Spring is so tantalisingly close and Christmas seems like a distant memory already. BUT I know there will be many of you planning winter weddings, so I hope this festive seaside affair will help you to get some cosy ideas for your own big day.
WWW readers Mike and Aimee tied the knot on the 20th December 2014 beside the sea in Kent. They planned their wedding from the other side of the world, no mean feat. But with the help of their wedding party it was possible. Especially with Aimee’s mum, who created divine hessian details galore.
Fur coats, tutus and lace. LOVE.
Thanks so very much to Kerry Ann Duffy for sharing her wonderful imagery.
THE PROPOSAL | Mike and I moved to New Zealand in September 2012 with a back pack of clothes and the unknown ahead of us. We pretty much we sold everything we had and away we went. We had been together for a few years and had talked about marriage but knew the reality of it wouldn’t be for a long time because of our plans and setting up our new life in New Zealand.
The morning of the proposal, we went to buy our mountain bikes that we had been saving so long and so hard for. They cost a small fortune, so the last thing on my mind that morning was Mike proposing to me. After spending most of the morning in the bike shop, Mike suggested that we go out for a drive in the car. Excited and I guess distracted about buying the bikes, I had no idea what Mike had planned. We drove for about two hours to a place called Arthurs Pass. It has the most amazing scenery; the mountains are incredible, it is one of my favourite places to drive to. Upon arriving Mike said that his friend had told him about a waterfall nearby. Having no idea that Mike was about to propose, I did later find out that he had Skyped my parents that morning telling them that he was going to ask me to marry him. My mum couldn’t stop crying. It was a small walk to the waterfall, it was incredible. We stood there for a bit taking it all in, talking about how great the day had been, and with that Mike then got on bended knee and asked ‘’will you marry me?’
THE VISION |With us having been away from our family and friends for over two years we very much wanted a relaxed party feel. We booked the wedding for 20th December. That time of year in New Zealand is summer time, its beaches and BBQ’s which is amazing but to be back in England in December to get married was a must for us. We had missed the cold Christmas’s, a cosy winter Christmas wedding with holly, berries, pine cones, and candles was also part of our vision. We couldn’t wait to get planning.
THE PLANNING PROCESS | Planning a wedding from the other side of the world proved to be testing at times. It was pretty much planned all through emails and face time. Thank goodness for my amazing mum. She worked tirelessly for months and months on all the preparations. I probably face timed her every day with things to do, places to go and people to see. I sent constant emails with tick list and spread sheets. She was fantastic and at times I’m sure she was tired of me giving my orders and asking questions, but nothing was too much trouble for her, everyday she did a little or a lot and kept things moving. It was a great way to keep us connected and being able to plan the wedding with my mum so far away was amazing.
The venue owners were also incredible. They coordinate all their weddings, which without a doubt we couldn’t have planned the wedding without them being this far away. Knowing that they plan weddings week in, week out was a huge weight off our shoulders. The constant contact was just what we needed from them. Any questions or queries we had they came back with straight away, for example menu choices, theme, table plans, music, the list goes on.
My sister was also incredible, she designed and sent out the save the dates, she sent all the invites, and printed whatever needed to be printed. Even our wedding rings were sorted through email. We had a friend of the family make them. We emailed him what we had in mind, with the size and what we wanted engraved inside. We picked them up two weeks before the wedding.
I had no idea who to book for my hair, make up and nails, so I asked my girlfriends to book them for me, and the choices they made were fabulous.
I am a huge fan of Pinterest, eBay and Amazon. These became my everyday sites to surf. I pinned so many ideas and my baskets filled with bargains. We had decided on making a lot of the decorations ourselves to keep to our budget. Again this is where my mum excelled and found she had a hidden talent in crafts. So much was done by the time we got to England, we are so lucky to have incredible generous family and friends, we are forever grateful.
BUDGET |We knew the cost of flying back to England and taking 6 weeks holiday was going to be expensive, so we were very careful with our spending. Every single thing we brought from buttons, ribbon, material and glue to my dress and Mikes suit we made a note of, even if it only cost 50p it was all written down. This made things very easy to control, keeping track of our spending was the best thing we did. Having budget wedding meant us making a lot of the decorations ourselves. In fact it was my mum who made all the decorations. From the moment we decided what we wanted she started collecting pine cones form the park, and jam jars and tins from the elderly ladies she cares for. She brought meters of hessian material, buttons, berries and collected more pine cones. She worked wonders.
