Sam & Ben

Sam & Ben

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There is a dog in a pink jumper. There is a unicorn, a disney princess-esque blush gown, a bouncy castle and trees strewn with an abundance of pastel hued streamers. There is a horse and carriage, the prettiest fluffiest bouquet and a pair of the softest pink Manolo Blahniks. Sam and Ben's wedding is like a crazy cool candy-coloured fairytale which looks like the most fun day out their friends and family have every experienced.

I wish I'd received an invite. Also, I think it should be made the law that you can only go on a bouncy castle if you are wearing the world's most dazzling tiara.

I loved putting this feature together so much my jaw aches from the mahoosive smile that was plastered across my face the entire time. True story.

Sam The Bride: This is written by my super talented hub Ben. My words, but made into sense by him! He said I put to many OMGs, LOLs and WOWs when I wrote it!!

The Dress

Ever since I was old enough to watch a Disney romance unfold I longed for a Disney Princess Wedding dress - the kind of dress that a fairy godmother would make out of ribbons, bows and a dash of fairy dust. Luckily my Mum found me my own fairy godmother/Wedding dress designer Ashley Swindon. He proposed to me in Disneyland, Paris on the balcony of Sleeping Beauty',true);"s castle. Ben knew that I had always loved the Royal engagement ring, which Diana once wore, so he used that as his inspiration and so my beautiful Sapphire engagement ring was born. We returned to our talented Jeweller, Ashley Swindon, with the idea that we wanted the wedding rings and engagement ring to look like a set. Ben's wedding band has a seam of small sapphires vertically down the centre and my band is a ring of diamonds which sits perfectly underneath my cleverly designed engagement ring. On the BIG day itself I wore an Antique bracelet (which was my "something borrowed" - kindly lent to me by one of my bridesmaid Karen) and my Engagement ring was my "something blue". On the morning of the wedding my husband and I had bought gifts for each other; he's a hair stylist so I bought him some silver cufflinks (scissors and a top hat). I also bought him a Rado watch- to get him to the church on time. I unwrapped a pair of delicate diamond earrings- made to the same design/setting as my engagement ring.

Having a major shoe fetish meant that deciding which shoes to accompany my dress was an easy decision. After seeing Carrie Bradshaw's wedding shoes in the "Sex in the City" movie I knew those were the shoes I wanted- yes, those stunning Manolo Blahnik's. So, in true sex in the city style, my bridesmaids and I hit London and totted through the swinging doors of Harrods. The whole experience was just amazing. I was given a shade card of colour swatches so I could choose any colour shoe my heart desired and we all agreed that a crystal colour buckle was a must for the blush pink heels. After wards we went for afternoon tea in the OXO tower with the shoes sat on their very own chair and we nattered until the sun went down over London and the day drew to an end. Best day ever! Sorry Mr Hall... second best.

My veil was very kindly bought for me by my Nan and made by Terry Fox. I also wore a crystal Tiara from Ivory and Co. They have a stunning collection of Tiara's which make any girl feel like a royalty.

The Flowers

All of our venue flowers were arranged by my bridesmaids in jam jars, that I had decorated, for the tables. We wanted a natural, freshly picked from the meadow look and didn't want the floristry to cost the earth. We chose "Green and Gorgeous" in Oxford. They are fantastic as they handpick the luscious flowers and put them in buckets for you so that we were able to arrange the gorgeous flowers ourselves (which saves a lot of money). They made and delivered our bouquets and button holes on the wedding morning and also a collar of peonies for our very special doggy "Teddy".

The Venue

The All Saints Church, in Marlow, Bucks was setting for our marriage. It's a stunning church set on the banks of the River Thames in a pretty town. The support we had from the church really put us at ease and we felt honoured to be married there. We were transported in a horse-drawn carriage to our reception venue " Monks Barn "-a medieval barn in the village of Hurley.

The Decor

The theme was a fairy-tale, vintage, village fete. Our decor was two years in the making and so fun as we made all of it between us (Mr and Mrs Hall) and my amazingly talented mum (aka Cinders)- who made over 100metres of bunting to decorate the barn and it's garden. "Oakwood Events" supplied tissue paper pompoms and a fairy light canopy over the dining area and Pastel lanterns over the dance floor. Sarah, from "Oakwood Events" really understood my vision and exceeded my expectations. We also had a Bouncy castle, Lit B and S letters, a vintage sweet stand and a high striker from "vowed and amazed"- these really added to our village fete feel. We made a lot of the decorations ourselves; which included a Ribbon curtain behind the top table, which covered a black barn door, and followed our pastel theme. I bought candelabras, sprayed them white and added tea cups and milk jugs to them to match the afternoon tea crockery. We made a coconut shy and bought space hoppers for races outside. I loved scouring charity shops and eBay and Pinterest was a great source of inspiration. My husband is super creative and he helped with so many of the crafts. I really couldn't have done it without him and his ideas. Everyone said that the day was very "us" as we made the day full of things that we both love.

The Food

My clever mum made and decorated our cake. It truly was "wow"! The decoration incorporated all the colours of our wedding and was covered in beautiful little flowers with icing figurines of us and our doggy Teddy. The front of the cake read "And they lived happily ever after".

We really wanted a very relaxed and informal sit down wedding breakfast. We decided that afternoon tea would be perfect. Our caterers, A Cup of Vintage, provided the yummiest afternoon tea we've ever eaten. Carlie and her girls really went the extra mile in making sure the entire reception ran smoothly and that the only hiccups came from too much champagne. We also had TWO custom built cocktail bars (a saloon and a whiskey bar) provided by "Exquisite Cocktails". The guys (one of them being my step-brother, Anthony) were fantastic and made cocktails that really were exquisite and they even personalised the cocktail names! We also had a ice-cream van after tea and a fish and chip van for our evening guests.

The Fashion

I wanted the bridesmaid to feel gorgeous and like themselves on the day so I chose different dresses for them all, that suited their shapes and all in their individual pastel colour. My candy girls looked stunning!

My gorgeous, curly haired Groom wore a burgundy three piece suit with a floral print shirt and burgundy brogues. The groomsmen were suited in Navy and I made all of their skinny ties out of the same fabric as the Grooms shirt. I also made my husband's bow tie.

My husband drew the covers of our invites and order of service and our kind friend Neil Collier (Graphic Designer) incorporated the drawings into his own creative design. We delivered our invites personally which were tied to helium balloons with the date on them.

The Unicorn (!)

We agreed on a DJ " Dave the Disco" for the entire reception. His equipment was set up so that we had Disney music quietly playing as people were sat and followed by some cheesy disco music which then broke into an old school garage rave later in the evening. Oh and I must mention "Storm" our very own REAL unicorn which came as a surprise for our guests.

The Photography

Husband and wife team Source Images captured the true magic of our day. They made everyone feel so at ease that you wouldn't even feel their presence. They snapped away all day long and didn't miss a thing! Truly Fantastic, natural photography.

Kissing Gate films kept their artistic camera skills rolling all day and made sure we could relive our most special day again and again. When we saw the final edited video it blew us away.

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