Retro Eighties Vibe City Elopement by Lucy Hannah Photography

by Rebecca | Jul 17, 2018 | Inspiration

Retro Eighties Vibe City Elopement by Lucy Hannah Photography

I love this city elopement shoot by Lucy Hannah Photography, partly because the bride reminded me a little of Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan and being a child of the eighties, this appealed right off! I think it was the cute birdcage bow veil by Coco B Designs, leather jacket, leopard print coat and makeup by Glamorama Makeup. I get sent quite a few styled shoots and I really enjoy looking at them all, as they are a chance for photographers and wedding creatives to just let loose.

Photographer Lucy Hannah shot this city elopement in and around one of my favourite venue’s in Liverpool city centre Oh Me Oh My. It’s a gorgeous listed building, with huge windows that allow light to flood in and a stunning rooftop garden with incredible views of the iconic skyline.

Jamsine’s bridal outfits are provided by forward thinking and cutting edge bridal boutique Flamingo Boulevard Bridal Salon. The cute cakes are from Claire Southern and look beautiful! Jasmine’s beautiful bouquet and Sam’s buttonhole were created by Lula Flower Shop with confetti by Willow and Blossom.

Lucy explains a little more about this city elopement;

With small weddings becoming more popular, we wanted to showcase that you don’t have to choose between a wedding with just the two of you and amazing details. You can still enjoy planning the details and have fun with it.

Jasmine and Sam have been inseparable for years. They are laid back spirits and share a love of good food, binge watching tv shows, music and art. Creative people at heart they love the little details and craftsmanship that goes into quality products made by independent businesses. They enjoy museums and art galleries, exploring the city and cozying up in their favourite coffee shops, and socialising in their favourite bars.

With busy lives they wanted their city elopement wedding to be a chance for them to truly take some time out just for them. To treat themselves and celebrate their story, the things they love and the fact they found each other. Laid back, no fuss and simple, laced with beautiful details.”

Huge thanks to Lucy Hannah Photography and the team for this gorgeous city elopement!

Lil and Dave – A Liverpool Music Scene Engagement Shoot

by Rebecca | Sep 12, 2017 | Engagements

Lil and Dave – A Liverpool Music Scene Engagement Shoot

Lil and Dave’s romance started with the Liverpool music scene as it’s backdrop, so it seemed a really fitting location to them when it was suggested for their engagement shoot. I really enjoyed these images by Paul of Paul Kyte Photography as they are so relaxed and natural. He has totally put Lil and Dave at ease which always makes for the best most authentic of images and his background in photo-journalism really comes across I think.

I love a wedding or engagement shoot with city streets as a backdrop, and this shoot is a belter, so grab a cuppa and enjoy. Thanks again to Paul for these brilliant images and photo-film (you can check out another of his fantastic film we’ve featured here) and to Lil and Dave for letting me feature them on Adored Bride.

The Love Story

We met in 2007 while we were both at university in Liverpool. I was working in The Jacaranda Club (a famous Beatles bar) and Dave used to drink there.

We met through a mutual friend and then I used to bump up his songs on the jukebox playlist and make sure he got the coldest bottles of beer! We lived together and then got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2012.

The Location – Liverpool Music Scene

We chose the area surrounding The Jacaranda as this brought back good memories of our time together in Liverpool. The different venues on the shoot were places where we used to go out together and watch bands. A lot of our friends played in various bands around this time so it was great that Paul incorporated our love of music.

The Photography

Paul made us feel really relaxed and we just laughed all the way through! My favourite photographs are the natural ones where we are laughing together. At one point there was a double decker bus full of tourists who were looking at us trying to work out what was going on!

Advice for Others

Just relax, laugh and be yourselves. Follow the photographers ideas and you will be amazed!

