Brigitte and Rob’s Railway Museum Wedding. By Matthew Long Photography

Happy Monday everyone and how are you all today? I do hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to enjoy the sunshine? We have some fab weddings for you this week I just know you are going to love them, starting off with this gorgeous wedding set in a Railway Museum in East Anglia. It was sent into me by Matthew Long Photography and it really is beautiful. With a venue so unique as this one, there really is no need for much decoration, the venue and what it lays on itself is enough. With a miniature train as entertainment and the brides very own vintage ice cream van this wedding looks like loads of fun for all the guests. I just know you are going to love it.

‘It was out of this world. It was a beautiful day filled with lots of happy moments and memories to last a lifetime’

Brigitte and Rob were married on 21st June 2014. The Ceremony was held at St Barnabas Church, Chappel the canapés were enjoyed at The Swan in Chappel and the reception was held at the East Anglian Railway Museum again in Chappel. ‘We spent a lot of time trying to find a wedding venue and although we had a look at a couple that were absolutely beautiful they didn’t quite feel right for us. We discovered we could hold our reception at The Railway Museum in our village and after a quick look round we realised it was perfect and booked it straight away. We were lucky to be able to book the local church too so we were able to marry in the village we had bought our house together in and now called home. We had 50 guests all day followed by an additional 50 evening guests. The wedding took 11 months to plan.’

How they met
I worked with Rob’s best friend Alex who decided we would be perfect for each other and set us up on a blind date. We had been together for eight and a half years when we got married.

The Proposal
We were on holiday in Sydney staying with Alex and his family who now live in Australia. Unbeknown to me Rob had purchased a ring in the UK before we left and had carried it all round with him waiting for the “right moment.” We were out having dinner with Alex and his wife Jen when Rob just looked at me and said “can I ask you something?” Even though I had absolutely no inkling of what he’d been planning, in that moment, right there and then, I knew what he was about to say. I think I replied with “only if you come this side of the table and get down on one knee!” I think Alex and Jen were more shocked as they had no idea that Rob was planning to propose. It was really lovely being able to open some bubbly and celebrate with the person who had introduced us!

How did you choose your photographer
We spent ages looking at photographers. Matt was recommended to us by another photographer and after speaking with him and looking at a number of his previous weddings we decided to book him. We had an engagement shoot with our dog Bob which was great fun and really helped us to relax in front of Matt and his camera on the day.

The Dress
My dress was Giuliana from the Victoria Jane Collection by Ronald Joyce. My veil came from a lovely bridal shop called Nell’ Amore in Halstead and my hair comb was from Blossom. My shoes were extremely comfortable and I lasted in them all night! They were Victoria by Rachel Simpson. Pearl earrings from David M Robinson in Canary Wharf. The only other piece of jewellery was a pearl bracelet bought for me by my mum. We found it in an antique shop and it was originally a necklace that we had restrung into a bracelet.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
We wanted to have a very small and informal wedding party. Alex travelled from Australia to take on the role of best man and my best friend Lesley was bridesmaid. Alex and Rob wore the same Navy slim fit three piece suit just with different coloured ties. The suits were hired from Anthony Formal Wear in Colchester. Lesley wore Cora by Romantica in pale pink chiffon.

Theme or Colour Scheme
Not intentionally, it just sort of evolved along the way!

Flowers
I booked our florist before we’d found our venue or even set a date! I had previously worked with Claire from Lily & May and had always joked that if I ever got married I wanted her to do my flowers. I didn’t really have specific flowers in mind when I visited Claire at her lovely workshop. Instead I explained our wedding day to Claire and she suggested flowers that were in season and would work with our plans. We ended up choosing a few different Roses, Sweet Peas, Peonies and Freesia. These were all used in the bouquets, buttonholes and wrist corsages for the wedding party and parents and also in the train carriage table arrangements.
The flowers in the Church were arranged by Jan one of the Church flower ladies.
I also had flowers from my bouquet preserved after the wedding and made into simple single flower paperweights by The Flower Preservation Workshop.

