Wedding photographer’s website

Damien Vickers – https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

We cannot recommend Damien highly enough as a wedding photographer. From the first conversation Damien really stood out for his professional, experienced, but also relaxed approach. We chose Damien because of his focus on capturing candid moments as well as getting the more formal shots. Damien was with us for the full day, and expertly captured amazing, memorable moments throughout.

We are two people who don’t feel particularly comfortable in front of the camera, but Damien made sure that we were at ease and enjoying ourselves. The formal photos themselves only took about 15 minutes leaving us to enjoy our time speaking to guests. Rather than stilted couply shots, Damien suggested that we just “go for a walk” around the venue while he photographed. This worked really well and resulted in much more natural looking photos.

We received a “sneak look” of 12 photos within 2 days, and then the full album within the month. Another really nice feature was receiving both the colour and black-white versions of every photograph, leaving us to choose whichever version we preferred. We loved working with Damien!

Longstowe Hall wedding photographer Damien Vickers

Your best moment or memory

Walking down the aisle. Both of us were barely holding it together and couldn’t take our eyes off one another while trying to hold back the tears! We clung onto each other for support the whole way through the ceremony.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

Our speeches – we each did a speech and so did our best man and maid of honour as we wanted it to be gender-balanced!

Venue name + review

Ceremony: Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge Reception: Longstowe Hall
Our caterers – Portfolio Catering – were incredibly responsive, helped us choose a fantastic menu and provided a brilliant service on the day.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Bride – I wore a classic A-line gown by Sincerity Bridal and bought at Evelie wedding boutique in London. It had beautiful lace detailing and a gorgeous train. I then changed into a white jumpsuit for the dancing! Groom – I had my three-piece suit made in Pakistan when I was visiting Sam when she worked there, and I wore the tie that she gave me for the first birthday of mine we were together for.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Dress – Evelie. They were great, made it a really nice experience choosing my dress with my bridesmaids, and made the whole process of ordering and fitting very easy.

Florist name + review

Clemmie and Twine were stand-out wedding suppliers. From the initial conversations about the kinds of colours and theme that we wanted, to delivering the flowers on the day and clearing up, they were excellent! We weren’t entirely sure what we wanted from our florist so during the initial 1-hour conversation we spoke through our vision for the day, and they advised on how we could invest our flower budget in the most impactful way, including across our two venues. In the end we went for a wildflower theme with “pops of colour” which was absolutely stunning. From the bouquets, to the pocket holes and the table centrepieces, everything was beautifully put together, stayed fresh throughout the day, and for days afterwards. Kelli and Tina were also absolutely lovely throughout the whole process and on the day.

Cake maker name + review

The cake was made by the groom’s sister and was delicious!

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

All the tables had a Polaroid camera so guests could contribute to the photos!

Wedding readings?

Both our mums did the readings which was very special for us. The two readings were 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and an excerpt from The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach.

First dance song? Playlist recommendations?

Our first dance was Your Song by Elton John, played by our wonderful band, The Kings of Soul who we would highly recommend. Playlist recommendations – start with anything upbeat and classic that gets the guests on the dance floor (young and old), and ensure a mix of songs throughout – we had lots of classics and noughties hits and our band did some excellent medleys!
Kings of Soul were fantastic, had the dance floor packed the entire time and really helped us with our playlist as well!

Hair + makeup name + review

Ellie Norman – Ellie was excellent. She was incredibly attentive and organized, setting up a trial multiple months ahead so we could test my ideas out and see what worked best. She was happy to tweak my final look on the big day and did a wonderful job creating the style I wanted.

The post Sam & Jamie’s dreamy Cambridge wedding, with Damien Vickers Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Wedding photographer’s website

Damien Vickers – https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

Damien did just the most wonderful job of capturing our wedding. He perfectly balanced candid shots with group and posed photos, and the “golden hour” sunset photos he did are phenomenal – so many of our guests have commented that these are the best wedding photos they have ever seen and we can’t disagree! Damien was also a lovely person to have with us throughout the day and in the lead up to the wedding – he was unobtrusive, made sure he knew of particularly special moments and people we wanted captured, and made two camera-shy individuals feel very at ease.

Your best moment or memory

The ceremony itself – we had a wonderful celebrant (Ruth Salisbury-Higgs) who helped us come up with a really personal ceremony. We both wrote our own vows and finished with confetti from all our guests in the sunshine!

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

We had rum punch as one of our reception drinks in memory of a fun holiday in the Caribbean and the four tier wedding cake was made by one of the bride’s mums. We also lit a unity candle as part of our ceremony and involved our parents.

