I’m really excited today as I’m showing my first British real wedding! And it’s a lovely one with a stupidly sweet proposal story.
Bryony and James met at university and got engaged on Bryony’s birthday. Says Bryony:
The proposal
He proposed on a beach in Dieppe, France. We completed a London to Paris cycle ride in 2008 and actually rode past the same beach, however that day it was raining so hard we didn’t notice it. We decided to ride the same route again on my birthday and went to sit on the beach before we went for lunch. James went for a wander. When he came back he told me to close my eyes and put out my hands. When I opened them I saw I was holding a ring he’d handmade! I had no idea he was going to propose! He had been making the ring for the past month; carving it out of wood. He’d engraved it with ‘This ring is just for now, but I’ll love you forever’.
The wedding
Hair: The side tiara is from The Wedding Shop in Colchester and was a gift from my mum. I had my hair done at Essentials in Billericay.
Make-up: A friend of my sister, Kirsty Hills, did my make-up. She did an amazing job!
Dress: My dress was from Grace and Lace. I went to a few shops and tried loads on. My Mum picked the dress for me to try on and it was the best I’d seen, despite the bulldog clips on the back! I originally had thought that I really didn’t want a boob tube-style dress but all the other styles just looked like evening dresses and didn’t have that ‘special wedding feel’. When I tried my actual dress on I knew it was the right dress.
Shoes: Debenhams kids!
Bridesmaids: My sisters Verity and Camilla were my bridesmaids and I picked blue for their dresses as it suited both of them.
Groom/groomsmen suits: Debenhams.
Brides Flowers: Tear drop style of ivory roses, Dendrobium Orchids, purple-tipped Lisianthus, Asparagus Fern, purple-tipped Gypsophila and Soft Ruscus.
Bridesmaid flowers: Hand tied bouquets of ivory roses.
Button holes: Ivory roses.
Top table Floral Arrangement: A large double-ended spray arrangement with Blue Moon Freesias, ivory roses, purple-edged Lisianthus, ivory Lisianthus, Dendrobium Orchids, purple-tinted Gypsophelia. All my flowers were by The Flower House.
Venue: Crondon Park, Essex. It was the first venue we went to and we both loved the look of it inside. We knew most of the photos would be inside as it was a January wedding and we also liked that the bar was in the same room.
Ceremony music: My cousins Lauren and Fran played the flute whilst I walked down the aisle. They are very talented and we thought live music would make the ceremony more special.
Transport: Transport was our Beetle that we bought off James’ parents a few years ago. James’ parents have had it since new, it was bought for them as a wedding present in 1972. His older sister used it as their wedding car too!
Cake: It was a Marks & Spencer’s cake, a mixture of sponge and fruit.
Favours: These were Jaffa cakes, my favourite!
Table plan: James thought of the idea and made it. It has photos around the edge from when we first met up until the wedding. We are planning on removing the table names and putting wedding photos of the day in the centre and getting it framed.
Table numbers: We hadn’t chosen what we were going to do and thought playing cards would work!
Entertainment: The band were ‘Radio Play’. Mike, the lead singer, plays at the Hot House in Chelmsford and we saw him and asked if he’d play at our wedding. We then went and saw his band play in Southend and booked them. They were fantastic!
Awesome images courtesy of Simon Carr
Big thanks to Bryony for providing me with all the details and Simon for the amazing images! How lovely was that proposal story?! And the wedding details were just great: amazing DIY table plan and I love that even simple Jaffa cakes can make fancy favours. I also believe that wedding photos can really benefit from a prop and that classic Beetle made for one awesome prop!
Debs
Photographer Details:
Simon Carr Photography website
Simon Carr Photography blog
Email: info@simoncarrphotography.com
[...] mentioned in this pretty post that I love a good prop in a wedding. I just think it gives something special to the photos; makes [...]