Category Archives: Real Life Weddings

Dewsall Court – Gorgeous Country Wedding Venue

I know its been a while since I have had a chance to blog – I’ve been getting used to being a mum of 2 little girls and trying to work 5 days a week!! I am hoping to find the time to update this a bit more in 2012, especially as I see that I still have lots of readers coming to the blog so it makes it all worthwhile – thank you to you all xx

Anyway I wanted to share this wedding venue with you, Dewsall Court- its very special to me because its where I spent a lot of my childhood (with friends) and only recently it has been converted into the most amazing country house retreat where a lucky few also get to have the wedding of their dreams. The photos that they have shared with me from a recent wedding really show off the fabulous location and the amazing photo opportunities. (photos taken by Deidre Lynn)

I asked for a little mini interview with the girls in charge at Dewsall (Sam and Ananda) and here goes

* What sets Dewsall apart from the other wedding venues?
Apart from the fact Dewsall is such a stunning, relaxed and special place to be with everything you could want for a romantic country wedding in one place, we also care very much about not churning out ‘package’ weddings.

Love this photo – so romantic and amazing Herefordshire scenery…
Dewsall can sleep up to 23 people as well as being able to host weddings and receptions from intimate to larger affairs with 120 guests – treat us as your exclusive country home for the weekend! We limit the number of weddings we take each year so that we can work closely with our couples, bespoke and tailor made are our key words! Our friendly team will try to help build a day truly special to the couple in question, with room for personal touches and unique ideas.

* What about the actual ceremony or blessing?
To have a civil ceremony at Dewsall there are a number of options; whether it be an intimate signing with a few witnesses in the study, a family ceremony for 30 in the beautiful Chinoiserie Room, or for larger weddings we can accommodate 50 in the lovely converted Studio Barn or up to 120 in the rustic open sided Wain House barn in the garden… and right at the bottom of the garden path is St Michael and All Angels, the lovely little old parish church! By prior arrangement this can be used for a blessing for up to 85 people.

* How much involvement do the bride, groom and family have in planning the wedding/ choosing suppliers etc?
The bride, groom and family can absolutely get involved with choosing and tailoring the day to their wishes – we are here to help and advise but the ideas and planning for the big day are always led by our couples! However, to ensure the standard at Dewsall is kept to the level we think our guests deserve and to make sure everything runs smoothly we ask that guests use our in house caterers – they are a fantastic bunch of people as committed to being flexible and creative as we are! We also have an extensive wine list and can source your favourites if they aren’t on there – and we don’t charge corkage on wine bought through Dewsall. We can put you in touch with a selection of recommended suppliers – particularly our fabulous florists from Love Lily – to fit your needs and make sure you are using trusted professionals.

We encourage doing things a bit differently at Dewsall, if you need us to source anything quirky or arrange unusual activities we are more than happy to! For example – instead of using marquees to give extra space for your event at Dewsall we have some fabulous hand cleaved yurts – imagine having your reception bar and dancing in one of these!
Some of this years wedding ideas feature vintage tea party receptions, old fashioned village fête games, midnight bonfires, boho festival vibes and Dixieland Bands!

The gorgeous Betsy and Patrick featured in this post, had this to say about Dewsall,
“We can’t express to you all how wonderful it was to have such a dedicated, good hearted, excited, yet laid back team of truly amazing people to be there for us throughout our whole wedding weekend. The venue is mind blowing, pictures cannot do it justice, our guests described it as a fairy tale and said that when they woke up for work on Monday it would feel like it was all a dream. It really was a dream for Patrick and I, a weekend we will hold dear to our hearts the rest of our lives. Thank you so much for all your hard work. …I can’t even begin to count all the behind the scenes details you all coordinated to make our wedding day so special and intimate. I felt nothing but love. Now I feel even more blessed to get to know such thoughtful and kind people.” -

There is lots of other great feedback which you can read here on the site What People Say

For more info check out their website Dewsall.com or contact them via email: info@dewsall.com and Tel: 01432 276 724 and thanks to Deidre Lynn for sharing some wonderful photos on LMW.

PS Its been great to get back on the blog after so long and I hope that you all love this feature!

Real Wedding *Belita & Rich, Edinburgh

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Ditte, from First Light Wedding Photography talks me through this gorgeous Scottish wedding that she photographed last summer. Lovely photos of the bride’s wedding dress from Pronovias and shoes by Emmy (- one of my favourite designers. In fact I wanted Emmy shoes for my wedding but I couldn’t quite stretch to that budget so I had to make do with a pair from Kurt Geiger!)

“The wedding took place on 31st July in Scotland near Duns, Berwickshire on Belita’s aunt and uncle’s farm. From the first time we met Belita and Richard we loved their closeness and the way they just make each other complete. They had such a vivid idea of how they wanted their wedding day to look. They had chosen a Midsummer Nights’ Dream theme to their day with lots of gorgeous touches. The attention to detail really blew us away!”

