushers all wore ivory jackets, waistcoats and cravats with chocolate brown trousers.
Carlie's dress was an Amanda Wyatt ivory dress that was off the shoulder and had Swarovski crystals scattered all over. To match the dress she had a Swarovski crystal tiara, necklace and earrings. Carlie followed the tradition of having something old, new, borrowed and blue and had a sixpence in her shoe for the old, the new was her dress and shoes, she borrowed a crystal hairpin from her best friend and wore a blue garter.
Carlie's bouquet was ivory roses with little crystals inside each bud. The bridesmaids also had ivory roses with dark brown berries in keeping with the chocolate brown and ivory theme.
Carlie and Stuart had a sit down meal for 85 people which was a starter of tomato soup followed by saddle of turkey with all the trimmings and finished with a trio of desserts. At the evening reception they had a buffet for 130 people.
Carlie and the bridesmaids got ready in the Apple Loft cottage and Stuart and all the ushers arrived in a black Mercedes.
The room was decorated with sprayed silver birch and tea lights as it was the weekend of Christmas. For the table centrepices they had silver candelabras that sat on round mirrors with scattered crystals and tea lights around the bases of the candelabras.
The favours were ivory parcels that were filled with edible silver hearts. They also gave an ivory rose dipped in silver glitter to every lady at the wedding. The cake was made by Eric Lanlard of Savoir Design and was called champagne bubbles. It was a five tier cake that had edible mother of peral bubbles around each tier. The tiers were made up of carrot, lemon and fruit cake.
Carlie says "We can't pin point one particular part of the day as the best, as the whole day was everything we could have hoped for."
When asked if there was anything she'd learnt that she thought was an important tip for future wedding couples, Carlie says, "Plan everything as far in advance as you can so you are not worried or stressed in the last few weeks leading up to the wedding. Enjoy the day as it goes so quickly. Also find time to have 5 minutes with each other to stand back and take in everything around you, to help you remember everything about your special day."
Suppliers:
Bride's dress - Amanda Wyatt
Bride's accessories - Pronuptia (South Woodford)
Groom's suit - Pronuptia (South Woodford)
Bridesmaid's dresses - Bridal Gallery (Oxford Street London)
Wedding rings - Tiffany and Co
Wedding cake - Savoir Design
Flowers - Flower Elegance
Invitations - Hand made by a friend
Wedding list - John Lewis
Disco/DJ - Live band Function Junction
Wedding favours - Confetti
