At the time of writing, I became a wife one week ago today which is so crazy to me, and to follow on from everything I said in my 'being a COVID bride' post a few weeks ago, we know that it has been an absolute journey.
Our wedding day was magical, and so utterly perfect, and in this post, I'm going to talk about some of our vendors, (I've left them all professional reviews already, this isn't my review, don't worry!), how they really made our day what it was, as well as some of my favourite things that we did in our planning, in case anyone reading is a bride-to-be and wants to take some notes!
To touch on a few things from my 'wedding planning during COVID' post, I just wanted to say - while it is sad that Stephen and I aren't legally married right now, I'm so glad that everything worked out the way that it did. We LOVED how personalised and special that our celebrant made our wedding. All of our guests coming up to the mic to tell us why they love us so much as a couple had the whole room in tears, and it was just so beautiful to have everyone come up and wish us the best, right before we tied the knot. Speaking of the knot, our handfasting ritual is not something we would've been able to include if we had a registrar like we originally planned, and it was so much fun. We tied the knot to an instrumental version of Taylor Swift's 'Invisible String', a) because it's a beautiful song and we wanted it in our wedding, but also b) it's kinda funny because we're literally tying a ribbon to each other which is very much visible. Tip: get legally married before or after your wedding day - you don't need, (what can sometimes be), a boring legal wedding, on the best day of your life. Please get a celebrant who will personalise your wedding so perfectly!
I can't even describe the feeling of a wedding day, although I have tried a few times in the past few weeks. It's so surreal. For me, one of the best things was walking down the aisle and not only seeing Stephen, but also looking around at the decor. Weddings are a wild thing if you don't set them up yourself, (which I personally didn't want to), because you plan this event for years in your mind, and you book all of your vendors and you just kind of hope that everything you've paid for will fit together on the day. You don't get to make a demo of it for yourself like playing a game of the Sims. You just turn up and you walk down the aisle and this vision that you made in your head unfolds in front of you, and if you're lucky like I was, it's everything that you've ever wanted and more come to life. Tip: I would advise against setting up your venue yourself unless you really super want to. It really added to the magic for me seeing it all unfold moments before getting married, but I did give my venue very detailed instructions so that they knew what I wanted, and it was perfect, but I do see how for some couples, they'd rather skip that part and do it exactly as they want themselves. As with everything else, it's of course up to you!
One of our favourite moments was something we thought we wouldn't be allowed to do, but somehow the stars aligned for us - when we got back from our newlywed portraits with our photographer and videographer, all of our guests were outside having their reception drinks, and we walked back into the room to hear our first dance song playing. I guess because none of our guests were around us, and because I was so excited, our master of ceremonies allowed us to have our first dance. I am so, so eternally thankful for that moment because it was something we really had given up on being allowed to have, and it was so much fun. We're still going to have a 'first dance' at our reception party next year which is actually a slow dance, as we really were just having fun with this one, but it really made the whole day that bit more magical for us.
It's also worth noting that I'm really excited that we still have the huge reception party to plan because it helps us to feel like the wedding isn't truly over yet, and it's helping us to curb our wedding blues.
Another thing that we absolutely loved from our wedding day was having a flower wall made by our florist. It became the designated area of the day for guests to take photos, it matched our colour theme, and it's really fun to scroll through guest photos that all have the same backdrop. It really unites all of the guests together, and it's somewhere that guests know that they can go to take a photo to show off that they were at your wedding, because it becomes really recognisably your wedding decor. We also ordered 'love' floral lettering from our florist, and I absolutely love all of the photos which were taken in front of that, too. Tip: Speaking of photos, I made a 3 page photo list which might sound excessive, but all of our photographers/videographers were absolutely fine with it, and there were actually quite grateful that they had so much direction - it meant less asking people if they knew what I wanted photos of, and more making sure that the wedding we spent our hard-earned money on was well documented.
Tip: Something we did which I really recommend is having a wedding hashtag if that's something you're interested in. Ours is #loveisintheairey and what I love about it is that you can track/follow the hashtag and have your own curated wedding feed - not that you don't want to see your friends' non-wedding posts because of course you do, but just for the first few days after your wedding, it's super exciting to see all of the photos everyone took on their phones in one place, especially while you wait for your professional photos to come through.
