WWW readers Kim and Nick married in August at Hotel du Vin, Birmingham; with their love of the city the central location was perfect for their wedding day. A relaxed atmosphere was Kim and Nick’s vision, with a day filled with laughter.

Kim’s favourite colour black became the main inspiration for their décor and details, with a black lace bridesmaid dress and blackboard signs. The beautiful hydrangea bouquets were in white and the chic wedding cake had a touch of gold. I especially adore the LOVE mugs filled with pretty blooms.

Kim looked incredible in her J Crew dress, Anthropologie necklace and Jimmy Choo shoes while Nick opted for a skinny tux from Moss with Gypsophila buttonhole. Such a stylish couple.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Jennifer Peel for sharing her images with us today.

 

 

The Proposal… Despite having been together for 8 years and taking a trip to Paris on Valentines Day, the proposal was still totally unexpected. We arrived in Paris on the 12th and poor Nick spent the next two days nervously carrying the ring around, hoping he wouldn’t get exposed by the many bag searches we went through in museums… I woke up with a slightly sore head on Valentines Day after a little too much Cotes du Rhone the night before but to my surprise Nick was up early and heading out to fetch breakfast. He came back with a huge bag filled croissants, bread, cheese and champagne. We were staying in a beautiful apartment so Nick laid the dining table with everything and called me to sit down. It was then he dropped to one knee. I wish I could remember every detail of those moments but all I really remember were a lot of tears and finally saying Yes! Poor Nick was so relieved to finally propose, he’d chosen the ring in way back in October and had been waiting for the right time to propose when I suggested we go to Paris in the new year. Once we’d decided to go he knew he had to wait until then and I am so glad he did. Up until the Wedding Day that was the happiest day of my life.

The Vision for the Day… Relaxed – we wanted an intimate day with our closest family and friends, with great food and plenty of drinks and most importantly lots of laughter! We both agreed early on that we wanted to get married in the middle of the city, being able to walk to my usual hairdresser in the morning was non negotiable and we love our city so much we couldn’t imagine doing it anywhere else.

The Planning Process… We booked the venue in August 2012 and set the date for Saturday 3rd August 2013. Pinterest was my best friend for the next 12 months! I think at times I tried a little too hard to handle everything by myself, I can be quite specific about my ideas and meticulous over details if I’m really into something so I think people knew to just let me get on with it! Nick was amazing throughout, getting stuck in with DIY projects (he stamped every guests name on name tags for our place settings and cleaned about 100 jam jars with white spirit) and whenever I’d get overwhelmed he would know to step in and take over for a bit. My awesome Dad was also a complete star, I will never be able to repay him for his support. I wrongly assumed he would be disinterested by the finer details of wedding planning but how wrong I was! He came with me to meetings at the venue and sat with me discussing everything from food options to flowers. His famous eBay skills also came in useful for scouting bargains!

The Venue… Hotel du Vin, Birmingham. Hotel du Vin was the only venue we viewed formally. We looked at a few places in and around Birmingham but once we visited HdV we knew it would be perfect. Primarily for its location on Church Street, right in the middle of town and opposite our favourite coffee spot, site of many Friday night dates. We loved getting married somewhere we will walk past all the time and can revisit for anniversaries and special occasions.

The Dress + Accessories… My dress was the Dauphine gown from J.Crew, which I wore with Anthropologie accessories and obligatory Jimmy Choo’s! I carried (or rather my lovely friend Kas did!) the bag my Nan carried on her wedding day and wore a little gold pendant with my Mom’s name and date of birth engraved under my dress.

Finding the Dress… Finding the dress did not come easily! Early on I set my heart on a design by Temperley from the 2009 collection. I scoured the internet with no luck so eventually I contacted Temperley directly and they were incredibly helpful. I spoke to Sophie from the Bruton Street store who agreed to try and source it from their archives. I didn’t hold out much hope but one day a week or so later I came home to an email from Sophie who had found the dress in my size. She agreed to send it to me to save me the trip to London to collect it, which on reflection a mistake but at this point I was just so happy and excited to receive the dress I wanted it as soon as possible. It arrived that weekend and was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. But, it was too small. Only just, but tight enough to be uncomfortable and look ill fitting. I had resolved to lose a bit of weight before the wedding so the dress served as good motivation. The wedding drew closer and I finally fitted into the dress comfortably around early July. But, it just wasn’t right. I tried the dress on one Sunday afternoon and burst into tears. It fitted me now but still looked and felt all wrong. When we began planning the wedding I was determined to wear a dress I felt comfortable in, I wanted to be able to dance all night in it and this dress, although incredibly beautiful would never allow for that. It was very delicate and fragile and made me feel the same. I’d heard really good things about the J.Crew bridal line and had been back to their designs many times when looking for ‘the one’. A couple of emails later I placed an order. Then I waited nervously to see if they really would live up to their promise of no customs charges! I was also very aware that I couldn’t afford (both financially and time-wise) to make another mistake. This had to be The One! It arrived within 4 days, beautifully boxed and as if it were made for me, I only needed to have it shortened. I’m so glad I took the risk of changing my mind although I wouldn’t advise finding your dress this way!