Venue name + review

Willow Grange Farm – We put a deposit down at Willow Grange Farm for our wedding before we’d visited the venue – and it truly paid off! The venue itself is beautiful and helped create a really relaxed and fun environment for the day and the gorgeous weather meant people were able to spend the whole day outside, from the ceremony under the pagoda to drinks outside the tent and then food and dancing in the tent. Oh and the sunset was incredible! Plus we had lots of guests stay on site which was a real bonus, and their commitment to sustainability is what made us select them in the first place. The team at Willow Grange Farm, Clara and Hannah especially, are just wonderful; they helped us plan all the details in the lead up to the day and stayed calm throughout, no matter how stressed we were! On the day they were both amazing, making sure everything ran smoothly and being the cogs behind the scene that made the whole day fantastic. The venue and the team have had so many compliments from out guests.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

We both wore dresses by a Spanish designer, Rosa Clara who has a collection called Alma Novia.

Dress or suit shop name + review

Boa Boutique in Surrey – Philippa and Sheila were amazing; they have a wonderful collection of dresses and made us feel so comfortable and special. We had a fair amount of alterations that we needed to do before final fitting and they really paid off – we both felt amazing on the day!

Florist name + review

Clemmie & Twine – the absolute dream choice to do flowers for our wedding! From the moment we met them, they listened to some of our ideas and provided lots of creative thought where we needed it. Their hard work led to such a beautiful day – with a flower arch where we had the ceremony and then moved to the reception entrance, to flowers in our hair and beautiful bouquets, to flowers for our homemade wedding cake, to posies and candles on the tables and moveable sprays of flowers inside. They were super flexible and provided us with greenery and flowers where we wanted to put together our own little personal touches too.

Cake maker name + review

Hanna’s mum! A four tiered gluten free wedding cake – it was delicious and looked stunning with real flowers cascading down it.

Stationery maker’s name + review

Little Green Wedding – we had beautiful wildflower themed order of service cards, table names and plans. They were all printed on eco-friendly seed paper so our guests could grow wildflower seeds from them when they got home; truly beautiful!

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

We created a “Donation Station” and chose two charities that were important to us so people could donate rather than give us gifts. We created posters and framed them and had candles and flowers surrounding them, plus a polaroid camera so people could take photos and add them to our guest book.

Wedding readings?

Excerpts from: Thomas Merton “A Little Life” – Hanya Yanigihara “Wild Awake” – Hilary T Smith

First dance song?

Paper rings by Taylor Swift

Hair + makeup name + review

Flashkate Bridal Hair & Make up – I am so glad I had the absolute pleasure of Kate doing my hair and make up for my wedding – and she even took on a last minute ask to do my mum’s hair and my partner’s hair too! Kate has a natural knack for putting people at ease; she listens to any ideas I had and came up with styles even better than I hoped for, including fixing real flowers into my hair and making some on-the-day tweaks to what we’d previously trialled. Both hair and make up lasted so well throughout the whole day but never felt “crispy” and I felt like a better version of me!

The post Hanna & Caitlin’s dreamy festival wedding, with Damien Vickers Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Have you had a wonderful weekend? I do hope so. I’ve been teaching calligraphy so I’m having a slow Monday, picking out the things I love most from the top of my to do list, and saving the rest for tomorrow! And very happily for a Monday morning, I have some cakes to share with you… on our screens if not in person! (I wish I had cake!) This month we’ve had some brilliant wedding businesses join us, and today I’m thrilled to be welcoming Amber’s Bakes and Cakes to English Wedding.

Amber is a professional chef turned cake maker, based in Cambridgeshire and covering all surrounding counties. Her wedding cake portfolio has everything from romantic cakes with roses and buttercream to an incredible lego wedding cake, semi naked cakes and a delicious grey wedding cake with silver leaf detail.

“Amber’s Bakes and Cakes is a business that started through a love of cooking and baking for loved ones. I realised that for me happiness was baking beautiful cakes for others and so the business was born…I love the process of creating a wedding cake – from meeting the clients and working closely with them to design their dream wedding cake to delivery and set up on their wedding day. Getting to see couples on the most important day of their life gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling!”

Amber has built a large customer based in the Cambridgeshire area due to the high quality of her cakes. She’s provided wedding cakes for some of the loveliest wedding venues in the area, including Chippenham Park, The Manor Barn, Mill Farm, South Farm, Bassmead Manor Barns and The Old Bridge in Huntingdon.

The post Introducing… Amber’s Bakes & Cakes (Cambridgeshire) appeared first on English Wedding.

A gorgeously relaxed wedding, festival-inspired in both look and approach, from a super fun couple whose guests camped out in shepherds’ huts, bell tents and safari lodges for the occasion! All images are by English Wedding member and Cambridge wedding photographer Damien Vickers, who gets a brilliant review from the happy couple below.