We also decided we wanted a photo booth. We know these can be a chunk of anyone’s budget so we got my dad to make one. He’s a carpenter by trade so we knew he would do a great job, and he did. We had so much fun with it.
THE VENUE |We knew we wanted to be local for all our family and friends. We didn’t want anyone unable to attend if we had booked somewhere far away. We appreciated that December was a busy time of year for most people so we wanted to make it as easy possible for everyone. With it being winter time and the days being shorter we knew it had to be an inside wedding but we also knew we wanted photos of us outside and if possible by the beach. Mike and I both grew up by the coast so this was something that we really wanted. After lots of research and emails we found and decided on Smiths Courts Hotel, it is a Victorian building which is less than two minutes from the beach, perfect. Everything they offered ticked all our boxes. We also love that it is a family run business and has been for 40 years. Abbie, Tony and their team who run it are amazing. Nothing was too much trouble, anything we asked for they did without hesitation. On their website they have a saying ’the only thing we overlook is the sea’ and they did, our day was seamless.
THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | My dress was called Bella, it was designed and supplied by the wedding shop ’To Cherish Bridal Boutique’ It was satin with tulle overlay lace with long lace sleeves and beaded embellishment. I was undecided on a veil right up until the last minute. I managed to buy one from eBay in time, a simple single tier fingertip length. I’m so glad I got one in the end, it looked amazing with the dress. My shoes were pillar box red sparkly peep toe. Red is my favourite colour, I knew before I’d chosen my dress what shoes I was going to have. I really wanted that pop of red. My earrings were a pair of my mums; they were my something old and borrowed. I wore a bracelet that I had brought from New Zealand. I wanted to find something quite delicate and also something meaningful as I was buying the same for my mum and sister; it has the infinity symbol. I gave them theirs the night before the wedding, they were over the moon with them.
FINDING THE DRESS | This has to be one of my favourite moments. My mum flew out to New Zealand for 3 weeks Mid October. I hadn’t seen her in over a year, so you can imagine the excitement and emotions we were feeling. To have my mum wedding dress shop with me was dreams come true. We had so much fun. We went to four different shops over two days. I tried on so many dresses because I could; it was so lovely and so much fun. I tried on so many beautiful dresses but after trying on so many I got to a point where nothing was making me feel how I imagined feeling when finding the dress. It wasn’t until we went to Cherish Bridal. I tried on several more dresses still waiting for that feeling to happen when they told me to wait one minute. Off she dashed, I wasn’t sure what she was about to do and with that she came around the corner holding my dress. My heart skipped a beat and my mum gasped. They had it kept out the back because it wasn’t selling. They said brides in New Zealand didn’t seem to like long sleeved dresses. I drew the curtain and slipped into the dress, that very second I had that I had been waiting for, I drew the curtain back to show my mum, and she burst into tears. This was the dress, this was my dress.
GROOM’S ATTIRE | Mike new exactly what he wanted, a three piece suit, no tails nothing fancy. We spent one morning literally in one shop. He tried on lots of their suits until he found the one he wanted. He brought a lovely pair off oxblood ankle boots and bright stripy socks! His tie was a tartan tie. He wore this for my 86 year old Grandad who is as Scottish as they come. His surname is Smith which has its own tartan. We knew my Grandad would be wearing his Smith tartan tie with pride, so when he arrived, Mike greeted him and he noticed the tie. He was delighted. For the best men, and Dads we asked them to wear their own suits, We were more than happy to not have anyone match, we wanted to keep it as relaxed as possible.
THE READINGS & MUSIC |We didn’t want any readings, were happy just to have the celebrant do her bit and us do ours. The music – I walked down the aisle to was ’One day like this’ by Elbow. The music we had for signing the register were songs Mike and I like to listen to when chilling out, easy listening. I don’t even think the guests noticed. We had ’I feel good’ by James Brown when walking out, it was brilliant.
BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Altogether I had eight bridesmaids, four beautiful adults. My sister Collette and three of my best friends Esther, Laura and Gemma. All four girls have been my rock over the years and I couldn’t have imagined getting married without them by my side. My other four bridesmaids are my favourite special little people. They hold a very special place in our hearts. Evie is Laura’s daughter; I was there at her birth. Cara, I looked after from 6 months old, I was her Nanny for 5 years. Annabelle is Esther’s daughter and also my goddaughter and last but no means least, our little Tia, she is our nice.
For the adult’s bridesmaid dresses, it was impossible for me to shop for them so I asked them to choose their own dresses. I asked for them to be cream and lacy and to have red shoes. This was extremely easy for me and for the girls too. They could choose a dress that suited their body shape and feel comfortable on the day. It was great as none of them had the same dress but they looked so perfect together. For the little girls I knew I wanted them to have fun and not feel restricted in their outfits. I had ordered cream tutus off the internet and cream tops with long lace sleeves from H&M. They also had cream sparkly tights with red high top pumps. It was amazing how it all came together. The day of the wedding was the first time they had all tried on their dresses with each other. I was amazed at how fantastic it all looked. I’d had a picture in my head for so long of what I was expecting, but it turned out even better. They were all stunning. All of us girls had faux fur jackets for when we had photos outside. Nine jackets in total, I knew if I were to buy them all new it would have cost me a small fortune. That’s where I have eBay to thank, every one of the jackets were from eBay, and they all looked so beautiful.
I have to mention little William our ring bearer, who also holds a special place in our hearts. He is Cara’s little brother, so I was his nanny too. He walked down the aisle with the bridesmaids. He stole or hearts on the day, he was amazing. When the celebrant called him up to bring us the rings, he did so without any hesitation and with an adorable shyness about him, we were all very proud of him. He wore a navy blue 3 piece suit with a Smith tartan bow tie. He looked gorgeous.
THE FLOWERS | Mike’s mum Irene and her friend Dawn who is a florist did all the flowers for us. They did an amazing job. Every single flower was stunning; I cried when my bouquet arrived in the morning. It was very wintery with leafy greens, lots of red berries and few very pale pink roses. Irene had also been growing a flower to put in with my bouquet called a Bottle Brush. It’s a bright red bristly flower that is common in New Zealand. It was just about ready in time to pick and put in my bouquet, it was lovely to have a little bit of New Zealand in with my flowers.
The adult bridesmaids all had a bouquet of Gypsophila, we kept it very simple. For the little bridesmaids my mum made fantastic wands with ribbons and flowers for them all. The men’s button holes and the mum’s corsages were made of berries, holly leaf and pine. The centre of the tables had the jam jars that my mum had collected. She decorated them all with lace, hessian and buttons. They we filled with holly leaf, berries and pine and alongside them we had candelabras. It looked so cosy and Christmassy. My mum also collected ten huge tins that she covered again in hessian, lace and handmade flowers, they were filled with Gypsophila and lined up down the either side of the aisles. It all looked so beautiful.
THE CAKE | I had seen heaps of the naked cake pictures on Pinterest. We instantly loved the look of them and that they were made of Victoria sponge. My mum said that she could have a go at recreating it and wanted to make the cake. I said she was mad, why give herself that stress. There was no need, but she insisted and got baking. Cake was everywhere for a while. My dad was filling up on wedding cake samples pretty quick. In the end we decided to go to the cake shop, it was proving to be a little stressful to make the cake from home. So we thought if the bakery could bake it mum could decorate it, so that s what we did. The bakery baked us three Victoria sponge cakes, in the three different sizes. We picked it up on the Friday night and kept it in the fridge at the hotel ready for mum to decorate in the morning. Mum had already made the dummies that the cakes sit on. She covered them in hessian and lace. In the morning she decorated the cake with dustings of icing sugar, holly leaves and red berries. It looked brilliant and all for £50. It also tasted delicious.
