I am so excited to be featuring this wedding! I was lucky enough to be a guest at Nicola and Ben’s celebration and it was one of those truly magical days. Ben and Nicola are such a cool couple and their day had lots of touches which brought through their personalities.
I think a wedding should really be an illustration of a couples likes, loves and passions. It’s a day you can really make your own and Nicola and Ben are a great example of this. Nicola is a DIY queen and worked hard to bring many of the details to life. Bright colours, a gorgeous 50’s style dress, tattoos, DIY amazingness and gorgeous little pugs (how cute are Dolly and Eddie!) really made for a wonderful day.
Thanks to Nicola and Ben for sharing their thoughts and fabulous photos by ShootingHip (and video which will be in a post later this week)!
How would you describe your wedding day?
An explosion of our tastes and personalities into a 10 hour wedding. We did the things we wanted, how we wanted and made the most of every second.
(I ♥ this petticoat big time!!!)
What was your favourite part of the day?
It’s hard to choose. Obviously the first time I spied Ben at the front of the aisle was rather special, grabbing hold of his hand and squeezing 3 times for ‘I love you’. Although the ceremony was relatively short it just what we wanted and the moment we were officially announced as husband and wife was amazing! Other than that, I enjoyed was walking our pugs with my new husband after dinner. Most people were inside chatting after dinner, so we took a moment to head away in the field behind the venue and reflect back on the day so far. We walk our pugs every night after dinner, so why not on our wedding day.
Another highlight was burning through about 100 sparklers with a few close friends.
For Ben, I think cutting our cake with his Grandpa’s sword (Brigadier WWII) was quite a special moment. He was very honoured to have been asked to use it and it was great that his Grandpa was there to witness it as sadly he passed away the next day.
Your something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue
My pink converse trainers (old)
My diamond earrings (new)
My grandmother’s pendant on my bracelet (borrowed)
Horseshoe tattoo for luck (blue)
Words of wisdom for couples planning their wedding?
1. If you’re doing your own table plan, if possible try and leave it as late as possible to finish it off. We left for our venue the night before our wedding day and by time we got married 6 people had dropped out and our table plan needed amending. Unfortunately I hadn’t thought about leaving spare card/the template with a relative who was travelling up on the day. As a result we had a few tables that were quite short of guests.
2. Almost contradicting the first, don’t sweat the small stuff. So what, your table plan is wrong – only you will know! Similarly, your veil or shoes aren’t 100% colour matched to your dress – only you will know.
The best advice you received for your big day?
To make sure you spend lots of time with your new husband (or wife!). I tried to cling hold of Ben as much as possible.
Anything you’d change?
Only thing I’d possibly change is my shoes. I bought 3 pairs of shoes and ended up in my trainers (which was planned as I wanted to be comfortable). However, I wish I’d got the shoes I’d initially eyed up. Although in reality they’d have probably been taken off after a few hours too.
THE DETAILS
Wedding Dress: It took me a while before I discovered ‘the’ dress. My first appointment was a disaster, the shop assistant clocked my tattoos and pointed me straight to the sale rail. Not the best way to make a bride feel special. The next shop wasn’t much better, but a few dresses reduced my Mum to tears.
I discovered 50’s style dresses at a local boutique where most of the dresses were rather grubby and uninspiring. I think they could sense my disappointment, so suggested I try on a new dress they’d had in for a few weeks but no one had wanted to try. It was a pouffy 50’s style number. I tried it on and my heart rate increased, could this be the dress? I walked out of the changing room, smile on my face and had a little spin in front of the mirrors. Outside the shop was a bunch of teenage girls hammering on the window shouting ‘thats the one’. Well, it wasn’t the one but it lead me to discover Candy Anthony and my 50’s style ivory satin dress with hot pink petticoats and cap sleeved bolero jacket.
Brides Shoes: I got pairs from Red Herring, South (the ones I wore on the day), Hobbs and trusty pink Converse.
Jewellery: Diamond Studs as a gift from my husband on our wedding day. Necklace and Bracelet were made by my Mother.
