How we met...
We’d love to say that we met somewhere really romantic… but unfortunately our lovely love story started on a wintry Saturday night in Lloyds Bar, Rugby, where there's sticky carpets and cheap drinks! We exchanged numbers, and text backwards and forwards for weeks, until Nick eventually actually asked me out on a date!
The proposal...
The proposal was much more romantic; Nick took me to Rome for my birthday in the summer of 2016, after being together just over three years, and proposed on the rooftop terrace of our lovely hotel, overlooking the beautiful city. The whole of Rome must have heard me say (scream) YES! It was just perfect!
The dresses...
When it came to the dress, I was adamant that I wanted something really plain, with no sparkle, and I also wanted to be quite covered up as we had decided on a winter wedding… but after trying on the gorgeous ‘Ellison’ by Maggie Sotterro, all of my plans went out the window.
I completely fell in love with the beautiful lace and beading, and loved the fact that it was backless – it was like nothing I had seen before! The girls at Wedding Belles of Four Oaks were absolutely brilliant, and altered the dress to fit me perfectly!
We also found ‘THE’ shoes around the same time I found my dress – some gorgeous gold Christian Louboutins - but we both decided that these could wait until nearer the time as they were a bit expensive! We went on holiday to New York in the December after we got engaged, and on the last day had a couple of hours to kill, so we decided to have a little look around Saks department store… low and behold they had THE shoes... in the sale …it must have been fate!
The bridesmaids wore beautiful tulle, navy floor length, multi-way dresses that I found at Victoria-Lou Bridal. Vicki was really lovely and had an amazing range of colours; the dresses were really well priced too! I was really conscious that I wanted the girls to feel comfortable, and with the dresses being multi-way they could wear them anyway they liked!
The suits...
Everyone that knows Nick knows that he is fussy – REALLY fussy! So I knew that when it came to him choosing his suit, it would be a mission! We went around numerous hire shops and department stores with nothing being just quite right. In the end we came across an amazing shop in Leamington Spa, called Gent Boutique. Joe was so helpful in finding the perfect suit, and even made sure they were tailored to fit all of the groomsmen. Nick then chose some Oliver Sweeny Monk shoes, and accessories from Reiss to complete his outfit.
Our favourite part of the day...
The whole day was absolutely amazing - the Dodmoor team made sure of that - but the best part for us was the ceremony. The wonderful Ariella Strings played whilst I walked down the aisle, which was beautiful, and I was so happy to see Nick. We have both said that we really felt like it was just the two of us in the room with the Registrar’s. We think it helped that we had visited Dodmoor at their open days so many times before the big day, as it really made us feel at home – we weren’t nervous at all!
We also loved that when I arrived with my bridesmaids, we were able to have a look around the venue and it was amazing to see all those months of work come together! Our florist – Anna at Julie-Anna flowers - did a fantastic job with all of her creations. She completely just ‘got’ what we were looking for, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with how everything looked.
The plan that we felt worked really well...
I am naturally a really organised person, so I created a spreadsheet and absolutely loved organising and planning everything, keeping track of what was spent, working out the timings of the day and keeping a list what was left to do on different tabs! We would really recommend this as it totally puts your mind at rest knowing that everything is being taken care of, and there were no last minute panics!
Finally, if we could give a tip to other couples...
Firstly, take some time out in the day just for the two of you. The day goes so quickly, it’s nice just to sit back and take everything in, and talk about how amazing your day has been so far! Secondly, I would really keep in mind that it is your day and you want your wedding to reflect this - there will be the unavoidable wedding politics along the way during your planning, but as long as you remember the reason you are getting married, then your happiness will shine though and you really will have the best day!
Special thanks to Kristina and Nick for sharing their story, and to Chris Barber Photography for the photos.