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We found our photographer Kerry Ann Duffy (Perfect Wedding Awards 2014 Winner) very quickly. She was recommended by a friend. As soon as we viewed Kerry’s website we knew without a doubt we wanted her to photograph our day. We absolutely loved Kerry’s work, her style of photography is beautiful. I emailed straight away with our details and hoped that she would be free on our day. She came back with a yes; we were so pleased. We arranged to Skype and we instantly hit it off. Kerry is very easy going and great to get along with. On the day Kerry was amazing, she captured absolutely everything, she blended in the background and got so many natural shots of us and our guests. After the ceremony she took us off for just under an hour down to Margate beach and through the old town. We had so much fun. Kerry was brilliant, we got the most stunning shots of us by the beach and one of my favourites was Mike and I sitting in deck chairs. If it wasn’t so cold we probably would have had another hour down the beach, it was a great part of the day. If you are looking for a photographer, then Kerry Ann Duffy is the one.
THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Over the year my wonderful mum had been collecting pine cones, corks, jam jars and tins. She was sewing and gluing every week. We had a theme of hessian, lace, berries and holly leaves. We wanted hessian bows on all the backs of the chairs, mum patiently made 60 of them. She got lots of ideas from Pinterest and watched tutorials on you tube, she did the most fantastic job. My dad was surrounded by bows and hessian for months, and the kitchen space was overrun by all of mum’s crafts.
On each of the chairs we laid a bell with a small tag saying ‘Shhhh…. until the kiss then ring for wedded bliss’. It was wonderful to hear the bells when we did our first kiss as Mr and Mrs.
We had designed the ceremony cards ourselves with the title ’It’s the most wonderful time of the year’. The jam jars and tins were for all the flowers, again these were decorated in hessian and lace; they were perfect for the effect we wanted. All the corks were for the table name cards. We made a slit in the corks down the centre and slid in the card. They stood upright on the table in front of where the guest would sit, very simple and looked great. Mum had collected hundreds of pine cones all different sizes. She dusted some of them with a little white paint for a snow effect too. We had them scattered over the seven tables. Mum made a hessian runner for each table, theses looked great with the cones and holly filled jars. We had candelabras in the centre of all of the tables, when they were all lit the room looked so amazing. For the favours we wanted to give a little something from New Zealand, it was key ring in the shape of a Kiwi; it was wrapped in tissue paper in a small tulle bag. Mum had sewn a button on each of the bags for that extra little touch.
THE HONEYMOON | We have yet to go on our honeymoon. With taking 6 weeks off work already we needed to get back home. But the good thing about that is that we live in the most beautiful country. Every weekend since we have been back has been like a honeymoon, its summer time here in New Zealand so its beautiful beaches and amazing scenery. We are planning a honeymoon for July time and we have several places we would love to go, so lots to look forward to.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS |Standing with all the girls and my dad for those couple of minutes just before we all walked down the aisle, and then linking my dad’s arm ready to go. It was a real proud moment for both of us. That moment of making eye contact with Mike, and holding his hands, I was so happy to see him.
We had such a fun time with Kerry our photographer down by the beach having our photos taken.
We wanted to thank mum for all her hard work; she definitely earned herself a Blue Peter badge. When we did the speeches Mike and I presented her with her very own Blue Peter badge, it was brilliant, everyone cheered and mum burst into tears, bless her.
On the hen weekend my sister organised a choreographer as a surprise and we had to learn a dance to perform at the wedding to my favourite song ‘Dancing queen’. All the hens did a flash dance and moved our way onto the dance floor, it was brilliant.
The photo booth that my dad made was hilarious, there were times my stomach ached from laughing, and we had the silliest of props.
Over all the best memory was being with our nearest and dearest for the whole day and night, it was perfect, we wish we could do it all again.
ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Take notes, even if it’s the smallest of things. Keep a constant track of your spending; it’s too easy to get carried away when you may not need to. Second hand bargains are always up for grabs and homemade decorations are that bit more of a personal touch. We had several people say to us, take 10 minutes away from everyone and reflect on the day, have that uninterrupted time together to take it all in. And the best advice of all is to be in the moment and enjoy the party; you are celebrating the best day of your lives.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Venue | Smiths Court Hotel
Photographer | Kerry Ann Duffy
Wedding Dress | To Cherish Bridal
Florist | Dawn Crysell
Amazing. Such a lovely story too.
Mike and Aimee thanks to you both for sharing your wedding with us XOXO Lou