I absolutely love these two, not least for this magical little comment in their interview:

We both found our outfits in the first place we looked (mostly because we didn’t want to do anymore looking ;)).

We hear you. And we bloody love you for saying this!!!

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk

How did you choose your photographer?

We loved Damien’s natural style, his photos really tell the story of the day with unguarded moments, which is what we wanted.

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

Damien was great from start to finish. Very relaxed and made us feel at ease straight away. He blended in to our wedding party and we didn’t really notice him throughout the day, and even so he has managed to capture all the best moments in the perfect way.

What’s your fondest memory of your wedding?

It’s hard to choose! The ceremony was so beautiful and the speeches had everyone in tears from both the poignant words and/or funny stories (mostly aimed at myself and Ed).

Did you hire a videographer?

James Pearson – instagram: @jammy.pearson
It was a slightly late decision to get a videographer and we are SO glad we did, it’s a wonderful memory that we can look back on.

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

Willow Grange Farm is amazing. The sperry tent is really gorgeous and includes everything – so less faff for you to organise! It was also great that everyone was able to stay on site, as they have a mixture of shepherds huts, safari lodges and bell tents, so you can make a weekend of it! Another highlight is the magical sunsets across the Fens.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was your shopping experience, was it fun to find your wedding gear?

We loved our wedding outfits, they both felt like a good representation of who we are, whilst making us look good and still feel comfortable. We both found our outfits in the first place we looked (mostly because we didn’t want to do anymore looking ;)).

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

Wild Rosamund. Instagram: @wildrosamund. She has such a great eye and we trusted her completely with our flowers. I gave little-to-no instruction, other than a colourful selection of seasonal flowers and she absolutely delivered on that. I know that her focus is on sustainability, getting flowers as locally and seasonally as possible, she even forages some herself. We had so many compliments on the day about the flowers.

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

Anna Littler – instagram @littlersbuns. She has only just started her cake making business this year and she is outrageously good! She made exactly what we wanted. We had it for our dessert, as I wanted to make sure everyone had a taste. Everyone is still talking about how delicious it was.

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves (we love that stuff!)

We put welcome cards in all of the tents for wedding guests arrival. We also used label maker to put tags on our guests favours of limoncello!

We did a joint speech! We both stood up together and thanked our people and then went on to speak about our partnership.

Did you have any wedding readings? What were they?

Wild Awake – Hilary T Smith
Letter from Johnny Cash to June Carter (1994)

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

Al Green – Let’s Stay Together. In all honesty, we didn’t have ‘a song’ that felt right for a first dance, we spent an evening listening to tonnes of songs and this one stood out to us, as something that had lovely words and a tune you wanted to dance to.

Favourite wedding suppliers

@thesaxwalker
@greensoulweddings
@theluxepaperco
@blush_ely
@segaandtheboombox

The post Fi & Ed’s festival wedding at Willow Grange Farm, with Damien Vickers Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Because of the pandemic, Aaron and Jimmy’s images were a team effort, as their original photographer, lovely Shell at Rose O’Toole Photography, had to self isolate. So their photo editor was Rose O’Toole Photography, and their photographer on the day was associate shooter Emma Shaw Photography. Emma stepped in to associate shoot at 24 hours notice, and the images are just wonderful and so full of love!

Wedding photographer’s website

http://roseotoolephotos.com/

How did you choose your photographer?

We did a Google search of photographers around Cambridge. We found Shell’s website and we immediately fell in love with her style of free and easy photography. It was really fun, natural and exactly what we wanted

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

We loved having Shell as our photographer. Right from the first email, she was fun and most importantly, replied immediately. Whenever we had a problem or query, she was on it straight away. She was also uber prepared, with lots of contingencies (especially for Covid issues), which really put our minds at ease.

She sadly couldn’t be our photographer due to Covid, but again, due to her amazing prep, her friend and colleague Emma stepped up and filled in for her and did a fantastic job in Shell’s place. Shell’s editing of the photos was fantastic and captured our day fantastically for us.

Start to finish, Shell has been, hands down, the best we could’ve hoped for and we are so lucky that she said YES! to us!

