A Carolina Herrera dress, Jimmy Choo Shoes and some rather fun table names!

Todays wedding is brought to you by Jonny Draper and it’s a gorgeous Cheshire wedding of Will and Jacqueline. I have featured Jonnys’ work before on the blog HERE and HERE so I’m really happy to be featuring him again today.

Will and Jacqueline Booker got married on 21st May 2011at St Teresa’s Church, Wilmslow with their reception at Styal Lodge with 180 guests. They met on their first day at Birmingham University back in 2001. Jacqueline says ‘I was carting boxes down to my room and he was trying to locate the kitchen! We were friends first and then on the 28th May 2002, on the day Will finished his exams, we went out together to celebrate, and the rest is history!’

Jonny says ‘I absolutely loved Jacqui & Will and everything about their big day! Great venue – Styal Lodge in Cheshire – which they’d really gone to town on dressing. Obviously there’s the cool table names. Loads of other nice bits and bobs, like the ‘bridal survival kit’ that Jacqui’s mates had made for her. Her Mum had hand made Jacqui’s bolero, there were Jimmy Choo’s, vintage teaset’s, loads of nice stuff!
The day was beautiful from start to finish. They were so relaxed and caught up in the emotion and excitement of their day, that they totally relaxed into it and loved every second from start to finish. Which is exactly the right way to enjoy your wedding day!’

Will and Jacqueline describe their day as ‘The most wonderful and joyous day we’ve ever had. Having all the people that we love in one room to celebrate our special day was simply incredible.’

The Venue
St Teresa’s is the church that I’ve been going to with my parents since we moved to the area, so was very special to me and my family. As to the venue, we wanted a place that was big enough to hold our 180 guests, but still felt intimate and relaxed. Styal Lodge fitted the bill perfectly and we knew it was right for us from first walking in and seeing it.

The dress
Carolina Herrera, bought at a sample sale from Brown’s Bride in London

The suit
Tailor made suit from Phillip Alexander in Wilmslow

 

Theme
We wanted our theme to reflect our personalities and the time of year we were getting married. We chose fun polka dots for the invites and all the stationery, along with the polka-dot-esque lanterns on the ceiling, and a dusty pink to reflect the colours of spring flowers.

Personal touches
-We wanted the day to reflect Will and I as much as possible, so we tried to do as much as possible ourselves – and roped in family and friends to help us along the way! Will’s brother Chris designed all our wedding stationery. My aunty, Maria, and Will’s mum, Sally, did all our flower arrangements and bouquets.
-We put together all the favour jars ourselves – jars filled with haribo rings and hearts. The rings were symbolic as Will first proposed with a haribo ring (my favourite sweet!).
-We also wanted our table names to be a little different – and as we both love food, we chose table names of foods that go together (Jam to my doughnut, Bread to my butter), with us posing with them. It took a while to do, but it was all worth it in the end! People even asked to take the table names photos home with them!
-The most special personal touch for me though was the lace bolero that my mum, Elizabeth, made for me. We bought the lace from Malta (where my family is from) and my mum lovingly cut out every piece of lace and hand stitched it all together. She made her own wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses when she got married, and I was keen to have something made by her for our big day. It made my dress complete.

Special moments
Seeing Will at the altar as I walked in, seeing all our family and friends having such a wonderful day, the wonderful speeches, the band getting everyone up and dancing…. Essentially the whole day from start to finish!

Planning Advice
Smile and enjoy the day. Will and I didn’t stop smiling the entire day, and everyone said our mood was reflected in the day itself. Relax and don’t worry if things don’t go to plan. Our organist played the wrong hymns and didn’t play our exit music until we were half way out of the church – but none of it mattered. You’ve spent so long planning the day, just relax and take it all in!

Biggest surprise
As my family is from Malta, Will decided to deliver part of his speech in Maltese. It was absolutely wonderful and had all the family crying with laughter!

 

 

Supplier Shout Outs

• Jonny Draper – a fabulous photographer who put us both at ease and captured the mood of our day perfectly. I’d recommend him in a heartbeat – www.jonnydraper.co.uk
• Pink Pepper Catering – food is very important to us, and Pink Pepper allowed us to create our own menu. The food was absolutely perfect and has been a big talking point of the
  day – http://pinkpeppercatering.co.uk/
• Styal Lodge – an absolutely wonderful venue, run by wonderful people. We can’t thank them enough for everything they did to make our day one to remember – www.styallodge.co.uk
• Special Days events – Emma Casson did a wonderful job of styling our venue and hanging up all those wonderful lanterns.  She was great to work with and was full of great ideas! www.specialdaysevents.co.uk
• Phillip Alexander – John, Zoe and Zolton Homoky were all wonderfully attentive and provided suits for all the groomsmen that were all tailored to fit.  Will’s suit and double-breasted waistcoat was specially made for him www.phillipalexander.co.uk

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