A great engagement shoot with the backdrop of the streets and Liverpool music scene, it’s one of my favourite cities! I love these images, huge thanks to Lil and Dave for sharing their shoot with us and to Paul Kyte Photography for these great shots. You can check out more of Paul’s work on his website.

with love

Photographer – Paul Kyte Photography

Pretty Catherine Deane Bridal Separates and Train Rides for Woodland Inspired Leaf Wedding

by Rebecca | Apr 13, 2017 | Real Weddings | 2 comments

Pretty Catherine Deane Bridal Separates and Train Rides for Woodland Inspired Leaf Wedding

I love this wedding so much, it’s so vibrant, beautiful and fun, right from the romantic reason for it’s woodland theme to the train ride to the venue. It’s just gorgeous. Bride Fran wore the most stunning bridal separates too from Catherine Deane at BHLDN with a breath taking Gibson Bespoke necklace, such a pretty statement piece.

Fran and Iain were married in July at Liverpool Town Hall, with a stop at ‘Oh Me Oh My’ for a rooftop image before celebrating with their adorable woodland inspired reception at Leaf on Bold Street in the city. Complete with glitter confetti bombs and vintage cars, the day is just brilliant.

The whole day has been captured to utter ruddy perfection by the very lovely Emma Hillier Photography, she’s a marvel is Emma, we love her. So let me hand you over to beautiful bride Fran to tell you all about the day;

We met at primary school at 5 years of age; however never got together until we ran into each other at a local pub in 2011 age 27! A drink turned into a date a week later and the rest is history. We decided to formalize things in 2014 and got engaged, setting the date for a local Liverpool wedding 18 months later.

I was never keen on the traditional wedding planning set up as it felt like a lot of pressure to be under. So we thought we’d just have fun with it and see what evolved. Shortly before we got engaged, Iain had given me a card for our anniversary which featured a fox and a badger; in it he wrote that “every fox needs a badger by his side”. Somehow from this we decided that we would have a woodland animal theme running through the wedding …why not?!

With the woodland theme in mind we definitely wanted a relaxed and fun feeling about the day, without too much emphasis on formalities.

We knew that we wanted to have our reception in Leaf from the outset. Leaf is a venue we have frequented over the years as a gig and event space; we were able to hire out the upstairs venue space which is roomy and has great decor which suits our style. Leaf provided us with an event coordinator, Fiona, who was brilliant and so generous with her time and adding her creative flair to our ideas for the day!

bride comes down stairs to mum and bridesmaids

Liverpool Town Hall is a beautiful venue with a number of rooms which you can tailor to suit your wedding size. We decided on 70 guests and the Small Ballroom within the Town Hall was perfect to accommodate our wedding ceremony. We knew that the Town Hall’s beauty speaks for itself and we wouldn’t need to do anything to make it ‘wedding’ ready. The Town Hall were happy to have us for the ceremony and also a drinks and canapé reception before we made our way across town to Leaf.

My lovely dad gave me away, I’m the last of his 4 daughters to get married and it was really special. We walked down the aisle to Sigur Ross, Hoppipolla.

Fran and Iain chose Emma Hillier Photography to capture their day;

Iain is a musician and had met Emma several years before when she had photographed him as part of the band he was in at the time. Iain suggested that we look into having Emma do our wedding as he liked her style of photography. We met with Emma and decided to book her straight away; she is less about the formal (groups of guests standing in lines) and aims to capture the mood and ‘moments’ throughout the day. She was absolutely brilliant and our guests commented on how she managed to be everywhere capturing the moments during our day.

My dress skirt was by Catherine Deane and both pieces of the dress were bought online from BHLDN which is a wedding line from the US Anthropologie department store. I love the style of the dresses from the BHLDN line, and admittedly it was a fluke when I ordered the skirt and cami top, had it shipped from the US and loved it immediately. It was the first dress I tried on and I didn’t go into any wedding dress shops at all!

I bought the necklace from an online Irish boutique called Gibson Bespoke who sells on Etsy. Again, it was a fluke once I’d taken the risk of ordering the handmade necklace that matched my dress perfectly! I decided not to have a veil as I wanted the necklace to take centre stage. My shoes were from Kurt Geiger.