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

Due to the pandemic, we had a lot of family and friends who couldn’t come from overseas, including Aaron’s dad in New Zealand. A few people as well, couldn’t come due to mixing in big crowds which was understandable. In order for as many people to be a part of the day, we hired a live streaming company. Everyone around the world was able to watch in real time and online afterwards and leave lovely messages for us. We were also able to save the stream to rewatch later as well. It wasn’t the same as having everyone there, but it was the next best thing. The only thing you had to worry about was saying something you shouldn’t whilst being mic’d up!

https://www.wedding-live-streaming.co.uk/

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

The Missing Sock in Cambridge fit the bill for us. It was exactly what we were after in a venue. We’re not formal or tied to any wedding traditions (unless they’re legal requirements!) And The Missing Sock is such a fun and quirky venue, with a laid back environment, which you can easily adapt to suit your wedding needs. Crucially, it had a huge outdoor area which catered to our Pride festival theme wedding, but plenty of indoor space for the night time and in case of our unpredictable British weather!

The staff were genuinely lovely and made the day a breeze! All of our guests had an amazing day and loved the venue.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

Our outfits were the BIGGEST headache of the entire process! It was only 3 days before the wedding that we were finally happy with what we were wearing.

We had so many ideas in our head that either didn’t pan out or were way too expensive, but we got there in the end. I think people mostly loved our shoes from the entire outfit!!

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

We didn’t hire a florist, instead we did our our floral arrangements. We got over 100 beer bottles, scrubbed them clean and filled each one with a single Gerbera flower and some fairy lights. We placed these around the venue and the effect was simple, but beautiful, especially at night.

It was a relatively inexpensive, but time-heavy solution.

Did you hire a wedding planner?

We planned about 90% of everything ourselves, with the help of the venue staff, especially Sarah at The Missing Sock. We managed to plan the wedding on a spreadsheet that I created and updated at every step of the way.

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

Our cake was spectacular! We used Becky’s Cake Bakes in Cambridge as her designs are out of this world! That helped because we’re both sci-fi nerds and our cake design was based around our solar system! Right from the start, Becky was up for the challenge we set her of creating, and was so adaptable through the whole joyed

The cake was AMAZING, both in taste and design! The cake topper of the two of us was, spot on! Each layer was beautifully light and gorgeous!

https://www.beckyscakebakes.co.uk/

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

All of our decorations for the venue were decided and executed by us. We were so proud of ourselves by the way everything looked and flowed on the day.

We had quite a large planning spreadsheet which helped us with planning and budgeting that we created and updated over the entire process

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

To be honest, this is the part that we were both slightly dreading. Standing in front of all those people and taking the final step in getting married. We kept it short and simple and read the prepared vows! The registrar was AMAZING! She kept the proceedings light and fun and interacted with us and the guests, which put us both at ease, which is exactly what we wanted.

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

We adamantly didn’t want a first dance! We hate dancing! It was a conspiracy between my niece Evie and one of two of the best men, Tim and Stuart that surprised us with a first dance to George Michael & Mary J Blige – ‘As’. We didn’t choose the song, but as first dance songs go, it is a pretty amazing first dance song. We danced awkwardly and had fun at ourselves doing it, but it did mean that people were then dragged on to the dancefloor with us pretty quickly and got the night going, which didn’t stop until 2am!

How did the pandemic affect your wedding plans? Do you have any advice to share with couples planning their weddings right now?

We luckily only had to postpone our wedding once by 4 months. We managed to arrange our wedding via a very large and complex spreadsheet that we set up. We kept track of our spending, key dates for payments and a to-do list.

Do something while you can and have time to do it without being stressed. Don’t think “Oh I can do that later’ as ‘later’ will arrive a lot sooner than you think!

Make sure you have a clear idea in your head as to what you want and then allow for that not to be logistically or financially possible and then find a way around it. Other people may have a different and alternative way of doing things that you may not have thought about.

Don’t let others railroad you into doing something you don’t want to do. We made that mistake for a few things and cost us time and money.

What really helped us was going to a brilliant wedding 4 weeks before our wedding and creating a list of all the things that we hadn’t thought about and how we could tailor it around our wedding theme. We were very fortunate that happened for us, but it’s not always possible!

Favourite wedding suppliers

Photographer – Rose O’Toole Photos
Venue – The Missing Sock in Cambridge
Cake – Beckys cake bakes
Confetti – Dollz Confetti
Bespoke shoes – Embassy London
Entertainment – Max Marcus
Live streaming – Wedding Live Streaming

Max was a brilliant DJ and MC. He was really enthusiastic about the way the sound should be set up, the lighting for maximum effect and then the added extras like the amazing selfie-mirror that our guests loved and gave us extra photo memories on top of the official photographer.

Max has a library of music that you’re able to go through and create your own bespoke playlist, which he was able to use and do a fantastic mix on the night and kept everyone in a fantastic mood.

The post Aaron & Jimmy’s joyful Cambridge wedding with Rose O’Toole Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Special thanks to our family who trekked up from Devon and Norwich to be with us on our special day – battling bank holiday traffic. We were truly blessed and thankful to be surrounded by the people we love and hold so dearly – it is a day we will never forget full of love, care, happiness and rainbows.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://artisanxphotography.co.uk

How did you choose your photographer?