Hair: I had a one hair trial at a salon local to my venue, but I think the stylist struggled to understand what I wanted despite having a selection of pictures. There was only so many times she could restyle my hair into another ‘princess do’. I didn’t really have time to shop around for another stylist, so I decided to do my own. I wanted something simple that didn’t require 10 cans of hairspray. A simple side ponytail curled with my GHD’s and a side swept fringe. I made my birdcage veil from a Primark hair band & some merry widow veiling. I bought a second hair band for the evening do.
Makeup: I knew I wanted something simple and I didn’t want anyone else to apply it for me. I had a brief chat with a lady at the Benefit counter in my local department store and bought a waterproof eyeliner, 2 eyeshadows & some lip gloss. In addition to this I wore my regular foundation, blusher, powder & waterproof mascara.
Grooms Suit: 3 Piece Custom made from Gieves & Hawkes – why should the bride have the only special outfit! Plus, he gets way more wear out of his suit than I do out of my wedding dress.
Grooms Shoes: Debenhams, well after spending a small fortune on the suit we needed to bring it down to earth a bit.
Bridesmaids: A chance discovery at Coast, 12 months before the wedding! I added the pink sashes after a trip to the local haberdashers to get thick ribbon. My Mother made their necklaces to their specifications and I got crafty with their fascinators. Shoes were from Aldo & Faith.
Groomsman: We provided a colour matched tie & cufflinks from Charles Tyrwhitt. Otherwise they were told to wear a black suit & white shirt. Saved us a few pennies and everyone wore a suit they were fully comfortable in.
Flowers: Tiger Rose. We opted for pink gerberas rather than the more traditional roses/carnations. They looked great for a spring/summer wedding.
Ceremony and Reception Venues: The Tithe Barn, Petersfield. We wanted a venue that gave us the flexibility to pick our own suppliers, The Tithe Barn allowed us to do this. Plus its absolutely stunning.
Photographer: ShootingHip. We didn’t want traditional staged shots, so we needed someone who was good at reportage. Rob @ ShootingHip did exactly what we wanted – and the best bit, by the time we got back from honeymoon our pictures were in our post box.
Videographer: Cine8. A last minute addition (literally 1-2 weeks before the day). I wasn’t keen on traditional wedding videos, but super8 really captured the soul of the day without it being boring.
Music: Ceremony – Oliver Sheen. Reception – The Lemon Grove (found busking on Winchester high street!)
Caterers: Denny’s Catering. Sean and Sue were flexible with the menu choices and made our favourite pudding of all time to our recipe – Key Lime Pie.
Favours: Ikea Spice Jars filled with pick and mix, representing my husband’s obsession with sweets! I made a batch of chocolate fudge for the older folks who weren’t that keen on jelly sweets. I made the tags and tied them on with ribbon bought at the local haberdashers.
Save the Dates – Magnets printed at Vistaprint
Wedding Invites – Designed & printed at home. I got card from the Paper Mill (which I think is now online only). A guillotine made putting them together really quick.
Cake: I love cake but I struggled to justify the cost that cake makers wanted us to pay. A month or so before our wedding Marks & Spencer launched a new range of cupcakes, complete with swirly icing. They were on offer at £2 per box of 4 making it 50p per cupcake. Bargain! We wiped out the stock at all stores we could get to between our home and work location and also got the staff at The Meadows to hold back all the stock they had delivered. With a little bit of effort we got all the cupcakes we wanted. We also got a little chocolate cake as the top tier (Smarties from Tesco) and a Fruit Cake (M&S). We borrowed the perspex cake stand from my Sister in Law, it originally came from eBay.
Finishing Touches: We hired fairy lit topiary trees from The Topiary Company, these provided decoration for the aisle during the ceremony and afterwards were left around the edges of the venue for decoration. For table decorations, we wanted something simple and low level. We bought candle holders from M&S, and I made paper flower wreaths to surround them. I used the same paper flowers as napkin holders.
(Just a few non-official shots we took of the day)
…dont forget to check out the cine8 video coming up on the blog soon!
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