Marriage Monday: Guide to Wedding Dress Shopping

Hey everyone, its Marriage Monday again which means wedding talk!! So all you Brides out there know that one of the MOST important decisions of the Wedding is which dress you will wear. I have put together a guide to dress choosing and trying to help you find the perfect gown.

1. Choose who you take wisely. You want to take people who have your best interests at heart and will be absolutely honest with you. This being said you want people who will make you feel good about yourself. 

2. Have an idea of what you want to buy. Bring pictures on your phone of dresses or aspects that you like. Compile a list of things that are a must have and things you do not want. All these things will help the bridal consultant show you things that match.

3. Set a budget, make sure you ask the bridal consultant your maximum price and ask them not to show you anything above that. You do not want to fall in love with a dress that is out of your reach, and every other dress you try on doesn't match up to it.

4. Keep in mind your venue and the style of your wedding. A sheer or highly revealing dress will not be suitable for a church wedding and a big ballgown does not do well for a beach wedding. 

5. Keep an open mind, try on all styles and listen to the consultant. If they advise that a cirtain cut could compliment your figure more or that a different colour would match your complexion better, listen and try it out.

Take care x

Marriage Monday: Found our Florist

Hey everyone, its Marriage Monday again! I am so excited to say we have finally found our wedding florist, and trust me she was worth the wait. We have spoke to over 15 wedding florists and only 3 of them got through to consultation stage. Ellie has amazing attention to detail, creativity, passion and amazing style. 

We had our consultation at our Wedding Venue, which is nice as we can walk around and discuss where we would like to have arrangements and focal points. To be honest we love any excuse to visit our venue.

Ellie is so knowledgeable and professional she asked all the right questions and understood everything I was saying. We started off with my bouquet, I had never been asked about the size I would like. I have chosen a shower shape, it will be made up of roses in fuchsia pink and lilac. We then moved on to the bridesmaids and flower girls bouquet's, they will also be roses in a posie shape. We then discussed the men's button holes and if we would like guest button holes. 

We have decided to decorate our church too. We think it is important for the church to look like there is a wedding taking place that day. We will have pedestals and pew ends all matching incorporating our focal flowers.

The reception venue will also have pedestals. The main room will have the Martini glass centrepieces, these will have pink linings and floral arrangements consisting of our focal flowers. 

I have put pictures of our focal flowers below. 

Hydrangeas are special to Paul as a good memory from is childhood as one of his relatives grew them in her garden. 

We wanted two colours for our theme, one to be bright energetic and vibrant and the other to be simple, elegant and sophisticated. This rose is called Ocean song, I thought that was such a wonderful and beautiful name.

We love these fuchsia pink roses as they give a vibrant burst of energy and colour. Pink is one of my favourite colours and is a great wedding colour.

Again elli's website is http://www.ellicawse-floraldesigns.co.uk.

Take care x

Marriage Monday

Hey everyone, so let's talk weddings. We  have finalised our wedding cake design and flavours. I enjoy the planning process and personally designing everything so it all matches. They lady that will be making our cake made all the top wedding cakes in Harrods. Her cakes are top quality and the icing and handmade embellishments are so refined. She has amazing attention to detail, is very passionate and is 100% perfectionist. 

Did you design your cake? What flavour or flavours?

Take care x

Marriage Monday: Found the Church

Hey everyone, I am so happy to tell you all we have found the perfect church for our wedding. We drive past it frequently and had never been inside, it is stunning. We attended the 8.00 service and met the vicar he has no issues with marrying divorced people. He even went to the parish office and got us the forms. It is such a weight off our minds. We both feel very strongly that a church wedding is right for us, but we were finding it so difficult to find the right church that we were scared it was not going to happen. 

Take care x 

Marriage Monday: The Great Church Search

Hey everyone, its Marriage Monday! So anyone who is married or is getting married knows that one of your first big decisions is WHERE you will actually be married. With parks, hotels, aeroplanes, submarines and many scenic beaches and mountain tops licensed for civil ceremonies, you are no longer restricted to the traditional venues. That being said Paul and I have decided that we both want our ceremony to be held in a church.

You think its easy to get married in a church.....well your wrong! First below is the list offered by the church of England as to how you qualify to get married in a church:-

That one of you: 

• has at any time lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months or
• was baptised in the parish concerned or
• was prepared for confirmation in the parish or
• has at any time regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church for a period of at least 6 months or

That one of your parents, at any time after you were born:

• has lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months or
• has regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church for a period of at least 6 months or

That one of your parents or grandparents:

• was married in the parish

Some of you may be thinking "that's not so bad" but there is more. If you have been divorced then this can cause a huge problem. The church can no longer discriminate against divorcees as a whole but leaves this up to the vicars discretion. It is so difficult to find a vicar that is open minded. After all divorce is not a rarity and no divorce or marriage is the same. 

We have found the perfect Wedding venue but we are still searching for the right church. I have a lot of family and we have a fair few friends too, therefore a small country church just isn't big enough, we will need to travel to the church so parking is a must, we don't want our guests to have to travel too far between venues after all many of them will have been travelling for 3+ hours to get to Kent. 

So we are frantically looking at churches online and calling vicars to see if it is possible to marry there. As soon as we have found one I will let you know.

Take care x

Marriage Monday

Hey everyone, welcome to the first Marriage Monday post!

As you all know Paul and I have been planning our wedding for years but for reasons that don't deserve the time of day, we have not booked anything. 

In this post I want to introduce you all to our wedding reception and evening venue. Oakwood House.

Oakwood house is a grand Victorian mansion, it has been owned and lived in by a wealthy family for many years until their was only one owner left with no heirs. He left the mansion to the local council. 

This picture is of the front of Oakwood House. As you can see it is built of redbrick, it has a long drive way too. If you turn right off of this picture you come to the car park, which leads on to an overflow car park. 

This is the back of Oakwood House and it opens up into a large enclosed garden. The reception room or Suite is just to the left of this picture it has double french doors that open onto a large terrace, also leading into this enclosed garden. 

This is a picture of the Suit as you can see it is light and airy, you can see one set of double doors to the left of the picture. 

This picture shows the magnificent ceiling of the suit, it also has a skylight at the far end, to dance beneath the stars. 

Thats a teaser of our wedding venue. Did you have your wedding here or know someone who has? What are your thoughts on our venue?

Take care x