Chris Denner was the photographer at a friend’s wedding a few years earlier. So quirky and original his photography captured their day beautifully. With his eye for detail, his effervescent personality, quirky style and arms full of tattoos- we knew Chris was the guy for us. We planned our wedding from start to finish within 10 weeks and thankfully Chris had two days free in his schedule and one was our date – August Bank Holiday Sunday. Everything clicked into place and in our eyes it was meant to be.

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

Chris thinks outside the box, he takes risks and captures moments in time with a natural feel. As a photographer he is full of love, time and creativity – nothing is too much to ask. He seamlessly integrated into our day and captured treasured memories of family that we will cherish forever. Being an intimate wedding with only 18 of us he was more like one of the family than our photographer. Making us both feel at ease, laughing with us constantly and being there to capture those emotional moments we all fell in love not only with his personality but also his stunning photography. He is by far the best wedding photographer we have seen, he effectively fuses tradition and contemporary styles – his fresh look on photography is modern and eye-catching however, he is still able to snap those formal moments.

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

We didn’t have a videographer – family cameras snapped old school, wobbly home video style snapshots of the day. Perfect for our informal and relaxed day.

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

We got married in the Double Tree Hilton, Cambridge on the hottest day of the year – a scorching 35 degree heat made for a beautiful yet sticky day. The rainbow parasols and air conditioning were very much welcomed. The hotel meant a lot to our family as we regularly visited for special occasions and Sunday carveries. The setting alongside the River Cam is beautiful and picturesque and we would spend hours in the hotel grounds watching the world and punts go by. The hotel staff always went above and beyond and treat us again like family – nothing was too much bother with Eloy and Gary going above and beyond. They catered beautifully to the needs of our guests and ensured everything ran as planned and was presented beautifully. From the booking team (Natasha), to the front of house staff and the chefs everyone went above and beyond to make our day perfect. Punting along the River Cam was the cherry on top – not everyday does a wedding party travel down the river getting attacked by the famous Cambridge asbo swan whilst singing ‘We all live in a yellow submarine’. The Beatles being the soundtrack to most of the day.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

Jennie shopped for her outfit with her mum Hilary and opted for an Ivory suit from Next designed by Emma Willis. Simple, tailored and elegant it was Jen all over – comfortable and alternative. Jen spent weeks searching for the right top to accompany her suit / tie in with the Rainbow theme – thankfully Phase Eight came up trumps. Verity hunted for something different and quirky – shopping alongside her Mum and Dad, Ann and Keith. I remember being laughed away from a few bridal shops due to the short timescale – 6 weeks ‘no way could we turn around a dress around in that time’. Morgan Davies Bridal in Hitchin however came to the rescue and said if anything in the store fitted I could purchase a sample dress. The amazing host at Morgan Davies could feel my quirky energy and brought something out alongside the words ‘this one is like marmite – you will either love it or hate it…’ and guess what – it fitted like a glove and was meant to be. A few alterations in the length by the amazing Baubo Fashion Design and Alterations Hitchin and we were good to go. Brogan and Paige’s Rainbow flower girl dresses were sourced from Monsoon whilst George, Bertie and Arthur’s ring bearer suits were from Next accompanied by Rainbow ties and converse pumps. Again the good auld high-street coming up trumps.

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

Mosaic Floral in Hitchin created our vibrant and eye-catching flowers for the day. We wanted something we could treasure forever so chose artificial silks for all the bouquets, buttonholes and table decorations. Sam was so helpful, creative and energised by our ‘out of the box’ rainbow requests and created striking arrangements that really gave a pop of colour to our special day. The bouquets were made even more meaningful as they included lockets of our loved ones who had passed – meaning that their love and presence was with us every step of the way.

Did you hire a wedding planner?

No we didn’t have a wedding planner. It was a proper DIY wedding with us sourcing, designing and arranging everything. Our wedding link at the Hilton (Natasha) was great and ensured our menu was to our taste and catered for family with dietary requirements. Being a Performing Arts teacher and planning school shows for 100+ students, a wedding for 18 seemed like a walk in the park. The planning of a wedding from scratch in 10 weeks seemed like a joke to most people however, this intense period was creatively exciting a little bit like ‘Challenge Anneka’. Having been together for 10 plus years, the decision to marry was a random spur of the moment one when we saw another couple marry whilst we ate a carvery by the river. We enquired that day, booked an intimate package two days later and the rest is history…. The planning was a beautiful collaborative time, knowing each other so well decisions came easily, thoughts were the same and ideas ping ponged between us in terms of inspiration.