We had all of our hair and makeup done at the Powder Room in Liverpool who were so patient with us all and did a great job. We went to the salon the morning of the wedding, where we drank champagne and relaxed into the morning while they pampered us.

I chose Jo Malone’s Peony and Blush Suede. I love the floral scent and have kept it for special occasions since we got married.

couple catching train with guests to venue

The bridesmaids each chose their own dress; their brief was Navy Blue with a metallic shoe. I wanted the girls to feel completely comfortable, wearing something that they had chosen. And they did the rest. The dresses and shoes are from a range of high street stores.

Iain’s suit was tailor made by Nick Collier at Harland and Collier. Nick helped Iain choose his own fabric, lining and suit style and he looked and felt great. At 6 foot 6” he always struggles to find a suit which fits properly, so this was an obvious decision.

Again, the groomsmen wore their own navy blue suits, brought together by a burgundy knitted tie.

I really couldn’t choose a favourite moment from our day…there were too many.We wouldn’t change anything, it was just brilliant from start to finish!

We were recommended Passion for Flowers by a friend and they didn’t let us down. I had quite a specific brief (a Pinterest inspired lavender and daisy bouquet) which they recreated perfectly. The rest of the flowers were simple gypsy grass bouquets with lavender, as were the groomsmen’s button holes and centre pieces in the venue.

Iain has special interest in classic cars and drives a 1983 Mercedes W123 which we used as our wedding car. A friend drove me and my dad to the wedding which was lovely.

We had to make a decision about getting out guests between the venues. Both the Town Hall and Leaf are in Liverpool City Centre but it is a 20 minute walk which we felt was too much to expect the guests to do, and only a 2 minute car ride which we did not feel warranted hire of 2 coaches! We decided to contact Merseyrail who agreed to give us a carriage on the local train which was a perfect compromise. It was great being amongst the local commuters in our finery and added to the fun of the day.

We designed our own invites and table plans with special attention to our woodland theme. We hired our woodland themed décor items from Sweet Pea and Ivy who delivered and collected the items before and after the wedding.

We ordered woodland themed cupcakes from a delightful local independent cake designer Braidey Maloney of Say It With Flours. We met with Braidey prior to the wedding and explained our woodland theme to her, as well as the general look and feel of the venue and we let her do the rest. It was such a buzz arriving at the venue and seeing for the first time alongside the guests what she had created…the cakes were amazing!! And they tasted great too.

Leaf provided catering with the venue hire. We chose a “1 pot” buffet style menu which gave the guests a number of options in the middle of the table which they could choose from. Leaf also provided a DJ.

Our first dance was Wilson Picket -Hey Jude. We chose it just because it’s a brilliant tune with a lovely sentiment and you can’t help but dance to it!

For our honeymoon we drove the pacific highway in California from San Francisco to San Diego with stops along the way. We used AirBnb for all of our stops and loved every minute!

I really couldn’t choose a favourite moment from our day…there were too many.We wouldn’t change anything, it was just brilliant from start to finish!

Our advice to others, just enjoy it and put as much of yourselves into it as you can.

Sending our congratulations to Fran and Iain, thank you so much for sharing your amazing day with us, it looks like it was so much fun. Huge thank you also go to Emma Hillier Photography for these images. Emma is so good at capturing the energy of a day, tapping into the emotions and creating really gorgeous images, be sure to check out her work and say I sent you.

With love and Happy Easter,

A Banksy, Bubble Confetti and a Little Polish Coin for Heartfelt City Wedding

by Rebecca | Jan 16, 2017 | Real Weddings

A Banksy, Bubble Confetti and a Little Polish Coin for Heartfelt City Wedding

When photographer Rachel Ryan sent me over Olivia and James wedding day, the first thing that struck me was that Olivia is most possibly the smiliest bride I have ever seen! She is beaming and laughing in every image, her total love and joy to be marrying her man, with those she cares about most around her, is just apparent in every image.

