Rachel & Steve's gorgeous English wedding…

Today is a special day! I’m finally sharing Rachel’s wonderful wedding photos with you all. I think for me its extra special for a few reasons. She’s one of my best friends in the entire universe, she was the first of my school friends to get married (thanks for showing us how it’s done 😉 and Rachel & Steve are probably my favorite couple, you’d know what I mean if you ever met them. So once again, Congratulations Rachel and Steve… this is for you. 
So the details….
The Proposal…. Steve proposed whilst we were away for the weekend in Wales.  We were staying in a beautiful cottage in the middle of nowhere.  He was going to propose on the Saturday but got so nervous ended up doing it on the Friday night over a curry!!Even though it wasn’t what he planned it was perfect and I was so surprised, didn’t expect it at all.
Our vision for the day…. The basic vision was simple, clean, timeless and elegant, but most importantly it was for everyone to have fun and celebrate with us.
Our  venue…  Coombe Lodge, Blagdon, Somerset, UK  http://www.coombelodge.co.uk/ It’s a beautiful 1930’s mansion set in the Somerset countryside with views over Blagdon lake.  The bonus was its big enough to fit all our family in.

Planning the wedding…. Basically the planning all kicked off after we had chosen the venue.  We only looked at 2 places and Coombe Lodge was definitely the place for us.  So, after checking availability, everything fell into place from there.  After the venue was sorted the dress was the next important thing, closely aligned with the bridesmaid dresses. I wasn’t the most organised bride, I didn’t have scrap books and I didn’t have a formal to do list which meant that I did feel quite stressed a couple of weeks before the wedding. All in all though, everything went fairly smoothly and a lots of this was probably down to Steve.
Our Budget…. We tried to cut costs wherever we could without effecting the quality, but budget was roughly £15,000.00 (AED 86,500)
My Dress…  The dress was called ‘Evangeline’ from www.victoriaparkbridal.co.uk. It was not what I set out to get but I loved it.  It was sweetheart neckline, strapless, with an empire line.  Whilst it was fairly simple at the front, the train was absolutely massive.  Accessories were platform heels (I’m a shortie), pearl necklace, pearl/marquisate earrings and bracelet and a couple of dendrobium orchids in my hair.

Finding my dress…. Initially, I set out to get a ‘grecian’ style wedding dress.  In one of the first dress shops I went to this quickly changed once I had tried on a more stereotypical ‘bridal’ dress.  I had my heart set on 50’s style designer dress, the ‘Kelly’ dress.  But, it was out of my budget.  I tried looking for it second hand, thought about selling it afterwards and whilst this was going on I went to Victoria Park Bridal and tried on my dress.  It was beautiful.  And, about 1/3 of the price and within budget which was ideal.  Having sensibly gone to a few other shops, which were ultimately a disappointment, I then had to choose between the 2.  I was worried that I would be ‘settling’ for the Evangeline dress, but when I tried both on the same day and got the verdict from 2 of my bridesmaids I was decided.
The groom’s threads… The groom had his own suit that we bought especially for the wedding from Ted Baker.  It was a unique colour, a slate grey that almost verged on blue. It was fairly simple too, no tails or waistcoat, and had a tie that matched to the bridesmaids dresses; a mix between teal and turquoise.
My Lovely Bridesmaids…..I had 5 bridesmaids, one of which was my chief bridesmaid, my amazing, and heavily pregnant sister Laura.  My other bridesmaids are my best friends from school, 4 amazing girls, 2 that live abroad and 2 that live in the UK.  They are all very different in terms of shape, height, colouring and hair colour.  However, we managed to find a dress that suited all 4 of my bridesmaids and made them look even more beautiful and stunning. My sister then wore a similar style dress in almost the exact same colour, looking just as beautiful.

The Readings + Music….We had 3 readings, one of which was written by my grandma’s friend.  Music wise, we had a traditional song for walking down the aisle (Canon in D),  At Last (Beyonce) whilst signing the register, and Every Teardrop is a Waterfall (Coldplay) for walking back down the aisle.  Our first dance was to Cosmic Love (Florence and the Machine) that was playing whilst Steve proposed.
My Flowers… I had a very simple bouquet, which was hand tied with a turquoise ribbon, loose in appearance and consisted of cream and white roses, peonies, ornithogalum and freesia. The five bridesmaids then had a hand tied posy of single varieties taken from the bouquet.  The bouquets were the only flowers we had.
 
Yummy Cake… We had cupcakes as our wedding cake, with turquoise and white icing, covered in glitter.  They were delicious and made by my amazingly talented friend Alice.
The Details + Décor…. Table decorations consisted of 2 vases per table with pebbles, water, floating candles and a flower head.  We then scattered the tables with table confetti and a few bubbles.  There weren’t any other decorations apart from those on the table, but we didn’t feel that the room really needed it because it was such a beautiful room anyway.

Our Honeymoon…. We started off in Hong Kong for 3 nights, then went to Bali for 2 nights, Sengiggi in Lombok for 5 nights, Gili Trawangan and finally Gili Air.  It was fantastic, we moved around a fair bit but it was so good to see so many different places and it is such a beautiful part of the world.  Whilst in Hong Kong and Bali we did lots of sightseeing so by the time we got to Lombok we were just happy to chill on the beach and do lots of snorkeling and scuba diving…bliss.
Moments…  I think the most memorable moment was when I had finally finished walking down the aisle and met Steve.  I was so nervous but he just grabbed my hand and squeezed it the whole way through the service; all my nerves just left.  On the complete opposite end of the scale, we were having the family photos done when my cousin’s 3 yr old, AJ, decided to wonder off and pull his trousers down in front of everyone; it was absolutely hilarious.
My Advice…  I think the advice I would give is to not get so obsessed with everything being perfect, the imperfections are often equally as important to how special your day is.  Also, try and delegate wherever possible, even if it’s just doing things with other people for a bit of moral support.
Credits… My husband was unbelievable.  He got involved every step of the way, pretty much organized the whole honeymoon and helped ‘barter’ where it was required, something that I am rubbish about.  But most importantly, he actually cared about the details and the day and got excited with me, which made it so much less stressful to plan and so much more fun.
Additionally, my florist (www.abundiflora.com.uk ) was fantastic.  I was very unsure with what I wanted and he just listened to the few details that I gave him and came up with the best bouquets I have ever seen, he was extremely talented and just a lovely guy.
I’d also like to thank Craig for taking the most amazing photos… Craig Gerorge Photography.