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

A two tiered cake by the Great British cake makers Mr Marks and Mr Spencer (M&S) adorned with miniature Lego brides was finished off with a rainbow ribbon and a vibrant cake topper from DreamcakesandToppers at Etsy.

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

Wedding favours included bright rainbow coloured socks, pens, personalised Lego figurines of the wedding party and rainbow tote bags. We wanted to spread love and colour.
Gifts to each other included vintage vinyl records of our wedding songs alongside jewellery that that was bespoke..
Wedgewood figures of the Balloon Man and Women holding Rainbow balloons were gifts for Ann and Keith whilst rainbow inspired jewellery from local artists were gifted to Hilary.

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

Once in a lifetime was read beautifully by Jen’s mum – Hilary…. there was not a dry eye in the house!

Vows:
‘I love you. You are my best friend. Today I take you to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I promise to encourage and inspire you and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart and my love, from this day on, for the rest of our lives.’

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

‘Grow Old With You’ from the Wedding Singer film – sung by Adam Sandler. We didn’t have an ‘evening do’ so to speak – just chill time on the lawn playing games, punting and enjoying each others’ company. The first dance and cake cutting actually came prior to the wedding breakfast – so Chris could capture the moment before scooting to his next booking the following day.

Favourite wedding suppliers

https://artisanxphotography.co.uk/ – Photography
https://morgandaviesbridal.co.uk/hitchin-boutique – Dress
http://baubofashion.co.uk/ – Alterations
https://www.fratellihair.co.uk/ – Jen’s hair
http://www.maxwellshair.com/ – Rainbow Nails by Maxwells Biggleswade
https://www.mosaicfloraleffects.co.uk – Flowers
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DreamcakesandToppers – Cake Topper
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/900PinkTulips – Bunting
https://www.theleafpress.co.uk/ – Rainbow Invites
https://www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/cambridge – Make Up – Mac Counter – John Lewis Cambridge
https://www.graduatehotels.com/cambridge/ – Hotel (formally Double Tree Hilton – Cambridge)

The post Jennie & Verity’s beautiful summer rainbow wedding, with Artisan X Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/

How did you choose your photographer?

Damien is our neighbours’ son so came highly recommended of course! We checked out his website and loved his style and how colourful and relaxed the imagery was so it was an easy choice for us!

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

Absolutely! Damien captured the day perfectly and was ever the professional. He blended in to the background so we hardly noticed he was there most of the time which I guess is just what you need on the day. He also had the patience of a saint whilst I was getting ready!

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

https://richardsealey.wixsite.com/weddings
We decided to hire Richard fairly last minute as we were dubious we needed the extra cost but we are so glad we did! We would highly recommend a videographer, it was so special being able to relive the whole experience of the day. The sights and sounds immediatly bring all the memories to life and I cry every time I watch it back!

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

Where do I begin!? The whole wedding was a real project for me and I loved designing and styling every aspect!

The entire family got involved with all the details from making the Place names which were Origami Paper Planes to the wedding favours.

I taught myself Macrame, and showed all my sisters, my mum and Craig’s mum how to make Macrame feather keyrings and then hand dyed each one as gifts. Everyone helped tie these onto ribbons around the napkins at each setting as well as ribbons on the chair backs. I bought the charger plates and pink vintage style water glasses for each setting too!

I enlisted my dad to build a free standing frame to hold a huge Macrame Wall hanging I created over several months to be the backdrop to our ceremony. He also cut and made all of the huge logs that lined our aisle and smaller versions that held the table names and menus. He even made us a special ring holder from a cut log and had an engraved plaque put on the back to mark the day.

I hunted charity shops and car boot sales all year round for vintage suitcases, books, doilies, maps, globes and bottles and collected candle holders and travel related ornaments for our table displays. My mum painstakingly decorated over 30 bottles with vintage lace and string for our table flowers.

I got a lot of my ideas from Pinterest and reading Wedding Blogs. I even made the travel pillar candles by printing vintage maps onto tracing paper and glueing them onto the candles. Our parents provided their wedding photos and those of our grandparents to display in vintage frames so that they could still be part of our special day.

My mum grew flowers in her garden especially for our ladder displays. Even Craig got involved, he hand wrote all our wedding signs including the Pilot/Co-Pilot signs hung on our chairs and the Order of Service which he made out of an old Pallet. We designed all of our wedding stationery together using Zazzle with our invitations in the format of vinatge postcards and matching menus and order of service fans. My best friend made us a personalised stamp with our wedding date to use on our table names and invites.