I was really sad to learn then that Olivia had lost her mum just eleven months before the wedding. Olivia’s mum helped her choose her wedding dress and also to choose Rachel as their photographer. On the wedding day, Rachel took Olivia and James, in her words ‘to the grubbiest of fire exits’ a slightly random unplanned location for some shots. There on the ground Olivia found a little Polish coin. Her mum was an avid collector of foreign coins and ever since loosing her mum, Olivia has been finding them. Now the three of them really had no business being on that fire escape that day, nor did that little Polish coin, yet there they were. A beautiful little sign from the universe.

So I am so, so delighted to present to you the newly weds, Olivia and James and their love story, as I hand you over to the bride;

Picture fram of bride as little girl with her mum next to her bouquet

We got engaged in April 2013, back in Leeds which is where we met. James took me on a tour of all the places we used to hang out as students, then stopped outside the house where he’d lived and told me that was where he was when he knew he loved me! Then he got down on one knee. It was very romantic, despite being next to a wheelie bin! Then we had the most fun day ring shopping!

Bride fussing over dad's tie in their garden while getting ready.

We were married on the 8th August and wanted to go on honeymoon straight afterwards (We went on an amazing three week adventure around Japan arranged by the fabulous Inside Japan Tours). As I’m a teacher, it had to be early August! Plus my birthday is 8th March so I wanted the 8th really!

We got married at Bishop Eton, my childhood parish church, in Liverpool. We loved our church ceremony because we were lucky enough to know our priests really well and we felt the service was very personal to us. I had chosen my favourite hymns which I enjoyed belting out! It was a wonderful feeling to say our vows in a beautiful setting, which was important to us, in front of all our favourite people.

Bridesmaid doing up back of brides dress

Bridesmaid gasps as Bride comes down the stairs in her dress.

We were lucky enough to have the brilliantly talented and incredibly lovely Rachel Ryan as our photographer. We couldn’t have wished for anything more from our photographer. She was perfect. Neither of us particularly like having our photo taken so finding someone who put us at ease, and was so incredible at their job, was fantastic. We are delighted with our photos and would recommend Rachel to everyone. In fact one of my best friends has just booked her for her wedding! We are so excited we get to see her again!

Bridesmaid reacts with a gasp at lovely gift....a bracelet.

Close up of bridesmaids wrist with pretty heart bracelet.

Style wise, I wasn’t a ‘theme’ sort of girl. Whenever anyone asked I’d just say the theme was a wedding! Just a traditional wedding. Then at a wedding fair my bridesmaids and I saw gorgeous navy blue dresses from Coast on the catwalk show and knew we wanted them! So the colour scheme was decided there and then! The dresses were the first thing we got and I could picture the whole day from then.

Dad see bride for first time in her dress.

Dad lifts daughter chin with this hand as they share an emotional moment.

I got my dress from Brides of Chester while I was having a girly day out with my mum and bridesmaids. I asked everyone to choose one each for me to try on. Of course, mum picked the winner as mums know best! I hadn’t liked it on the hanger but knew it was for me when I tried it on. My sister cried so I knew it must’ve been ok!

Their beautiful vintage transport, a navy and cream car.

The bridesmaids waiting outside the church, laughing and cheering the brides arrival.

We hired suits from Moss as James wears a suit for work so wanted tails in order to feel more special. We chose the UnexpecTed Ted Baker at Moss Bros suit in grey as it was so classically smart and James looked super handsome in it! We got a dark navy blue tie and grey and dark navy handkerchiefs which matched the bridesmaids dresses perfectly.

The groomsmen wore the same as James and the bridesmaids were in the stunning Lily Anna dress from Coast. It was tea length which suited my gorgeously tall bridesmaid Jo and my gorgeously petite maid of honour Alex! I was thrilled to find a dress that suited all four of the girls.