The flowers were by a family friend, Fiona, from Northumberland. I think that they are absolutely wonderful – she doesn’t have a company name (or website) so unfortunately I am not able to say anything more than I’m very impressed Fiona!

This has to be one of my favourite photos from their weddings….

Place names were luggage tags, attached to napkins with silk string. Each name was beautifully written in calligraphy by a friend of the family.

Rather than displaying a table plan, the couple had hung up little envelopes with guests’ names on them that also showed which table guests were seated at. The envelopes also served as favours, as inside each one was a lottery slip for that night’s lottery – Love that idea!

Flowers on the tables were displayed in old teapots, collected at flea markets by the couple.

Belita, the bride said, “Meeting Ditte and Chris was an unexpected bonus of getting married! We couldn’t have asked for two more pleasant, professional or talented people to photograph our wedding; they listened to exactly what we wanted, were on top of everything (including all the things we hadn’t thought of) and were faultless on the day. We will treasure the beautiful photos they took of our wedding for our whole lives.”

A big thanks to Ditte for sending me this gorgeous wedding to feature on my wedding blog and congratulations to Belita & Rich on a wonderful day. Do be sure to check out First Light Wedding Photography for more information on this fab scottish photography duo…..

Vintage Wedding Tea Party

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Thanks to Emma from Oscar and Rose Photography for sharing these gorgeous photos that she took recently at a vintage tea party wedding. Lots of vintage inspiration here …..“I met Elizabeth, the bride, 3 WEEKS before her wedding. She had a very fixed idea in her head of what sort of wedding she was having and couldn’t find any photographers she felt would be in sync with her style. Then she saw a shoot I had done with one of her friends’ children and got in touch. We clicked within minutes of meeting and remain very good friends to this day – so much so, she’s going to be assisting me at a wedding in June.”
Stunning photos – love the suitcase with the Lexicon letters, the organ knobs (is that how you describe them!?) and the birdcages fill to the brim with gorgeous flowers all arranged by the bride! Emma’s (the photographer) website is here at Oscar and Rose and here is a link to the Oscar and Rose blog. If you want still more inspiration then click here for everything vintage on LMW.

Real Wedding 1930′s style * Cerian & Jack, Hereford

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I chose to feature this wedding (photographed by Jack Ladenburg) on my blog, for a number of reasons:
* firstly the relaxed 1930′s village fete vibe – it looks great fun with all the games and activities (and I know you all love a bit of vintage wedding inspiration),
* secondly that it was in Hereford (which is a small little town on the border of Wales where I grew up and its not often you hear about Hereford) and
* finally because it goes to show that with a mix of love and good friends you can have a fabulous wedding well within your budget. I really like the way that Cerian and Jack got all their friends and family involved in helping out on their special day and from the sound of things they didn’t break the bank either. There are some really lovely DIY ideas here so thanks to Cerian for talking me through the day… The wedding was just outside Hereford (where Jack, the groom, grew up) in a secluded village hall with a large green behind it – the couple chose this venue as they wanted somewhere with both indoor and outdoor space. They decorated the hall and the green with swathes of muslin, ribbons, ivy, homemade bunting and hay bales (borrowed from the local farmer). They bought a load of small tables and standard lamps to give the hall the 1930′s feel, and even made the table cloths themselves.
The 1930′s theme was partly inspired by Cerian’s desire to wear a 1930′s dress – she knew she wanted something vintage and found the 1930′s fashions flattering and romantic. She also knew that she didn’t necessarily want a white ‘wedding’ dress to get married in. After scouring vintage shops and fashion fairs, Cerian found her dress at ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ in Alfie’s Antiques Market in Marylebone, which apparently has an amazing selection of American vintage fashions from the 1900′s onwards. Cerian’s mum styled her hair and she did her make up herself. The hairpiece was bought online from Harriet Head, who provides beautiful fascinators and hats to order (she even matched the colour of the feathers to the dress from a sample of similar coloured fabric). The bride already had the swans down stole but had never had an opportunity to wear it.
The groom’s and best man’s outfit were hired from the National Theatre’s costume store, which according to Cerian has a fantastic range of outfits and knowledgeable staff that are happy to help you to put something together.
“We chose the 1930′s village fete theme for a number of reasons. It is a period we both love – extremely stylish but with a sense of fun. We wanted to have games and stalls to keep our guests entertained throughout the day and we asked our friends and families to man the stalls as we wanted everyone to get to know each other and talk to people they might not know. Each guest had a time slot and no one was on a stall for more than 20 minutes; we think it worked really well as a way to get everyone together. We asked our guests in advance if they were willing to do this and they were great about it, most people wanted to get involved. We also had a knobbly knees contest, a soap carving competition (which got rather competitive!) and a cake competition – which also provided tea later in the day. We had planned to have a few races (sack race, three legged race, egg and spoon race, etc) but these were rained off in the traditional manner. The stalls were very traditional and included a coconut shy, tin can alley, guess the sweets in the jar, lucky dip, smack-the-rat, ten-pin bowling and a fortune teller. As each guest arrived they received a small packet of ‘pocket money’, which were old threepenny bits that we bought from ebay, as we felt it was important that these was some kind of transaction made for each stall or game but we didn’t want our guests to be paying actual cash from their own pockets.”
“We particularly wanted a relaxed and informal wedding and were keen to make sure our guests felt at ease throughout the day. We didn’t want any ‘staff’ or outside people involved in the wedding and therefore the only people we had at the venue who weren’t guests were the caterers. We didn’t want a sit-down meal so a local fish and chip shop came and cooked fresh fish and chips on site”. I love these last 3 photos – the kids in their outfits are so cute and that last one must be the knobbly knees competition!

