It’s a pleasure indeed today to be sharing a real wedding with a bride in a Belle and Bunty wedding gown and this wedding at Dodford Manor makes me happy. very, Very HAPPY! The kind of happy that can only be brought on by the breathtaking images of Captured Photography by Liam Smith an oh-so-lovely colour palette, can’t stop smiling!
Today’s super fun couple – Team Fosh! – found a way to utilize their love of social media in almost every aspect of their wedding, from planning and conceptualizing to incorporating hashtags in their décor in a clever and heartwarming way. Read on for their whole story and enjoy these beautiful images everyone!
“My bouquet was eucalyptus, Juliet roses, astilbe, sage green succulents and gyp all tied with Hessian. The Juliet roses were dotted about to add the peach tone.”
“Eucalyptus was spread on the top table with small vases of gyp and Juliet roses. On the tables were vases filled with long stem white hydrangeas.” said the bride.
A Belle And Bunty Wedding Gown And Peach Wedding Bouquet of Juliet Roses For A Vintage Chic, Mix In Some Pastel Colours
Here’s Josh to tell us a little more about his outfit: I spent months and months perusing Instagram and Pinterest for a unique vintage groom’s look. I found out that Next offers a great variety in their line, including this awesome mohair style, allowing my crew to mix and match coats and trousers. Since my groomsmen vary largely from person to person in size, cut, and style preferences, the mixing and matching worked out perfectly. Unfortunately, I had to jump through some interesting hoops to get my own waistcoat, as the stores closest to us were out of my size. I ended up paying a complete stranger to drive out 120 miles to the Sheffield location to pick up the jacket in my size! He didn’t mind so much since I paid a pretty penny for him to do so. Lastly, the shirts were custom tailored by Charles Tywritt.
Tell us about your wedding gown:
My gown was Ophelia by Belle & Bunty, and the cut ended up fitting me perfectly right down to the length. I’m all about comfort, so this silk fabric and non-restricting silhouette kept me happy all day.
Dress: Ophelia by Belle and Bunty wedding gown.
I absolutely hate dress shopping. Like Josh, I used Pinterest to narrow down my choices to a style I wanted. I ended up at 8 different shops and even convinced Josh to drive me to Wimbledon (not close by as we live near Bedford) to try on a dress that is only stocked in this particular London store. Poor Josh had to wait around the corner (he found a pub so don’t feel too sorry for him.) While I tried on the dress… Which I didn’t buy!
In the end, my perfect dress came from Belle and Bunty, from “Fairy Tale Weddings” in Towcester on my aunty’s recommendation.
Accessories: I’m not so big into accessories, so I stuck with my typical favorite pair of earrings and my nose ring, which actually didn’t go over so well with some of my team. I’m 5’9 so I stuck with flats for shoes from John Lewis, and topped off my look with a flower crown that I had matched with my maids and flower girls.
For our décor, we had a friend stencil a hashtag for our ceremony (#teamfosh) throughout the items used in decoration, like the wooden crates we purchased online and weathered ourselves for 18 months in my mother’s garden! The idea is that this hashtag will grow hopefully as our family grows and we can find our pics on Instagram and Facebook easily through this.
We also had Greg (my brother) make a stencil so that we could add the hashtag onto some of the wedding props we had. It was also on the number plate for the wedding car. The crates were found on Ebay and weathered in my parents garden for 18 months to look rustic. The idea is that this hashtag will grow hopefully as our family grows and we can find our pics on Instagram and Facebook easily through this.
As you can see the table plan was a big hit with Josh. He is a huge fan of a pint or two and is very particular with what he likes. He had fun drinking his favourite lagers and pale ales to keep the bottles for the table plan!
My best friend and also one of my bridesmaids asked her dad to make the bar that the bottles sat on and it worked a treat. Not to mention how good it looked too.
How did the proposal happen?
One Friday I got up to start getting ready for work, only to be surprised by Josh to learn that I was playing hooky. He had already arranged with my manager to take the day off – quite sneaky he was! Josh took me to a place in The Cotswolds in Painswick at a boutique hotel. We spent the day hiking in the woods and then up to the top of a beacon to pose for silly pics of me in the amazing views of Wales. On the way back down, he slipped into position on one knee when I wasn’t looking and proposed.
The wedding planning started out fun and easy but grew quite difficult by the end – I’m sure everyone can relate. The venue was the first decision, then the date and so forth. In the 18 months of planning, we met with our photographer Liam to go over the visions we had agreed on for our day, met with the florist (got a lesson on the names of the flowers I liked), bought way too many bunting and vases, and we were off to the races.
The harder part was finding a good reading that fit our jovial personalities. Thanks to the internet again, I found one I could rewrite off a wedding site through Google, which is what we gave Leigh, my bridesmaid, to read. She cleverly put her own humorous spin on it.
Our music came from our love of motown – “Here and Now” by Luther Vandross was my song for walking down the aisle. I actually listened to it about 50 times to make sure I wouldn’t get teary on the big day hearing it!
My best memory was seeing Josh as I walked up the aisle. Still gets me! I didn’t notice anyone else in the room and thought I would be terrified to do ‘the walk.’
“Sweet Rose Florist” in Wixams did all our flowers. We fortunately came across Lisa at a wedding fair and couldn’t believe her shop was so close to our venue. We went with gypsophelia flower crowns and a wand for the flower girl to match. There was eucalyptus and astilbe in the bridesmaids’. My bouquet was made up of eucalyptus, Juliet roses, sage green succulents, astilbe and gyp, tied together with Hessian. And our tables had vases filled with white longstemmed hydrangeas.
Where did you head off to for your honeymoon?
We started in Dubai for four days at The Atlantis, then moved to The Long Beach Resort in Mauritius for 10 more days. I loved both so much that when it was time to come home, I got quite down about it! Mauritius was wonderful in accommodating us, so I recommend them highly for any honeymooners!
Do you have any advice for any other couples looking to tie the knot?
Please don’t stress! I wish I had taken this advice myself because I got myself so wrapped up in the planning details that I ended up hating the process. Enjoy the build up instead – once you have everything in place, your special day will go quite smoothly. Rely on your suppliers because they have tons of experience!
Photography : Liam Smith Photography | @liam_smith_photography
Flowers : Sweet Rose Florist
Belle and Bunty Wedding Gown : @belleandbuntybridal from Fairytale Weddings | @fairytaleweddingstowcester
Cake : Bakerman | @bakermancakedesign
Venue : Dodford Manor
DJ : Steve Lavarack, Pure Rhythm
Makeup : Sarah Evan Make Up