View of Bride and Groom from the back stood at the alter with church pews either side.

We hired navy and cream classic cars from Heritage Motors. We had to hire the one which had a roof that came down as James banged his head on the ceiling of the other one! It worked out brilliantly though as it was such a sunny day we could have some photos with the top down. I wasn’t brave enough to travel with it down though in case I ruined my hair or lost my veil!

Married! The couple smile as they walk back down the aisle.

The happy couple after the wedding at the entrance to the church with sunlight and bubble confetti

We had bubbles instead of confetti outside church, I absolutely loved them! It was so fun coming outside into a sea of them, I think the guests had fun blowing them too! The photos look brilliant as it was such a sunny day.

We booked coaches for our guests through Napier Point and they were lovely, even letting us choose our favourite route into the city centre so we could show off our city’s gorgeous docks to our guests!

Couple laughing out loud in the wedding car on way to reception.

Bride and groom walk through liverpool street in the sunlight.

Bride and groom walk along street towards the docks.

The couple kiss with Banksy heart graffitti in the background.

We had our reception at The Raquet Club. We wanted a city centre venue and as soon as we met Sue we knew we wanted her and her amazing team to look after us. The building itself was gorgeous and we’d heard great things about the food…which was very important to us!

Close up image of couple next to the Banksy.

Couple in the arch doorway of a building that no longer exists.

Love graffitti...next to the couples feet.

Couple and city reflect in glass of parked car.

I was so thrilled with my flowers, which were white roses and freesias. Karen McGrath Flowers, another wonderfully talented woman, was our florist who came recommended from a friend. The bridesmaids had small bouquets of white roses and the groom, dads and ushers had gorgeous buttonholes of a white rose. Karen added a small white freesia to James’s to make his more special. Karen is so creative and such a good listener, she knew exactly what would work and made even more beautiful arrangements than I could have imagined.

Bride posing and holding on to her veil as she walks through the street.

Close up of bride in her converse trainers on fire escape.

Bride and groom laughing and running down fire escape.

Bride really trying to catch her breath from laughing

We got our cake from Marks and Spencer and loved the fact it was a square shape and had a different flavour cake in each tier. We also had a cheese cake from the Liverpool Cheese Company which was a stunning creation and provided a delicious evening snack for our guests!

Couple in sunlight against cool building backdrop.

We booked a band who we had danced to at our friends’ wedding the previous year called Harlequin. We had loved them so much we booked them before they left the venue! We loved their mix of music and they are such a talented group.

The speeches! Bride and her dad laughing at best mans speech.

Speeches - bride and her dad share a moment.

Speeches - bride and her dad really laughing!

Speeches - Father of groom looks on smiling.

We had a photo booth for our guests in the evening which has provided us with a hilarious guest book! Our favours were photo keyrings for our guests to use in the photo booth.

Outside the venue - bride and her 4 bridesmaids.

Bride and her maids twirling in their dresses on the street outside the venue.

The bride, groom and their bridemaids and groomsmen group shot, jumping.

My advice to other brides is, wear converse trainers. It was the best decision I made. My dress was long so you couldn’t see my shoes anyway, and I had comfortable feet all day and all night. To couples, the both of you, enjoy yourselves! Don’t get stressed out planning it all, it’s not worth missing out on all the fun! Keep it easy and do it your way. We loved every minute!

bridemaid and bride larking about and outside the venue.

Thank you so much Olivia and James for sharing your wonderful day with us, wishing you both the happiest of futures together. Thanks too go to Rachel Ryan for these brilliant images.

To end, I wanted to mention something else that Rachel told me, Olivia’s lovely daddy (an incredibly talented artist, former photography teacher and one half of some seriously tear jerking photographs) said to Rachel on the wedding morning and it really is a wonderful piece of advice;

“The more you allow your photographer in the better photographs you get.”

This couldn’t be more true.