Wedding photographer, Jack Ladenburg, told me “Jack and Cerian’s wedding was wonderful to photograph. They’d clearly worked hard to make it totally unique and special to them. All the guests threw themselves into the spirit of the vintage village fete theme and the whole day had a real sense of fun which I wanted to reflect in the photos. The best moment for me was when, with all their friends gathered round, they released a paper lantern into the air – it was a magical moment to photograph.” Do make sure that you check out his site, Jack Ladenburg.
What do you think? Is this the sort of relaxed wedding that you would like to have? If you are looking for some inspiration click here for other 1930′s weddings, or for DIY ideas on LMW.

Real Wedding * Marina & Peter, Glenfinnan, Scotland

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(I don’t know if you’ve noticed but recently I’ve been struggling to post regularly on LMW – there has been so much going on with work, babies, and tiredness during my pregnancy, that it seems there is never enough hours in the day. Am I the only one?!?? As a result I have loads of submissions and emails that I am struggling to keep on top of – this wedding I have had for a while – I’ve been desperate to share it with you, so finally I manage to put finger to keyboard and get it up on LMW – Yay!)

I LOVE this wedding, the scottish scenery is absolutely stunning, the couple gorgeous and the photos from Elemental Weddings are brilliant – they have captured some very special moments. Marina and Peter got married at St Mary & St Finnan’s RC Church and then had their reception afterwards at Glenfinnan House Hotel, Glenfinnan nr Fort William – joined by their daughters who were bridesmaids. Marina’s dress was from a local bridal shop called Ring o Roses in Sydenham, its a Davis dress by Pronovias and the tiara came from there too. The adult bridesmaids were in dresses from Debenhams, and Marina’s little girls’ dresses from Just Dresses in Tunbridge Wells (don’t they look cute!).Forget me Nots in Fort William did the flowers. I am loving the wedding car too (I want one of those) Marina told me, “It’s hard to say what the best thing about the wedding was as we had such a wonderful time, we wanted to do it again! Everything was just perfect! I guess, the weather was just truly spectacular, given that it hadn’t stopped raining there for two months straight. Both Pete and I lost our Dad’s in 2007, and believe they had something to do with clearing the rain clouds that day. To top it off, we actually saw a stag in the grass outside of the church after the ceremony, and heard the steam train in the church while we were taking our photo’s, both of which again reminded us of our Dad’s, it was like they were both there in a weird kind of way. In addition to that, my Mum, a native Italian, who is very hard to please, told us both that our wedding was the best she had ever been to (and my Italian cousins have had very spectacular do’s in their time).”Christina, from Elemental Wedding Photography, told me
“We were really excited about photographing Marina and Peter’s wedding. They are a lovely couple and Glenfinnan is located in one of our favourite parts of Scotland – the scenery is spectacular! The day itself was beautiful in every way – from the reactions’ of their young daughters when seeing their mum as a bride, to the emotion on Peter’s face when his three girls walked up the aisle. It was wonderful to be part of it.” I always like to ask about the wedding table names (because I wrote a post on popular wedding table names). Marina told me that her and Peter choose songs from their mutual favourite band The Stone Roses and had the following:
Top Table – This is the one, Sally Cinnamon, Fools Gold, She Bangs The Drum, Love Spreads, Elephant Stone, Waterfall

Aren’t these photos stunning (and the scenery just amazing)??. I have featured lots of real weddings photographed by Elemental Weddings so do have a look at those too (click here to view Elemental Weddings on LMW), or click here to have a look at all the Scottish Weddings that have been featured on LMW.

Real Wedding * Alexis & Gary, Loch Lomond, Scotland.

