One of the joys of making wedding flowers is the inspiration from the bride and how they want to include specific touches to their wedding. When Claire contacted me she had a picture of her hair piece which was a stunning piece of hair jewellry full of stunning jeweled flowers in pinks, oranges and turquoise! Now we all know I love colour, but these just popped so making the bouquet was a joy, especially as it meant I could create flowers to actually look like the flowers in the hairpiece and because it had a dragonfly in the comb I added one to the bridal bouquet as well. Finding out about the whole day is such a treat as everything all came together beautifully for Claire and James. Check out the shoes too - woweee!
Tell us about your wedding planning journey …
James proposed up a mountain in Brasov, Romania in October 2017 and we started the hunt for the perfect venue pretty much straight away. We knew what we wanted (somewhere really informal and relaxed that was licenced and good value for money) straight away but it took us about 6 months to find it.
We fell in love with the Ash Barton Estate in Braunton, North Devon as the grounds are stunning and it literally has everything you could want for a venue (including an indoor swimming pool, games room, party barn, chapel and fire pit to name a few). It was an added bonus for us that we could hire it for 3 days to have an extended celebration with a fish and chip supper and drinks around the firepit the night before the wedding and a pool party/BBQ with a barn dance the day after. Everything else really fell into place around it, as they had a good facebook page where brides to be and brides shared their tips and suppliers etc which was really helpful.
The Wedding Theme
We had a loose theme in mind which was a fiesta as we are both fun loving and love Tequilla, my husband loves skulls and I love bright colours and cacti so it was a win win all around. We didn't have a colour palette, we just knew we wanted lots of bright colours as they are uplifting and happy and that's how we wanted to feel on our big day. The groomsmen and bridesmaids wore bright blue which helped the buttonholes and bouquets to 'pop' even more.
What made you decide to have Felt Flowers as your wedding flowers?
We wanted something a little bit different and didn't like the idea of throwing away fresh flowers. With felt flowers there is a lovely keepsake at the end of the wedding too which was an added bonus.
How was your experience working with Felt + Fings?
Anya was amazing to work with. I sent her photos of my hair piece and explained a little of what I wanted and Anya totally understood and then changed my vision to reality in a better way than I could ever have imagined! She communicated every step of the way and was so patient when I wasn't sure about certain elements until I was 100% with the final products.
What did your guests/wedding party/photographer think of the flowers?
Everyone commented on how beautiful and colourful the flowers were, even people who you wouldn't expect to look at the little details.
Doing it Yourself!
I was lucky enough to find a shop in Brighton called Beretun Designs and Linda there was fabulous. My wedding dress was a plain of the pegg 50s dress with pockets but Linda then made me a petticoat trimmed with rainbow bias, hand painted and decorated me some shoes and made a colourful headpiece which I then based my bouquets on.
A lot of the finishing touches of the wedding we did ourselves or our families helped us with. My dad made beautiful colourful bunting and the mums made lots of pop poms for colourful garlands. Our Somberero cupcakes were made by James's Aunt and a friend made the sugarskull top cake. We made all our own signs and decorations and everything was really personal to us. Rolos have always been a big part of our story together as James sent me a silver Rolo after our first date and then has given me random ones throughout the years. He proposed using a gold plated Rolo so we knew these had to be part of the day. James made brass Rolos as place name holders and favours which everyone loved.
The Best Part of the Day
Our ceremony was very personal to us and we wrote our own vows so this was definitely the highlight of our day and very emotional. We also had a sand ceremony in which our grown up kids took part in which was lovely as it was about two separate families coming together. It was an amazing feeling seeing our friends and family in one place having fun - our beer pong tables, glitter station and the live band went down really well as did the fireworks. The food also went down a treat and everyone commented on it.
What Would you Do Differently?
We have spoken about this at great length but no! Our day really was perfect for us.
A Piece of Advice
Don't sweat the small things or things you have no control over. The forecast for our wedding day was rain so in the end we embraced it and I went out and brought bright pink wellies for the bridesmaids and myself. They went down really well and one was on the things that people commented on they loved.
All the Awesome Suppliers
Venue - Ash Barton Estate - https://www.facebook.com/AshBartonEstate
Caterers - Big Pot Kitchen - https://www.facebook.com/bigpotkitchen/
Wedding Dress: Designer/Supplier -Beretun Designs https://www.facebook.com/BeretunDesignsByLindaJohnson
Bridesmaid Gowns - Designer & Supplier - Collectif - Camden Market -
Photographer - Laura from Free Form Images - https://www.facebook.com/freeformimages/
Rings
Stylist/Wedding Planner (if used – if not just say yourself) Day Co - ordinator Leilah from Unity Event Designs - https://www.facebook.com/unityeventdesign/
Stationery - home made
Make up/Hair stylist - Katherine Shaw - https://www.facebook.com/WeddingMakeUpAndHairByKatharineShaw / Carly Hanson instagram.com/carlyhansonhairdressing?igshid=xjlrzefori3x
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