It’s Wednesday wedding lovers, and this week we’re spoiling you with two real wedding features!  They might both be pink, and held in the most beautiful destinations in the world, but that’s were the similarities stop.  Laura & Ryan’s pretty, vintage-inspired wedding in the Lake District combines the sweetest dusky pink, lavender and cream palette with pretty details.  Designer Laura handmade lots of the décor, and styled the day herself with artistic flair, wore a customised Jim Helm dress (just how pretty is that back detail?!) and gorgeous Rachel Simpson shoes.  The lakeside setting was just perfect for some naturally pretty bridal portraits, all beautifully captured by photographer Katy Lunsford.

We met at a friends wedding and then chatted quite a lot on Facebook and then arranged a date, the rest was history! Ryan proposed in London.  He bought me tickets to see Chicago at Christmas and we went in February. He proposed outside the Saatchi Gallery in the rain. I am an Art teacher/Graphic designer so it was quite apt!  We got married in the Lakes, as my parents live there. We got married at a church in Windermere and had our reception at the Merewood Country House Hotel, nearby.  It is very picturesque with great views!

I really struggled finding a dress and had an idealisation that I would find “THE DRESS” and fall in love with it straight away….I didn’t. I saw a sample Jim Hjelm JLM couture dress and it was my mum who made me try it on, it fitted really well but I still was not blown away. I ended up coming back to it at a later stage and customised it to be more like what I had in my head, we added lace, a bow at the back and embellishments around the waist.  I wore a Jo Barnes vintage hair comb, wore Rachel Simpson shoes and had shoe clips made to clip onto the front of them. I wore a Tiffany pearl bracelet and some vintage drop pearl/rose earrings.  My bridesmaids had dresses made by the same bridal shop in a dusky pink/lavender colour, but in different styles. We then found it really difficult to get ties and handkerchiefs to match their colour so I had them made by the bridal shop in the same fabric. Ryan wore an M&S crème damask tie.

I’d describe our day as vintage, romantic and pretty.  I picked a cream and a dusky pink as the basis of our colour palette and it went from there!  I did all of the styling myself, the wedding stationary were my designs, I did ‘a wish’ tree, made signs for wedding cards and notes, created a vintage display by the cake, designed all the cupcakes I wanted on the stand, sprayed letters and placed them around the venue, and made the wedding favours. I also made a wedding book using all of our engagement shoot photos and one from all of our years together.

photographer

I really liked Katy’s style and the way in which she homed in on the details and shot it like a magazine, very natural and artistic with a vintage feel.

favourite moment

It has to be walking down the aisle and Ryan seeing me for the first time, I will never forget his face and overwhelming emotions we both felt.

first dance

Lionel Ritchie – All Night Long

advice

Don’t get too obsessed with the details and make sure you keep laughing and remember why you are doing it, to celebrate with all of your family and friends and show the world how much in love you are and how you want to be together for ever (cheesy I know!).

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Suppliers: Photographer: Katy Lunsford // Dress: Jim Hjelm  at Agape Brides // Accessories: Jo Barnes // Shoes: Rachel Simpson // Bridesmaids dresses: Agape Brides // Groomswear: Moss Bros // Florist: The Buttonhole // Cake: Beaulea’s Cake Studio // Stationery: Lollypop Rock // Hair: ‘Claire’ from 16 The Salon // Makeup: Ivy Clara // Venue & Catering: The Merewood Country House and Hotel, Windermere // Music: Ken Harper