My sisters and their partners helped make map bunting out of old ordanance survey maps that I stained with tea bags and we also used these to create the map confetti for the tables as well as cones to hold the real petal confetti that my mum made from rose petals she dried from her garden. Our guest book was made up of vintage postcards that I collected and everyone wrote messages for us on, which we have put in an album.
The table plan was a vintage map poster my sister gave me with hand written luggage tags displayed on a large vintage style mirror we put on an easel. My dad did all the lighting making bespoke uplighters for the huge trees in the grounds and creating the coloured acetates for inside the marquee and my graduation lighting installation hung as the backdrop to our cake table. Sorry but the list is endless!!

Perhaps the biggest team effort and one of my best find were the paper lanterns that were hung in the centre of the marquee. I found a picture of the perfect coloured lanterns on pinterest used at a previous wedding and managed to get in touch with the venue featured in the image to ask where they got them. They stunned me by offering to give me the whole lot for free, I just had to pay for shipping from Ireland. It ended up saving me about £280.

It took Craig my dad and my sisters partners about 3 hours to get them all strung up on a huge rope and were very heavy when lifted and suspended from the ceiling but I think the effect was totally worth it in the end and it wowed all our guests!

Another memorable moment, was being chauffered to the aisle in a Bentley with a personalised number plate, driven by my sister’s boyfriend who works for Bentley, now that’s how the Bride should arrive, in style!

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

Barrington Hall in Cambridgeshire was everything we wanted in a venue. We looked at quite a few places before we discovered it through a friend as we really wanted to get married outside so this was a requirement for us. The house is beautiful and I used the lodge to get ready in. The grounds also allowed us to hire the vintage swing boats I was keen to have. What made the venue for us though was Jana our Events manager, she was so passionate about weddings and made us feel so at ease, it wouldn’t have been the same without her!

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

Dress shopping was quite the mission for me! I spent several months trying on dress after dress all over London and the East of England only to end up getting the last dress I tried on in one of my first appointments at my local dress shop! It was the one I kept comparing every other dress to and in the end I managed to get it in a sample sale they were having. When I put it back on I was so relieved that I still loved it as much as I thought I did I finally shed tears of joy which was a moment I had been waiting for all along! Needless to say shopping for the groom’s outfit was much more straight forward as we both agreed on the more relaxed country style and ended up finding the perfect Jacket and matching waistcoat in Debenhams, which the groomsmen also wore and then mixed and matched the rest of their outfits.

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

We hired a florist who had previously done one of my colleagues weddings and lived near by. Nicola was amazing and managed to recreate exactly what I’d had in my head perfectly. She managed to deliver everything we asked for all within budget and their were so many different elements I don’t know how she pulled it off all on her own! Even though the timing wasn’t right for us to have my favourite flowers – Peonies – she had most people fooled with her beautiful choice of Dahlias and Roses and her creations certainly measured up to my pinterest board!

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

We were lucky enought that my cousin is a Wedding Cake baker and offered to make our cake as a wedding gift. He started his own business a few years ago and his first cake was his own wedding cake. He is called Mr Cake aka. Chris Holmes. Chris took my brief of a Suitcase themed cake and created a work of art! Most of our guests didn’t even realise it was a cake and they all commented on how stunning it was, and of course it tasted fantastic with three different layers, Red Velvet, St Clementine and Strawberries and Cream!

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

We had two readings read by my good friend Sara and Craig’s sister Zoe. “Yes I’ll Marry you my Dear” by Pam Ayres and ‘Mayonnaise jar and golf balls’ reading by Anon

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

Bobby Darin – Somewhere Beyond the Sea. We chose the song because we wanted something we could learn to dance to and it fit the Vintage Travel theme so well. It was also the one song that we both agreed we loved and the lyrics were just perfect.

Favourite wedding suppliers

https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/
http://www.deanmagic.com/weddings – Best Magician ever, our guests adored him!
https://www.tooleysamusements.co.uk/jubilee-swingboats.php – We wanted entertainment for our guests that really brought our Vintage Travel theme to life and this totally fit the bill! It also made for some amazing cadid photos!
http://www.stephaniepriordance.co.uk/index.html – Our Dance teacher was Tara Prior, she’s wonderful, so talented and patient. We wanted to do more than just a two step or shuffle but not look like we were trying to be the next Baby and Jonny. The balance must have been perfect as our guests thought we had choreograhed the dance ourselves!
https://www.karenforte.com/ – Bridal Boutique were so helpful with the many alterations I needed including adding capped sleeves to my dress.

The post Sophie & Craig’s creative and DIY wedding at Barrington Hall, with Damien Vickers Photography appeared first on English Wedding.

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk

How did you choose your photographer?

