Over to Bride Rebecca…
Darren and I met in 2009 at a mutual friend’s party. Darren proposed to me whilst on a family holiday in Abu Dhabi in October 2015.
We firstly decided on a spring time wedding and then the search for the perfect venue began. We loved the Cotswolds, its just beautiful, and we visited different venues in various parts of the Cotswolds but it didn’t take us long to decide on Caswell House which was the first venue we visited! Not only is it a beautiful venue and location, being only an hour and half from home, the staff were so helpful and accommodating.
The venue was booked in February 2016.
We wanted a very neutral colour scheme, lots of white and natural green foliage! The venue is just so beautiful that in fact it didn’t need a lot of work.
Finding the perfect dress proved difficult for me! I tried so many, and my poor mum was with me all the way. I knew I wanted something classic and quite plain but something was always missing until I visited Pronovias flagship store on Bond Street, London, where the shop assistant picked out a dress for me to try. It was something I would not have chosen on the hanger myself but when I tried it on I knew it was the one! With some tweaking adding some extra lace it was just perfect, my dream dress.
The bridesmaid’s dresses were an easy choice for me. I wanted to keep it simple and very neutral so the Ghost dresses in Oyster were the perfect choice and the flower girls wore ivory dresses from Next.
Darren always knew he wanted a tux as they are very classic, however he wanted something slightly different. So, the groomsmen suits were purchased from Next and then we found Darren’s suit in Reiss which had a velvet Jacket. We teamed the suits with a U-shaped velvet waistcoat we found from ASOS and velvet bow ties.
With the flowers we wanted everything white, with lots of green foliage and gypsophila. There is a flower that is very special to me that I just had to have and that was Lily of the Valley, it was my nans favourite flower and with her not here it meant a lot for me to have this. The Lily of the Valley was included in my bouquet only and Darren and the mother of the bride and groom’s corsage. Joanna Carter was so helpful in creating the most beautiful flowers.
The cake was just a simple 3-tiered butter iced with wreaths of gypsophila around each tier and a gypsophila topper.
My Mum had her outfit made by a designer called Malika. She knew she wanted a trouser suit and wanted to keep with the neutral colour scheme we had chosen. Malika sourced all the materials and created a trouser and top matched with a Chanel inspired jacketed in creams and nudes. The material from the jacket was also used to make a matching fascinator.
We were very lucky to have some creative friends who helped with some decorative pieces Ian Evans (Stucksigns) made our welcome sign and wedding props. Chloe Stones (Elsie&Seb) did a lot of her calligraphy artwork for us.
I was surprisingly relaxed the morning of the wedding, walking down the aisle was quite nerve wracking and my Dad was very emotional before we entered the ceremony room. We walked down the aisle to Moon River sung by Martin Tillyer.
We wanted a relaxed day and more importantly wanted our guests to enjoy themselves. The food by Indulgence was amazing and the wedding breakfast drinks we provided ourselves. Our photographer, Naomi Kenton was lovely and having our photos taken was all very relaxed. We really didn’t want to be away from our guests for too long.
For our evening entertainment we had a DJ and our first dance was a version of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons ‘Can’t take my eyes off you’ by James Arthur. It was the perfect day for us, the weather could not have been better and there is not one thing we would change.
From one bride to another…
Try and stay relaxed, don’t stress over the unimportant things and enjoy every single second it’s the most special day ever!
Photography Naomi Kenton
Venue Caswell House
Flowers Joanna Carter Wedding Flowers
Bride’s Dress Pronovias, Flagship Bond Street Store, London
Shoes Gianvito Rossi
Wedding Rings Jade Jewellers, Hatton Garden
Bridesmaids Ghost
Flower Girls Next
Hair & Makeup Sarah Yeo
Groom’s Attire Reiss & Russell & Bromley
Stationery Blanka Biernat
Catering Indulgence Boutique Hospitality
Lighting Oakwood Events
Chair Hire Millie Miles
Based on a weekday wedding in February.