Skylines and Sky Blue Shoes for a Beautiful Oh Me Oh My Wedding

by Rebecca | Jan 4, 2017 | Real Weddings

Skylines and Sky Blue Shoes for a Beautiful Oh Me Oh My Wedding

Hello, I’m Rebecca, welcome to Adored Bride on this our launch day! I hope you enjoy exploring the blog. I feel super lucky that the very first wedding I get to bring you is that of the brilliant Lucy and Mike. They wanted a wedding that celebrated everything about the things they love, in particular music and the city in which they grew up, fell in love and call home. The wedding was captured by the equally brilliant Lucy G Photography, (who is also one of the team here at Adored Bride).

Lucy and Mike were married on the 5th August at Liverpool Town Hall with a fantastic reception at one of my favourite places in the city ‘ Oh Me Oh My’. Lucy looked beautiful in a flowing lace Charlotte Balbier dress, from the White Closet that just suited her love of 60’s styling. She teamed it with pretty blue shoes by Rachel Simpson. Mike looked dashing in his custom made suit from Ted Baker. They went for a relaxed and homespun theme with musical references and a dash of sky blue through out. Whilst they made lots of details themselves, in particular they knew they didn’t want to cut corners on costs when it came to photography. I wholeheartedly agree and it’s something that I support and advocate through the pages of this blog. Ruddy good photography is so important!

Let me now pass you over to Lucy to tell you all about their day back in August;

We have actually known each other for years, probably around 11 now! We met through intertwining friendships; I was in a band with some of the lads Michael was friends with, and then my closest friend from this group of lads got a girlfriend who happened to be Michael’s best friend – the maid of honour at our wedding! We got chatting on Facebook, then over work emails, then found ourselves Whats Apping until late into the night… we decided to go for a drink to test the waters and the rest is history! Michael claims he’d always fancied me from afar because he loves “a quirky girl with a fringe”

We talked a lot about our wedding day before we even got engaged as we ended up at 8 weddings a year some years! We had a very good idea of what works and what doesn’t, what matters and what doesn’t. We both knew we wanted a very relaxed and informal day, as neither of us are very formal people and like to have a laugh, so the idea of something stuffy and very official wasn’t ‘us’ at all.

So when we got engaged, a lot of our decisions had already been made so it was just a case of picking up the phone to the venues and suppliers we had already decided on. I got a bit of ribbing from friends at times for being almost too eager and organised and doing things early, but as someone with a tendency to get anxious and stressed when under pressure I can recommend this approach 100%!

We had a modest budget; not small but definitely not large by today’s standards. We kept the reality of ‘it’s just one day’ in our heads, but also allowed ourselves to splurge on the things we thought mattered. We had always said photography was our top priority, as those pictures last forever and we put that at the top of our budget lists.

We are so pleased we chose the lovely Lucy! Having Lucy G photograph our wedding was like having another bridesmaid or a friend in the room with us. We never felt awkward, we laughed constantly and she was fantastic at getting people together for shots. She even risked her life by backing into busy rush hour Liverpool traffic to get the perfect angle! We are overjoyed with our photos and thank here from the bottom of our hearts!

We also said that it was our one day to feel amazing and not have to buy cheap clothes like we usually do, and that I would get a designer dress and Michael would have a bespoke Savile Row suit. Everything else we wanted to do as DIY as possible, not only to save money but also to put our own touch on everything. I also am not a particularly groomed or put-together sort of person; I like it when things are a bit scruffy and shabby and don’t match, so we had a very mix and match un-themed approach to our day!

I chose my wedding dress really early on, about 18 months before the wedding. I was apprehensive about wedding shopping as I’m not a very glamorous girl; I like my vintage and I’m also a bit scruffy! I imagined me being in wedding dress shops to be a bit like scenes from Pretty Woman, but when I found The White Closet in Didsbury, I knew I’d be OK!