Decoration
Our afternoon tea was served on a Pullman carriage on the station platform. Each table was dressed beautifully with white table linen and a small flower arrangement in vases I’d bought from boot fairs and charity shops.
Our evening function was in the Railway Goods shed. Due to the amount of character in the building (and the fact you get to choose which train carriage you’d like inside!) we didn’t need to do very much to the venue. We borrowed a large amount of bunting and bought quite a lot of fairy lights.
Each table was also lit by an original Railway oil lamp and lots of pretty tealights. The flowers from the afternoon were also transferred to the Goods shed and numerous small vases were placed on each table.

Food
We had Pimms and canapés at The Swan, our local pub, straight after the ceremony which also meant Rob and I were able to leave our guests to have a few photos taken by the Railway viaduct. We then moved on to the Railway Museum for afternoon tea and Prosecco. In the evening we had a hog roast and ice cream and right towards the end of the night we had cheese and port.

Wedding Cake
I found Apple Tree Cakes & Crafts online and after speaking to Rebecca we arranged to meet at a local wedding fair. Cake testing was one thing Rob was very keen to be involved in and after sampling cake and booking Rebecca we then spent the next couple of months nipping in to local fairs Rebecca was attending just to eat more cake!
We had three tiers, Sponge, lemon and carrot.

Entertainment
Ariella Strings played classical music at the church and then moved on to play a more contemporary set at The Swan. We hired the miniature steam railway which was great fun for all of our guests, not just the young ones. Ice cream was served from my ice cream van Molly Moo’s Ices. Robs brothers band played throughout the evening and even managed a fantastic impromptu acoustic set when they tripped the noise limiter and cut the power!

Buy or DIY your Stationery
We designed our own

Personal or Handmade Touches
My ice cream van! When planning our wedding we thought it would be nice to have one there to serve ice cream alongside the hog roast. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a pretty van locally to attend. As I had always wanted to buy an old van and start up my own business I managed to convince my wonderful fiancé it was a great idea and hence Molly Moo’s Ices was created. Her very first wedding was ours.
Keeping with the ice cream theme Rob also created a fantastic confetti cone holder using an old original metal Walls Ice Cream container.

Special Moments
There were so many! Getting ready in the Lodge at Stoke by Nayland with Lesley and the mums. It was a beautiful setting. I was so relaxed and just enjoyed the morning being pampered by Tina and Emma.
The drive to the church was lovely too, with my best friend, in a Morris Minor (my favourite car of all time) and on beautiful country lanes.
Seeing Rob at the altar, I couldn’t stop smiling and that smile stayed with me for the whole day.

Advice to other couples
Being surrounded by friends and loved ones is what it’s all about, everything else really is secondary. Also to invest in a good photographer!

Biggest surprise
How popular the miniature railway and ice cream would be!

Supplier Shout Outs

• String duo – www.ariellastrings.co.uk
• The Swan – www.swaninn-chappel.com
  The best local pub anyone could wish for
• East Anglian Railway Museum – www.earm.co.uk
  A fabulous venue that also has a number of great public events throughout the year including the legendary beer festival.
• Cake – www.appletreecakesandcrafts.co.uk
  Rebecca really does make the best cake, ever!
• Veil – www.nellamore-bridalwear.co.uk
  This bridal shop is beautiful, and has a stunning collection of dresses and accessories.
• Shoes – www.rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk
• Jewellery – www.davidmrobinson.co.uk/london
• Hair Stylist – www.beautifulhair4weddings.co.uk
• Makeup – www.emmabrooksmakeup.co.uk
  Tina and Emma were an absolute dream. They were organised, professional and great fun.
• Suits – www.anthonyformalwear.co.uk
  The cheeky lads in the Colchester branch are awesome!
• Flowers – www.lilyandmay.co.uk
• Flower preservation (post wedding) – www.flowerpreservationworkshop.co.uk
• Confetti – www.shropshirepetals.com
• Photographer – www.matthewlongphotography.co.uk
  What more can I say, Matt was a superstar!
• Morris Minor – www.crownweddingcarhire.co.uk
• Accommodation – www.stokebynaylandlodges.com
• Afternoon Tea\Hog Roast\Cheese & Port\Mobile Bar – www.premcrew.co.uk
• Finally my very own Ice Cream Van, the best retro vintage van around – www.missmollymoo.co.uk
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For more information on Matthew’s work please go to:

Essex Wedding Photographer – www.matthewlongphotography.co.uk
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