Alexander proposed to Emma on the scrabble board and Emma’s favourite book is Pride and Prejudice, so they combined the two to create their perfect wedding. They chose Chatsworth House, Derbyshire to host their wedding which was the backdrop to the Pride and Prejudice film adaptation.

Emma looked elegant in a Sassi Holford lace dress with shoes by Paradox and her hair in a natural up do. Alexanda donned his Royal Navy uniform while the bridesmaids wore glamourous Jenny Packham for Debenhams dresses.

I love so many things about this wedding from the pretty flowers and romance to the best first dance ever.

Thanks so much to Tierney Photography for sharing his wonderful photographs with us today.

 

The Proposal… Alexander proposed whilst we were playing Scrabble in front of an open fire at the Knockderry House Hotel in Cove, Scotland. He wrote it out on the Scrabble board half way through the game we were playing. Emma didn’t realise what was going on until he got to the letter ‘U’!

The Vision for the day… The theme for the day was always going to involve Pride and Prejudice, Emma’s favourite book and TV series. After the proposal we decided to combine Scrabble with the P&P theme. The idea was to use as many British and local companies as possible and to incorporate both of our backgrounds; Alexander’s family being Welsh and Emma from the Peak District.

The Planning Process… We had fairly long engagement allowing us plenty of time to plan the day. We started with the church and venue and then, many wedding magazines and websites later, the rest of the details fell into place. A lot of the planning was done by Emma and her bridesmaids as Alexander was away with work.

The Venue… We got married at Bamford Parish CofE Church in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Afterwards, we travelled to Chatsworth House, the home of the Duke of Devonshire and Jane Austen’s inspiration for Pemberley, for our Reception.

The Dress + Accessories… The dress was Mia by Sassi Holford and the jacket was Sassi Holford’s Bronte jacket in Mia lace. The veil was from Sassi Holford’s Couture Veil range. The belt for the evening was also by Sassi Holford. All of these were from Tilly Mint Weddings in Fleet, Hampshire.

The brooch was the ‘something borrowed’ which had previously been part of two of Emma’s bridesmaids’ weddings. The shoes were ‘Strawberry’ from Pink by Paradox with shoe clips from Aaryanna Designs (www.aaryanna.co.uk). Emma’s hair comb was also from Aaryanna Designs.

The jewellery was a gift from Emma’s sister and was the ‘something old’ after it was bought from The Antiques Centre, York. The dress for the first dance was from Debenhams with dancing shoes from International Dance Shoes.

Finding the Dress… Emma had done a lot of research into the sort of dress she might like and her favourite designers so had lined up a list of shops she wanted to visit. She tried on around 20 dresses in the first shop with one potential candidate. However, it was the second shop that she found ‘the one’ – which was only 3 times over budget! On Alexander’s advice, she kept trying on dresses for another month but still came back to the Sassi Holford dress. After having taken two bridesmaids to get their opinions, the dress was bought 10 months before the wedding.

Groom’s attire… Alexander wore his Royal Navy uniform for both the ceremony and evening.

The Readings + Music… We had one Bible reading and one non-religious reading during the Church service. The Bible reading was 1 John 4: 7-12 and the other reading was a story called ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton.

The music at the Church was a mixture of modern worship songs and traditional hymns led by a group of Emma’s friends playing together in a worship band. During the signing of the register and before the service, the Welsh Male Voice Choir, Rhos Orpheus, sang for the guests. The final hymn was ‘Cwm Rhondda’ or ‘Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer’, a traditional Welsh hymn.

The music Emma walked into the Church to was ‘Variations on Pachabel’s Canon’ by Michael John Hall and the song we left the Church to was ‘Honey Bee’ by Blake Shelton.

At the reception the entertainment was led by the Bob Ludlum Band from Sheffield who played as a four piece band during the drink reception and dinner and as a five piece band in the evening, doing covers of what they described as ‘Radio 2 music that everyone will dance to’. They were right, everyone danced all night.

Our first dance was to Michael Buble’s cover of ‘L-O-V-E’ for which we had learnt a choreographed dance to, thanks to our instructor, Lesley, at Tempo Dancing, Fratton, Portsmouth.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… The bridesmaids wore Jenny Packham dresses from Debenhams with shoes of their choice. Their hair, along with Emma’s, was done at Fanny and Clara’s in Hathersage. Their jewellery was from Anna King Jewellery, based in Sheffield (Folksy.com).

The Flowers… The beautiful flowers were done by Emma at Orchis Floral Design, Sheffield. She managed to work out exactly what Emma had in her head, even when she kept changing her mind and couldn’t exactly articulate what she wanted! Emma did all the bridesmaids bouquets, the bride’s bouquet and buttonholes for family guests.

The Cake… The cake was created by Emma’s very gifted friend, Susie. She also made the amazing ceramic cake topper of Emma and Alexander playing Scrabble. The cake was fruit and carrot cake and tasted absolutely gorgeous.

Your Photographer… Our photographer was the hugely talented Mark Tierney from Sheffield. We fell in love with his pictures on his Blog and were sold when we saw the photographs he did of the ‘Royal Wedding’ at Edale Primary School. Our engagement shoot was done up by Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District on a chilly day in January. We got to know Mark and his style of photography making our wedding day photos seem even more natural. When we weren’t having our couple shots taken we hardly even noticed he was there yet he still captured the day perfectly.

The Details + Decor… All the details for the decorations were done by Emma with a little help from her family and bridesmaids. The Scrabble pieces for the place names were sourced from charity shops up and down the UK. The lavender was from Shropshire Petals. The jam jars were collected by Emma’s bridesmaids (and their mums!) and then decorated by Alexander and filled with flowers from the Sheffield Flower Market the day before the wedding.

The table plan was made by Emma using a hinged trestle frame from Amy, one of Emma’s bridesmaids. The crocheted flowers were made by Emma’s nanna and were also used on the wicker hearts, sewn on by another of Emma’s bridesmaids, Charlie. The giant Scrabble pieces, bunting and scattered flowers were all sourced from notonthehighstreet.com with the table numbers from Hobbycraft.

The Honeymoon… Alexander booked the honeymoon as a surprise for Emma who didn’t realise where they were going until she saw the map on the aeroplane. We went to Sri Lanka for a week staying in the Jetwing Blue Hotel, Negombo.

Memorable Moments… One of our favourite memories is Emma entering the Church and Alex seeing her for the first time. It was quite emotional seeing all our friends and family stood in the pews, all there to share our Big Day.

Other memorable moments were the Rhos Orpheus Choir singing, our couples photo shoot, speaking to our friend Chris via video call from Afghanistan and our first dance.

Advice for Other Couples… Plan early if possible and try to make sure you don’t have to be at work the day before the wedding. For the bride, take the time out the day before to chill out after having done your final preparations, Emma went to have her nails done! During the wedding day, arrange to meet up at certain times in the day otherwise you will find you spend almost the entire day apart talking to family and friends.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Photographer: Tierney Photography

Venue: Chatsworth House

Dress: Sassi Holford

Shoes: Paradox

Bridesmaids Dresses: Jenny Packham for Debenhams

Flowers: Orchis Floral Design

 

What a wonderful, elegant wedding day. Thanks so much to Alexander and Emma for sharing their wedding with us today XOXO Lou