At my first appointment I had an amazing appointment with the ladies there who helped me envisage the things I could have changed and added to dresses to make them exactly what I wanted. They have dresses for brides who don’t want to necessarily look really ‘bridal’ in the traditional sense, and have loads of artistic styling expertise to help you tailor your look. I felt really at home there and it was really to find a ‘me’ dress. I knew I wanted a Charlotte Balbier design because of her beautiful lace work, and she did not disappoint!

I had on Lillie Mae by Charlotte Balbier, which they then informed me was going into the sample sale the next day… so after a swift glass of wine with my mum I snaffled it for a much cheaper price! It was in perfect condition and meant I could have more changed on it to make it my dream dress. The ridiculously talented seamstress there made elbow length sleeves, a big bow sash and added more buttons to it for me.

My accessories came from a website called Vintage Styler. My friends from school set up this accessories brand a few years ago specialising in vintage style bridal accessories, but they have since branched out and do daytime bags and accessories too. Super beautiful stuff, plus I wanted to support my friends.

We chose Liverpool Town Hall as our marriage venue as we went to a wedding there and loved the grandeur of it, but also its rich Liverpool history as we both absolutely love Liverpool. It also fitted our want for a cool city centre wedding. We went with Oh Me Oh My for our reception because their approach to hosting weddings is very chilled and relaxed. Plus I have a bit of a vintage style and like to pretend I am in the 1960s most of the time, so it fitted our vibe perfectly.

I wanted my bridesmaids to be mismatched but in the same colour family, and their dresses came from different places. Two of my maids were pregnant, so their dresses were ASOS maternity (with a few tweaks on one of them), and the other two came from a dressmaker in America on Etsy. I loved the way each bridesmaid had a dress that suited her and that she liked rather than forcing them all to wear one style that might not suit everyone.

Michael had always said he wanted a Savile Row suit, but decided along the way he would prefer to have a Ted Baker suit tailored to him. We took an awesome trip to London to buy the wedding ring to match my engagement ring and to go to the Ted Baker flagship store in Covent Garden. Michael really enjoyed his afternoon trying on suits and he got so excited when he chose his ensemble; a navy suit with tweed waistcoat. We thought it was really great that he got to have a fun day choosing his suit – why should the bride be the only one to get pampered! We both adored our wedding outfits and we are so glad we allowed ourselves to spend a bit of money on them.

One really memorable part of the day for me was the doors opening to the Small Ballroom in Liverpool Town Hall as the swell of ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow started to play… it was the first time the emotion of the day started to hit me and I said “Dad, I’m filling up, oh no, my make up!” and he chattered jibberish and sang silly songs to me as we walked down the aisle to stop me from crying.

Michael’s cousin and godmother Julie did our flowers. She isn’t a practicing florist anymore and was incredibly nervous about our flowers. She didn’t want to get them wrong, but she actually made our wedding look like the wedding of our dreams and even better than we could have envisaged! She totally got my mismatched, wild, just-picked-from-the-garden vision. It was also lovely to work with a member of the family too.

Another lovely memory was when I got up with my ukulele to sing a song with our band as a big surprise for everyone. Michael knew about it, but the guests didn’t! We hired an awesome vintage style vocal harmony band, and they helped me to arrange ‘You and I’ by Ingrid Michaelson with some beautiful harmonies, which I got up and performed. Everyone was really taken by surprise and I absolutely love that I got to play my ukulele in my wedding dress!  

I used small businesses on Etsy for a lot of the craft and accessories. I also found an ace lady who makes beautiful bespoke stamps, and got all of our stamps for our invitations from her at Noolibird.

We found our cake maker at our local farmer’s market – I am gluten free, and originally we weren’t going to have a cake because I wouldn’t have been able to eat any! We found Claire, an awesome baker who believes nobody should have to forego cake, and makes beautiful cakes for people with dietary requirements that you would never guess were missing something! She made us the most beautiful gluten free gin & tonic naked cake with a vanilla sponge layer decorated with flowers, and worked with us to get the price down as we struggled with budget at times. The great thing is we can go and see her at the farmer’s market whenever we like to buy a slice or two of her cake and instantly get to eat our wedding cake all over again! Her business is called Cake Liverpool and I would definitely recommend her.

