Tell me about the proposal?Ed proposed in one of our favourite places on the Malvern Hills where we often go for picnics. The picnics are obviously usually in the summer months so maybe I should have been a bit suspicious when he asked me if we could go for a picnic up there in January when the temperature was not far above freezing!!
Tell us about your wedding where was it set and what was the feel of the day.Our wedding was at Pauntley Court in Gloucestershire. We had the venue for the whole weekend and stayed there with 24 of our family and friends which was wonderful. Pauntley Court is just so beautiful and unique, we fell in love with it as soon as we arrived there and loved how we could make it our own. Our wedding ceremony was held at the small church next door to the venue and then we had a Sperry tent in the gardens of the venue for the reception. It was really important to us for the day just to be full of happiness and to be relaxed so that all our family and friends could have a great time after the difficult 18 months with Covid.
What did you love/hate about dress shopping?I actually thought that I would dislike dress shopping but I really enjoyed it. I was quite overwhelmed with the range of choice and sometimes found it difficult to visualise a bridal look if the dress in the store didn’t fit well, but overall it was such a positive experience and a lot of fun!
What made you pick your dress?
I had made a Pinterest board with dress ideas which helped a lot and also got me thinking about designers I liked. I had a rough idea that I wanted a classic clean look with a bit of a modern twist. As soon as I arrived at the Bridal Boutique I was drawn to the Jesus Peiro collection and actually found one of the dresses in the shop that I had saved on my Pinterest board. I did try on various dresses and styles but in the end I went for the top half of one Jesus Peiro dress and the bottom half of another! It was a massive plus that the designer could do bespoke dresses like this as it made meant my dress was individual to me!
How did you style your day, and yourself?Pinterest boards helped a lot when I was deciding how I wanted the day and myself to look. For my look, once my dress arrived (and once the shop was back open after Covid closures) I tried on different veils and various accessories with Madi. I picked a pearl veil and styled it with a gold & pearl hair piece and pearl drop earrings. As my dress was relatively plain (no lace or beading etc), I knew I needed to accessorise well. I chose the flowers to compliment the venue as the house at Pauntley Court is a beautiful pink colour on the outside. I actually also made a lot of the other bits for the day myself, for example the seating plan, table numbers, name places and various signs.
What advice would you give to brides now?From my experience of choosing my dress I would say don’t be afraid to take a bit of a risk. Creating my dress from the top half of one and the bottom half of another was quite scary but I trusted my gut and what Madi and my bridesmaid had to say, and it definitely paid off! I would also say to try a couple of dresses that you wouldn’t usually go for just in case they turn out to be amazing, otherwise it just validates your original ideas! There is no harm in trying!
If your wedding was effected by Covid how do you make adjustments for this?
We were really lucky that our wedding wasn’t affected by restrictions in the end. Guests wore masks at the church but we weren’t restricted on numbers and we were able to have our standing drinks reception, dancing etc. We feel so lucky for that as we were about 3 weeks after the “freedom date”. The only major Covid related issue for us was that our band had to cancel 36 hours before the wedding day due to them testing positive – that was certainly a panic but we ended up getting a great DJ who had a Covid related cancellation themselves so was available last minute. Our friends and various suppliers were amazing at using their networks to try and find us someone at such late notice.
Our suppliers were:Venue: Pauntley CourtFlowers: Honeysuckle Flower CoPhotography: Marta May PhotographyVideography: Pedz PhotographyFood: Paisley FlourDrinks: Hooch and Moonshine LtdHair & Makeup: HC BridesSperry tent hire: Boutique MarqueesDJ: Guy Preston(Hope I haven’t left anyone out!)