So you’ve seen Mel and Rob’s wedding ceremony this morning and now it’s high time to see their lovely wedding reception.

Mel and Rob didn’t want a set theme or colour for their details and décor. Instead they opted for pretty patterns and colours which all came together perfectly on the day. They crafted many of the details themselves including the bunting and beautiful stationery. I just adore those rustic cakes with rainbow layers hidden within and the lavender flowers which must have smelt amazing.

I don’t think I’ve seen a happier couple. LOVE.

Thanks so much again to the brilliant Campbell Photography for allowing me to share their images here today.

 

 

 

The Venue… We were married at Terryglass Church in the village of Terryglass, Tipperary. All the locals made us feel so welcome while we were staying there, it was fantastic. Our reception was held at Coolbawn Quay, a village-style resort and marina set on the banks of Lough Derg. Most of the guests stayed here too, so the night before we actually had a barbecue on the decking to welcome everyone. We loved having all our guests in one location, and Terry and her team at Coolbawn were amazing. Even in the planning stages, they were incredibly patient with my many emails, and over the weekend they all worked so hard to ensure everything ran as smoothly as it did, we appreciated it so much.

 

 

The Cake… I nearly didn’t have a cake as I couldn’t find a baker close by who was able to provide what I had in mind. Honestly it was quite low on my priority list so I nearly let it slide. However, a few weeks before the wedding, my good friend Emma put a photo on Facebook of a cake she’d baked for a birthday party and it was EXACTLY what I wanted! I asked if she’d be keen to bake our cake and she was so enthusiastic that we ended up with not one, but two delicious tower cakes covered in buttercream icing and glitter with surprise rainbow layers inside. She even made a huge batch of rocky road (my favourite!) and cupcakes to accompany the main cakes, so we ended up with a whole table of scrumptious sweet treats, it was so much better than I’d even imagined! Emma Topsom, you are a star! :)

 

 

The Details + Decor… I always thought that when we found the right venue, that would dictate the look to a certain extent, and luckily the style of Coolbawn Quay was very much what we both loved – rustic and relaxed. We also both love bunting and that provided a good basis to work from seeing as we didn’t have a main colour theme. I think having a mix of patterns, textures and colours almost became a theme in itself, luckily a cohesive one!

We made most of the décor ourselves. This included 150 metres of bunting, which was the main project. Our table plan and table numbers were also based on bunting. The Orders of Service were printed at home, sewn into cardboard covers and stamped. Place names were stamped in advance and tied onto some dried lavender I had ordered online from Daisy Gifts Ltd. We hung pom poms from the light fixtures and I made a mini bunting cake topper from our leftover scraps of material. The day before we recruited a team of our friends to help put this all together in the marquee, we could not have done it without their help, so thank you so much you guys! :)

 

 

Beautiful Bridesmaids… Marianne, Sarah, Shannon and Lauren were so cool and just let me style them completely pretty much, thanks for trusting me ladies hehe! I liked the idea of neutral mismatching dresses for the bridesmaids from the beginning but initially struggled to find one let alone four dresses that I really liked on the high street. Then I found two dresses very quickly – Shannon’s nude halterneck with lace panels was from Warehouse and I picked up Lauren’s soft lilac silky Ghost dress from TK Maxx. Sarah’s pink strapless dress was from House of Fraser and Marianne’s was from the ASOS maternity range. As she was going to be about six months pregnant on the day (with twins!) we left her dress until last, and two weeks before the wedding I ordered a bunch from ASOS for her to try on and this one was a winner.

I let them choose their own jewellery and on the morning we decided together with the help of our hairdresser Joanne and make up artist Lucienne how to style their hair and make up. They all looked so beautiful, I love them!

 

 

The Flowers… Tina from The Wild Bunch was such an amazing find. All our contact was over email but I could really feel her enthusiasm. When it came to the flowers, I wanted to be hands off as I had no idea what would go well together. So I just told her what I liked the look of and she worked her magic. Lavender has always been one of my favourite flowers so once I knew it would tie in with the look that was emerging, I wanted it to feature. Rosemary was used alongside it in the buttonholes, while white hydrangeas and green foliage gave a lovely wild and rustic look to the table displays. I’ll never forget the fragrance of the bouquets and buttonholes when she dropped them off, my room smelt amazing all morning and everyone commented on the gorgeous lavender scent as they walked into the marquee, I loved that.