Groom’s Attire… Black skinny tux from Moss, accessories from The Kooples and Mrs Bow Tie. Shoes from Dune. We searched high and low for a suitable tux as Nick had a very clear idea of what he wanted to wear. I’ll be honest, we both had a prejudice when it came to Moss and it was the last place we tried and I have to say we were totally wrong. They have a new concept store in Birmingham and stock some great brands, far removed from the traditional Morning Suits we associated with the brand. I also cannot recommend Mrs Bow Tie highly enough, they stock a huge selection of designs and all are handmade in London. Nick chose a black velvet bow tie as a little nod to the vintage velvet blazers he wore to sixth form when we were first together (too hot for a full on velvet jacket in August sadly!) and we picked black and white rose print ties for the boys to coordinate with the lace dress my sister wore.

The Readings + Music… My sister read ‘Extraordinary Mind’ by Andre Jordan.

“I do not care what car you drive. Where you live. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. If your clothes are this years cutting edge. If you are A list or B list or never heard of you list. If your trust fund is unlimited. I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones or skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.”

Nick and I both love Jack White and some of our favourite memories are of seeing him live with his various bands. At his gigs there is always traditional blues music playing while you wait for the band to come on. We played Robert Johnson while our guests assembled as it reminds us of waiting with excitement and anticipation of something brilliant about to happen. I walked down the aisle to the Vitamin String Quartet version of ‘We’re going to be friends’ by The White Stripes and we walked back as Mr and Mrs Ekste to ‘Family Tree’ by Black Lips.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… My sister Nicki was my Maid of Honour and wore a black lace and nude dress from Next with Topshop accessories. I wanted her to wear a dress she would feel really happy in, she said she couldn’t believe her luck when I first told her my idea to swerve bridesmaid traditions and I was really happy with our final choice. I think some people can be funny about black at weddings but its my favourite colour. It’s chic and went well with the venue. We didn’t have a set colour theme, we had black, nudes, peach, gold and white throughout everything.

Our beautiful Niece Tabitha was our flower girl, wearing a white and gold polka dot dress from Monsoon with gold ballet pumps also from Monsoon. She stole the show in her ‘princess dress’!

I also asked my oldest friend Adam to be my Best Man. I’ve know Adam since my very first day of school and couldn’t imagine having anyone else by my side on the day. We asked him to wear a dark suit and bought him a bow tie from Mrs Bow Tie to match the boys.

The Flowers… Our flowers were from In Bloom who are based in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. Flowers were one of my top priorities as I absolutely adore fresh blooms. I pinned like crazy and had really specific ideas which Kate and Anni interpreted exactly. When my bouquet arrived at the venue I had my only little cry of the day! I was so happy with them. I had three huge hydrangea heads tied with ivory ribbon with gypsophila bouquets for Nicki and Tabby and buttonholes for all the men. I collected jars and bottles in the year leading up to the day and these were filled with a mix of white and peach roses, peonies, hydrangeas and loads of gypsophila. My sister bought us the LOVE mugs from Anthropologie for Christmas based on a very specific Pinterest image which I was obsessed with, it took all my willpower not to use them for coffee in the months leading up to the wedding and they take pride of place in our kitchen now. We used these for the ceremony table and again on the top table. We also went for some succulent plants in simple terracotta pots, with everything arranged on wood slices to add to the rustic feel.

The Cake… The cake was designed and created by Caroline of Caroline’s Cake Company. We chose three tiers of Victoria Sponge iced with white icing and covered in tiny white and the occasional gold dots to add texture. We hired a simple white cake stand from Caroline for the day. Funnily enough when I discussed this design with Caroline it was with my original dress in mind, the gold dots matching the gold beading on the dress. Luckily it still worked well despite my change of dress! I think it helped that we were not rigid with a theme or colour scheme as changes like this didn’t stand out.

Your Photographer… Our photographer was Jennifer Peel. We decided early on that photography was a priority as its one of the few parts of the day that last beyond the day itself. I did lots of research online and came across Jenny by chance on one of my many Sunday morning blog trawls! I spotted the wedding of a girl I went to school with on Rock and Roll Bride. The previous day I had been talking to a mutual friend who had been a guest at that very wedding so I excitedly scoured the photographs and clicked through to Jenny’s website. I loved her work straight away and felt she offered a great balance between style and value. She also offers a photo booth service as an add on which we loved and decided to use for our evening entertainment. It went down really well with our guests and the photos are a fantastic memento of that messy night…

Quite late on in our planning we decided to hire a videographer to record the ceremony as it looked like my lovely Nan would be too unwell to attend. We found Mark from Our Wedding the Movie (again via a blog!) and booked him straight away. They offer a package with a full recording of your ceremony plus a short film set to music of the highlights of the day, their work is gorgeous. I’m so relieved we opted to have it filmed because we originally dismissed it as an luxury we didn’t really need but like the photography we came to realise that it’s vital to preserve as many memories from the day as possible, not just for those who couldn’t be there but to one day show our children and to watch when we’re old and grey.