My hair and make up were done by my own hairdresser, Phill at Electric Hair (who also does Michael’s hair) and Lucy of Lucy Mc Make Up. Lucy did my make up years ago when I was in my band and I knew she’d understand my 60s flicks and red lipstick vision, which she did amazingly.

Phill has been cutting my hair for years and laughs at me for constantly bringing in the same photo of Zooey Deschanel; but he was awesome throughout the process doing things like sourcing hair extensions, sewing the clips on them and giving me lots of fringe trims in the run up to the wedding! They were both great on the day too, running around fixing other people’s hair and make up, cutting tags out of dresses and pouring drinks for bridesmaids.

Music was a huge part of our day. I am an ex musician and now a music teacher, and Michael is really into music too. As a couple we have shared music and been to hundreds of gigs throughout our relationship, and it’s never not playing in our house! We had our table names as bands we had either seen live or meant a lot to us, accompanied with a lyric we felt summed us and our relationship up. Our reception playlist and ceremony playlist were both carefully crafted with songs that meant something to us, too. These little touches were probably not noticed by anyone else, but they were really fun to plan; the nights we sat listening to our favourite albums and picking out lyrics over a bottle of wine were some of the best parts of the planning process.

Finding a DJ that wasn’t going to play the same old bad wedding party songs or rubbish pop music was a priority! We found Tom from Bear Hug Events at a wedding fair at our venue, and when I asked him “can you make our wedding sound like a mix between The Cavern in the 60s and a dirty indie basement club in the mid-2000s, mixed in with some guilty 90s dance and Britpop?” he grinned and said “of course!” We knew then he’d be perfect, and he did an awesome job – the dancefloor wasn’t empty once. Tom also does photo booths and light up letters.

At the end of the night when ‘All You Need is Love’ by The Beatles came on. Everyone got into a big circle, then Michael pulled me into the middle and we danced really stupidly and crazily as everyone smiled and sang around us, and I sang “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!” at him. Then, at our request, the final song of the night was ‘Set You Free’ by NTrance as it used to always be the last song of the night at a dirty indie clubnight we all used to go to. So the segue from The Beatles into NTrance and seeing all of our friends throw their hands up in the air with delight, plus mums and nans and aunties all having a rave, shoes off and dresses held up… this moment was just absolutely joyous!

Advice for others planning their day? We definitely learned to do things because they meant something to us, and not just for other people. We started the process being very guest orientated and booking things ‘for the guests’ because we thought it would be important to keep everyone entertained, but towards the end of the planning we found that what we wanted as a couple had got slightly lost, so ended up cancelling a few extras such as the photo booth and the extra roof terrace at our venue. We don’t regret any of these changes!

People say a lot of the small details of the day go unnoticed, which they might do, but if you got great pleasure doing or choosing them that’s what matters!   We had a lot of fun creating things ourselves. We designed all of our stationery ourselves on Photoshop, and my Mum helped me make all our favour boxes and decorate 120 jam jars for flowers. I got ideas off Pinterest and friends and luckily I have great holidays as a teacher, and had some really nice half term crafter-noons in the year before the wedding. When I saw it all come together I felt so proud of us because it was created totally by us and from the heart – an amazing first achievement as husband and wife!

Such an amazing wedding! I love everything about it, how adorable are the flower girl and page boy too? I always fancied singing on my wedding day, so incredible that Lucy performed for all her loved ones. Such a cool city wedding!

Massive congratulations to the happy couple and thanks too. It was very kind of you, Lucy and Mike, to put your faith in the blog and allow me to share your pretty darn amazing day with everyone. It’s been a total joy.

Thanks too go to lovely Lucy G Photography for her amazing photography, loving your work as always!

love

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