I also really love that it was livestreamed because being sent screenshots of you getting married to the love of your life, from people all around the world, is also one of the sweetest things ever. Our wedding stream was also recorded, and I've already watched it twice, once with my family and once with Stephen, and it's such a wonderful thing being able to watch it whenever we want while we wait for the edited wedding video. I just really loved every moment of our day and it's great to be able to rewatch.
This is going to sound like a bit of an insane one, but I do wonder if micro weddings will stay a thing post-covid, where the couples actually choose to design their ceremony that way. Stephen and I had so many moments, particularly during our wedding meal, where we just sat, held hands, and looked around the table to take in where we were - all of the people who loved us most sat around us, the beautiful decor we'd dreamt of come to life, the fact that we were now emotionally married. All of it. Tip: If you're not having a micro wedding, my advice is to think of another way where you can do work in those moments, where you can savour and take it all in, because it does fly by. Looking back at it, there isn't a single thing that I would've changed. Everyone there had so much love for us, and for each other, even guests who were perfect strangers at the start of the day. It really was the best day of both of our lives, so far.
Miscellaneous things we did that we loved:
Naming our table names after dates we'd been on and including a polaroid of us on that date - majority of our guests took the polaroid home with them too which is the cutest! 'Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons' is my favourite table name - it's a play which was introduced to me by a close friend while I was training to become a teacher, and Stephen and I went to go see it together. We loved it so much and it turned out to be the night that both of us almost proposed to each other, but we didn't because we didn't have the rings on us, but it still made it into the wedding!
Gave out hot chocolate mix as one of our wedding favours because our first date was hot chocolate hopping, so we loved having a favour which was so personal to us. We also handmade one of our favours, which was a sketch of us that Stephen drew and I added my calligraphy to - so lovely to be able to collab on something like that.
Our florist specialises in silk flowers, so I get to keep my bouquet forever!
We also wrote letters for each other to open on our wedding day, and our photographers filmed us reading them - I can't wait to see that adorable footage!
Confetti throw as we walked back down the aisle - SO much fun. I giggled the entire way back down the aisle. Honestly the most invigorating moment of my life.
Bubble gun exit as we left into our getaway car at the end of the evening - again, something really fun for both us and the guests and it was actually such a last minute thing that I bought and threw in the wedding boxes, and I'm so glad I did.
Last but not least, we used music to tell our story throughout the wedding. I walked down the aisle to the Twenty One Pilots cover of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' as it was the first song Stephen ever played for me on piano when we first met.
We also had moments in the wedding which related to our favourite TV couples. We signed our wedding certificate while 'Reflecting Light' by Sam Phillips was playing, which is the song Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore get married to in Gilmore Girls, and if you know me, you know that's super special to me.
Finally, we got married in front of a balloon arch, because we got married on Amy Santiago and Jake Peralta's wedding date - we watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine so much when we first got together, and we relate to the personalities of the couple so, so much. It was absolutely beautiful, and one of the best things we added to the wedding. Vindication.
Thank you to everyone for giving us our magical love-filled weekend where I got to marry my best friend in front of our people and the sunshine 🤍
Vendor List:
Venue - The Belvedere Suite, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park (my mother in law told us to visit this park on one of our early dates because she thought we'd love it, and we did, so much so that we got married here)
Wedding Dress: 'Brit' by Wed2B
Make up Artist: Kim Winterscale from Storme Hair and Make Up
Photographer: Moritz Schmittat from Schmittat Ltd
Videographer: Jonathan from Indiego Photography
Celebrant: Stephanie Forster, Silver Bee Ceremonies
Chair Covers/Bows/White Carpet/Rose Gold Lanterns/Fairy Lights/Rose Gold Sequin Table Cloths: Host with Style
Florist: Elena from Harmony Events and Decorations
Balloon Arch: Jane, London Balloon Lady
All Acrylic Place Names/Signs: faye_product_design, Instagram
Wedding Ring: Angelic Diamonds
Bio-Degradable Confetti: Adamapple
Hot Chocolate Favour: ThePureMoment, Etsy
Ring Box and 'Our Love Story' sign: Mallys Crafts
Wedding Cake: Baked By Steph
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