 

 

Your Photographer… We couldn’t have wished for a better photographers than Kristi and Neal of Campbell Photography. I had such a good feeling about them from the moment I first saw their work and looking back now we think booking them was the best decision we made in all of this. They are just the loveliest couple and they made everything so easy for us, not just on the day but also throughout all our email contact and the engagement shoot. Being a bit clueless when it comes to having our photos taken, we were more than happy to let them just do their thing and the results are stunning. They worked so hard and Neal even used his last ever roll of his favourite film on us (the discontinued Fuji Astia) – I can only hope we did it justice! We are so grateful to them for capturing our wedding the way they did. They have given us a beautiful collection of images that mean so much to us and our loved ones, and that will always evoke our wedding day for us perfectly.

 

 

The Honeymoon… Before we flew back to Switzerland, we spent three nights at The Olde Bell Inn in the beautiful village of Hurley in Berkshire. During the day we chilled out with the newspapers in the sunshine and played petanque in the beautiful gardens, or went for walk along the local canals. We indulged in a three course dinner every night – the amazing food meant we never even considered going elsewhere – with lots of good red wine and a spot of Trivial Pursuit. It was a great way to relax and next year we’ll plan a trip somewhere exotic as a real honeymoon.

 

 

Memorable Moments… Rob didn’t turn around until I reached him at the end of the aisle and that moment when I saw his face will be ingrained in my mind forever. That was the point when it hit both of us I think, my heart suddenly started pounding at a ridiculous rate anyway! It was a very intense, emotional, adrenaline-fuelled moment.

We loved being able to enjoy the reception drinks with everyone after the service. That part of the day felt so stretched out, it meant a lot to us that we could chill with our friends and family with some bubbles, while having some photos taken by Kristi and Neal at the same time. I also felt like we had plenty of opportunity to take some time for ourselves to take it all in – my favourite was sitting on the deck after everyone had gone for dinner, just the two of us, discussing how nervous we’d been at the beginning of the service!

I’m rambling on now but the speeches too (I always love speeches at a wedding anyway!), dancing to The Wanted with my dad and finally the moment when our family friend suddenly appeared on the dance floor having changed into a leprechaun costume. Priceless.

 

 

Advice for Other Couples… If you can, take a honeymoon afterwards. Although our couple of days away were lovely, I wish we’d organised a proper holiday, we definitely needed it and you should make the most of that post-wedding ‘we’re on our honeymoon!’ thing!

Invest in a good photographer. Having seen some friends left disappointed by their wedding photos, I can’t recommend this enough.

And finally every couple says it but do whatever makes you happy. Everyone else will have different priorities and opinions, which is fine, but don’t let them detract from your dream for your wedding. And enjoy it! :)

I just want to say as well how lovely it has been to be able to document the whole process for WWW, Lou you are an absolute doll, thank you so much for having me and thanks for reading! :) xxx

 

 

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Venue – Coolbawn Quay www.coolbawnquay.com

Photographer – Campbell Photography http://campbellphotography.co.uk

Florist – The Wild Bunch www.thewildbunch.ie

Cakes – Emma Topsom (friend!)

Makeup – Lucienne Meehan www.makeupbylucienne.com

Hair – Joanne Kelly www.facebook.com/JoanneKellyHairStylist

Videographer – Peter Clyne http://vimeo.com/user6079776

Transport – Heritage Wedding Cars www.heritageweddingcars.com

Evening Band – Firestar http://firestar.ie

Church Band – Encore

Dress – Blackburn Bridal Couture www.blackburnbridal.co.uk

Veil – Faulkner & Carter www.faulknerandcarter.co.uk

Flower Crown – Whichgoose www.etsy.com/shop/whichgoose

Just incredible. Mel thank you so much for the kind words and for blogging all about your wedding plans on WWW :-) XOXO Lou