The Details + Decor… Although we didn’t have a defined theme, I did start out with a general idea that the day would be influenced by our time in Paris, having come back on such a high after our engagement! It wasn’t an overt theme but there were little touches such as the Eiffel Tower clock on our top table and the general French influence at Hotel du Vin. I also designed silhouettes of Nick and I for our invitations based on the wallpaper in the apartment we got engaged in which was covered in little silhouettes. We designed our Save the Dates, Invites, Order of Service and Menus ourselves and had everything printed on recycled paper. My sister was a huge help, she’s a brilliant artist so I asked her to sketch some wedding themed colouring pages which I made into little books and packaged with Crayola crayons for the children to keep them amused during the wedding breakfast. She also punched about a million little hearts out of old sheet music which we packed in glassine envelopes from peachblossom.co.uk for each guest to throw as confetti.

I was keen to source an American mailbox for our cards after seeing one on BHLDN.com, but it proved tricky to find something based in the UK. My Dad came to the rescue a week before the wedding with one from theweddingofmydreams.co.uk which they started stocking just in the nick of time!

I was determined to DIY as much as possible, not for financial reasons especially, as I found many projects end up costing more than you think, but because we wanted to the day to have a really personal feel. We collected bottles and jars for the table arrangements and I hand wrote the table numbers with liquid chalk, along with the table plan. We met at school so the chalkboards seemed like a nice nod to that. All our ideas were born out of something significant to us.

I was pretty happy with our DIY efforts although there were many ideas and projects that didn’t come to fruition. I simply ran out of time and energy! I planned to have quizzes on the tables, family photos on the cake table and a slideshow of photos in the pub in the evening. It’s good to remember that while you know all your ideas (including the ones that don’t make the cut) your guests don’t, and they truly won’t miss it if its not there! They’ll be too busy have a good time to care!

The Honeymoon… Nick and I are both obsessed with Americana so we decided to take a North American road trip which covered Vancouver, Seattle and Portland and many awesome little towns in between. We gave ourselves a day at home before leaving for two and a half weeks away, the longest we’ve ever been away together for – bliss! Nick is a Web Designer so we decided to create an online gift registry for our guests to contribute towards the trip. We used the silhouettes from the invites in the design and had fun thinking of things to add to the list and writing the little descriptions. It was so wonderful to see everyone’s messages to us in the build up to the wedding as gifts were received. It got us even more excited for the trip!

Memorable Moments… Nick and I agree that the ceremony was the true highlight of the day, made all the more special by our fantastic registrar who was hilarious and put us both at ease, everyone commented how personal and warm our ceremony was. I thought I might bawl my eyes out, especially after my rather dramatic reaction to the proposal but to my surprise I held it together and smiled and laughed all the way through. Other memorable moments include taking our portraits out on the streets surrounding the venue and marvelling at the beautiful weather that day, all the speeches and getting hoisted up by the boys on the dance floor at the end of night!

Advice for Other Couples… It is entirely possible that ‘real life’ will take over when you’re planning your wedding. My Nan suffered a stroke in April and spent the next few months in hospital. It was heartbreaking to think that she might miss out on the day and at times I’ll admit I felt very sorry for myself. In the end she made it to the ceremony, which is a memory I’ll treasure forever. I had lots of support from my family who made it possible for her to be there. I felt guilty at times thinking I should have done more to make arrangements for her to attend but people want to help! It’s good for your sanity to let them!

Whatever happens, remember that it is a day filled with love, and as a result, you WILL feel happier than you ever have for those 24 hours and make the most of it because it’s over way too fast!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Hotel du Vin – www.hotelduvin.com

J.Crew – www.jcrew.com

Anthropologie – www.anthropologie.eu

Mrs Bow Tie – www.mrsbowtie.com

Cancer Research UK – www.giveincelebration.cancerresearchuk.org

In Bloom – www.inbloomflowers.co.uk

Carolines Cake Company – www.carolinescakecompany.co.uk

Jennifer Peel – www.jennifertakesphotos.co.uk

Our Wedding the Movie – www.ourweddingthemovie.com

 

 

Ahhh i just love this wedding. Thanks so so much to Kim and Nick for sharing their beautiful day with us XOXO Lou