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I couldn’t resist but post this gorgeous wedding that took place in Loch Lomond, Scotland – The photos are stunning, the scenery breathtaking, and the happy couple seem to be having a brilliant day . Whats more Alexis, the bride, is a hair stylist and make up artist that I have known for a while, having featured her work a year or so ago on Little Miss Wedding (Wedding hair and Make up London).
Wedding photographer, Amy Murrell, who also happens to be a good friend of Alexis’s, took the photos at the wedding – she too is someone that I’ve featured earlier on in the year, with her lovely photos of Dan & Vicky’s Kew Gardens wedding.

Alexis’s make up and hair was done by Pamper and Polish. Lesley had a tall order in doing my hair and make-up as we share the same profession. In the end she got it spot on for me and I applaud her patience as I was even trying to control the proceedings on the wedding day! What a brave lady…..
Look at that amazing wedding dress in the photos below – it was from PAN PAN in Edinburgh and the designer was Lusan Mandongus (fab choice – I love his work), a Cambodian designer who uses amazingly rich fabrics. My dress made me feel beautiful, it was my dream dress.

The florist, Endrick Blooms, created wrist corsages for the bridesmaids which were a mini version of Alexis’ bouquet. Her bouquet included huge lime green hydrangea, berries, thistles, freesia and lots of bright pinks, blues and purples. The boys wore thistles and heather in their button holes. My mum passed away over 10 yrs ago and it was going to be hard for me on the wedding day. My husband sent me a bouquet charm of which he put a lovely picture of her in. This was a really emotional moment for me and the girls with even the hairdresser crying as I opened the box. It ment my mum was within my fingers all day, the most special touch! What a thoughtful husband you have Alexis (you can see the little bouquet charm in the top photo above)

The theme was classic black and white, sort of art deco inspired, but because Alexis also wanted colour she had the bridesmaids in jewel colours with with black netting and heels drawing them together. The dresses were mostly from Debut at Debenhams and one was from Lightinthebox.com
The head piece was bought on Etsy,(an online site where people can sell their handmade goodies), from Miami and originally came on a head band with a bird cage veil. “Due to worrying about crying and not being able to get to my eyes to wipe the tears, I took it all off and had it altered to be worn on its own. I thought it looked very 20′s. I love art deco which my engagement ring was inspired by”

Alexis tells me her wedding highlights
* Doing a reading to each other about marrying your best friend with the loch gently lapping beside us.
* The sun sending a strobe of light onto the water as we signed the register (a little wink from my mum I think)
* The organ not working and the guests singing really loudly and out of tune to compensate! Hilarious and very touching.
* The touches unique to our wedding was that it was on the banks of Loch Lomond in an open gazebo, we told our guests woollies and wellies were necessary and there were a selection of wellies, flip flops and golf shoes on display.
* A vintage inspired theme of black and white and our guests provided the colour in their clothes.
* Cake stands with black and white tea lights and pearl bracelets on the bottom adorned the top table with crystal candle holders and black candles.
* Huge black storm candles on the table centres and the table plan was a black canvas with little washing lines of mini luggage tags attached by wooden pegs which we didn’t realise the guests would take off the plan and wear! A great way for them to know everyone’s names and one very bare table plan!
* Little jam jars with black ribbon bows and tea lights, decorated the window ledges and lit the way to the lodges outside that our guests were sharing.
* We had a few scottish touches such as haggis and a cieldh.
* My synopsis would be that the wedding was lots of fun, laughter and that even guests didn’t want to end so proceeded to sing after dj ended to keep us on the dancefloor making it a magical day where we felt very loved!

I asked Amy, the photographer, what the best thing was about photographing the wedding
“Photographing Alexis and Gary’s wedding was an absolute pleasure. Alexis and I knew each other quite well before the wedding day, as we’ve worked together on other peoples weddings. As a result, she felt totally completely comfortable about me taking her photo which was brilliant, and it really shows in the photos.
Getting married outside is always a bit risky, especially in October – in Scotland! But Alexis and Gary had their hearts set on it, and I have to say it was just gorgeous. The wind whistled a bit, but it just added to the excitement and celebrations, and of course the photos!”
And Alexis and Gary were clearly over the moon with their photos, “I would love to say aswell that Amy is the most talented photographer, she was calm and fun and very unobstrusive whilst capturing all the key moments that tell the story of our day. Her photos were the first thing we looked at as soon as we landed from honeymoon and we laughed and cried as we re lived every moment again! I can safely say the best investment we made. It was an honour to have her at our wedding..”
To be sure to check out Alexis’ website, Hair and Beauty on the Big Day, if you are looking for hair stylist and or make up artist in London or the surrounding area – she does come highly recommended. Also Amy Murrell,the photographer, on Especially Amy Wedding Photography London, where you can view more of her work and information on booking her for your wedding. Thanks ladies for sharing these fab photos with me …..Oh and Alexis you looked amazing…. .
PS If you are looking to get married in Loch Lomond, check out this site, Weddings at Loch Lomond, which aims to offer advice on finding local wedding suppliers in the area.