We advertised for a wedding photographer online and had eight replies. One of these replies was from Damien. Straight away we were blown away by his natural and intimate style of photography. He seemed to be able to capture individuals’ emotions within each shot bringing special moments to life. We contacted Damien and he came to our house to chat through the process and from that first meeting we felt at ease and trusted his judgement. We only had a 5 week engagement and were so lucky that Damien was available. We married on a Sunday otherwise we would have had to wait at least a year for him!

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

We were thrilled with Damien’s photos. The photo album we received was a beautifully presented visual story of the day. Damien was somehow able to capture each precious moment yet on the day itself he was quietly present; we believe that’s a real skill for any wedding photographer. Our photos were the best gift we could have chosen to cherish our day.

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

We did not have a videographer. There is not one single thing we would have changed about our day, it was everything we had every hoped for and more, but I think we would have liked to have had a video of it alongside our photos. But perhaps the way we remembered it and our memories of it as the way it was are enough- we just wish we could do it all again!

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

We married at Camilla’s local church in the village near to where we she grew up. The reception was at the pub which was a short walk from the church. Camilla worked at the pub as a teenager and we have frequented it ever since. We had a vicar marry us and a trainee vicar who was Camilla’s neighbour at her childhood home.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

Camilla bought her dress online from French Connection. She ordered several from their collection and fell in love with one of them but it was too big. She ordered the next size down which fitted but was very busty! So she took it to a local seamstress who took material from the bottom of the dress to make a panel across the bust. By the time this all took place the dress was ready for collection two days before the wedding. It was steamed and collected by Camilla’s mother. The first time Camilla tried it on was to wear it down the aisle and although fortunately it fitted perfectly, she had left the price tag on so felt a sharp jab whislt walking down the aisle!
Andrew was working long hours up until the day of the wedding so Camilla chose and bought his shoes, shirt, and designed and bought his cufflinks as a gift. The suit and waistcoat he already owned.

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

We used the local Florist, Fleurs Artisan, which is also a grocer’s. We had sunflowers and daisies in a jar for the tables at the pub, daisy head bands for the flower girls, sunflower on the dog’s collar, and Camilla had a small bouquet of seasonal flowers in whites and purples. They were so helpful and friendly and were taking our orders only a fortnight before the big day and dropped off the flowers at the church and pub on the morning of our day.

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

Camilla’s mother made a wonderful wedding cake. It was elderflower dressed with real flowers. She also made a fruit cake for our daughter as it was her christening that we decided to gatecrash and get married as a surprise for our guests!

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

We didn’t make anything ourselves (we didn’t have time!) but the personal aspect for us was that we had organised the day for our daughter’s christening. We were so blown away by the effort people were prepared to make to attend this (originally a church service followed by home made sandwiches in the village hall). We had family travel over from France, Spain, and relatives that were attending on route to a holiday in Portugal later that day. We decided to surprise them all with a wedding (Camilla got changed behind the organ into a wedding dress) and grabbed our two eldest nieces to be flower girls and follow behind her. We also surprised them with a change in reception venue and catering afterwards! Our parents and siblings knew beforehand. Camilla’s dad escorted her down the aisle and our brothers were witnesses. The day before the wedding we told our daughter’s godparents that we were getting married and we had respective hen/stag dos that day with a meal all together the night before. So they doubled up as godparents and best men/bridesmaids.

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

We had a wedding reading from Camilla’s bridesmaid and our daughter’s godmother. It was Corinthians. The trainee vicar also spoke about us as a couple and family to unite the christening and wedding ceremony.

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

We didn’t have a first dance however, we chose Ultralife by Oh Wonder for the song we walked out of the church to, ‘blood running in my veins, I’ve never been here before, and I got love falling like the rain, I never could of have asked for more, I got so much inside my bones, take a look at me now, I’m young, forever in the sun, ever since you came, I’m living Ultralife’. Chorus sums it up! One of our favourite bands and song.

We chose to have Joel Grainger play in the church and reception. He is an incredibly talented musician. We first saw him busking in Cambridge two years before our wedding. We found him on Spotify and have listened to him ever since. Camilla used his music as part of hypnobirthing in preparation to have our daughter. We contacted him a month before our wedding/christening and he was able to come. It felt like all our Christmases had come at once. We could not decide on a song for Camilla to come down the aisle to and we agreed and decided two days before to have his version of Pachelbel’s canon. He plays the violin and uses looping to build his melodies.

Favourite wedding suppliers

Photographer- Damien Vickers
Florist- Fleurs Artisan
Venue and Food- The Swan Inn of Hoxne
Musician- Joel Grainger

The post Andrew & Camilla’s SURPRISE wedding, with Damien Vickers Photography appeared first on English Wedding.